Victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda in Tacloban City have expressed their disappointment to the Office of the President against Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino about the glowing publicity regarding the housing situation in the area.
Signed by at least four representatives, the letter, dated September 15, 2017, addressed to President Duterte through Cabinet Secretary Leoncio B. Evasco Jr., was received by Malacañang on September 29, 2017.
“We are victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda. We are sending you this to validate the published results of the recent House Committee on Housing investigation and, at the same time, add information that was lacking. We know that news about the House inquiry surprised many, especially those who read about, and believed, the glowing publicity of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas [Opav],” they said.
The victims expressed dismay that OPAV head Dino only conducted “PR blitz activities” in late-November 2016 and January 2017 and forgot about them afterward.
Horrified that the government housing for the victims were not finished three years after Yolanda struck the Philippines, Duterte on November 8, 2016, directed Dino to use his office as a coordinating body of agencies tasked to provide permanent shelters and livelihood to those displaced.
Dino, whom the media described as the new Yolanda rehab czar, announced on November 28, 2016, his accomplishments in just 18 days, which he described as “Duterte Speed”.
“The problem besetting the resettlement effort three years after Yolanda struck Leyte has been solved in just 18 days after President Duterte’s tapang and malasakit to the victims prompted him to issue presidential directives to finish it without delay,” Dino was quoted as saying in a report.
Data from the National Housing Authority show that as of November 22, 2016, a total of 14,433 housing units have been bid out; and 3,442 units have been substantially completed, while 3,974 units are fully completed. Around 2,101 units have already been awarded to beneficiaries.
However, the victims said the glowing Opav press release is negated by the results of the House Committee on Housing investigation report.
The committee claimed to have found substandard housing projects in relocation areas for the victims.
The panel, upon the resolution of Rep. Ben P. Evardone of the Lone District of Eastern Samar, recently inspected affected areas and claimed to have found mediocre structures.
The Housing Committee chairman, Rep. Alfredo A. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental, said he saw “glaring substandard” construction of facilities for the housing projects and noted that during their visit, they met a whistle-blower who testified under oath during their formal hearing that the materials used in the construction of homes were subpar.
The victims alleged that Dino remained eerily silent during the congressional inquiry and submitted to Duterte results of their own data gathering, which show glaring contrast between the Opav press releases and the House Committee on Housing results.
They said the dismal situation they are now in demonstrates the failure of Dino and the Opav.
“We suffered three long years under the Yellow administration. But our continued suffering under your administration could only be caused by your point man in the Visayas, who is all about PR and not actual performance,” they said.
They appealed to the President to discipline Dino for not doing his job, to ask the committee to also look into the omission of Dino in addressing the corruption that plagued the Yolanda housing projects, to name another Yolanda housing czar who will take care of Visayans outside Cebu City, and to give priority to providing them with decent housing before the year ends.