TACLOBAN City—Only days to the third year anniversary of the deadly typhoon “Yolanda,” members of Uswag Este-Katarungan marched to the Regional Office of the National Housing Authority to demand the permanent shelter promised them by the government.
According to NHA data, as of Sept. 5, some 7,573 families are in the “High-Risk Zones” who are due for relocation from Eastern Samar alone.
However, three years running, residents in the area are still left to reside in transitional shelters and even bunk houses.
This runs counter to the NHA claim the housing projects for “Yolanda” survivors are “almost complete.”
Lita Bagunas and other residents from the towns of Lawaan, Balangiga, Giporlos, Gen. MacArthur, Hernani, Llorente and Maydolong—tagged as living in the “High-Risk Zones”—held dialogues with their respective local officials in the hope of confirming the status of their relocation.
Bagunas said two factors emerged as the causes of the delay in the construction of their permanent shelters.
These were lack of titled lands available and high cost of land found suitable for housing.
According to the NHA, the lands that should be acquired for housing should be titled in compliance with the Commission on Audit requirement.
This poses a problem as an estimated 60 percent of the lands in Eastern Samar are documented only by tax declaration.
Bagunas said the exorbitant asking price for private lands, said to have caused the delay, could have been solved if only the local government units exercised their power of eminent domain.
