SURVIVORS of 2013’s super typhoon “Yolanda” in Concepcion, Iloilo have been complaining since last year yet about the substandard housing units built for them in Barangay Bacjawan Sur of the municipality. They have found an ally in Sen. Loren Legarda.
Yesterday during a Senate hearing conducted by the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement on the alleged irregularities in resettlement and relocation programs undertaken by the government in different calamity-hit areas and relocation sites, the senator said all those involved in housing programs have to be accountable.
In Concepcion, housing project beneficiaries were complaining of cracking floors, weak concrete walls, leaking roofs, poor paint job, lack of water supply, and poor toilet construction.
“These housing programs are being funded by taxpayers’ money, allocated through the General Appropriations Act. So why does this regularly happen? Somebody has to be liable for the irresponsible use of inferior, substandard and even inappropriate construction materials,” said Legarda.
Yes, there is a need for the judicious use of funds allocated for housing programs to strengthen the accountability of the government and provide the people with the assistance that they deserve. In truth, all these issues are not new to us, or to the National Housing Authority (NHA). They need to be addressed because this is wasting people’s money. Wastage and inefficiency undermine the confidence of the people in the government.
Legarda asked a pointed question: “Why is NHA building communities and relocation sites where there’s no electricity and no access to water? Why use the taxpayers’ money and government funds for land that is far-flung, and where you don’t provide basic utilities?”
Obviously upset, she directed NHA to submit a report per housing program or project, which contains the name of the contractor, cost, updated balance, and status of the housing program. The senator also requested for the attendance of local governments where there are identified relocation sites, representatives of the calamity victims, the contractors of every project being complained about, concerned regional and field engineers of the NHA to be present in the next hearing scheduled on May 28.
While contractors must certainly be scrutinized, NHA must be, at the very least, grilled too. If NHA is saying that the funds were not enough for the right type of housing to accommodate all the victims, then its officials should have been more straightforward in asking Congress for more budgetary support. Otherwise, according to the senator, the better thing to do is work within the budget, without necessarily putting the quality, and ultimately the life and safety of the people, at risk.
