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May 2, 2014
DILG to assist in rehabilitation of damaged public buildings in Yolanda-hit barangays
T
he National G over nment through the D epar tment of I nter ior and Local G over nment, is now focusing its attention to helping barangays regain their abilit y to deliver basic ser vices. DILG R egion 8 Direc tor Pedro A. Noval Jr. said this development follows af ter the release of national gover nment assistance recently to provinces, cities and municipalities which were hardly-hit Super Typhoon Yolanda. Direc tor Noval said that as announced by DILG S ecretar y M ar R oxas dur ing the tur nover of checks to local gover nment units (LGUs) last Apr il 10 and 11, the barangays will also receive assistance for the repair of damaged barangay halls, day care centers, and civic centers or gymnasiums or auditor iums. I n this connec tion, Direc tor Noval called on cit y and municipal mayors to help their barangays to prepare and to submit the suppor ting documents to the DILG R egional O ffice in Tacloban Cit y by M ay 7 so that they can benefit from the nation al gover nment aid under the R econstruc tion Assistance on Yolanda (R AY ). Direc tor Noval disclosed that of the 61 affec ted local gover nment units in Easter n Visayas, only the municipalit y of Albuera, Leyte has yet to claim its check for P7.75M, due to the repor ted failure of its S angguniang Bayan to issue a resolution author izing its M ayor to enter into a M emorandum of Agreement (MOA) with DILG. The amount released by DILG direc tly to the affec ted
municipalities, cities and provinces in Easter n Visayas this Apr il totaled more than P900 million. The first batch of checks were personally handed over by S ecretar y M ar R oxas to the provincial gover nment of Leyte, the cities of Tacloban, Or moc and Baybay, and 35 towns affec ted in Leyte. O ther badly hit LGUs in Easter n Visayas received the R AY funds through Dir. Noval who was instruc ted by S ec. R oxas to distr ibute the checks so that LGUs could already star t their muchneeded projec ts. The mayors or local treasurers of six municipalities and the provincial gover nment in Biliran, and of t wo towns in S amar claimed their checks at the DILG R egional O ffice on Apr il 24. The nex t day, Dir. Noval visited t wo (2) more towns in S amar and 11 towns in Easter n S amar to hand over the checks to their municipal mayors. I n order to be able to avail of the national gover nment aid for repair of barangay public buildings, Barangays must submit to DILG-8 R egional O ffice, pic tor ials taken from all angles of the affec ted buildings and programs of wor k prepared by the Cit y/M unicipal Engineer and approved by the Punong Barangay. T h e s e shall likewise be validated by the C/MPDC and attested by the Cit y/M unicipal M ayor and the M unicipal DILG officer. All documents submitted must be subscr ibed and swor n to by a notar y public. This will help DILG hasten
projec t evaluation and fund release since the agenc y cannot feasibly do onsite validation of each damaged building in the estimated 2,000 barangays affec ted by Yolanda in the region since it only has three (3) engineers at its regional office and a few at the field, Direc tor Noval said. Dir. Noval echoed S ec. R oxas’ plea for LGUs to be prudent in the use of the money, and as much as possible, tap local labor and mater ials to help stir up its economy. DILG is ask ing non- gover nment organizations (NGOs), media and the public to help the agenc y monitor LGU spending of R AY funds. The depar tment expec ts all repair and rehabilitation projec ts by LGUs to be completed by the end of the year. To recall, of the 1.79 Billion (P1,791,400,000) allocated for rehabilitation of LGU buildings under R AY, Tacloban Cit y received the biggest chunk at P230,687,979.22 for the repair of the cit y hall, public mar ket, and civic center. For the provinces, Leyte LGUs received the biggest funding with allocation amounting to P801,804,911.17, or about 45 percent of the total rehabilitation fund. Allocation for other provinces in R egion 8 include P19,917,634.41 for Biliran; P100,219,564.57 for Easter n S amar ; and P16,528,192.25 for S amar. (PIA 8)