By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag
City—The city government here is eyeing to
put up at least 50 more core shelters for typhoon “Lando” (Koppu) victims here.
To realize this, the
Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution authorizing Laoag mayor Chevylle V.
Fariñas to represent the city in a memorandum of agreement with the Dept. of
Social Work and Development for the core shelter project. The DSWD will be
represented by regional director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo.
Laoag councilor Shirley
Ong-Sin, main sponsor of the resolution, pointed out that the proposed project
will be a partnership between the Laoag government and the DSWD regional field
office I.
The proposed project is still
in line with rehabilitation efforts for the damages caused by “Lando”, which
hit the city in October 2015.
Mrs. Sin said the proposed
project will feature 50 core shelter units. It has a projected cost of
P160,000—or P8,000 per unit; and it will be placed on the resettlement site at
Sitio Cabatingan, Brgy, 62-B (Navotas).
Should this push through, it
will be the fifth stage of the core shelter project. The said project, is
funded by DSWD with the city government providing the lots.
Prior to the passage of the
resolution, Laoag councilor Pamela Portia Salenda asked how many families will
stay in a core shelter. She learned that it would be one family per core
shelter.
Ms. Salenda then queried the
sponsor on the total number of families affected by last year’s typhoon; Mrs.
Sin however has no specific statistics on the total. Mrs. Sin then disclosed
that it is the DSWD which decided the 50 units with inputs from the City Social
Work and Development Office.
Joining the discussion, Laoag
vice mayor Michael V. Fariñas said he believes the 50 families that would
benefit from the project would be those whose houses were totally destroyed.
Mr. Fariñas added that the
city government in partnership with the first district congressional office of
Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas, gave construction materials to those whose houses were
either partially or totally damaged.
Mr. Fariñas also took the
opportunity to thank the DSWD for this project. However, he also instructed the
city government offices concerned to investigate rumors that finished core
shelters are being sold at Brgy. Navotas, as well as the Gawad Kalinga project
in La Paz.
Though admitting that the
information is “raw”, he stressed the need to investigate. He revealed that he
learned that core shelters are being sold from P30,000 to P40,000.
On this note, he asked the
CSWDO to strictly evaluate beneficiaries and that only those who really need
shelters will be considered.
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