The bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed this afternoon the appointment of Eduardo Drueco del Rosario as the first Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Del Rosario’s confirmation followed several public hearings by the CA housing committee chaired by Senator Francis Tolentino on his fitness to head the DHSUD which was created only in November last year.
He weathered a barrage of questions leveled by CA members- senators and representatives- during the public hearings.
San Juan Representative Ronaldo B. Zamora, CA vice chairman, had questioned del Rosario at length on housing issues in urban areas and his (del Rosario) being chairman of the Bangon Marawi Task Force.
Del Rosario said several developed countries pledged or gave P7 billion in aid to the Philippine government to resurrect Marawi that suffered heavy damage during a five-month siege in 2017.
He said the aid of these countries came in the form of pledges or aids to be undertaken by their own agencies or non-government organizations, usually capability building measures or in their agreements with the local government unit (LGU).
Zamora said he doffs his hat off to Japan for building thousands of permanent shelters in Marawi city.
The other countries are US, United Nations, Australia, Thailand and European Union. They gave or pledged a total of P350 billion.
Del Rosario’s fate was decided during a closed door meeting among CA members following his latest public hearing.
Senator Christopher Go seconded the motion to have del Rosario confirmed, saying he is confident that he would make good in his job.
Senator Cynthia A. Villar also seconded the motion to confirm del Rosario who has a tough job of meeting a two-million unit housing backlog.
This backlog, according to Villar, is expected to increase in the coming years.