Taal resettlement, rehab program needed –Tolentino, Dela Rosa
Published Jan 27, 2020 12:00 am
By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Senators Francis Tolentino and Ronald dela Rosa are calling on Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to immediately formulate a "sustainable" resettlement and rehabilitation program for the residents displaced by the Taal Volcano eruption.
Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa
(Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa / Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN) The neophyte lawmakers filed on Monday a resolution urging the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement to "urgently call" on the DHSUD and other concerned agencies to come up with a sustainable Taal Volcano resettlement and rehabilitation program Tolentino chairs the said Senate panel. The senator, in a statement, said the government should focus on helping the affected families after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Sunday downgraded to Alert Level 3 the status of Taal Volcano as they observed a decline in its activities. "Huwag na po natin patagalin pa ang pagdurusa ng ating mga kababayan; 'yong mga bagay na pwede na natin gawin ngayon para sa ikagiginhawa ng mga apektadong pamilya, gawin na natin ngayon (We should not prolong the suffering of our countrymen. We should act on the things that we can do right away to help the affect families)," Tolentino said. In their resolution, Tolentino and Dela Rosa noted that the Republic Act No. 11201, or the law that created the DHSUD, mandated the agency formulate a framework for resilient housing and human settlements as basis for the mechanisms for post-disaster housing and resiliency programs to vulnerable communities from the adverse effects of climate change and disasters. The law's implementing rules and regulation further tasks the DHSUD to "manage and oversee emergency post-disaster/post-conflict shelter recover or climate change adaptation and mitigation disaster risk reduction provisions and interventions." Before the senators' appeal, however, DHSUD Secretary Eduardo del Rosario was reported saying that the agency is already looking to relocate the Taal-affected families to an 800-hectare resettlement site in Cavite. He said this was part of the government's contingency plans amid the threat of a hazardous eruption of Taal. Authorities earlier said around 22,000 new houses are needed for Batangas residents who are adversely affected by the eruption. The phreatic eruption of the Taal Volcano last January 12 displaced thousands of families from the provinces of Batangas and Cavite. State economists earlier pegged the damages of the disaster at P7.6 billion, with agriculture and fisheries contributing to much of the losses at P3.17 billion. Following the lowering of the alert level in Taal, evacuees, except residents of Agoncillo and Laurel in Batangas, were allowed to return to their homes and clean their communities.
Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa(Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa / Facebook page / MANILA BULLETIN) The neophyte lawmakers filed on Monday a resolution urging the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement to "urgently call" on the DHSUD and other concerned agencies to come up with a sustainable Taal Volcano resettlement and rehabilitation program Tolentino chairs the said Senate panel. The senator, in a statement, said the government should focus on helping the affected families after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Sunday downgraded to Alert Level 3 the status of Taal Volcano as they observed a decline in its activities. "Huwag na po natin patagalin pa ang pagdurusa ng ating mga kababayan; 'yong mga bagay na pwede na natin gawin ngayon para sa ikagiginhawa ng mga apektadong pamilya, gawin na natin ngayon (We should not prolong the suffering of our countrymen. We should act on the things that we can do right away to help the affect families)," Tolentino said. In their resolution, Tolentino and Dela Rosa noted that the Republic Act No. 11201, or the law that created the DHSUD, mandated the agency formulate a framework for resilient housing and human settlements as basis for the mechanisms for post-disaster housing and resiliency programs to vulnerable communities from the adverse effects of climate change and disasters. The law's implementing rules and regulation further tasks the DHSUD to "manage and oversee emergency post-disaster/post-conflict shelter recover or climate change adaptation and mitigation disaster risk reduction provisions and interventions." Before the senators' appeal, however, DHSUD Secretary Eduardo del Rosario was reported saying that the agency is already looking to relocate the Taal-affected families to an 800-hectare resettlement site in Cavite. He said this was part of the government's contingency plans amid the threat of a hazardous eruption of Taal. Authorities earlier said around 22,000 new houses are needed for Batangas residents who are adversely affected by the eruption. The phreatic eruption of the Taal Volcano last January 12 displaced thousands of families from the provinces of Batangas and Cavite. State economists earlier pegged the damages of the disaster at P7.6 billion, with agriculture and fisheries contributing to much of the losses at P3.17 billion. Following the lowering of the alert level in Taal, evacuees, except residents of Agoncillo and Laurel in Batangas, were allowed to return to their homes and clean their communities.