President Marcos' claim that the past administrations did nothing in rehabilitating areas affected by super typhoon Yolanda was "incorrect," a former Malacañang official said.

Former Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo said that Marcos must have been misinformed on the past administrations' efforts to rehabilitate areas devastated by the super typhoon in 2013.

"President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. must have been misinformed. It is not accurate as it is incorrect to say that the Yolanda rehabilitation commenced only two years ago and that the Aquino and the Duterte Administrations did nothing about it," Panelo said in a statement on Tuesday, May 21.

He was referring to what Marcos said in an interview in Tacloban City on Monday, where he said that 12 years on since the deadly super typhoon, it is only now that rehabilitation measures are being done.

He was quoted saying: We only really started two years ago. Because nothing was done in the previous administration, nothing was done in the administration before that.

Debunking the President's claims, Panelo said the Aquino administration built about 160,000 housing units and commenced its distribution to the victims in 2014.

The Duterte administration, on the other hand, completed its targeted housing projects in 2022.

He added that sometime in 2020, the remaining budget for the 45,000 housing units was released. These were built and awarded to the victims-beneficiaries during the pandemic.

"The record shows that at the end of the term of PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte), about 85% percent of the targeted figure of 205,000 housing units have been distributed," Panelo said.

"It must be noted that the total budget for the Yolanda rehabilitation program was not released by the Department of Budget and Management outright but rather on a yearly basis hence its implementation was gradual," he added.

Panelo, who also served as Duterte's chief legal counsel, said that "credit must be given to the two previous and present administrations."

He further explained that during Duterte's term, 85 percent of the housing program for Yolanda victims was accomplished, and full grant was given to the beneficiaries.

"It is to the credit of the PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos) administration that the remaining 15 percent of the target figure of the Yolanda rehabilitation program was continued at the start of the PBBM’s term," he said.

According to Panelo, typhoon Yolanda, which occurred in 2013 during the term of the late president Benigno Aquino III, devastated Samar and Palawan heavily, and it was estimated that about 205,000 families were rendered homeless.