HOUSES FOR QUAKE VICTIMS. National Housing Authority General Manager Joeben Tai (in blue shirt) and North Cotabato lead the groundbreaking ceremony of a PHP368-million housing project in Barangay Sto. Niño, Makilala, North Cotabato Thursday (July 13, 2023). The project entails the construction of 1,329 housing units for families displaced by the 2019 earthquake. (Photo courtesy of North Cotabato-PIO)
MAKILALA, North Cotabato – The wait will soon be over for some 1,300 quake-stricken families in 2019 here following the groundbreaking of the PHP368-million project under the National Housing Authority (NHA).
In a statement Friday, NHA General Manager Joeben Tai said 1,329 housing units are set for completion within 580 days in nine construction sites.
The designated relocation sites are in the villages of Malasila, Sto. Niño, Malabuan, Indangan, Buena Vida, Buhay, Cabilao, Bato, and Luayon, with a combined 35.7 hectares.
“I know how hard your experience was after the tremors struck your houses and properties, and even claimed lives which is the very reason that this project is intended for you,” Tai told the recipients on Thursday.
Governor Emmylou Mendoza thanked the national government for committing their support for the realization of the project.
“We are excited about this project because it will not only benefit the recipients but will also generate jobs for residents,” Mendoza said in a separate statement Friday.
She commended President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former president Rodrigo R. Duterte, and the Office of the Civil Defense for their continuing concern in helping the quake-displaced families through the years.
Analyn Aguanan, one of the beneficiaries, is overjoyed over the latest development.
“The long wait is over our family can now be sheltered in a decent home,” she said, mentioning that her family has been living in an evacuation shelter since 2019.
In October 2019, a series of quakes struck the province that left thousands of families homeless and damaged infrastructures that forced families to evacuate.
Five months later, they had to contend with the coronavirus disease 2019, declared a pandemic in March 2020. (PNA)
