500 Marawi families to get new homes before Christmas: DPWH

FILE: DPWH Secretary Mark Villar (Photo: Mark Villar/Facebook)

MANILA — Some 500 families displaced by the Marawi City siege would be moving in the transition shelters before Christmas, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Tuesday.

According to DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, the construction of resettlement area in Barangay Sagonsongan is on schedule, thus, they expect the initial number of beneficiaries to be in their new transition homes before December 25.

“The construction of the houses is on going. They have already completed the construction of (some of) the houses,” he said in an interview.

Villar recently visited the areas that were damaged by the war between government forces and the Maute group, which lasted for five months.

The Duterte administration is eyeing 4,000 “bakwit” families to benefit from building the transition area.

“But an initial batch of houses by December, before Christmas, would be available. The target is 500 houses before Christmas,” the DPWH chief added.

He said that the local government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would be the ones that would identify the first 500 families that would occupy the newly-built houses.

Earlier, Villar reported that post conflict needs assessment (PCNA) team has entered the area to conduct assessment on the extent of the damage on the infrastructure in the war-torn city.

“Continuous data is coming in, we would be able to assess,” he said. (PNA)