Gov’t readies over 5K housing units for Taal eruption victims

FILE: Taal Volcano’s beauty and dreamy landscape never fail to amaze. Amid the destruction, Taal’s serenity and calm, as seen from Tagaytay City, are captured in this photo ten days after the eruption on Jan. 12, 2020. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA — The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is readying some 5,448 housing units to be given to families residing within the seven-kilometer radius danger zone near the restive Taal Volcano.

House Settlements Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said Thursday the National Housing Authority (NHA) is working on the repair of the houses and the installation of electricity and water connection.

He said some 187 families have already occupied the housing units in one of the project sites located in Ibaan, Batangas.

“The president will be giving these house units for free, in full grant and the occupants are not going pay anything upon the transfer,” del Rosario said, adding that the rehabilitation of some units would be done within one to two months.

Some 5,000-6,000 households near the danger zone are affected, he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said residents living within Taal Volcano’s danger zone would be permanently relocated to the unoccupied housing units originally allotted for military and police personnel.

Del Rosario said a team from both national and regional offices of DHSUD and NHA, along with local officials of Batangas, is working to establish a mechanism for the resettlement of the residents, particularly those living on Taal Volcano Island and in the municipalities of Talisay, Agoncillo, and Laurel.

He said only those qualified internally displaced families can avail of the housing units.