HOUSING UNITS TURNOVER SIGNALS MARAWI VICTIMS RETURN TO NORMALCY

For more than four years, Norhaima Ditucalan’s family was at her grandparents’ house in Ditsaan Ramain, Lanao del Sur, some 10 kilometers away from Marawi City where they lived for decades.

Ditucalan used to live with her three other siblings and their families at a three-story house in Barangay Datu Naga inside the most affected area (MAA) of the 2017 siege. Their source of income was a small store on the ground floor. When the siege broke out on May 23, 2017, Ditucalan’s household fled to Ditsaan Ramain and took shelter with their grandparents. On Friday, Ditucalan’s family was seen cleaning a housing unit in Barangay Gadongan, site of one of the 250 permanent shelters that the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) constructed for them.

The 150 units were built by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat), using funds from the Japanese government, while 100 units were constructed by the NHA, which procured and developed the land. New start

One of the permanent shelter sites for displaced families in Marawi City (PNA photo by Divina M. Suson)

Ditucalan said their new 90-square meter house is small compared to their old one but at least they have freed their grandparents of the burden of taking them in. “I have six children and it is not good to give my grandparents a noisy environment. I wanted to continue my small store here in my new house using the PHP73,000 cash assistance from the government,” Ditucalan said. “Me and my husband will work together.” Her siblings are categorized as sharers and the government has no housing program for them yet, according to Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) Chair and Housing Secretary Eduardo del Rosario.

“With regards to housing, walang para sa mga (there is none yet for) sharers but they were provided with financial assistance (worth) PHP35,000 per family, including those vendors who rented their stalls inside the MAA but lost their business during the siege,” del Rosario said during the press briefing after the turnover ceremony on Friday.

The government declared as “no-dwell zone” the areas within the three to six-meter easement of the Lake Lanao, at the river banks, and within the reclamation area where the government is doing infrastructure projects. The UN-Habitat had previously awarded permanent shelters to displaced families in Hadiya Village Phase 1 in Barangay Dulay West (109 units), at Phase 2 in the same location (120 units), and at the Pamayandeg Ranao Residences (50 units) in Barangay MipantaoGadongan.

The UN agency said 910 permanent houses are slated to be completed by December 2021 in five resettlement sites. (PNA/Divina Suson)

NATIONAL NEWS

PCOO opens more vacant regular positions

The Presidential Communications Operations Office along with its attached agencies has opened more vacant regular positions across the country as part of improving the bureaucracy, Secretary Andanar said on Wednesday. The PCOO chief said that doing so will help maintain and improve the legacies of President Duterte in terms of institutional reforms in the agency. “We open many positions so that we can really strengthen our bureaucracy,” he said in an interview, stressing the importance of regularizing employees to ensure security of tenure.

“The important thing is that we leave the PCOO not only with the Build, Build, Build projects and policies but also leaving a strong bureaucracy by hiring regular people so that the institutional memory lives on and is improved as the day-today operations happen,” he added. Secretary Andanar said that for the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) alone, the agency has opened around 190 vacant positions nationwide. The PBS is the agency which handles the operations of Radyo Pilipinas stations.

Hiring and selection process of applicants is also ongoing for the PCOO proper and the Philippine Information Agency (PIA). “If you place regular employees then we are assured that there will be someone who will look after the reforms and policies we have undertaken,” he said.

Interested applicants are encouraged to browse through the respective websites of the PCOO and its attached agencies or through the website of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for the list of vacancies.

Agencies under the PCOO include the Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM), Bureau of Broadcast Services (BBS), Bureau of Communications Services (BCS), National Printing

Andanar

Office, News and Information Bureau, PIA, People’s Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), APO Production Unit, Inc., and the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC 13). Instituting sustainable communication

In the same interview, Secretary Andanar also mentioned his advocacy on introducing sustainable communication as part of public news and information delivery. “We’ve been talking about sustainable agriculture, sustainable living and development but we have not talked about sustainable communication even though we know that the one that weaves these programs and projects is communication,” he said.

He stressed that communication in government should be advocacy-driven and it should be ensured that contents and information given out should be appropriate for its target audience. October 9-15, 2021 | 29