Leyte Landslide

MAASIN CITY, Philippines -- The Philippine National Red Cross still has P100 million left out of the P200 million generated for the Guinsaugon tragedy in Southern Leyte.

PNRC Southern Leyte chapter administrator Romeo Orilla said that half of the P200 million, which came from the Federation of International Red Cross was spent for the survivors of the Guinsaugon tragedy, including the construction of 96 duplex housing units in the villages of Ayahag, Hinabian and Magatas and the purchase of new vehicles for the use of the local PNRC chapter.

“The Fed is very strict in the disbursement of funds. This is also one of the reasons we were delayed in the completion of the 96 duplex units in the relocation in Catmon village,” Orilla said.

In 2006, the winning contractor for the new housing site for the Guinsaugon survivors abandoned the project after getting 15 percent of the project cost. This prompted Senator Richard Gordon, PNRC chair, to file a case against the contractor. There is no update yet on the case.

The housing project for the survivors is still being constructed more than a year after the mudslide in February 2006. A thousand residents were killed and another thousand disappeared when a portion of Mt. Kan-abag broke and buried the entire village of Guinsaugon in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte in February 2006.

“We were thankful that the Fed has loosened up a bit, we could now purchase locally available materials for the housing project,” Orilla said.

He added that before the project was abandoned, it was very hard to follow the strict purchase procedures because there were specified materials.

Orilla said about 50 percent of the housing units were completed and would be ready for occupancy by November 2007.

He said the beneficiaries of the project have been housed in cramped shelters at the St. Bernard Central School and Catmon Elementary School.