By BEN R. ROSARIO
The chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development and local officials of Zamboanga City experienced first hand the everyday dangers faced by residents of a government housing and community project built with substandard materials.
Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, together with Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco and Rep. Celso Lobregat and members of an inspection team fell into murky creek in Sitio Hongkong, Barangay Rio Hondo, after the wooden footbridge they were stepping on collapsed.
Benitez and his team of inspectors from the housing and urban development panel met the accident while on an inspection tour of housing and community facilities built by government for the Zamboanga siege victims.
Only minor injuries were reported.
“Nothing more can convince us that people left homeless as a result of the 2013 Zamboanga siege have become victims twice. We became victims ourselves,” said Benitez.
The senior administration congressman revealed there were evidences indicating that the housing and facilities built for the Zamboanga siege victims were made of substandard materials and inferior engineering.
Benitez had sought a legislative inquiry into the construction of housing projects for families rendered homeless following man-made and natural disasters.
He said residents of the housing project built by contractors of the National Housing Authority are assured of immediate action on their complaints about the substandard housing units awarded them.
Benitez and the housing panel have also inspected the sanitation, ventilation and power facilities in the Zamboanga City relocation communities for displaced city residents.
He lamented that both Zamboanga City siege and supertyphoon Yolanda victims in Samar and Leyte were forced to contend with poorly built houses that government contractors offered.
In the case of Zamboanga, the government allocated 1.5 billion pesos for the construction of 6,343 housing units under the Zamboanga City Roadmap to Recovery and Rehabilitation (Z3R).
Local media reported that a housing unit in the Barangay Tulungatung resettlement project collapsed in February.
“It is tragic that the house that was supposedly the symbol of new beginning for families affected by the Zamboanga siege has become a threat to their lives,” Benitez lamented. “Hindi nga sila namatay sa bakbakan, baka dito na sila matuluyan sa ginawang pabahay para sa kanila.”
The lawmaker sent an inspection team to Zamboanga last month to conduct an initial investigation.
“Our team observed cracks and holes in several housing units that they inspected in various resettlement sites.
There were also several homes do not have electricity and water connection. Some residents also complain of undersize septic tanks resulting in foul odor and poor sanitation,” Benitez said.
In Tacloban City, there were also reports that the housing units built for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda have poor quality. Beneficiaries have complained on the immediate deterioration of the awarded units which includes weak or hollow walls and some experience rain water coming through their roofs.
