Pangasinan Today

LINGAYEN — The social welfare and public works departments have started releasing roofing materials to typhoon-affected beneficiaries in Pangasinan.

First to receive the galvanized iron (GI) sheets was Dagupan City as it was the first local government unit (LGU) to submit a partial list of validated beneficiaries.

Last Monday, City Administrator Alvin Fernandez received from Social Welfare Regional Director Margarita Sampang and Public Works Regional Director Fidel Ginez 2,000 GI sheets.

Beneficiaries are indigent families whose houses were totally destroyed by typhoon Cosme.

Prior to the turnover of the roofing materials, Sampang, Ginez and Fernandez signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) covering the implementation of the emergency shelter program.

The other beneficiaries of the program were the towns of Infanta, Bugallon, Calasiao and Lingayen.

The GI sheets were part of the 4,800 initially delivered to the province when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the province recently.

Ginez said the second delivery will arrive this Friday.

The National Government has allotted P500 million worth of construction materials for the provinces of Pangasinan, Zambales and La Union. P400 million will be used for the purchase of GI sheets, while P100 million will be spent for other construction materials.

According to Sampang, the number of houses in Pangasinan totally damaged by the past storm is 38,000. The figure would be trimmed down based on the criteria set. As of Monday, the initial number of validated houses was 14,000.

The number of GI sheets to be given to recipient families ranges from six to 20 pieces. Priority will be families who could not really afford to buy materials to build another house.

“The families who had already constructed their houses, but are qualified to the emergency shelter program will not be deprived of their allotted roofing materials,” Sampang said.

She is urging the mayors of affected towns and cities to expedite to submission of their final report. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), she said, was given until July 15 to finish the validation of these reports.

“The President gave us until end of July to complete the release of roofing and other construction materials to the validated recipients,” she remarked.

Ginez, for his part, is optimistic they will meet the deadline as the mayors expressed cooperation by providing their own heavy equipment to be used in hauling the construction materials.

Meanwhile, under the MOA, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is tasked to procure the GI sheets; release it to the requesting LGU; and submit weekly reports to the DSWD on the release of GI sheets.

The DSWD will set the criteria for target beneficiaries and validate the reports submitted by the LGUs. Together with the provincial or municipal engineer, the social welfare department will assess the number of GI sheets and other materials for the beneficiaries.

The LGU, on the other hand, will provide counterpart in the form of other construction materials. It will assist in the hauling of the GI sheets from the DPWH district offices, and will oversee the distribution of the construction materials to the beneficiaries.

It will also to submit consolidated distribution reports to the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC).