Saturday, September 06, 2008 Council approves employment assistance
THE City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved the "amended project proposal of an emergency employment assistance program."
The project is under the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole)-Western Visayas and the City Government of Iloilo.
City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said Dole has released P200,000 as assistance to Iloilo City in its clean-up operation of the Desamparados area in Jaro district affected by the June 21-22 massive flood.
However, the area was already cleaned before the release of Dole assistance fund and the amount would certainly help the city in its cash-for-work program at the San Isidro relocation site, where families whose houses were destroyed by the typhoon are slated to be transferred.
Treñas said the amount would be used in fast tracking the construction of the housing project by hiring carpenters and other skilled workers to build the houses at the city-owned San Isidro, Jaro relocation site.
Construction was already started for the initial batch of 60 row houses under the Gawad Kalinga program funded by city lone district Congressman Raul T. Gonzalez Jr.
Another batch of 100 houses to be funded by Senator Miguel Zubiri at the relocation site is slated.
Gonzalez assured a total of 150 houses to be built from his priority development assistance fund.
Similarly, Antonio Meloto of Gawad Kalinga met with Treñas on Friday, to discuss the possibility of constructing another batch of 300 GK houses on top of the GK houses funded by Gonzalez and Zubiri.
Treñas also reported that the National Housing Authority (NHA) Board has recently approved P15 million for site development of the 16-hectare San Isidro relocation site. The amount will be used for construction of roads and drainage system at the site.
The City Council recently gave an authority for Treñas to sign a MOA with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office and Habitat for Humanity Philippines for the construction of 500 houses worth P35 million designed for families soon to be displaced by the giant flood control project in Jaro district. (Lydia C. Pendon)
