“WE will look into that.”

This was the response of National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Joeben Tai Tuesday, October 18 with regards to the allegations that some of the housing units intended for Yolanda (Typhoon Hiayan) victims in Negros Occidental are sold through brokers.

“To be honest it’s my first-time hearing that,” Tai told SunStar Bacolod, saying that what he only knows is the existence of a “palakasan” system where some are prioritized over the others in the distribution of the housing units.

In Negros Occidental, about 800 units intended for the Yolanda victims are yet to be awarded to their rightful owners.

“We already turned-over the distribution to the concerned local government units as they are the ones handling the validation,” Tai stressed.

He hopes that these housing units will be distributed before the year ends.

“To be honest, the Yolanda project is not yet finished even until today. We are going on the tenth-year next year although the completion has reached at least 90 percent,” Tai noted.

Some of these houses were only finished in 2019 but were not awarded to the beneficiaries due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic where many of which were used as quarantine facilities.

These houses, Tai said, remained to be uninhabited and many are in deplorable state.

Meanwhile, he disclosed that they recently broke ground for the “People’s Residence” in Iloilo City which is expected to cater to about 300 of its informal settler families.

The project consists of five five-story high-rise buildings to be constructed at a government-owned property at Barangay Tabuc Suba, Jaro, Tai said.

As to the housing units for the uniformed personnel, he explained that they are giving priority to those who were injured or killed in action.*