ALMOST two years after the District of Dinagat Islands was struck by Category 4 Super Typhoon Odette, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the release of P 933,592,550 from the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF) in order to repair and construct totally destroyed school buildings in the District.
The funds for school reconstructions to arrive in time for Typhoon Odette anniversary
“The release of these funds is our Christmas gift to the hardworking teachers, the students and their parents who have had to endure the lack of classrooms and facilities for learning since 2021,” Rep. Alan 1 B. Ecleo said. “Before this year ends, 142 school buildings in our seven Municipalities will get sufficient funding to repair and improve their facilities destroyed by Odette in 2021.”
School buildings were among those most devastated by the Typhoon last December 2021 amounting to almost 1.2 Billion Pesos worth of destruction. “It was very heartbreaking to see how our teachers and students struggled to hold classes under the shade of trees, and make do with make-shift classrooms and scarce equipment in order to push through with their tasks,” the Representative added.
“Schools do more than just serve as the venue for educating our children, they function as evacuation centers, polling stations, and offer necessary training and services which benefit the community,” added Ecleo. “We welcome this Presidential Memorandum as a sign of the President’s shared commitment to building a stronger, more resilient Dinagat Islands and as a product of our relentless work to secure the requirements for the said funding,”
Ecleo met twice with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to update the Chief Executive on the status of rehabilitation in Dinagat Islands, and hand-deliver requested interventions to speed up recovery in the District, including the funding requirement to repair the schools.
As Chairman of the House Committee on Disaster Resilience, Rep. Ecleo also met with agencies in charge of disaster response and funding rehabilitation in order to streamline the process by which Local Government Units (LGUs) can access funds to repair and reconstruct following disasters.
Ecleo also coordinated with the Municipal LGUs, DepEd, DPWH and the Office of Civil Defense, and other agencies to complete the list of requirements before the two-year cut-off period ends by the end of 2023.
“There is much to be done to shorten the long list of requirements needed by affected LGUs to secure funding after the devastation of disasters,” said Ecleo. “But this milestone proves that relentless political will, determination, and united hard work from all offices concerned can deliver on the solutions people have been clamoring for.”
