Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said the multi-agency task force he created to ensure proper coordination of efforts to address the housing needs of earthquake victims in Bohol and Cebu will also handle the housing needs of those displaced by the conflict in Zamboanga.
"We decided to include Zamboanga in the areas covered by the task force. Our goal is to provide immediate assistance to the affected residents brought about by rebellion and help in getting their lives back to normal,” Binay said.
“As I have said, having a single task force take charge of this will help in maximizing government resources and avoiding duplication and overlap of functions," he added.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, the conflict in Zamboanga resulted in 10,160 totally damaged houses while the magnitude 7.2 earthquake damaged 53,439 houses and affected 2.9 million people in 1,282 villages in Western and Central Visayas.
Binay, who chairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), had earlier enlisted national government agencies and local government units to help in the rehabilitation of houses damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in Central Visayas. He also said they will tap the support of the private sector and the foreign community.
The HUDCC is composed of the National Housing Authority, the Home Development Mutual (Pag-IBIG) Fund, the Home Guaranty Corporation, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, and the Social Housing Finance Corporation.
The Vice President said aside from the shelter agencies under HUDCC, the housing rehabilitation task force will include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
As of September 30, the Pag-IBIG Fund has released a total of P32 million in calamity loans in Zamboanga. Binay said Pag-IBIG has already approved loans of 1,732 members affected by the conflict in Zamboanga, with 4,000 applications already being processed.
“Pag-IBIG is committed to help ease the suffering of the people of Zamboanga and assist them as they recover from the crisis,” Binay said.
With Zamboanga placed under a state of calamity, the Fund is also offering a 3-month moratorium on housing loan payments to borrowers whose properties mortgaged with Pag-IBIG have been damaged in the armed conflict or whose primary source of income has been impaired as a result of the crisis.
Earlier, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation also implemented a 6-month moratorium on the amortization of payments for borrowers affected by the Zamboanga conflict.
The NHMFC moratorium will start from November 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014. Borrowers should file their application for moratorium not later than October 31, 2013.