Roxas Deploys 33 Engineers to Aid Bohol Recover from Quake

Tagbilaran City, Bohol – Interior and Local Government Sec. Mar Roxas visited Bohol province earlier on Friday to ensure that repairs and reconstructions of local government facilities damaged by the earthquake are on-schedule and on-track.

“Nandito kami sa ngalan ng pamahalaang nasyonal para tumulong sa lahat ng kababayan natin na naapektuhan ng lindol. (We are here on behalf of the national government to help our countrymen who were affected by the earthquake),” the secretary said.

Roxas brought with him 33 engineers (15 from the DILG and 18 from the Dept. of Public Works and Highways) to help in the rehabilitation efforts. The engineers will be tasked to assist the local government units (LGUs) in the preparation of the program of works (POWs), a requirement for public bidding and implementation of projects of LGUs.

On October 15, 2013, more than a thousand government facilities were either totally or partially damaged by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, severely affecting buildings and infrastructures in the provinces of Cebu and Bohol.

The National Government has allotted almost P2.4B through the DILG as part of the Bohol Earthquake Assistance (BEA) fund for Bohol province. Of the amount, more than P351M was allotted for the provincial government; more than P1B for the 1st District; more than P666M for the 2nd District; and more than P334M for the 3rd District.

The BEA-DILG Fund was established to provide technical and financial assistance to affected LGUs for the reconstruction of the damaged facilities with due considerations on Build Back Bohol Better (BBBB) designs for disaster-resilient public infrastructures.

Also present during the event were Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto, Quezon City Rep. Kit Belmonte and DILG Regional Director Ananais Villacorta, who accompanied the secretary in his inspection of DILG’s Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig Para sa Lahat (Salintubig) project in the Municipality of Albuquerque.

Source: www.dilg.gov.ph