Post-quake rehab in Cebu and Bohol 90% complete – DILG

CEBU, Philippines - Post-earthquake rehabilitation projects in the provinces of Bohol and Cebu, which were hit by a massive earthquake in 2013, are now 90 percent complete, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

"Now that the earthquake-damaged government facilities in Bohol and Cebu have been completed, we are confident that the delivery of basic government services to our constituents are back to normal," said DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Austere Panadero.

Panadero, in a statement, said thousands of Boholanos and Cebuanos are now benefiting from the 973 out of 1,076 completed projects in the two provinces through the Bohol Earthquake Assistance (BEA) repair and reconstruction projects.

The remaining 103 BEA projects are still unfinished.

Panadero said the local government units are handling an average of 24 BEA projects at the same time with some LGUs handling as much as 75 projects on top of the DILG projects and other infrastructure projects from other national government agencies.

DILG said the BEA project has an initial funding of P2.413 billion for the repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of partially and totally-damaged key government facilities like municipal buildings, civic centers, bridges, barangay facilities, public markets, and water supply systems in Bohol and Cebu.

Panadero said recovering from the Bohol earthquake has been a long process considering the nature of infrastructure works that were done and the Build Back Better (BBB) consideration to ensure that the restored key government facilities are even better than the original structures.

There are also big-ticket projects amounting to over P5 million which took a long time to complete especially in the restoration of totally-damaged facilities.

"Recovering from earthquakes is a long and tedious process and through the successful implementation of BEA projects in Bohol and Cebu, we have developed a blueprint in our future rehabilitation efforts in other earthquake affected areas in the country," Panadero added. (FREEMAN)