Del Rosario gets CA nod as first DHSUD chief

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed yesterday the ad interim appointment of Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, making him the first head of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

The department was crafted to address the country’s housing need, which is pegged to reach 6.5 million units by 2022.

“I believe that we can expect great things in the housing sector from the department under his helm,” said Sen. Francis Tolentino as he recommended the confirmation of Del Rosario’s appointment.

Following his ad interim appointment as DHSUD chief last January, Del Rosario’s confirmation came after four hearings of intense grilling before the CA panel, presided over by Tolentino.

Among the issues lawmakers asked him yesterday were his handling of the redevelopment of Marawi City since he is the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) chief; and super typhoon Yolanda when he was the director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Del Rosario, who once chaired the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said his confirmation will serve as a challenge for him to achieve the government goals in addressing the country’s housing needs.

Del Rosario thanked all CA members, particularly Tolentino, as well as President Duterte for trusting him to handle the housing portfolio that went on full operation only this year.

As housing czar, Del Rosario advocated close collaboration with partner-developers to ensure synchronized public and private efforts in the housing sector.

Currently, DHSUD is crafting a 20-year national housing roadmap to institutionalize pro-active measures.

Del Rosario is also the concurrent chairman of the TFBM, overseeing the massive rehabilitation efforts by 56 government implementing agencies in war-torn Marawi City.

In the course of CA deliberations, he vowed that the Islamic City will rise again before the term of Duterte ends in 2022.

Meanwhile, Del Rosario rallied all DHSUD personnel to join hands in pursuing the department’s mandate of providing sustainable, resilient and more affordable housing communities to Filipinos, especially the underprivileged.

“Let’s work together in further enhancing the housing sector, as well as in bringing significant change to the country’s urban development,” he said.

Sen. Cynthia Villar welcomed Del Rosario’s confirmation, echoing the statement of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, the leading organization of housing and real estate developers in the country.

Yolanda deaths

During the CA panel hearing, it was found that the question of how many people actually died from Yolanda’s onslaught on Nov. 8, 2013 remains debatable.

An Waray party-list Rep. Florencio Noel quizzed Del Rosario about the actual number of fatalities in the strongest typhoon to hit the country in recent memory.

Noel, who is from Leyte, said he was sure that over 20,000 individuals died in the devastation spawned through 171 municipalities, but the government’s death tally seemed to have stopped at 6,000.

He said he wanted Del Rosario to clarify the matter, being the director of the NDRRMC at the time of the tragedy.

“You tell me if it is true or not. You reportedly asked then (police) RD (regional director) to understate the number of deaths. That’s 20,000 I am sure because I was there, there were bodies along the road… I don’t know who gave the instructions to limit the number of deaths to 6,000. That’s why he was relieved. I want to know, is it true or not?” Noel asked.

Del Rosario denied he issued instructions to downgrade the statistics and maintained that the number of fatalities they reported was validated by authorities in the barangay, municipality, provincial and regional levels.

“Mr. Chairman, your honors, I can say it straight to anyone’s eyes there was no instruction to downgrade the number of deaths. If I remember it right, 7,500 and this is based on the validation on the ground, by the LGUs (local government units) from barangays to the municipality, submitted to the province and then the region. And that’s the one that we will have a tally of – the final tally of the missing and the dead,” Del Rosario told CA members.

While Del Rosario swore the figure was accurate, Noel still disagreed, saying the number of deaths could not be lower than 10,000.