Panay rehab to start next week- Roxas

The rehabilitation of Panay island damaged by typhoon "Yolanda" is expected to start next week, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas has said.

Roxas was in Kalibo on Tuesday together with Secretaries Corazon Soliman of social welfare and Voltaire Gazmin of defense.

While here, the officials met with the local chief executives of both Aklan and Antique to discuss the damages and how will the government plan to respond.

Roxas said that both Aklan and Antique shared their sentiments that they need both shelters and livelihood to recover from the onslaught of the strong typhoon.

"The DSWD are now finalizing the lists of those affected residents in Panay.We hope the DSWD could present the final lists to the cabinet meeting next week for approval. The government plans to allocate P130 billion for the rehabilitation plan," said Roxas.

"As soon as the final lists of those affected residents is ready, we will be giving the lists of those victims who suffered partial and total house damages to the Department of Public Works and Highways as they will be in charge of the reconstruction phase," said Roxas.

The DPWH will evaluate if the affected residents would be given a kit which contained housing construction materials or a housing project is needed.

"If everything goes to what is planned we expect to deliver the construction materials for the victims next week," said Roxas.