Duterte OKs AFP, PNP housing units to be used by Taal-displaced families

February 5, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the request of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development ( DHSUD)  to provide the housing units supposedly for the military and police to the families displaced by the eruption of Taal Volcano.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, quoting Secretary Eduardo del Rosario of DHSUD, said that 5,000 to 6,000 households stand to be evacuated from a radius of seven kilometers from the volcano, with the island of Taal itself housing 2,000 families.

The National Housing Authority has previously allotted a total of 5,448 housing units in favor of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police which are spread out in Batangas, Laguna, Cavite and Quezon, he said. 

"The President approved the request of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development to offer these housing units as a grant to the displaced families instead and commended such act of generosity," Panelo said.

Taal Volcano made phreatic explosions on January 12, displacing thousands of families.

State volcanologists recently lowered the alert status of the volcano from Alert Level 4 to 3 and allowed thousands of families living within the 14-kilometer danger zone of Taal, except those within the seven-kilometer danger zone, to return to their homes. Celerina Monte/DMS