PBBM meets with DHSUD, GFI, bank execs

PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. Marcos on Wednesday hosted a dinner meeting with Housing Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar and officials of the government financial institutions (GFIs) and top banks in the country.

Marcos, in his official Facebook page, shared a photo of the meeting held at Malacañan Palace.

Malacañang has yet to release further details about the meeting.

The meeting was held the same day when representatives of the World Bank turned over the Framework for Resilient Housing and Shelter Programs in the Philippines to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development's (DHSUD) Public Housing and Settlements Service.

The framework aims to guide the harmonization and identification of housing strategies, programs and activities of national government agencies (NGAs), local government units (LGUs) and government partners from the disaster response to the rehabilitation and recovery phase, the DHSUD said in a separate Facebook post.

The scheme was crafted pursuant to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council's (NDRRMC) Resolution 10 drafted in 2021.

The NDRRMC's resolution designated the DHSUD as the lead for shelter and housing assistance programs during response, rehabilitation and recovery.

Present during the turnover were DHSUD Undersecretary Henry Yap; former World Bank Disaster Risk Management (DRM) expert and current Social Welfare Undersecretary for Special Concerns Vilma Cabrera; WB DRM senior specialists Atty. Lesley Cordero and Marilyn Tolosa-Martinez; and key project consultants Fides Borja, Bernice Soriano and Atty. Madeline Ong.

The DHSUD has vowed support on climate resilience efforts in the human settlements and urban development sector.

The DHSUD earlier held a meeting with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to assess the latter's Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) Project initiatives and preliminary report being implemented with assistance from the United States Agency for International Development.

The CRC Project involves the identification, design, implementation, adaptation and mitigation strategies using Nature Based Solutions framework.

To sustain collaboration, CRS requested DHSUD to be part of the Project's Steering Committee. (Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos)