CABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. has ordered the Key Shelter Agencies to find a way to use their budgets to help the women and children in Marawi’s evacuation centers.
In a special meeting on June 21, Evasco convened the housing agencies under the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council to initiate talks on the government’s reconstruction efforts in Marawi, which was recently devastated by the fighting between the terrorist Maute group and government forces.
It was agreed in the meeting that the rebuilding of the homes and structures in the city would take time, and it was also agreed that the Shelter Agencies would take the initial steps to ease the plight of the Marawi residents living in the evacuation centers.
To achieve that, the funds allocated for Gender and Development from each agency will be used to address the particular needs of the women affected by the conflict.
Republic Act 9710, also known as the Magna Carta for Women, mandates government agencies to allot at least 5fivepercent of their total budget for Gender and Development or GAD programs addressing gender issues and concerns.
Evasco ordered the Key Shelter Agencies to find a way to reallocate up to half of their GAD budgets and all the remaining unused GAD funds from the previous years to provide for the particular needs of the women in the evacuation centers.
The Key Shelter Agencies under HUDCC include the National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-Ibig Fund, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, Home Guarantee Corp. and the National Home Mortgage Corp.
Evasco expressed hope that the other agencies would take the initiative to find ways of using resources to help those affected by the conflict in Marawi.