MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Malacañang on Saturday, August 1, admitted there have been delays in government’s rebuilding efforts for internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) which barreled through the Visayas in 2013.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said that President Benigno Aquino III himself is monitoring government’s progress on Yolanda efforts.

“Ang sinasabi nga niya, marami tayong ginagawa na dapat tapos na kahapon – meaning, it should have been done yesterday; meaning, [as soon as possible] po ‘yan,” she said in an interview on state-run dzRB.

(What the President said was, we’re doing a lot of things today that should’ve already been done yesterday; that means they should be done as soon as possible.)

Malacañang is reacting to observations of Chaloka Beyani, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who recently visited the country to check on the government’s handling of people displaced by Yolanda and by fighting between the military and Muslim rebels in the south.

“While the government is to be commended in terms of its immediate responses, its attention to ensuring sustainable durable solutions for IDPs remains inadequate to date,” Beyani said in a statement posted on the UN website. (READ: PH’s Yolanda rebuilding ‘inadequate’ – UN)

Valte on Saturday echoed what Aquino also said in his last State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27: that the government needs to do more after Yolanda.

“Oho, marami pa ho talaga tayong kailangang gawin para doon sa ating mga kababayang nasalanta ng bagyong Yolanda, and of course it’s a big task,” she said. (Yes, we really need to do more for Filipinos affected by Yolanda, and of course it’s a big task.)

But she thanked Beyani for “recognizing the efforts of government when it comes to caring for internally displaced persons.”

Further action

On Sunday, August 2, Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the government was not merely trying to find new housing for those displaced by the storm, which was the most powerful ever recorded to have hit land, but was also trying to ensure they would be relocated to safer ground.

“This is our commitment: the government will continue its effort to help these internally displaced persons, particularly regarding setting up permanent, safe and decent housing,” he told reporters.

“Additionally, we hope to help them find suitable livelihood and jobs so they can further recover from the calamity,” Coloma added.

Coloma said that in the 2016 budget, the government had allocated more money to setting up new communities for those affected by Haiyan as well as those displaced by fighting with Muslim rebels in the south.

He did not specify how much money was going to victims of Haiyan.

President Benigno Aquino has budgeted P160 billion ($3.6 billion) to rebuild after Haiyan, considered as one of the major tests of his six-year term that will end in June next year.

It has been exactly a year since the Philippines completed on August 1, 2014 the P170.7-billion ($3.75 billion)* master rehabilitation plan for areas hit by Yolanda. Aquino only approved the plan almost 3 months after, on October 29, 2014.

Until now, more than a year after the typhoon killed thousands, roughly 2,000 families remain in bunkhouses and temporary homes according to the government. – with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

*US$1 = P45.57