MISLEADING: P800,000 Yolanda vs P200,000 Marawi shelters

(UPDATED)

Claim: Each of the temporary bunkhouses for typhoon Yolanda victims cost P800,000 as opposed to the temporary shelters for Marawi residents which cost P200,000.

The state-run People’s Television Network (PTV) made the claim in their October 20, 2017 report comparing the two housing projects as reported by Erwin Tulfo. It had at least 32,000 views on YouTube.

The video was re-uploaded by Facebook page “Thinking Minds” on October 21, 2017. It garnered at least 48,000 reactions, 2,000 comments, and 54,000 shares.

The video was enqueued by Facebook’s Claim Check dashboard on November 20 at 9:37 AM meaning the 2017 video was being reshared recently.

Rating: MIXED

The facts: The Yolanda housing is divided into 12 units making it cheaper than the Marawi housing.

Erwin Tulfo misleadingly compared the total cost of Yolanda bunkhouses, which are divided into 12 units each, with cost per Marawi housing unit, which are standalone.

The total cost of each Yolanda bunkhouse is P836,017.00. Since each bunkhouse has 12 units, this places per unit cost at approximately P69,668. The total cost comes from a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) report dated January 27, 2014.

In September 2017, congressmen said that the materials used for the Yolanda housing site were substandard. 

During his visit to the housing site in Brgy. Sagonsongan, Marawi City on October 26, 2017, Housing Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said that the “pre-fabricated houses” cost P160,000 while the “local government unit (LGU) model houses” cost P130,000.*

Erwin Tulfo did not mention which type of housing unit he was referring to in the PTV report but said that each unit costs P160,000. 

He said that each unit has a floor area of 22 square meters. This number appears to be consistent with a related report from Philippine Information Agency. 

HUDCC’s website, however, indicated that the LGU-Marawi model has a floor area of 24 square meters and the pre-fabricated housing prototype proposed by NHA has a floor area of 26 square meters.

Meanwhile, in the title of their video, the page Thinking Minds also said the cost of a single unit for Marawi residents is P200,000, or P40,000 higher than what Erwin Tulfo said in the video.** 

The table below compares the temporary shelters for typhoon Yolanda and Marawi siege victims.

	Yolanda housing	Marawi housing*
Location	Municipalities of Hernani and Quinapondan, Eastern Samar	Brgy. Sagonsongan, Marawi
Cost	P836,017/bunkhouse consisting of 12 units	P130,000/unit for the “LGU model house” P160,000/unit for the “pre-fabricated house”
Floor area	17.28 square meters/unit	22 square meters/unit (according to PIA) 24 square meters housing design proposed by the LGU-Marawi (according to HUDDC) 26 square meters pre-fabricated housing prototype proposed by NHA (according to HUDDC)
Material	“1/4-inch plywood walls, roofs with two slopes.”	“Fiber cement board supported by steel frames will make up the walls and a pre-painted roof will be used.”

Rappler has previously checked claims related to the post-typhoon Yolanda and post-Marawi siege housing projects.

• HOAX: ‘Ex-LP congressman buys posh Alabang home post-Yolanda’

• HOAX: Photo of houses in ‘Marawi rehabilitation project’

• HOAX: Photo of Marawi housing projects

• HOAX: ‘Yolanda rehabilitation funds used by dilawans – UN’

• HOAX: Angat Buhay houses in Marawi have no water and power supply

— Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

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Editor’s Note:
*An earlier version of this fact check failed to say there are two types of Marawi temporary shelters, with different dimensions and prices. 
**We also incorrectly said that the price per unit cost cited by ThinkingMinds is P70,000 higher than the amount cited by Mr Tulfo. The corrections have been made.