The government has relocated more than 800 families in less than a month after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered providing Typhoon Yolanda-affected families decent homes, a Palace official said.

In a press briefing in Malacanan on Tuesday, Dec. 6 Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said that based on the report the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, the government has successfully relocated 827 Yolanda families out of 911 that was ruffled to their new homes as of December 3, 2016.

This is done just 26 days after President Duterte issued an instruction to relocate the beneficiaries to their new homes.

“OPAV expects more families to be relocated to their new homes before Christmas as soon as other relocation sites are ready complete with electrical connection and potable water supply,” Abella said quoting Dino.

Also, Abella said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III presented last night, during the Cabinet meeting, the proposal to acquire Postbank and convert it into an OFW or a workers’ bank.

“And this particular move is an undertaking to show appreciation for the OFWs as our modern-day heroes,” he said.

Remittances account for 9.8 of gross domestic product and 8.3 of gross national income. Therefore, there’s a need now for a more specialized financial institution for OFWs to cater to their needs and aspirations, Abella added.

The Palace spokesman also mentioned the announcement of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar the construction of a pedestrian bridge directly connecting Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 with Newport City which is on track and due to open on the first half of 2017.

Once completed, the runway will allow the average person to walk the distance between the airport and Newport City in approximately three minutes. It will be an enclosed air-conditioned bridge with PWD-friendly facilities such as moving walkways and elevators.

Also during the same press briefing, Abella mentioned Coca-Cola Philippines’s plans to invest $1 billion more in the Philippines in the next few years.

The plan comes on the back of the $1.4 billion that Coca-Cola has already invested in the country between 2010 and 2014, he said.

The efforts include adding two new bottling lines to its Misamis Oriental plant, the rebuilding of its Tacloban plant, and the purchase of a manufacturing facility in Davao del Sur from San Miguel Corp., which speaks of a positive outlook in terms of economics in the Philippines.

On social welfare, Abella mentioned the President’s pledge to give half of the Php 5 billion he received from PAGCOR to DSWD and to Department of Health, intended to fund medical needs of poor Filipinos.

“It’s the President’s intention, it’s of improving the wellbeing of the nation and this is actually part of, in a sense, an expression of his campaign promises,” Abella said.###PND