President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday that Eastern Visayas has not fully recovered from the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda, which struck the country 12 years ago. 

In a media interview after the distribution of land titles in Tacloban City, Marcos attributed the slow progress to a lack of proper rehabilitation efforts by the Aquino and Duterte administrations.

"I can't say that we've fully recovered from Yolanda. With all those rehabilitation efforts, you know we only really started two years ago because nothing was done in the previous administration," Marcos said.

"Nothing was done in the administration before that, so 12 years on, we're only really addressing it properly now," Marcos added, as he mentioned that significant rehabilitation efforts only began two years ago.

Marcos then assured residents of Samar that the government is fast-tracking the rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway, a vital artery through the island, which was heavily damaged by the typhoon.

However, the President assured the public that a plan is in place and funding will be available to expedite repairs.

"The plan is there, we are... the funding is, will be available, whenever the schedule requires it," he stated.

Last March, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced an P8 billion budget allocated this year for the rehabilitation of the Maharlika Highway in Eastern Visayas.

This includes projects for Samar province, which has some of the most damaged sections of the highway.

Last year, Marcos urged Filipinos to remember the victims of Yolanda who remain unaccounted for.

He attended a mass and ceremony at Tacloban's seaside convention center, where many sought refuge when Yolanda struck on 8 November 2013. 

Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) resulted in over 7,000 deaths or disappearances and impacted more than 16 million people, or 3 million families, across the nation.

In 2016, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed disapproval of the government's efforts to provide shelter and other forms of rehabilitation for those who survived the 2013 super typhoon Yolanda.

"Three years later, only a few people are living in the bunkhouses? It’s BS to me. I am not satisfied. Three years, and hardly anyone has moved in," Duterte said during the a mass grave for victims of Yolanda in Tacloban City,

"If those houses are not finished by next month, just turn them into a crematorium," the President later said in jest.

After that, Duterte expressed regret for the long wait.

He assigned former Vice President Leni Robredo -- who briefly served in the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council from July to December 2016 -- and former Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Diño to do the job of expediting the housing projects.