Previously homeless families dwelling in calamity danger zones and squatter areas are now afforded with homes to call their own in a hilly resettlement site at barangay Spring, Alabel, Sarangani province.
Spring Hill Village, overlooking Sarangani Bay, will provide homes for fifty-two families, some of them displaced by the flashflood of 2008, in a turnover ceremony last February 4. A total of 107 units will be constructed there.
Vice- Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon said this is a joint project of the municipal government of Alabel, the provincial government, department of social welfare and development (DSWD) Region 12 and the province of Albay purposely “to move these families out from high-risk areas into safer homes.”
Solon said Albay’s support for Sarangani shows their concern, hoping that Sarangani won’t experience what had been experienced in Albay.
Rogelio Claro, 67, said his family, along with his six children, will no longer worry about storms now that they already have a permanent house “made of concrete”. Claro and several other squatter families lived shanties for about 15 years.
The municipal government purchased the resettlement site for P2.3 million.
The municipality of Alabel and Albay province earmarked a P900,000 fund for the site development while the Sarangani provincial government will donate a water system.
According to DSWD central office project officer Rey Martija, the local government augmented P15,000 for every P50,000 subsidized by DSWD for each of the 107 housing units.
The resettlement project will cost a total of P5.3 million and complies with the requirements of a moderate shelter assistance project.
Through he bayanihan system, Martija said the stewardship scheme for the project implementation have motivated homeowners because they have shared responsibilities in building their own houses.
Solon said requiring the stewards to work as their counterpart would instill in them a “sense of ownership”.
Claro said they only have to work thrice a week until they complete the 86-day requirement as estimated in the program of work.
“Like other resettlement sites in Sarangani, stewards are encouraged to develop their houses within five years after being awarded,” provincial social welfare and development officer Hermelo Latoja said.
“This is a good venue for these families to start a community,” Solon said, “which through teamwork they can develop later.” Solon promised to donate P50,000 for a day care and multi-purpose center the homeowners can start with.
Mayor Corazon Grafilo enjoined them to cooperate in development and to live peacefully and make it a model community.
The local government and DSWD had also turned-over to homeowners the Juanicoville resettlement site in Malapatan last month. (Beverly Paoyon/Sarangani Information Office)
