News Feature: Public-private partnership brings new life for the homeless

By Benjamin Moses M. Ebreo

Monday 16th of July 2012

DUPAX DEL NORTE, Nueva Vizcaya, July 16 (PIA) -- It was supposed to be used as a cemetery, but the donated land ended up as a community for the living instead, as a way to start lives anew.

“The area was actually donated by Representative Carlos Padilla for the local government unit which has been initially offered as an area for a cemetery for the tribal residents here,” said vice mayor Victoriano Prado.

He said that the practice among the indigenous Kalanguya tribe of burying their dead within their homes prompted local officials to look for another purpose for this donated land.

For many years, the area has not been developed until TV 5 Network spotted the place as an ideal site for their Extreme Home Makeover Edition.

Prado said that due to the urgency of a needed site for their TV network’s program, they gladly offered the lot in Barangay Macabenga and started to make ground improvements in coordination with the Gawad Kalinga (GK) movement in the province and other civic-oriented organizations.

He said it took them four months to fully develop the place in order to suit the requirements of the network. At least 28 housing units were turned over to the homeless and poor villagers in Barangay Macabenga.

The initial 10 units of houses were funded by the provincial government, amounting to more than P1 million, while the 18 housing units were constructed solely by the TV 5 Network.

The TV network also improved the design of the provincial government-funded housing units, Prado said.

“It was a new life for us after living in every nook and corner of the municipality. We are very grateful for this,” said 35-year-old Algin Abag, one of the 28 families who were recipients of housing units donated by the provincial government and the network.

For Camilo Balancia, 64, and a father of five, the free housing unit was a gift to their prayers.

He said he can now be comforted with the simple housing unit for his family in order to start a new life.

The GK Aluyon village consists of bungalow-type, fully painted housing units, complete with tiled floor, beds, comfort room, dining tables, chairs and other facilities, funded under TV 5’s Extreme Home Makeover project, hosted by Paulo Bediones.

The beneficiaries were those displaced by the construction of the Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet in the 1970s and eventually settled in the province in the 1960s.

“This is a true sign of independence because our homeless constituents are now free from the shackles of poverty and misery. We are very grateful with this project and those who made this a reality,” said Mayor Clarita Egmin-Epi.

The housing project was also powered by electricity and will be provided by potable water coming from a reservoir.

The beneficiaries, identified as the poorest of the poor based on the National Household Targetting System of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, were re-evaluated and visited by personnel from the TV 5 network, Epi added.

Wilfred Ross Delizo, GK coordinator for northeast Luzon, said they will also infuse their human and livelihood development programs such as child and youth development, community building, environment, food sufficiency, health, infrastructure and the establishment of a center for social innovation to ensure and sustain their economic and social development.

“Based on rough estimates, at least more than P4 million was spent for the construction and upgrading of houses in the Aluyon GK Village. This was a true result of public-private partnership at work,” Delizo said. (BME/PIA 2, Nueva Vizcaya)