GMA awards housing rights to Cavite factory workers

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has redeemed her promise to personally award the Certificates of Occupancy and keys of socialized house and lot packages to an initial 141 low-income families occupying portions of the abandoned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) oil refinery in Rosario, Cavite under the ‘GMA Abot-Kayang Pabahay at Palupa’ housing project.

Developed by the PNOC (formerly Filoil) Development and Management Corp. which owns the land, the ‘GMA Abot-Kayang Pabahay at Palupa’ housing project is located on a one-hectare plot of land in Rosario, Cavite.

Under the project, the PNOC will build 500 off-site socialized housing units, which will be raffled off and awarded to qualified beneficiaries. The remaining 359 units are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2004.

Beneficiaries of the project are sharers and renters living within the property, most of whom are employed as factory workers at the Cavite Economic Processing Zone Authority (CEPZA).

Each housing unit measures 30 sq.m. which can be amortized monthly at less than P1,000 payable in 25 years.

About 3,000 on-site informal dweller-families were also given the opportunity by the government to purchase the lots they are presently occupying at a monthly amortization of P500.

"This is in line with our continuing efforts to give land security to our informal settlers especially those living in idle government lands," said Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman (HUDCC) Mikee Defensor.

It took the PNOC about a year to make the former wasteland habitable and accessible, with five meter-wide roads and green and open spaces for leisure activities.

Located near a church, elementary school and town center, the project is a complete community with electricity, potable water and covered drainage and solid waste disposal systems.

In December 2001, the President, through Executive Order 59, has authorized the PNOC "to segregate and dispose its properties in Rosario and Noveleta, Cavite to its bonafide occupants."

As of December 2002, the Arroyo government has proclaimed more than 21,285.4 hectares of land for housing purposes which have benefited 210,230 poor families around the country.

HUDCC Chairman Mike Defensor, Energy Secretary Vincent Perez Jr., PNOC Chairman Thelmo Cunanan, Rep. Plaridel Abaya (1st District Cavite), Cavite Governor Ayong Maliksi, Rosario Cavite Mayor Renato Abutan, and Noveleta Cavite Mayor Dionisio Torres joined the President during the awarding rites.