Taguig builds affordable family townhouse for poor

The Taguig City government said the recent influx of foreign nationals in the city was brought about by a new global trend in housing they have introduced including the building of Family Townhome units for the underprivileged.

Taguig City Mayor Sigfrido Tiñga said a myriad of students, businessmen, naval forces and dignitaries from different countries, armed not with their usual school, office and army stuff, but with house-building tools, arrived to help the city government in its housing projects.

He said the city is grateful to volunteers from all over the world who come to Taguig to help realize their vision of providing shelter for his constituents.

“This is more than what we have envisioned for the city. We are not only building homes for the poor to change the way people live, but we are also promoting friendship and cooperation among these foreign nationals. And for us, sharing the same vision and working together to attain it is what’s important,” Tiñga said.

On Sept. 25, foreign students from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia  wore hardhats and helped build units at the city government’s housing project with Habitat for Humanity at the Food Terminal Inc. compound. 

Even foreign students from the Univeristy of Myong-Ji in Seoul, Korea; the Lutherian School of Missionary in Australia; the Kandai University in Osaka and Kyoto University Foreign School both from Japan; and the University of Presbyterian Church in Seattle, Washington, have all endured the heat of the Philippine sun and immersed themselves in house-building work.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney also led naval forces from the USS Chung-Hoon and USS Milius in conducting volunteer work for a Taguig-Gawad Kalinga project in Pinagsama in Barangay Western Bicutan.

“Taguig is a great place, and the key, as the mayor tells me is to make progress reach everyone. We’re doing precisely that – helping fellow citizens and other people. Giving people, who are in need, a little bit of dignity and a better place to live in and we look forward to being partners in this mission,” Kenney said.

It was in August last year when the city government launched the Family Townhomes program. This public housing initiative has become a success since earning participation and partnership from housing advocates such as Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity and the Coalition for the Homeless Foundation.

Private partners such as the Rotary Club Makati-West, Poveda School, Fuji-Xerox Philippines, the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America, and the JG Summit Holdings, Rotary Club of Manila also extended their support to the project.

Foreign dignitaries Diana Negroponte, wife of former US Ambassador to the Philippines John Negroponte, also visited the country to help build homes for the Habitat for Humanity in Taguig.