5,000 Pinatubo evacuees awarded houses and lots

Some 5,000 families displaced by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 will celebrate tomorrow a "victory party" after the Mt. Pinatubo Commission (MPC) recently awarded them new houses and lots in various resettlement areas in Central Luzon.

Robert Miranda, president of the Cabcom Madapdap Evacuees Association, said a thanksgiving and victory Mass will be held at the Barangay Pandakaki resettlement site in Mexico, Pampanga at about 5 p.m.

He said they want to celebrate their "victory" after the government finally awarded them, after nine years of sacrifice in various evacuation centers and bunkhouses, their own permanent homes.

Miranda hailed Chief Superintendent Thompson Lantion, former Region 3 police director and Task Force Kaligtasan chief in Region 3, and Pampanga Gov. Lito Lapid who jointly exerted their efforts to save at least 25,000 families at the height of the Pinatubo eruption and lahar devastation in Pampanga, particularly in Bacolor town, and in some areas of Zambales and Tarlac.

The 5,000 families, who were given their own houses and lots, also thanked Manila Bulletin reporter Franco Regala, the adviser of their group, for his significant contribution which sped up the awarding of their houses, through the efforts of Lapid, Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and late MPC chief and journalist Art Sampang.