P18-M allotted for Aetas’ homes

CAPAS, Tarlac - President Arroyo has ordered the release of some P18 million from the presidential fund for the repair of the deteriorating dwellings of some 700 Aeta families at the Kalangitan resettlement which she visited here last Thursday.

The President motored to the barangay some 30 minutes of rough dirt roads from the MacArthur Highway and conducted a one-hour dialogue with the local folk.

The President also instructed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to immediately look into the request of Aeta leaders for the improvement of their roads and the repair of two damaged bridges.

The 700-hectare Kalangitan resettlement houses local residents, mostly Aetas, who were displaced by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

The government gave the beneficiaries building materials for them to build their homes bayanihan-style, but the houses have deteriorated.

The President directed the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to immediately study the proposal of the Aetas for the issuance of a claim of ancestral domain certificate (CADC) covering 18,000 hectares here. — Ding Cervantes, Benjie Villa