CSFI builds center for streetkids in Tarlac

TARLAC CITY — Mrs. Gina de Venecia, wife of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., led members of the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc. (CSFI) in the groundbreaking of a temporary shelter for Central Luzon streetchildren here yesterday.

Joining Mrs. De Venecia and the Speaker in the ceremonies held at the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Lingap Center-Home for the Boys compound in upland Barangay San Juan de Mata were former President Corazon Aquino, her only son Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman and the CSFI officers.

The shelter will be built on the one-hectare lot donated by the late Antonio Cervantes Sr., father of city councilor Antonio "Tony Boy" Cervantes Jr., to the Tarlac People’s Economic Council (TPEC).

The DSWD Lingap Center-Home for the Boys is also located in the area.

Mrs. De Venecia said the project, called Haven for Children-Regional Center for Streetchildren, is meant "to give (the streetchildren) a semblance of home."

She said the project was hatched with the help of Rep. Aquino, who introduced her to businessman Patrick Pineda, TPEC president.

A memorandum of agreement for the project was also signed during the ceremonies by Mrs. De Venecia, Soliman and Pineda, while copies of the building plans were buried in a time capsule at the construction site.

Mrs. De Venecia said the Tarlac center is one of the first five regional centers which the CSFI is sponsoring across the country. The other four are in the cities of Dagupan, Davao and Naga and in Solana, Cagayan.