BANI, Pangasinan, Philippines – President Aquino is scheduled to inaugurate a core shelter project, comprising 100 yellow-painted houses built on the mountain slopes of Barangay Dacap Sur here, on Tuesday.
It will be Aquino’s first official visit to Pangasinan after winning the elections last May.
The new village called “Burubor ni Ayat (Fountain of Love)” was realized through the joint efforts and resources of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the municipal government, the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) and the 600 beneficiaries who contributed “sweat equity” to the shelter project.
The beneficiaries were victims of typhoon “Emong,” which devastated the province in May 2009.
The DSWD provided P7 million for the project and another P1.8 million for the cash-for-work program, while the municipal government provided the five-hectare lot, including site development.
The UNWFP, for its part, took care of the food-for-work through rice allocation amounting to P2.1 million, said DSWD regional director Leonardo Reynoso.
“We showed here how the bayanihan spirit could work wonders, overcoming even the toughest storms because indeed nothing is impossible when the people are together,” Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. told The STAR.
Aside from the 100 finished houses, 30 more units will be built for the other beneficiaries, he said.