CEBU, Philippines — A socialized housing project will soon rise in the municipality of Minglanilla for Capitol employees and the town’s public school teachers to gain affordable and decent housing.
A memorandum of agreement was recently signed between Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario, with Minglanilla Mayor Elanito Peña and officials from 77 Living Spaces, Inc. as the other signatories.
The 77 Living Spaces, Inc. is the private developer that will develop the seven-hectare land owned by the provincial government in Barangay Tunghaan, Minglanilla, Cebu.
Around 992 socialized housing units are expected to be built in the area.
Garcia shared the news with the residents of Minglanilla and thanked DHSUD, Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) also known as Pag-IBIG Fund, the developer, the local government unit and other agencies for cooperating and supporting this humanitarian project.
Secretary Del Rosario thanked the provincial government of Cebu for the partnership and added that the project is in compliance with the directive to build affordable, livable and decent housing communities for the general public.
As soon as the housing units arise in the area, qualified public school teachers and Capitol employees can acquire a unit via the Pag-IBIG housing loan.
Bridges for farmers
Meanwhile, farmer-beneficiaries in Cebu Province are recipients of two bridge projects with a total cost of P57.6 million, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said.
The bridge projects are implemented under the “Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo Project.” The two bridges cost P28.8 million each, both with a length of 28.80-linear meters.
In particular, the bridge projects will serve the purposes of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the towns of Aloguinsan and Balamban town in Cebu.
The bridge in Aloguinsan is located in Barangay Bojo connecting the barangays of Poblacion, Kantabugon and Olango, while the other bridge in Balamban is situated in Barangay Hingatmonan connecting the barangays of Tag-amakan, Tagbubunga, Ubogon, Liki and Kabagdan.
DAR Secretary John Castriciones said these bridges would eliminate the trouble of the farmers in transporting their agricultural products to various markets and trade centers during the rainy season.
“I learned that they have difficulties travelling to other barangays when the road is muddy and they need to wait for the mud to harden so that they can pass by or they need to travel in a longer route which would involve a more expensive transportation expense. Providing them with these infrastructure projects is very timely,” Castriciones said.
DAR-Central Visayas regional director Resty Osias said the ARBs are very excited to use the bridges because aside from quicker access to markets, the cost of transportation expenses would also become cheaper. — Dheif Daniel Yunting, USC Comm Intern with Philippine Star News Service, GMR (FREEMAN)