City facility allows beneficiaries to make own housing materials

CEBU, Philippines- Beneficiaries of a socialized housing program of the Mandaue City government can now produce their own housing materials.

Mayor Jonas Cortes recently inaugurated a facility where the beneficiaries of the 6.5-hectare relocation site in Barangay Paknaan can manufacture Inter-blocking Compressed Earth blocks (ICEB).

With the new facility, beneficiaries themselves can now produce their own housing materials considering that ICEB is cheaper and more durable than hollow blocks, according to officials.

The facility is being run by the beneficiaries themselves after they availed of a P300,000 loan to acquire for the purchase of the machine that will be used to manufacture the ICEB.

The ICEB was first introduced to the beneficiaries by the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives.

Tonypet Juanico, head of the City Housing and Urban Development Office, is hopeful that all 1,200 beneficiaries will move to the relocation site before the year ends.

At present, about 400 families have built their homes in the area. Most of them are former residents living within the three-meter easement zones of both the Mahiga Creek and Butuanon River.

The Socialized Housing Finance Corporation provided funds to acquire the lot in Paknaan.

Under its community mortgage program, the beneficiaries will pay the SHFC a monthly mortgage for 25 years.

One of the requirements of the SHFC, Juanico said, is that at least 80 percent of all beneficiaries be transferred to the site by December.

With this, the city needs to fast-track the development of the site to entice other beneficiaries still currently living at the danger zones to start building their homes at the relocation site.

Meanwhile, after the turnover of the livelihood facility, Cortes also led the blessing last Monday morning of a P13 million bulldozer intended for the site development which is expected to be completed next year.