Firm turns over home for Mandaue kids

CEBU, Philippines – Children in contact with the law (CICL) in Mandaue City can now have their own permanent home after the PLD Construction has turned over to the city government yesterday the P21 million-worth building which will serve as their new home.

Peter Dy, owner of PLD Construction, turned over the key of the Hope of Mandaue Enhance (HOPE) Center to Mayor Jonas Cortes, Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede, Councilors Jimmy Lumapas and Diosdado Suico, First Lady Sarah Walker-Cortes, who is chairman of the Mandaue City Council for the Protection of Children, and the rest of the city officials during the blessing and turnover ceremony yesterday.

Walker-Cortes during yesterday's activity said the wellness facility was put up because when Cortes first became mayor in 2004, two months after his reign, she was asked by her husband to chair the MCCPC which she also accepted.

When she became chairman of the council, she then noticed that Mandaue City has no facility for the children in contact with the law and those abandoned and neglected.

Some of these children are even brought to Cebu City because there is no facility that has been available for them in the city and this prompted her to decide then to construct a facility for them.

Walker-Cortes then made a research on how to put up a center and took some ideas from the other rehabilitation centers in Cebu City as she wanted them to feel at home and so that holistic approach can be taught to these children.

At present, the home center lies in a 1.2-hectare lot in Sitio Dungguan in Barangay Basak, Mandaue City.

Aside from the buildings being constructed, it is also equipped with a mini-park donated by the Taga-Mandaue Inc., a non-government organization.

A present, the P21 million building is just one of the three buildings to be constructed in the area.

To be constructed soon are Zone 1 and Zone 3 as the newly constructed building is the Zone 2.

Zone 2 can accommodate 60 to 80 persons while the Zone 1 which will be constructed soon and will be for abandoned and neglected children.

Zone 3 will be the livelihood area wherein a Material Recovery Facility and a pond will also be built.