DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The Bajumpandan Barangay Council has been appealing to the city government and the Negros Oriental 2 Electric Cooperative to hasten the long-delayed energization of at least two low-cost housing projects in that outskirts village.
Councilman Juancho Gallarde of Bajumpandan, also a mediaman of a local cable television station and The Freeman newspaper, said the Barangay Council already approved a resolution asking the city and NORECO 2 to give attention to the problem.
Until today, Phases I and II of the Caritas Village Shelter and the Core Shelter housing sites in the barangay are without power connection to the houses, except for the street lights that were erected a few years back when the projects were completed.
It would cost an estimated P1.2 million for a secondary power line that would supply electricity to the individual consumers at these sites, Gallarde said, adding that a number of follow-ups done on the matter only showed that the city government and NORECO 2 have no money for the connections, and that residents can apply for their respective lines.
Just recently, the Caritas Village Shelter residents were beneficiaries of solar-powered lights donated by Watts of Love, an international non-profit organization working to restore communities affected by disasters.
The Caritas Village Shelter is a joint project of the Dumaguete City government, who donated the lots, and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, the Diocese of Dumaguete and its Social Action Center, and Caritas International and Caritas Philippines, to provide housing units to families displaced by typhoon Sendong in late 2011.
The Core Shelter, meanwhile, was built through the National Housing Authority and the DSWD, also for Sendong victims. — (FREEMAN)