DSWD builds core shelters for Juban and Pto. Diaz villagers

Legazpi City (14 August) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has earmarked P7 million for the construction of 100 housing units under the government’s core shelter program implemented nationwide for homeless families.

Maria Theresa Guab-Fragata, town mayor of Juban, Sorsogon, said the construction is in full swing and the beneficiaries themselves, through the bayanihan system, are building the housing units

Fragata said the municipal government provides a food-for-work assistance for the workers and their families.

The project was realized through the coordination of the local government with the DSWD that is tasked by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to undertake a massive program towards providing housing units for thousands of poor homeless families nationwide, Fragata said.

The beneficiaries in the locality were identified by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) through thorough evaluation and screening, she said.

Most of the identified beneficiaries were families from coastal barangays of the municipality who rely mainly on fishing for their livelihood. These families live in makeshift shanties along the coastlines that expose them to extreme hazards during typhoons, she said.

“Relocating these families from the shorelines where their lives and properties are at risk and providing them with decent homes in safer areas is the primary objective of this housing program we owe to President Arroyo,” Fragata said.

Earlier, the DSWD had also started building 100 core shelter units for homeless families in the coastal town of Prieto Diaz located at the eastern tip of the province of Sorsogon.

Benito Doma, Prieto Diaz town mayor, said 100 families belonging to the poorest-of-the-poor in the municipality were chosen as beneficiaries of the project also being built in barangay Talisayan through bayanihan system.

The project was realized under a memorandum of agreement entered into between the municipal government and the DSWD.

As its counterpart, the local government of Prieto Diaz provided a two-hectare lot as project site while the DSWD shouldered the cost of construction and building materials, Doma said. (DSWD V/PIA)