Luli, Mike Arroyo build houses for poor

While the President took time out to rest, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and daughter Lourdes Evangeline or Luli helped build houses for poor families in San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City yesterday morning.

Mr. Arroyo and Luli initially put the finishing touches to the house of Julian and Editha Torres, who sell newspapers for a living. The First Gentleman and Luli painted the house’s walls bright yellow before mixing cement and arranging hollow blocks to put together another house for Lilia Natapang in Barangay Kaingin, Don Manuel Bali-ngasa.

The renovation and construction of houses by the First Gentleman and Luli were part of the Couples for Christ (CFC) Gawad Kali-nga program, patterned after the international Habitat for Humanity housing projects to provide decent shelter for the poor.

CFC conducted yesterday the simultaneous construction of 1,000 houses in 150 sites nationwide, including Don Manuel, Arkong Bato in Pasig City, and Payatas 13, Amparo Village and Prayer Mountain in Antipolo City.

CFC aims to build 3,000 houses by yearend.

"The work is not about dole-outs or charity, but stewardship. It is about uplifting the dignity of the poor by building their capacity to respond to the opportunities and enabling them to reach their highest potential," CFC said in a statement.

Gawad Kalinga is a people-empowering activity that aims to build integrated, holistic, and sustainable communities by focusing primarily on depressed areas throughout the Philippines.

Gawad Kalinga program development head Ysa Cuevas said the program aims to help the poorest of the poor communities in the country. Cuevas said the selection of project areas was made based on a survey conducted by CFC.

Cuevas said the renovation and construction of houses is cost-free, as beneficiaries do not shell out money to buy the materials for the renovation or construction.

However, she said that the beneficiaries must help in building the house of their neighbor, as a manner of payment, or what they call "sweat equity."

Cuevas noted that the project of CFC is being undertaken within communities, which areas were already awarded to the people or in the process of titling.

Natapang, a widow whose son is jobless, said that they have to pay P30,000 for the lot their home stands on. She said the government, through certain banks, will collect P240 a month for the land. Barangay Kaingin, Don Manuel Balingasa is already up for titling.

"The payment (for the lot), I think, is okay. So long as I now have a place, a concrete house, that’s already fine," Natapang said in Filipino.

After the building of houses, Barangay Kaingin construction manager Warren Isaguirre said CFC will initiate education programs for the children in the area, as well as livelihood programs for adults and values education for the entire community.

In February, CFC, through its youth arm Singles for Christ, built 16 houses on a donated 1,000 square-meter lot in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. A total of eight duplexes were built, with each house designed for a 20 square-meter area complete with living room, bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and toilet, and complete with electricity and running water and a landscaped pocket garden.

For this, Mrs. Arroyo granted CFC some P30 million, which the Catholic family renewal group will match with P60 million from its own resource network. – Katherine Adraneda