Pasig City Mayor Vicente Eusebio would hand over the keys to the brand-new, row-house type units to recipient families at the Caliaug Housing Project in Barangay Pinagbuhatan at 4 p.m
Each unit has a total floor area of 24 square meters, with its own toilet and bath and wash area.
Majority of the beneficiaries are long-time informal settlers whose shanties were burned down during a big fire that hit Pasig months back.
Eusebio consoled the displaced families by offering to shoulder the construction of their new homes, which could not be easily burned.
"Shanties made of light materials are fire hazards and are easily destroyed. Since most of them cannot afford to finance their own homes, we came up with our own Pabahay program here in Pasig," said Eusebio.
The new homeowners thanked Eusebio for fulfilling their dreams of owning their own home.
They claimed that unlike other government housing programs wherein beneficiaries are relocated to areas far from their customary sources of livelihood, their new homes are situated very near the city center where the Mutya ng Pasig public market, City Hall, church and schools are located.
Aside from the Caliuag housing project, the local government has three other housing projects currently under construction. These are the 2.4 hectare housing project in Barangay Maybunga which will benefit at least 1,700 homeless and landless families, the one-hectare Santolan Socialized Row Houses to benefit 105 families, and the Eusebio Bayanihan Village, a three-story residential building which will house some 144 families.
Two other housing projects were completed several years ago.
The first was the Eusebio Bliss Village 1, also in Barangay Maybunga, with 14 four-story residential buildings housing the families of government employees, including teachers, policemen, and city government workers.
The second was the Eusebio Bliss Village 11 in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, consisting of a five-story residential building which houses urban poor families. — Non Alquitran