‘Pabahay’ for Cavite residents

ROSARIO, Cavite — Some 3,500 squatter families, who have illegally occupied portions of the abandoned Filoil refinery site in Rosario, Cavite, will soon become proud, self-reliant homeowners under President Arroyo’s "Pabahay" or socialized housing program.

Thelmo Cunanan, Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) president, said the project is a concrete response to and in keeping with the administration’s housing for poor and marginalized families and poverty alleviation programs.

Cunanan said the Filoil Management and Development Corp. (FMDC), the PNOC’s real estate arm, has allotted funds for the P100-million socialized housing project on what used to be the old Filoil refinery site in Rosario town.

He said the President will formally launch today the PNOC-Filoil housing project and a new municipal public market site for Rosario town, the lot of which the company is donating.