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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Workers, studes complete phase 1 of GK settlement
After 10 Fridays and 12 Saturdays of construction work, about 250 employee-volunteers of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Smart Communications Inc. and partner schools have completed 22 houses for informal settlers at Silver Hills in Barangay Talamban, Cebu City.
The houses make up the first installment of the PLDT-SMART Amazing Gawad Kalinga Village. The project is implemented in partnership with Gawad Kalinga (GK) Foundation and the local government in Barangay Budlaan, Cebu City.
When completed, the village will have 100 houses that will be inhabited by homeless families who dwell in temporary shelters in Barangays Talamban and Mabolo.
Target date
“We hope to complete the 100 by December this year. We have completed 22, and more than 30 have been partially built,” said May Marie Nogra, head for Partnership Management Group of GK Cebu.
PLDT and Smart employee-volunteers and students of Smart partner schools—the University of Cebu and the Don Bosco Technology Center Inc.—commenced house building last March, working alongside beneficiaries.
“The PLDT Group, together with its employees, actively support Gawad Kalinga’s mission to build houses for the homeless.
We have adopted seven GK villages nationwide, and we hope that through our modest contribution, we are able to build not just homes, but also a better future with our less fortunate brothers and sisters through our various livelihood programs,” said PLDT president and Smart chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno.
The new PLDT-Smart Amazing GK Village is the fourth such settlement adopted by the PLDT Group.
Support
It is located on a 1.8-hectare land in Barangay Budlaan donated by the Cebu City Government through its housing program.
PLDT and Smart support Gawad Kalinga’s GK 777 project, which aims to build 700,000 houses for 7,000 communities by 2010. The Church-based foundation aims to achieve the goal through partnerships with private corporations, local government agencies and the national government.
The PLDT Group, through SMART, built its first Gawad Kalinga village - the Smart Amazing Village - in BASECO Compound in Tondo, Manila in 2004. The company provided funds for the construction of 100 houses while volunteer-employees helped build the houses. (PR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 21, 2006 issue)
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