Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Capitol won’t uproot squatters: guv
GOV. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday reiterated her intention to repossess Province-owned lots in Cebu City. However, informal settlers who will be affected will be given a better way of life in areas where congestion is not a problem.
This was her statement yesterday during the groundbreaking ceremony of the biggest Gawad Kalinga village in Cebu, which is being built in Barangay Tungha-an, Minglanilla.
Garcia clarified, however, that it is not a policy of the Provincial Government to “uproot informal settlers like weeds thrown away in some garbage dump.”
“We look for a way to address these issues—recovering these properties and at the same time endeavoring to give our brothers and sisters a much better life than they have ever known in the congested city that they now live in,” Garcia told the audience, including some of the beneficiaries of the village known as Sugbo GK village.
It is the most beautiful GK village in the country, said Tony Meloto, who conceptualized GK, which aims to build 700,000 houses in 7,000 communities in the country in seven years, starting in 2003.
Meloto was awed by the area, which is atop a hill and provides a view of the sea and mountains.
“This is the most beautiful GK village in the country and its sustainability is due to the convergence and synergy of concerned groups,” said Meloto.
The village is a partnership between the Provincial Government and GK, a branch of the Catholic Church-based organization Couples for Christ. Lexmark International Philippines Inc. also offered its hand in the building of houses in the GK village. The company promised to build 300 houses in a year. Lexmark was represented by research and development president and chief executive officer Stan Combs and general manager Mark Van Dyke.
AboitizLand, represented by its president Andoni Aboitiz, also turned over yesterday a P8.2-million drainage system in the area.
The 9.4-hectare GK village will be home to at least 700 families. (JGA)
