Sunday, July 20, 2008
'Sweat equity', volunteers save Talisay folk from homelessness
By Garry Cabotaje
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
CARMEN Mabala, a 61-year-old widow, and her two sons never imagined they would own a house they paid for using “sweat equity.”
The Mabala family used to pay P600 monthly for the house they rented in Barangay Cansojong, Talisay City, after their home was demolished in 1994.
Now, they don’t have to bear with a monthly rent, thanks to the Gawad Kalinga (GK) housing project for the poor.
“I’m glad that we finally have a house that we can call home. We are secure here and I thank God and Gawad Kalinga for this,” Mabala, a barangay health worker, said.
The Mabalas are among the first batch of 17 families who have availed themselves of the low-cost housing project that stands on an 8,000-square-meter (sq.m.) resettlement site near the Mananga riverbank in Barangay Lawaan 2, Talisay City.
Apart from passing rigid screening, the beneficiaries must render “sweat equity” or 2,500 hours of work at the site for them to meet requirements.
Danny Lagahid, GK Cebu chief, said they don’t have to pay a single centavo for the house.
The recipients, though, must pay for the lot to the Talisay City Government under the community mortgage program, for 25 years.
It costs P85,000 to build each house, a 20-sq.m. structure on a 32-sq.m. lot.
With the help of visiting Dutch volunteers, five more GK houses are being built at the project site as part of the Pinoy-Dutch Xplore II, a joint program of the Cebu City Government, The Netherlands and Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi).
Through Rafi, The Netherlands, which funded the five new houses, became a partner of GK in building houses in Cebu.
At least 44 houses now stand at the relocation site, 17 of which are now occupied. The GK, which is building 102 houses in the area, is set to complete 20 more houses in September this year.
Lagahid said it was the third time The Netherlands, through Cebu City’s sister-city of Haarlem-mermeer, helped construct GK houses in Cebu.
He said the partnership saw the construction of three houses Liloan in July 2006 and 10 houses in Bogo in August last year.
Dutch Ambassador Robert Brinks, in his brief speech, lauded both the Dutch and Cebuano youth volunteers for their joint efforts in helping build houses in Talisay City.
Brinks visited the site and witnessed the start of the construction of five GK houses last Friday.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 20, 2008 issue)
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