DAVAO CITY, Feb. 20 (PIA) – The Business Council of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, Inc. has accepted Gawad Kalinga’s challenge of a five-day volunteerism of building new homes for the flood survivors in Sta. Cruz town.
Through its president, Jose B. Villaflor, the Council expressed acceptance and commitment of support to GK’s 2013 Bayani Challenge which included the municipality of Sta. Cruz as among the 39 municipalities and cities in the country as sites for the heroic five-day event engaging volunteers to build houses in calamity-devastated areas.
“The challenge is acceptable and workable,” Villaflor said as the business sector’s response to the challenge presented by Sta. Cruz Mayor Joel Ray Lopez who urged the private companies based in his town to help the LGU to provide safer homes for his constituents who were left homeless by the flashflood incidents in 2011 and 2012.
He told the Philippine Information Agency that the Business Council initially planned to pour in financial aid to Bayani Challenge, adding that it is up to the company-members to decide on their individual contribution.
Villaflor, who represented Sta. Cruz-based Franklin Baker Company of the Philippines, said the firm is initially pledging technical workers and vehicles to transport volunteers.
“This is not a showcase of popularity. This is a challenge of generosity and work of heart, and a showcase of unity among the government, business sector and civil society organization,” he emphasized in his message during a Dinner for a Cause held Tuesday night at the Grand Regal Hotel, this city.
PIA Director General and GK Bayani Challenge Event head Jose Mari M. Oquiñena raised the relevance of strengthening partnership with private firms, saying “this is the best way to achieve industrial peace.”
“The Bayani Challenge is beyond building houses, and it has become a way of creating possibilities,” Oquiñena emphasized in his message also during the Dinner for a Cause where he was guest of honor.
He said he is hoping that involving in the Bayani Challenge will become a lifestyle for many Filipinos.
For Mayor Lopez, considering Sta. Cruz as one of the sites of the 2013 Bayani Challenge which bears the theme “Isang Bayani, Isang Bayanihan” is an honor and a privilege for the municipality.
He said the partnership with GK through the Bayani Challenge is helping the LGU to efficiently achieve its program of removing the constituents out of the danger zone and flood-prone areas, and relocating them into a safer place.
Sta. Cruz Councilor Fernando Ugdoracion said the Bayani Challenge targets to build ten houses with lower cost at Luway in Barangay Zone 2 during summer from March 23 to March 27, 2013, which will also engage volunteers into tree planting and health mission.
Ugdoracion bared that the two-hectare area in Luway is one of the two areas acquired by the LGU as relocation sites intended for the residents affected by flood incidents and infrastructure projects, and those living in danger zone areas.
He said they would still undergo the process of screening and identifying qualified beneficiaries. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cayon)
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