Church rebuilds homes of 100 typhoon hard-hit families

COMPOSTELA VALLEY, March 07 (PIA):  The Catholic Parish of Babag in Monkayo, Compostela Valley is rebuilding into much better houses the homes of 100 families which were washed out by floods due to Typhoon Pablo.

Barangay Babag Parish administrator Emerson “Em-Em” Luego said the on-going construction of 100 housing units for 100 worst-hit families in Barangay Babag came about from the instruction of Bishop Wilfredo Manlapaz of the Diocese of Tagum who wanted  that assistance  be spent on rebuilding homes “for  those who really have no means.”

In an interview during an outreach activity last Sunday (March 03), Luego revealed that 22 houses (of the 100 targetted) had been built through “the spirit of bayanihan”   spending about P1.5 million donations and assistance  from various donors among which were the  Order of Malta,  the provincial governments of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley, the municipal government of Monkayo, Rotary Club of Tagum and Tagum Cooperative.

“We ask them that they do it through bayanihan system for them to  have sense of ownership,”  he said in vernacular. “The recipients were previously living along the creek banks; their houses were not cemented  then, so we can just see how happy they are with their new houses,” he added.

Aside from the single unit houses partly made of Amakan,  other units will also be built in duplex  style and apartment type,  Luego said.

The Babag Parish is also providing  a means of livelihood by organizing  housing recipients into sweet potato and cassava growers, aside from  requiring them to raise their own backyard gardens.

Luego had high hopes for  the Pablo-stricken families of Barangay Babag as he saw the prospect of forming them into a farmers cooperative which  will soon be marketing their produce  in Tagum City “at a much higher price that would be fair for the farmers.”

Luego  also revealed that the Department of Agriculture (DA)  already had plowed some portions   of the land  previously planted with bananas and that it  had given given residents some seedlings.

“What is lacking here are those who can assist them start a living because the way I see it, people here are willing to work,”  he said.   (PIA XI/ Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)