A FRESH START. Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez and Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide Jr. pose with the housing beneficiaries in barangay La Paz, Bogo City. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Despite failing health, 68-year-old Pio Dablo and his wife Adema have something to look forward to after they lost their home in barangay La Purisima Concepcion in Bogo City to supertyphoon Yolanda last November.
“It’s really hard because (It’s hard for us to live in a tent with my husband paralyzed after the storm. That’s why we just prayed and trusted that help will come,” the 65-year-old Adema said in Cebuano.
Pio was chosen as one of the first 100 beneficiaries of houses donated by some companies and various foreign groups in simple rites yesterday.
Adema, who attended the ceremony in place of her sick husband, said the rest of their family will get to rest more comfortably in the new bungalow house made of wood and concrete.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Bogo City Mayor Celestino “Junie” Martinez led the groundbreaking ceremonies of houses for the Adopt-A-Barangay project in barangay La Paz yesterday morning.
The first 100 houses of the project that were turned over yesterday were pledged by the Cebu Breakfast Club, Sunshine Corner Ministry of Encouragement, Gawad Kalinga and SM Cares, Mayor Martinez said.
Groups can pledge a specific number of houses for the project with each one ranging around P50,000 to P60,000, he said.
“As of now, we already have a commitment for 1,500 houses,” Martinez said during his speech.
Project chairman Ahmad Escolar said each house is provided with a 22-sq. meter lot and can accommodate up to five to seven family members, he said.
The house is free but beneficiaries will pay P240 a month for the government-owned lot in a period of 25 years, Escolar said. The monthly collection will start two years from now. He said the residents can choose to improve the house with the Bogo City government providing a blueprint to make it typhoon-resilient.
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