At least 58 families in Dumaguete City living in low cost housing units provided for super typhoon “Sendong” victims will finally have individual power connections in their homes.
The switch-on ceremony is set at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Caritas Village Shelter Project Phase I in Barangay Bajumpandan, Dumaguete City, said Juancho Gallarde, a member of the Bajumpandan barangay council.
City officials headed by Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria and officials of the Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative 2 headed by its general manager, Dionefred Macahig, as well as barangay and church officials, are expected during the switch-on ceremony.
Barangay officials and members of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Dumaguete, headed by its director, Fr. Burton Villarmente, have relentlessly made follow-ups on the approval of the NORECO 2 board to establish a power connection to the said housing site.
The housing project, undertaken by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action, Caritas International and Caritas Philippines, the Diocese of Dumaguete through the Social Action Center and the local government of Dumaguete, is the first of its kind to be provided to “Sendong” victims.
“Sendong” had ravaged several parts of Negros Oriental in late 2011 and it was in May 2012 that the first-ever joint local government unit and church funded project was launched in Dumaguete for typhoon victims.
Gallarde said the electrification project costs P1.9 million and barangay officials hope that the Caritas Phase II housing site, also in Bajumpandan, will also be energized next year.
There are more than 100 families in the Caritas Phase II site.
In both housing project sites, the church had funded the construction of the houses while the LGU, through Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, had acquired the lots.
Bajumpandan Councilmember Juancho Gallarde said he is happy with this latest development as he thanked NORECO 2 and the city government for finally realizing a long-awaited dream.
“This is the most wonderful Christmas gift for our less fortunate brothers and sisters,” he said. (PNA/JFP)
