Gov. Pineda is toured by Mayor Espino at the resettlement center in San Juan Bano. Photo by Ric Gonzales
ARAYAT, Pampanga – An early Christmas gift from Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda is in store for some 100 families displaced by landslide in 2009 at Barangay San Juan Bano here.
Pineda on Monday vowed to help residents finish their houses at the 1.5 hectare resettlement site in San Juan Bano purchased by 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales.
“The provincial government will help you have your houses done before Christmas,” said Pineda to residents in the dialect, earning applause from them. She inspected the progress of the construction of the landslide victims’ homes funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The DSWD reportedly allotted at least P70,000 for each family as budget for the purchase of house materials.
But the residents are tasked to provide the labor or the budget for construction.
”People have to work and earn for the daily expenses of their loved ones. That explains why the progress of work is slow,” said Pineda, who was assisted by Mayor Luis Espino in the visit shortly after they inaugurated the Emigdio C. Cruz Sr. Memorial Hospital (ECCMH) here.
Pineda said the province will assist residents in the construction of the houses. She added that she will ask the DSWD to help them “if they could with the funding.”
Pineda said she will ask the Pampanga Engineering Office (PEO) to make an estimate of the total cost of labor for the some 100 houses. About 10 houses had been built but they are yet to be completed.
A carpenter, who has three children aged five years old and below, said the governor had “done the right thing for us.”
“I could seldom work for my own house even if I am a carpenter. Only a few of us could work because others do not know how to construct a house or they have their respective jobs. I have to work outside for my family as well,” he said in the dialect
Residents of Purok 6 and 7 in San Juan Bano had to be evacuated after the landslide about three years ago which killed 12 people. They had to be relocated permanently because their areas became prone to landslide.
