By
Alfonso T. Ruda
DIPOLOG
CITY - Five indigent families of Barangay San Antonio,
Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte will soon have decent homes that they can call “their
own.”
Barangay
San Antonio is one of the two recipient-barangays in Katipunan town of the
Gawad Kalinga’s (GK) Bayani Challenge 2013, which was simultaneously launched
nationwide last March 23-27.
With
the theme “Isang Bayan, Isang Bayanihan,” GK’s Bayani Challenge was
simultaneously launched with “Pilipinas Natin” under the Presidential
Communications Operation Office(PCOO) in 35 provinces all over the country.
The
first five families of San Antonio to benefit from the program are Joven
Alpeche, Celestino Sumugat, Elna Tejano and Junrie Aleta.
The
houses, with an area of five by seven meters, will be built in a 1.5 hectare
near the shoreline of the said barangay whose residents’ main source of income
is fishing.
San
Antonio, which is around three kilometers from the town proper, is a coastal
barangay with 549 households and a population of 2,617.
The
“House Build” beneficiaries together with volunteers from the municipal
government, Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Police Office (ZNPPO), Katipunan
Bikers Association and Jose Rizal Memorial State University (JRMSU) shall
undertake the construction of the first five houses under the supervision of
the municipal engineering office.
Celestino
Sumugat, one of the “House Build” program beneficiaries thanked Gawad Kalinga
and Pilipinas Natin for coming up with such a project and he vowed to take good
care of his house.
San
Antonio Barangay Chairman Gervacio Jaictin also welcomed the program and urged
his constituents to support the anti-poverty initiatives of the national
government.