Sendong survivor marries partner, wins house and lot from Pag-IBIG fund

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines—After marrying his live-in partner and mother of his one-year-old daughter, 21-year old Rey Evangelio won a house and lot.

Rey and Mericel, 20, had been living together for two years before they got married in a mass wedding organized by the government agency Housing Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund.

They lived on Isla de Oro, one of those hardest hit when floods hit riverside villages here last December 16. Rey had been in and out of work as a product merchandiser.

“We have a very difficult life, we are very poor. My job with a manpower agency is not stable and good work is hard to come by,” Rey said.

“And the flood took away what little we have,” Rey added.

After the floods, the couple and their daughter Mikaela moved to the temporary relocation site in Barangay (village) Calaa-nan.

A regular contributor to the Pag-IBIG Fund, Rey tried his luck to be part of the government agency’s “I do. I do. Araw ng Pag-Ibig” program.

On February 14, Rey and Mericel, together with 175 other couples, exchanged vows at a mass wedding ceremony in a mall here.

But two weeks after the wedding, Rey and Mericel were invited by officers of the Pag-IBIG Fund here for what they thought was an interview.

“We were asked if we were interested in buying a house and lot, payable over a lifetime,” Rey said, adding that he declined the idea because he could not afford it.

Then the Pag-IBIG officers broke the news – the Evangelios won a house and lot in a subdivision in Malanang village, Opol town, in Misamis Oriental, some 25 kilometers away from the city.

“We could’t believe it,” Rey said.

Darlene Berberabe, chief executive officer of the Housing Development Mutual Fund, said that the couple won a 36-square-meter house built on a 100-sqm land.

“We hope that these couples who joined our mass wedding will see Pag-IBIG as its partner for growth, an integral part of their lives as they build and provide for their own families.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, who stood as witness or godfather to the 2,038 couples who married in the Pag-IBIG Fund mass wedding all over the country, on Saturday graced the turnover ceremony of the house that Rey and Mericel won.

Binay, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), said he was talking to a mall executive to allow Rey to work permanently.

“You need to work and provide for your family,” Binay told Rey.

For Rey and Mericel, God had answered their prayers and provided more than just what they prayed for.

“We cannot tell you how happy we are. We cannot describe our happiness for these blessings. We thought that our life together was bad, but we never saw what God had in store for us,” Rey said.