A 15-MEMBER urban poor delegation to Mandaue City from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Laos witnessed the other day the signing of a memorandum of agreement by Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes and a people’s organization in barangay Subangdaku for a joint socialized housing project in the area.
Also signing the agreement were Doleta Magdadaro of Malibu-Matimco Village Homeowners Association Inc., Fr. Norberto Carcellar, C.M. of Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSI), Leopoldo Chavez of the Homeless People’s Federation (HPFPI) Philippines Inc. and Subangdaku barangay captain Ernie Manatad.
Under the agreement, the city government and other signatories will use their resources in upgrading and safeguarding the ongoing socialized housing project within the 1.5-hectare Malibu-Matimco area, part of the 9.2-hectare city-owned lot that the city donated to its actual beneficiaries.
The 9.2 area is a prime lot covering barangays Subangdaku, Tipolo, Guizo and Mantuyong.
Through the assistance of PACSI and HPFPI, 25 housing units were constructed in Malibu-Matimco area. Each of the two-storey unit has an area of 32 square meters at the cost of P90,000.
The Asian delegation arrived in Mandaue for a three-day visit to various socialized housing areas, which include the Lower Tipolo area wherein more than 200 socialized housing units were already constructed and occupied by its beneficiaries.
The visitors were impressed on the success of the city’s socialized housing program.
“Mandaue has a good mayor as can be seen by its pro-poor program,” said Rupa Manet, president of Women’s Cooperative Bank based in Laos.
The delegation included four from Sri Lanka, four from Laos and seven from Thailand. Accompanying them were three-member delegation from National Capital Region in Manila.