Peace process office ties up with Oxfam, Unicef for Maguindanao housing project

COABATO CITY, Philippines—The Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process, along with Oxfam and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, have agreed to pool their resources in pursuit of a multimillion housing project for disaster-ravaged Maguindanao.

Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Monday said the Office of the Regional Governor has been tapped by Malacañang to oversee the project which is expected to benefit some 2,510 Maguindanao families, who have been displaced by the armed conflict and recent flash floods.

He said the project, dubbed as “Building resilient communities,” will start this month in Barangay Linamonan in Talayan where 389 core shelters costing P147,000 each would be built.

“Other identified villages will follow with Oxfam and UNICEF providing humanitarian and technical assistance,” Sinarimbo said with the assurance that potable water would be made available.

The core shelter integrated activities would include assistance for the promotion of community hygiene and sanitation by providing beneficiaries with potable water, he said, citing Oxfam and UNICEF capacity-building and technical support considered critical components in building safe and resilient disaster-ravaged communities.