Pimentel makes pitch for Gawad Kalinga chief as next housing czar

Gawad Kalinga chairman Tony Meloto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

President Benigno Aquino III should name Gawad Kalinga founder Antonio Meloto as the next chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), a senator said on Friday.

Pimentel said Meloto, who is known for his numerous Gawad Kalinga housing projects nationwide, is the “best candidate and logical choice” to replace Vice President Jejomar Binay, who previously headed the HUDCC.

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The senator cited Meloto’s private initiative in leading build houses for slum dwellers under a collaborative program that encouraged volunteerism and a contract for home owners not to sale their houses.

“Meloto’s impeccable track record and hands-on experience in giving dignity and providing decent living conditions to the poor would surely work to the government’s advantage to reduce homelessness,” Pimentel said in a statement.

Jointly sponsored by the Couples for Christ and a web of foreign donors, Meloto’s Gawad Kalinga (meaning “to give care”), has mushroomed in many parts of the country where the poor lived in makeshift dwellings.

READ: From building houses, Gawad Kalinga sets sights on helping build a nation

The senator noted that thousands of Gawad Kalinga villages were built purely on sponsorship by foreign donors and local major corporations in urban areas and the countryside where residents have established a self-governing association.

A Gawad Kalinga village is typically made up of 50 to 100 brightly-painted homes, a school and livelihood center, and a multi-purpose hall. The new neighborhood is conspicuously tidy and clean with flowers and plants.