Published on: July 27, 2023
Updated as of July 27, 2023 7:48 am
By Rodrigo Victoria
“Sa una mahadlok mi kung magmaot na ang panahon kay nagpuyo lang mi sa barong-barong,” (Before we are afraid when there is weather disturbance since we are just living in a shanty house), recalled Christian J. Duaso, 40 years old, a father of two children, and one of the 25 beneficiaries of the DSWD Core Shelter Assistance Project (CSAP) in San Dionesio, Matag-ob, Leyte.
Duaso, now a barangay kagawad of San Dionesio, together with the other 24 family-beneficiaries of the Core Shelter Assistance Project (CSAP), has finally received the proof of ownership, the certificate of completion and acceptance, during the ceremonial turnover of the said shelter project on July 21, 2023, the activity led by DSWD-8 Regional Director Grace Subong and Matag-ob Mayor Bernardino Tacoy.
The house design, with an area of 4 meters by 5 meters, can withstand a 220 kph strong wind and an Intensity 4 earthquake, it was learned. It was worth P150,602.
The plan for the construction of the 25 units San Dionesio CSAP started sometime in 2017, Duaso recalled, and its actual construction took place in February 2022 after more than five years of securing the documentary requirements for release of funding sources, including the lot donated by then Matag-ob Mayor Michael L. Torevillas.
Duaso, whose source of income mainly came from the copra industry, a major source of livelihood of the people living in a fourth class agricultural town of Matag-ob, recounted how the Filipino bayanihan spirit has played an integral part in the CSAP completion in his barangay.
“Kaming tanan nga mga benepesyaryo sa CSAP, kaming 25 ka bubong, apil ang mga myembro sa pamilya, asawa, mga anak nga makasugakod na pagtrabaho, magtabangay sa pagpanday sa usa ka balay aron kini matapos,” (All of us who are CSAP beneficiaries, all the 25 households, including the members of the family, wife, children who are capable of working, are helping in the construction of one unit in order to finish), he said.
Part of the interventions of the DSWD and municipal government of Matag-ob in the completion of the CSAP in San Dionesio was the provision of cash for work to the beneficiaries and construction materials, respectively.
DSWD-8 Regional Director Subong categorically stated in her message during the turnover ceremony that the major objective of CSAP is to change the outlook of the community, from vulnerability to resilience.
Subong emphasized that CSAP is not only a mere infrastructure project, for it has its end goal on how the community and all stakeholders got involved during its planning, how they invested their efforts, time, and resources for the housing project to be realized.
Like a mother to her family, Subong extended her motherly advice to the 25 San Dionesio CSAP family-beneficiaries to improve their dwelling place more, hoping that it would redound to making it a better community where progress and development can be attained with the support of each other and other stakeholders..
On that same day, a crystal-clear and promising future to further transform the beneficiaries’ state from being vulnerable to one of resilience was laid by no less than Mayor Tacoy, who vowed to provide livelihood assistance for them, and a direct cash assistance of P3,000 from DSWD, P2,000 from Mayor Tacoy and two boxes of family food packs, also from DSWD.
The DSWD’s CSAP which started in early 1970, and had been accorded an award from the World Habitat as one of the best housing projects in the world in 1990, will undoubtedly leave a mark in the minds and hearts of Filipino communities whose state of vulnerability was concretely transformed into a resilient one. (MMP/RSV/PIA Biliran)
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