New “Housing Czarina” Vice President Leni Robredo plans to look at successful housing projects all over the country and use these as models in the housing programs to be pursued by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council during her watch.
Examples of these projects, according to the new HUDCC chairperson, are the Iglesia Ni Cristo’s different resettlement sites all over the country.
Appointed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last week, Robredo sat down with INC Executive Minister Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo and informed the latter that she would be visiting the Church’s various resettlement sites, particularly its eco-farming and resettlement sites in Leyte, Agusan del Sur and Oriental Mindoro, to see if these could be replicated in other parts of the country.
“Sabi ko nga gusto kong mabisita yung isa. Baka pwedeng gawing inspirasyon [I said I want to visit one so I can draw inspiration from it],” said Robredo, who discussed her plans to reduce the housing backlog, among others, during a meeting with Manalo on July 12 at the Church’s central office in Quezon City.
Robredo plans to address her agency’s 1.4 million housing backlog and the construction of additional 5.5 million houses needed in the country.
The INC has numerous housing and livelihood projects in the Philippines.
These resettlement sites have been put up as part of the Church’s Lingap sa Mamamayan initiative, the INC’s comprehensive outreach program.
Aside from the resettlement sites in Leyte, Agusan del Sur and Oriental Mindoro, the INC has also put up housing and livelihood projects for indigenous peoples in Camarines Norte and South Cotabato.
Earlier this year, the INC put up housing projects for the B’laan tribes in South Cotabato, which was launched together eco-farming and onsite livelihood projects.
A similar project was put up for Kabihug families in Paracale, Camarines Norte. The INC community project includes 300 housing units to serve as permanent shelters for Kabihug families as well as livelihood facilities such as a 20-hectare calamansi orchard, an eco-farm, and a 300-square-meter fish-drying plant.
According to INC general auditor Glicerio B. Santos Jr., the INC’s Lingap sa Mamamayan initiative “is a year-round program of the INC Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo that has been actively providing material and spiritual help to Iglesia and non-Iglesia members all over the country.”
“We envision an expansion of this initiative through the participation of our brethren from other socio-civic and religious groups so we can have a bigger impact on poverty reduction,” the INC official explained.
“The housing component of our outreach activities is part and parcel of our holistic approach to our outreach activities, which also include onsite livelihood programs so that our brothers and sisters in need will not only have roofs over their heads, but also the means to put food on their tables.”
Santos added that Brother Eduardo V. Manalo has directed the Church to step up its regular and continuing outreach programs to needy communities all over the country so that these can dovetail with Duterte’s call for the whole country to support government efforts to uplift the welfare of the people.