San Miguel Corporation (SMC) taipan Ramon S. Ang has taken a keen interest in settlers along a coastal area in Bulacan whose existence used to be plagued by typhoons. The conglomerate president has given former settlers of Barangay Taliptip new homes, including cash to help them move to safer areas, paving the way for the construction of the planned P734-billion Manila International Airport project.\ “What is important is that they are now living in safer areas, in stronger houses they can be proud of and pass on to their children, said Ang. “They will no longer be exposed to the elements and to risk, whenever there are typhoons.” Most of the former Taliptip residents worked as caretakers or workers at privately-owned fishponds that have gone out of business. They used to live in shanties or houses built on stilts in the coastal area. A total of 277 owners of concrete and shanty houses in Barangay Taliptip qualified for financial assistance. SMC provided owners of non-concrete houses or shanties P250,000 each, while owners of concrete houses were given the appraised value of their homes, multiplied by two, plus P100,000.“The airport project itself will be an opportunity for them because it will create a lot of jobs,” Ang pointed out. “The airport project will be the single largest investment in the Philippines by any company. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the construction phase alone—jobs needed to enable Filipinos to better cope with the economic impacts of the pandemic.”