9/16/2016

DMCIHomeshelpsrebuildlivesthrusocializedhousingprojectinParaaque

DMCI Homes Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations

Joseph Ramil B. Lombos tirns over a check of the company

About three years ago, some 600 families living within the outskirts of Barangay Marcelo Green in
Paraaque could only dream of building their own homes. Today, that dream has started to become a
reality thanks to the efforts of Mayor Edwin Olivarez and various community building organizations like
Gawad Kalinga (GK).

Earlier this month, Mayor Olivarez together with representatives from Gawad Kalinga and the beneciary
families received over P21 million donation from DMCI Homes, a Triple-A property builder known for
creating resort-inspired communities. The donation is for the construction of additional houses in the
Manggahan-Kawayanan GK Villages, a 2.8 hectare property situated inside Barangay Marcelo Green in
Paraaque.

The said property, which used to be a privately-owned land, was turned over to the beneciary families
more than ve years ago through the intercession of Gawad Kalinga, who helped them organize and apply
for a socialized housing scheme with the government.

The beneciary families who used to live as informal settlers in the area were able to convince the land
owner to sell them the land through the governments Community Mortgage Program (CMP), which allows
organized associations of underprivileged citizens to purchase and develop a tract of land under the
concept of communityownership, revealed Francisco Balagtas, head of Gawad Kalinga in Paraaque and
Muntinlupa. We, in turn, helped them develop the land by coming up with a subdivision plan and getting
donors for materials that need to be purchased in constructing the houses.

As counterpart to the donation, the beneciaries provided sweat equity, with family members taking time
out to build their own homes. To date, a total of around 300 houses have already been constructed
through this scheme, with just about 335 houses needing to be built.

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9/16/2016

DMCIHomeshelpsrebuildlivesthrusocializedhousingprojectinParaaque

Ms. Eva Abejero, who used to be one of those living in the area as an informal settler and who is now the
president of its homeowners association, praised DMCI Homes for their support to the project, saying
Ang akala ko, dahil labandera lang ako, hindi na ako magkakaroon ng sariling bahay. Ngayon,
pakiramdam ko hindi na ako iba sa kanila dahil may sariling tahanan na ako, may titulo pa.[I thought I
wouldnt be able to build my own house because Im just a simple laundrywoman. Today, I feel like I
belong because I nally have my own house and I own its land title, too!]

Now a respected Kagawad in their community, Eva toiled long and hard to be able to convince members
of her barangay to work hand in hand and spend time for the Gawad Kalinga project. Their reward: the
fullment of a life-long dream, which is to have a home they could nally call their own. Upon completion
of the project, each of the beneciary families would get to own a 2-storey house with living and dining
rooms at the ground oor and bedrooms at the 2nd oor.
During the ceremonial handover of the check, Mayor Olivarez thanked DMCI Homes and Gawad Kalinga
for helping the city government in their housing project for the poor. It is our aspiration that these
informal settlers would have a real home so they may full their dreams and have a better life, he said.
For his part, Ramil Lombos, senior vice president for nance and operations of DMCI Homes, expressed
his companys desire to share their blessings especially in cities where they operate, saying, Aside from
Paraaque, we have also been coordinating with the local governments in Quezon City and Mandaluyong
for similar housing projects for the poor. This is really part of our companys social responsibility of giving
back to the cities where we are. We provide homes not only for our target market but more so for those
who are really in need of a home, he said.

Earlier, DMCI Homes also donated P9 million to help fund the construction of 90 homes at PAR Homes 1
and P14.7 million to fund the construction of 100 homes in phase two of the housing project in Bgy. La
Huerta, a 4.2-hectare government property near the airport located along C-5 extension.

DMCI Homes supports housing projects for marginalized families in Metro Manila as part of the
companys corporate social responsibility program dubbed Kaakbay. The triple A property developer also
donated about P4 million to the Quezon City government in 2013 for the construction of socialized
housing for poor families of Barangay Payatas.

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