100 MALABON FAMILIES GAIN SHELTER SECURITY
April 22, 2008

More than 100 families from Malabon gained shelter security as Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Noli 'Kabayan' De Castro distributed certificates of lot allotment (CELA) in barangay Maysilo, yesterday (April 21, 2008).

Though the CELA is not a title, De Castro said the certificate is proof that the families are no longer 'squatters' or informal settlers in the land where their houses are erected.

"You are no longer squatters on the land where you are staying. This land is already yours and you are now called homeowners," De Castro said.

"But with this ownership comes a responsibility that you have to take. You now have a very small obligation to pay to the government and I hope you fulfill it faithfully," De Castro said.

De Castro explained that what the families pay to the government is used to finance more shelter programs for the many Filipinos who are still homeless.

"I hope you realize that we are just rolling government funds to put up more houses for the homeless. So please, fulfill your obligation," he said.

Meanwhile, De Castro lauded the local government for pushing the housing project. He said the local government under the administration of Mayor Tito Oreta played an important role in the regularization of the informal settlers.

He also cited former congressman Ricky Sandoval and the Oreta family for their efforts in facilitating the transfer of the property to the family beneficiaries who have settled in the area for more than 50 years.

Equally important, he said, is the relentless lobbying of the homeowners' associations for the immediate disposition of the subject lot.

"This housing benefit that you have waited for so long is part of the aggressive housing program of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who has planned from the start to provide shelter security to our homeless countrymen," he said.

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