HOMES FOR INDIGENTS. Lawyer Raissa Jajurie (inset), minister of the BARMM’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Development, urged recipients of the BARMM housing project to take care of their homes and help build a community that can thrive independently. A total of 74 housing units, each costing PHP500,000 were turned over Wednesday (May 22, 2024) to indigent families and indigenous peoples who are victims of calamities and armed conflict in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao del Sur. (Photo courtesy of MSSD-BARMM)
AMPATUAN, Maguindanao del Sur – At least 74 indigenous peoples (IPs) and Moro indigents here are now enjoying living in the comforts of their own homes provided for them by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government.
Norhaya Alim, one of the recipients of the housing units built by the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) - BARMM, expressed her gratitude to the regional government for taking her out of homelessness.
“For 20 years of being homeless, we’ve been living with our relatives. Alhamdulillah, we finally have our own house now, an ecstatic Alim said during a phone interview on Thursday.
Alim and 73 other housing beneficiaries received their land ownership certificates from MSSD-BARMM on Wednesday.
Each housing unit amounts to PHP500,000 for a total project cost of PHP37 million.
MSSD Minister Raissa Jajurie led the distribution of documents for 74 housing unit recipients described as vulnerable homeless families in Barangay Salman of this town.
“The BARMM housing project is for the families affected by recurrent displacement. While we try to work on the security concerns with the active participation of the local government units (LGUs), we also need to address the welfare of those displaced by armed conflict,” Jajurie said in a statement Thursday.
“With the help of different stakeholders, we want to give them not just houses, but also a community that can thrive independently.”
She lauded the Ampatuan LGU for donating the land where the housing units were constructed, noting that each house can comfortably accommodate a family of five.
“Each unit has 2 bedrooms, a standard living room, a comfort room, and indoor and outdoor kitchen lavatories,” she said.
More houses
Meanwhile, Yusoph Pilas, the head of the MSSD-BARMM engineering section, said additional houses are also being built in the towns of Datu Hoffer Ampatuan and Datu Saudi Ampatuan, both in Maguindanao del Sur.
“There are also 100 housing units in the two municipalities currently under construction and are also set for turnover in the coming months,” he said.
The BAHAY Program in the BARMM is a housing intervention that serves as a long-term solution for indigenous and indigent families affected by recurring calamities and armed conflict. (PNA)
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