ANCOP-Australia commits 1,000 houses for So. Leyte GK

By BONG PEDALINO (PIA Southern Leyte)
September 11, 2007

MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte  –  An organization based in Australia, known as the Answering the Cry of the Poor (ANCOP), has committed to finance the building of 1,000 houses anywhere in Southern Leyte province that would be coursed through the Gawad Kalinga (GK) of the Couples for Christ (CFC).

This was revealed by Dr. Jerome Paler, provincial head of CFC-GK, who narrated that on Friday, September 7, he received an impromptu call from the national CFC Headquarters in Manila informing him on the intention of ANCOP-Australia.

Paler said he hoped the Mayors of the 18 towns and one city, including the province, would take this opportunity to help their homeless constituents by providing the required LGU-counterpart to put up a GK village, which is land and site development.

As such, this will be taken on a first-come-first-serve basis, Paler added.

Some 760 houses were already built under the GK project in 21 villages around the province, contributing P62 Million to the local economy, the funds mostly coming from generous corporate donors, domestic and foreign.

In a related development, Mayor Rico Rentuza of Saint Bernard town said he had identified eight possible GK sites in his municipality, and he had endorsed these proposed sites during the conduct of the First National Township Development at Ateneo University last August 25.

During that workshop, a wealthy Filipino-American named Robert Sanchez had committed to provide the counterpart for the LGUs who can submit the requirements of land and site development, it was learned.