DMCI Homes volunteers to paint houses of Bistekville1 families

Officials and employees of DMCI Homes have painted several houses at Bistekville I, a social housing project of Quezon City and Habitat for Humanity Philippines (HFHP), as part of the company’s Kaakbay sa Pamayanan community outreach program.

60 DMCI Homes volunteers braved the morning summer heat on May 4 to paint a few houses at the Payatas community, a beneficiary of the property developer’s P4 million cash donation in March 2012 that helped the Quezon City government, Department of Education and HFHP construct 20.5 of 145 sponsored Bistekville I homes for poor families and teachers from the Payatas dumpsite. The volunteer work is also part of DMCI Homes’ agreement with HFHP to support the latter’s I Build campaign, which aims to establish a citywide and nationwide shelter program for informal settlers, government workers and other disadvantaged groups or poor families.

Representative of HFHP, Engineer Rojamin Clamor – Site Engineer, who witnessed the 8 a.m. to noon volunteer work of DMCI  homes. Residents of the painted homes were very thankful to the painstaking efforts of the DMCI Homes volunteers in giving color to their shelter.

DMCI Homes is intensifying its volunteerism under its corporate social responsibility program dubbed Kaakbay launched last year. The program addresses four fronts--social welfare and community development, health, environment and education—in line with the company’s vision of becoming a partner in community-building and nation-building.

The Bistekville I donation and volunteer works fall under the Kaakbay sa Pamayanan program, which include housing assistance for the poor. The Kaakbay sa Pamayanan also sponsored the construction of 92 homes at the relocation site for informal settlers of Paranaque River. The relocation site in La Huerta is being developed by the city government of Parañaque, District 3830 Rotary Homes Foundation and CFC ANCOP Tekton Foundation. DMCI Homes, as one of the corporate partners, donated P12 million for the project in a 4.2-hectare land along C5 Extension Road near the NAIA 1 runway. The site will eventually house 1,500 informal settler families.

DMCI Homes also campaigns for the protection and preservation of the environment under its Kaakbay sa Kalikasan program. The first project under this program is the adoption and cleanup of a creek in Quezon City last year. DMCI Homes partnered with Rotary Club of Diliman-Silangan the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to rehabilitate the Pasong Tamo River. Volunteer employees from DMCI Homes, local government officials, residents and other stakeholder organizations cleaned up the 1.63-kilometer stretch of the river and installed trash traps to keep the river free of garbage and debris

Under Kaakbay sa Kalusugan, DMCI Homes volunteers conducted dental and medical missions in Sto. Niño, Parañaque last year that benefitted poor residents, mostly children and mothers. The Kaakbay sa Edukasyon provided financial assistance for the salary augmentation program of the UP College of Engineering, an institutional partner of DMCI Homes. ###