26 July 2007
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
PRESBYTERIAN CHURches in Korea are raising funds to build 200 houses for displaced typhoon survivors in Legazpi City’s coastal villages.
The 24-square-meter concrete houses, worth P70,000 each, are to be built at a relocation site in Barangay Taysan. With galvanized iron roofs, they are expected to withstand 120-kilometer-per-hour winds.
The Korean housing project is done in partnership with the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches.
Twelve Korean pastors visited the Philippines on July 17 to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies in Taysan, a hilly village in the city where typhoon survivors are camped.
Rev. Sam Yeul Park, pastor of the Sol Wol Presbyterian Church and board chair of the Incheon Bible Institute, said the undertaking was borne out of gratitude to the Filipinos for their help during the Korean War in the early 1950s.
On Sept. 19, 1950, about 7,000 soldiers of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea reached the South Korean port city of Pusan. About 400 Filipino soldiers died during that war that lasted almost six years.
“This is a great opportunity to help the Filipinos in time of need just as they helped us during the Korean War. We pray for more blessings for the people living at the relocation sites through this project and also for their spiritual well-being,” Sam said.
Bishop Efraim Tendero, national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, said what motivated the Koreans to continue extending help to Bicol was their love of Christ.
“We want to restore the dignity of calamity-stricken people and what better way to start that than by helping them have a home,” Tendero said.
‘Sweat equity’
“This is not a dole-out because the beneficiaries have their ‘sweat equity,’” he clarified. “They have to help in building the houses.”
The beneficiaries were chosen based on the criteria of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Aside from the houses, the Koreans will fund livelihood projects such as the “FAITH Gardens.” FAITH stands for “Food Always in the Home.”
“We will provide them training and technology on the production of good vegetable crops and help them start some cottage industries that would be helpful to them,” Tendero added.
Some Korean Christians are also interested in putting up educational facilities in relocation sites in remote areas.
“We are continuously raising funds for our projects. This is just the start. And we want to see more people, more churches to participate in the rehabilitation efforts in Albay,” said Tendero.
Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal said the 1,075 houses pledged by different organizations, including the 200 houses donated by the Korean churches, would benefit people living in seven coastal villages and Mayon’s danger zones.
He said 2,000 houses were immediately needed for people who would be relocated from the danger zones at the southeast sector of the volcano.
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