8 GK-Handumanan houses
to be inaugurated Saturday

The blessing and inauguration of the eight new houses at the Msgr. John Liu and Msgr. John Su Gawad Kalinga Village-Handumanan sang Hua Ming in Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City, will be held 9 a.m. tomorrow, with Sen. Francis Pangilinan as guest of honor, a press release from the SJI said.

The houses were constructed through the efforts of 537 volunteers who participated in the “8 houses for 8 weeks - Bayanihan Challenge 2” project of the St. John's Alumni Association, that started October 6.

Wilford Sy, SJIAA GK Committee head, said the volunteers were SJI alumni of batches 1966 to 2012, students, faculty members, parents, Queen of Peace Parish community, the Capitolville and the Team Kolasa Group Walkers, Rotaract North, Bacolod Rotary Club and PICPA Negros Occidental Chapter, among others, the press release said.

The village will feature a Senator Kiko Cluster of six houses for his assistance to community development, through his Priority Development Assistance Fund. Pangilinan, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, has allocated more than P40 million in the development of Gawad Kalinga nationwide.

The other two houses were donated by the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians, Negros Occ. Chapter, facilitated by Luz Maapni.

The Handumanan GK village now has 60 houses, since the start of the "50 houses for 50 years" program, in celebration of SJI’s golden jubilee in 2008. These were donated by several alumni, a two-classroom school building by business tycoon Lucio Tan and an activity center donated by Juan Miguel Zubiri, the press release added.*