San Miguel Corp grants houses to Pasig River relocatees

Faizza Farinna Tanggol

Calauan, Laguna – Just three months after donating P21M to build housing units in Bayanijuan sa Calauan, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) came back to Laguna to turn over the initial housing units to 47 families that used to live along Estero de Paco, a tributary of the Pasig River.

Known as the San Miguel Corporation Village, the houses were constructed in partnership with build partners Habitat for Humanity Philippines and Phoenix Sun International Corp.

Present for the turnover are ABS-CBN Foundation managing director Gina Lopez, Habitat for Humanity chairman Popoy del Rosario, San Miguel Foundation executive director Camille Buenaventura, Calauan Mayor George Berris, celebrities Kris Aquino and Bianca Gonzales, and basketball stars from Barangay Ginebra Kings, San Miguel Beermen and Purefoods TJ Giants.

“San Miguel has always been very committed to its social responsibilities,” said San Miguel Yamamura Packaging president Ferdie Tumapalan, “We are willing to help, even giving our time, effort and, of course, resources to be able to help our colleagues here [in Calauan].”

SMC’s generous support does not stop in donating housing units for the relocatees. “We have donated in the building of the 300 units,” explained Ginebra San Miguel president Gerry Payumu. “The next step is to find ways in which San Miguel could source some of its material requirements from the area like raw materials for its many businesses, or possibly farms like poultries, piggeries, crab farms, so that the livelihood could be developed in this area.”

SMC also gave away gift packs to the 47 relocatees while the basketball stars played games with the Calauan kids.

The San Miguel Corporation is the largest food, beverage, and packaging company in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Bayanijuan sa Calauan, the official resettlement site of Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig (KBPIP), is being co-managed by ABS-CBN Foundation and the National Housing Authority. A total of 627 families have already been relocated from Estero de Paco to Bayanijuan sa Calauan.