DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rexlon Gatchalian announced on Monday that the department has formally turned over 300 housing units to former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) combatants and their families in the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).

On August 30, Gatchalian, along with Undersecretary for Inclusive-Sustainable Peace and Special Concerns Alan Tanjusay, and Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (Opapru) Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., led a ceremony in Sibuco where 200 indigenous peoples from the Sama, Kalibugan, and Subanen indigenous cultural communities received certificates of ownership.

"This is an initiative of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to guarantee that vulnerable sectors of society, particularly indigenous people and former combatants, are reintegrated into the community," Gatchalian said.

The concerned local government unit (LGU) will build an additional 75 housing units in Sibuco as part of the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (Pamana) Program-Modified Shelter Assistance Project (MSAP).

Gatchalian has advised MSAP beneficiaries that the DSWD will offer them livelihood assistance so that they can maintain their well-being.

The MSAP is a program executed together by the DSWD and Opapru that provides limited financial or material assistance to families constructing houses on relocation sites.

The LGU, Opapru, and DSWD worked together to complete the MSAP units.

Prior to the August 30 transfer, 100 completed MSAP units were handed over to MNLF former combatants and their families in Barangay Caparan, Ipil town, Zamboanga Sibugay, on August 29.

The Pamana MSAP supplied 1,160 housing units in Zamboanga Peninsula and Davao Region between 2017 and 2023, with a total grant of P247.2 million and a cash for work component of P10.3 million.

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