Kalinga cops build shelter for poor family

The newly constructed house of the  Balusan family.

By Peter A. Balocnit

TINGLAYAN, Kalinga -- Two widow now have a house  they  can call their own in this remote town, thanks to the  “Adopt an indigent family” project  of the 2nd Kalinga Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC)  under the command of Lt. Col. Igan Ballangan.

Elvira and her daughter Deborah Balusan, both widowed, with Deborah’s three children, they had been living in a makeshift shelter at Riverside, Bangad this town for years.

They were living a “hand-to-mouth” existence and building a house was not a priority.

Ballangan said to make the celebration of the Police-Community Relations Month  this July more significant amid the Covid-19 pandemic, they planned to look for an indigent family to assist. 

They eventually chose the Balusan family.

Personnel of the 2nd Kalinga PMFC voluntarily started raising money, collecting donations from among themselves and buying construction materials to build a house. They started work on July 3 this year.

“Our men did the job as carpenters and laborers – they designed, layout, hauled materials and aggregates and did the whole labor for the construction of the house,” Ballangan said.

The house made of GI sheets, wood and cement was completed and was blessed and turned-over to the family on July 21 in the presence of high ranking Kalinga Provincial Police Office officials and the barangay chairman of Bangad.

Joy and happiness could be seen and felt on the faces of the Balusan family as they accepted the key from the Good Samaritans.
Debora expressed her family’s sincere gratitude saying, they can now sleep well and safe at night, and during calamities.

“Dakkel unay a panagyaman mi ta natulungan yo dakami. Sapay kuma ta ni Apo Dios ti mangsubad ti kinaimbag yo”, she said in part from her response.

Reaching out to poor families is one of the best practices of the police.  All PNP units in Kalinga have adopted indigent families with some extending food, materials and cash assistance to the whole village or barangay even during the Covid-19 pandemic. PIA Kalinga