REPUBLIC CEMENT EXPANDS HOUSING PROGRAM
Republic Cement has recently expanded its affordable housing initiative called Tahanan Ko, as it partnered with three microfinance institutions.
These MFIs were identified as Tulay sa Pag-unlad Inc.; Alalay sa Kaunlaran Inc.; and the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation.
“Republic Cement is dedicated to helping address the Philippine housing backlog through collaborations that create shared value for those at the bottom of the pyramid,” Renato Sunico, president of Republic Cement and Building Materials, Inc. (RCBM), said in a statement.
“Affordable housing is one of the major pillars of our iSTAND4 program, which covers our CSR and Sustainability Plan for 2020,” Sunico added.
The new set of partnerships is intended to benefit low-income families who avail housing and home improvement loans from the three MFIs.
Under the partnership, Republic Cement provides marketing and technical assistance to the employees and foremen of the MFIs involved in the housing loan program.
These include equipping employees with marketing skills, conducting safety and basic construction trainings, and deploying Civil Engineering Technology graduates.
Through these interventions, Republic Cement ensures that projects are constructed in line with appropriate building and sanitation standards using high-quality materials.
Republic Cement is targeting to generate a total of 5,250 house renovations and constructions from the program for 2016.
According to Sunico, Republic Cement is currently planning to further grow the program’s footprint, which currently covers Luzon and Visayas. The target was to ink similar partnerships with Mindanao-focused MFIs.
To date, Republic Cement’s Tahanan Ko program has benefited over 400,000 individuals. The said program adopts a multi-model approach in addressing the country’s socialized housing challenges.
Apart from the MFI housing loan program partnership, the company also works with National Housing Authority (NHA) contractors for government housing projects, collaborates with housing non-government organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and GMA Kapuso Foundation for disaster rehabilitation projects.