Low-cost housing for Balikbayans from HK readied

PALAYAN CITY — Balikbayan OFWs from Hong Kong will be the recipients of the Nueva Ecija provincial government’s low-cost housing project.

This was the gist of Gov. Tomas N. Joson III’s announcement to media on his stewardship’s housing program for returning Novo Ecijano OFWs from Hong Kong arising from the probability that they would not be able to secure similar working contracts in the future in China’s Special Administrative Region (SAR).

“The idea here is to provide returning OFWs from Hong Kong, Macao, Shanghai and Taiwan decent abodes upon their return to their home provinces to put them at par with balikbayans from first world countries such as the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia,” Joson said.

The provincial chief executives said that this would be done through deductions in their bank remittances.

He added that the end in view of this program is to provide working domestics and others doing menial jobs in the former Crown colony with something concrete to look forward to in their twilight years.

In studies made by the Office of the Governor, it has been noted that most remittances sent to family members back home end up wasted on vices and mindless splurges.

Joson added that they are currently in the thick of negotiations with landowners, land developers and government and private financing institutions to realize the project before the second half of this decade.