As a component of the partnership program forged by Mayor Herbert M. Bautista with other local governments that host a large number of Quezon City relocatees in new housing communities, the mayors of Morong and Teresa, in Rizal province received financial assistance from the Quezon City Government.

Mayor Armando DS San Juan of Morong received Php 7 million, while Mayor Raul S. Palino of Rizal received Php 10 million, on behalf of their LGUs. These latest disbursements are in addition to the Php 20 million received by the Morong municipal government from the QC-LGU in 2017.

As many as 2,000 Quezon City relocate families now consider Morong their home, while up to 200 families will be accommodated in Teresa in addition to the 300 who have settled there earlier. They are informal settlers displaced by major public works projects involving mainly road right-of-ways. The funds will be used to address the social, health and public education needs of these large additions to these municipalities’ populations.

Mayor Bautista understands that hosting a surge of new poor families poses extraordinary demands on a municipality’s existing resources which are benchmarked only for its existing population. Thus, through a City Council authorization, the mayor has been able to provide financial assistance to these host LGUs, which can augment their existing budgets.

The relocates are in National Housing Authority-built communities. The funds will allow the mayors to provide the complementary social support systems. Talks are underway on the possibility of providing a new school building for the relocatees’ children.