Househelp, family living in pig pen win house and lot
MANILA, Philippines — A 23-year-old student who works as a house helper in Pasig won “Unang Hirit’s” “Bagong Buhay, Bagong Bahay” contest promo.
Engie Federis’s family can now move into a whole new house, and move out from the pig pen they’ve been living in for the past 16 months. Their previous home in Antolon, Caramoan was destroyed by Typhoon Rolly in late 2020.
“Salamat po. Makakahiga na po kami sa mabuting higaan. Araw-gabi po kami nanalangin na sana, manalo po kami dito,” Engie’s mother Lilibeth said in the morning show.
Engie then said, “Ang pangarap ko kasi para sa parents ko ay mabigyan sila ng bahay at lupa na hindi na po sila mahihirapan kaya nagpapasalamat po ako kasi natupad na po…Nagpapasalamat po ako sa Unang Hirit dahil sila yung gumawa ng paraan para magkabahay yung parents ko.”
The family was surprised that they won the house. They thought that their family is just one of the finalists in the contest. Unknown to them, they would be in for a life-changing surprise.
“Unang Hirit” secretly brought their daughter Engie from Manila to Bicol to surprise the family. They have not seen each other since 2019. So when Engie appeared, a tearful reunion ensued. Then came the bigger surprise – Suzi and Mariz announced that they were not just a finalist, but the actual winners of the brand-new house and lot from Camella Home.
This is the third time that the show has given away a brand-new house for its “Bagong Buhay, Bagong Bahay” promo winner.
Since the show opened the contest for this batch last December 2021, thousands of entries were sent in. Among them were stories about challenges that families faced after surviving disasters including typhoons, floods, or fires. Each of these stories was thoroughly read and evaluated by the team.
“Mapalad akong maging bahagi ng isang programang gaya ng Unang Hirit na hindi lamang naghahatid ng kinakailangang balita’t impormasyon kundi nagbibigay din ng serbisyong totoo sa pamamagitan ng pagiging instrumento para mabago at mapabuti ang buhay ng aming kapwa,” Mariz said.
“Isang karangalan na masaksihang muli (pangatlo na naming ito) ang pamimigay ng bagong bahay para mabago ang buhay ng isang karapat-dapat na pamilya. God bless, pamilya Federis! At salahat ng nagtrabaho at bumuo ng pagkakataongito para sakanila,” Suzi added.
RELATED: Unang Hirit barkada on ECQ
