A new facility dedicated to protecting women and children facing difficult circumstances is set to rise in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, following its groundbreaking on Monday at the Haven for Women.
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Center to Provide Comprehensive Support
The Women and Children’s Crisis Center is a joint project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Health, designed to provide vulnerable women and children with a range of services in one facility.
The center will include bedrooms, an art therapy room, a skills training room, a recreation room, a living room, a dining hall, and a multipurpose hall. It will also have dedicated facilities for medical, psychological and social services, along with legal and protection services.
Architect Dan Lichauco presented details of the project during the groundbreaking program, highlighting the different components planned for the facility.
Former president and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo emphasized the center's role beyond providing physical infrastructure.
“So what Dan [Lichauco] is building here, what we are building here today is not just a building. It is a place of refuge — where a woman with nowhere else to turn will find a door that opens, and a child who has known fear will be met... with safety,” Arroyo said.
Pampanga 4th District Rep. Gina de Venecia, founder and co-president of the Association of Women Legislators Foundation Inc. (AWLFI), described the planned facility as a place that “will be a home of hope.”
Among those who participated in the groundbreaking were Arroyo, de Venecia, Bukidnon 3rd District Rep. Audrey Kay Zubiri, who is the project chairman of the Women and Children’s Crisis Center, Bulacan 4th District Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica, who is AWLFI co-president, former senator Cynthia Villar, and Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon.
Building on Muntinlupa’s Support Network
The project adds to the history of facilities established to assist women and children in need. Arroyo recalled that in 1995, de Venecia “built The Haven for Women right here in Alabang.... It was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.”
“Then the Haven for Children followed and I think there are 15 regional Havens that rose all over the country,” Arroyo added.
Villarica is an author of the Expanded Maternity Leave Act, while Biazon highlighted the city's existing programs for vulnerable sectors as he welcomed the new center.
Biazon said the project represents “what we believe is the core value of Muntinlupa — that is, to care for those in need in society.”
“The local government also has its own counterpart. We have Sagip center for battered women and children. We have Bahay Pag-asa for children in conflict with the law. And we have Bahay Kanlungan for the abandoned elderly,” Biazon said.
With spaces for shelter, therapy, health services, legal assistance and protection, the new center is expected to strengthen the support available to women and children experiencing crisis. For Muntinlupa and surrounding communities, the project can make essential services more accessible to vulnerable families while reinforcing the importance of safe, responsive support systems across the country.
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