Knowing What They Have and Expressing What They Want

Marivic Mirasol, one of the housing participants from San Isidro

Housing Project, facilitates the social mapping activity

ILOILO CITY- Social preparatory activities such as Social Mapping and Dream House Workshop are among the capacity building activities supported by the Philippine Alliance to foster and promote community-led processes among partner communities in the country as a whole. New Baldoza Homeowners’ Association (NBHOA), one of the new community associations qualified to avail of the community-managed housing project implemented by the Philippine Alliance through the Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility Program actively participated in the back to back training workshop facilitated by housing participants from Kabalaka and San Isidro housing project. The activity which was held last November 20, 2011 in Barangay Baldoza, Lapaz, Iloilo City, was attended by twenty (23) out of the twenty seven (27) applicants.

Members of the New Baldoza Homeowners' Association

enthusiastically post the icons reflective of their socio-economic

and demographic status

Social mapping during the morning session was conducted to map-out the socio-economic profile of the association members who are entitled to avail of a maximum loanable amount of one hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150, 000.00) and will serve as supplementary basis in validating the information given by the participants during their application and reconsideration of the loan package on the part of HPFPI-PACSII in Iloilo. The table below shows the consolidated output of the social mapping:

Dream house workshop on the other hand provides a venue for each participant to express their dream house through participative and illustrative schematic design making. Individual designs are then consolidated to integrate common spaces and essential design attributes by community architects and interns from the TAMPEI though three dimensional (3D) design models and prototypes. The following photos exemplify participants dream houses:

Despite budget limitation, particularly on the capital fund for the construction materials as well as the participants expressed preference on replicating the house designs in San Isidro Relocation Site in Jaro instead, the Alliance considers it imperative to conduct separate dream house workshop for New Baldoza as it would facilitate social acceptability and pave the way in building a sense of ownership among association members. As a response and in consideration of the people’s inherent adaptive capacity, the alliance encourages incremental development as a strategy to bridge the gap resulting from the aforementioned budget limitation.    

The pictures below were taken during the presentation of the participants dream houses partcipants as they explain the reasons why they dream of such kind of houses:







For the past years, since the beginning of its housing initiatives in 2007, the Philippine Alliance has been consistent on its stand that social preparatory activities such as social mapping and dream house workshop are fundamental components of a cohesive and responsive community development undertaking. Building capacities among housing participants is likewise a leap forward towards a holistic community-led process.

Learning Through Experiences: LUMANTI Visits Philippine Alliance

As one of the affiliates of the Slum Dwellers International (SDI), the Philippine Alliance has been consistently observing and promoting horizontal learning through learning exchanges, visits or exposures as the most effective way of sharing strategies, approaches and learning experiences between and among CLIFF Implementing Partners (IPs). Through this, co-affiliates of SDI are able to gain ideas on the dynamics of various urban poor federations around the world implementing slum upgrading initiatives ranging from savings mobilization, community survey, small scale upgrading initiaves and large scale projects like housing.

Corollary to this, five (5) delegates from LUMANTI, an SDI affiliate and CLIFF Implementing partner based in Nepal participated in a learning visit with the Philippine Alliance last September 26 to October 2, 2011 particularly in Iloilo City where the first CLIFF-Community-Managed Resettlement and Housing Project was implemented. Among the topics discussed and activities undertaken were as follows:

• Orientation & Expectation Setting
• Overview of the Philippine Alliance and its Initiatives
• Sharing of Nepal Slum Context and Current Initiatives
• Area Visit
• KABALAKA Site
• Brgy. Benedicto
• CLIFF San Isidro Site
• Discussion of CLIFF Management Cycle
• Presentation of CLIFF San Isidro Relocation Site and the Housing Project
• Discussion on ICEB Production
• Application  of ICEB Technology  in Construction
• Discussion on Loan Package Formulation, Flow of Capital Funds, Contracts and Repayments

The following are some of the photos taken during their visit in Iloilo City:

TAMPEI Organized Site Development Workshop for RVHOA Members

ILOILO CITY (April 17, 2011) –A Site Development workshop on open space planning was organized by the Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI) for the members of Riverview Homeowners’ Association (RVHOA) in San Isidro Relocation Site in Jaro, Iloilo City. The main reasons for organizing the aforementioned workshop were as follows:

Old Subdivision Plan of RVHOA

Proposed Subdivision Plan for RVHOA

• Recommendations based on the monitoring and assessment of external evaluators suggest to review and revise the site development plan which shows that the area allocation for the open space intended for the construction of their amenities, was greatly prioritized rather than the area for the Category A housing participants which is the lowest income group among the three (3) income groups which was categorized by the federation 
• Findings on land survey and evaluation by the federation’s technical assistants show the irregularity of lot sizes and shape as well as unleveled terrain which needs land filling. Land filling of the area would be an additional burden and expense for the housing participants considering their very limited loan for construction materials which only amounts to seventy thousand pesos (P70, 000. 00).
• Formulation and drafting of the plan only involved the first batch of participants which became a limiting factor in developing a more comprehensive and inclusive plan which is generally favorable and beneficial.
• The awarding of house units and actual transfer of the first batch of housing participants in CLIFF San Isidro Relocation Site raised concerns on the matters pertaining to the utilization of the open space and identification of amenities to be put up in the area.  

The workshop was divided into four (4) different parts namely:

Ø  Rationalization- considering the reasons stated above, the main goal for organizing the workshop is to make the housing participants and HOA members realize the need to revise the original subdivision plan and thus actively involve themselves to act on the proposed change. Community architects and interns facilitated the discussion and presentation of the original plan vis-à-vis the proposed open space location highlighting the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the two.

Ø  Visualization- to prompt RVHOA members to initially think about their priority facilities to be put up in the open space area given the size and the location, familiarization of the boundaries of the proposed site as well as mapping out of existing adjacent structures  are very important. With the assistance of the community architects and interns, boundaries of the proposed open space location were marked out and participants walked around the defined boundaries to have a clearer picture of the area.

Ø  Identification and Prioritization of Space Use or Facilities- to have a more diverse and comprehensive decision in terms of prioritizing facilities and consideration of its space use, participants were grouped based on various interest groups namely: men, women and youth. Each interest group were tasked to list down the facilities they want, rank it according to their priority and present it with the big group to discuss the reasons for choosing such amenities. After which, the ideas of the three (3) interest groups about their priority amenities were consolidated.

Ø  Planning- after the consolidation of the various group’s priority amenities, identification of the area in which to put up the identified priority facilities was done as part of the planning for the finalization of the site development plan for RVHOA’s open space. Participants used scaled grids and cut outs in illustrating their desired amenities and posted it on an enlarged map to show where they want to place them.

The following are insights which were shared by the housing participants during the workshop:

v  “Revising the subdivision plan of the RVHOA as a whole is timely and appropriate especially now that our members started to transfer here in the relocation site and occupy their new houses. We are continuously growing in terms of our population in CLIFF San Isidro Site which I think should entail better planning of our open spaces and its usage”, says Joel Sicat, RHOA President during the expectation setting and impression sharing part of the workshop.

v  Basketball Court, botanical garden, community mini-market, Material Recovery Facility (MRF), chapel, community hall and playground are among the amenities or facilities which were mainly considered by the participants. These are the things which the participants deemed necessary and are reflective of men, women and youth’s priority. The basketball court according to them can serve as a multi-purpose area for the community’s various activities. The botanical garden and the mini-market were primarily suggested by the group of women participants who consider it essential to have a source of herbal medicine and accessible market. While the youth particularly those age ranges from three (3) to eight (8) years old expressed their suggestion of a playground to be included as one of the amenities in the open space through their drawings.

The aforementioned activity is part of the organizational development workshop being conducted and organized for Philippine Alliance’s community members and partners. Such undertaking shows that in decision making, despite the fact that the alliance adheres toward ensuring that the community is in charge of determining the solutions for their problems as well as in recognizing the things which are beneficial for them, final decisions are always made in consideration with the recommendations of the federation’s community architects and engineers who have the technical skills, formal training and substantial background on the subject matter. This is a concrete manifestation of the importance of technical support institution like TAMPEI particularly in the slum upgrading initiatives of an urban poor federation like HPFPI.

HPFPI-PACSII, TAMPEI Conducts CLIFF Project Orientation with Megaworld HOA

 ILOILO CITY- (Friday) April 1, 2011- a meeting was held in Lanit Relocation Site, Jaro for the anticipated implementation of the Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) Housing Project in partnership with Megaworld Homeowners’ Association (MHOA), Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI), Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. (PACSII) and Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI) in the three (3)-hectare donated lot of the Megaworld Corporation.  

Megaworld HOA is composed of around 300 relocatees from the fifty four (54)-hectare Old Iloilo Airport Site in Mandurrriao District. They were divided into two (2) clusters: (MHOA Cluster A and B) and had transferred to Lanit Relocation Site with the assistance of Megaworld Corporation and the Iloilo City Government through its Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO). Although Megaworld Corporation had donated a 3-hectare lot and had provided seven thousand (7,000) worth of financial assistance for the relocatees during their transfer, still, most of them were not able to build sustainable and disaster resilient structures. A number of house structures in the relocation site where made out of salvaged materials from their old houses in Mandurriao.

Lonelyn Barrientos, President of MHOA together with their
Secretary, Raquel Bellera, explains the compsition of their
association

 In 2008, members of Megaworld HOA where greatly affected by the devastations brought about by typhoon Frank. In response, HPFPI initiated the Housing Materials Assistance Program which has lent 5,000 worth of house repair loan to members of the association.

This year, HPFPI-PACSII targets to involve forty (40) housing participants from the aforementioned association who will be entitled to avail maximum of ninety thousand (90,000) worth of housing loan which can either be used for house repair or complete residential construction. Although the loan will be distributed among 40 individual members, it was emphasized that HPFPI and PACSII will deal with the community association as the accountable legal entity particularly during repayment. Likewise, Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI’s Regional Coordinator for Western Visayas, stressed participants’ willingness and eagerness to pay as the critical criteria in availing CLIFF loan and the important factors in securing the availability and accessibility of the CLIFF fund to other urban poor communities in the future.

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI Regional Coordinator for
Western Visayas, explains some important processes being
observed in CLIFF project implementation 

Other concerns raised during the meeting were as follows:

• CLIFF Qualification Requirements which applicants from Megaworld HOA should comply with
• Labor Equity requirement either through cash or sweat equity
• Integrating Community Savings within the process of cash equity collection
• Terms of Repayment of the CLIFF loan

To explain and answer community members concerns in detail, a follow-up meeting was scheduled on April 10, 2011. Cadornigara reasoned that the community needs gradual orientation and series of meetings and workshops in order for them to fully understand CLIFF processes. Although the social preparatory activities may take time and a lot of effort, Cadornigara is certain that CLIFF will make another difference in the lives community members from Megaworld Homeowners’ Association.

HPFPI-PACSII, PCUP, ICPDO Confer CLIFF Project with New Baldoza HOA

PCUP, ICPDO, HPFPI_PACSII and TAMPEI review the
initial draft of the subdivision plan for NBHOA 

ILOILO CITY- Tuesday, March 29, 2011, a preliminary discussion about the upcoming offsite housing project in the 1.5 hectare PCUP-donated lot located in Lanit Relocation Site, Jaro was held between Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI) headed by Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI’s Regional Director for Western Visayas, Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) headed Chloe Osano, Regional Director, Field Operations Division for Visayas together with Peachy Marie Ochong, PCUP’s Area Coordinator for Iloilo City and Iloilo City Planning and Development Office (ICPDO) represented by Elizabeth Alparaque, City Planning and Development Officer III. The aforementioned activity is one of HPFPI’s preparatory steps for the implementation and expansion of Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) Housing and Resettlement Project in Iloilo City which targets the construction of forty (40) housing units this year, for and in partnership with community members of New Baldoza Homeowner’s Association.

The New Baldoza Homeowners’ Association (NBHOA) is composed of households informally residing in the 3.2 hectare Montinola land property located in Brgy. Baldoza, Lapaz. Some have been occupying the area for more than twenty (20) years now but have not actually transferred residence despite the issuance of administrative and court ordered demolition in favor of the Montinolas. Last year, the PCUP was able to purchase 1.5 hectare Tarroza land property in Barangay Lanit, District of Jaro through their Emergency Land Acquisition Assistance for Victims of Eviction and Demolition (ELAVED) Program. Fortunately, PCUP identified and selected NBHOA as an ELAVED beneficiary and had actually granted the land for free to 185 households. The Montinolas have likewise offered financial assistance worth five thousand (5,000.00) pesos provided that the residents vacate the area. Despite the assistance provided by PCUP and offered by the landowner, members of NBHOA still find difficulty in transferring to the relocation site primarily because the financial assistance and the free lot are not enough for them to secure comfortable houses for themselves. This problem became the entry point of HPFPI-PACSII and TAMPEI for housing provision through CLIFF.

(Right) Chloe Osano, PCUP Regional Director, Field
Operations Division for Visayas together with Peachy Marie
 Ochong, PCUP’s Area Coordinator for Iloilo City (left)

Among the concerns raised during the discussion were as follows:

   ·         Distribution Scheme of the donated lot- how to make it more favorable to CLIFF housing participants as regards the easy and non-costly implementation of the housing project

   ·         Irregular sizes, shapes and positions of lot based on the current subdivision plan

   ·         How to secure the non-saleability of the lot within ten years upon occupation according to the terms provided by PCUP

   ·         How to ensure repayment of housing participants as regards their CLIFF loan considering the absence of agreements or legal documents which would protect the HPFPI’s interest on revolving CLIFF funds and that the PCUP’s administrative role is limited until the allocation and distribution of lots through a deed of donation

Sonia Cadornigara shares some community processes being
observed in the implementation of CLIFF Housing Project

Aside from the abovementioned concerns, PCUP in particular brought about their concern on how to instill a sense of responsibility and ownership along with the implementation of the housing project. In response Cadornigara answered in contemplation, “That is exactly what CLIFF processes strive to develop among the housing participants through community-led and managed procurement and construction activities. This may sound a bit cliché to you but in CLIFF, we are not just building homes, we are building communities.”

The half day activity ended not with tangible agreement but with the assurance of partnership between the aforementioned stakeholders. A follow-up meeting will be scheduled to talk about drafting a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to formalize the partnership between HPFPI-PACSII and PCUP.

BHA Initiates Discussion on Probable Housing Initiative with HPFPI

Bacolod City- (Tuesday) March 22, 2011, Bacolod Housing Authority’s (BHA) Department Head, Josephine Segundino initiated an exploratory discussion with Sonia Codornigara, Regional Coordinator for Western Visayas and Overall Programs and Services Coordinator of Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI) regarding a proposed socialized housing project in Bacolod City’s 58.6 hectare Granada-Vista Alegre Relocation Site II. Initial discussion targets 298 low income families informally residing along the riverbanks of Sharina Heights in Barangay Taculing. Out of the 58. 6 hectare relocation site, the city government of Bacolod City has allotted 3.52 hectares for the proposed housing project where home lot measures 64 sq. m. each.  

Other than the discussion on the proposed housing project, Cadornigara gave an update about the recent CLIFF Stakeholders Board (CSB) Meeting with a focus on the forum discussion entitled “Decent Housing, Is It Affordable?” which became a point of interest on how to advocate for exemptions and lowering down of cost of housing-related fees for the urban poor. Cadornigara raised HPFPI’s stand about some inapplicable and irrelevant provisions of the National Building Code of the Philippines particularly in matters pertaining to the housing initiatives of self-help groups. It requires permits and fees which the federation deem appropriate only to private and real estate developers like licenses to sell and building permits which are usually accomplished prior to housing construction. The city government’s capability of formulating resolutions which trim down housing-related requirements, as well as the establishment of strong partnership with national shelter agencies in order to hasten urban poor’s housing initiative were also highlighted during the meeting.

As regards the proposed housing project, the BHA pledged to draft a project proposal to be presented to Bacolod City Mayor, Evelio Leonardia for an executive approval on the following week. Conversely, Cadornigara assured that BHA’s proposal will be discussed by federation members accordingly. However, Cadornigara is looking at Urban Poor Fund International (UPFI) of the Slum Dwellers International (SDI) where Cadornigara is one of the board members, as a probable finance facility which could operationalize the proposed housing project.  

Learning from the experiences of HPFPI Iloilo on housing provision, it is evident that the partnership and support of the local government unit is very critical in determining the success of a project. Bacolod Housing Authority’s demonstration of interest on the community-driven initiatives of HPFPI particularly on the process being observed in the implementation of Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) Housing and Resettlement Project shows promising signs of a successful housing and resettlement intervention of HPFPI in Bacolod City.

TAMPEI Holds Orientation Activity for CEA Students in USA

ILOILO CITY-(Friday) March 11, 2011, Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI) held an orientation activity for the engineering and architecture students of the University of San Agustin’s (USA) College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA). The aforementioned activity was one of TAMPEI’s strategies to solicit technical support from students as a response to the pressing need of the Philippine Alliance (composed of Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines Inc. and the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc.) for additional volunteers in the implementation of   its Slum Upgrading Initiatives and Community-led and Managed Housing Projects here in Iloilo City. It was attended by junior and senior students taking up architecture, civil, chemical and mechanical engineering from the same university, as well as some community leaders of the Philippine Alliance.

 The orientation activity started with a prayer led by Angela Cham, a 5th year architecture student and was followed by a brief introduction of participants facilitated by Engr. Reynaldo Asuncion, Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. Arch. Villa Mae Libutaque, TAMPEI President gave the rationale of the activity and discussed the common perception of students regarding the commercially-driven nature of their work. Libutaque stressed the fact that the poor people, especially those living in congested cities like Iloilo also need their assistance. As a follow-up to the discussion, a video presentation about the role of technical professionals in upgrading slum dwellers' physical and environmental conditions was shown to the students. It was followed by another video presentation  focusing on Philippine Alliance's community-managed housing initiatives currently supported by the Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) Programme.  

Community leaders from Kabalaka and San Isidro Housing Projects presented the on-going CLIFF initiatives in San Isidro Relocation Site, Jaro and the upcoming projects for new CLIFF expansion communities in Iloilo City for the second phase. 

Given the scope of work that the HPFPI-PACSII and TAMPEI in Iloilo is currently undertaking and will be facing for the next consecutive months, Arch. Christopher Ebreo and Arch. Alcor Mandario of TAMPEI facilitated a discussion about the possible  participation or contribution of the student volunteers. Libutaque stressed out that the nature of their involvement will be tasked- based which means that students will be doing output-oriented tasks such as drafting and design works, surveying, facilitation of technical trainings and workshops,   research on alternative and low-cost housing technology, and incremental housing development. 


On the other hand, for students who will be doing internship for the federation, they will facilitate the formalization of design outputs of the housing participants and be part of construction supervision along with the site engineer. 

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI Coordinator for Western Visayas and Board Member of Slum Dwellers International also added that the bulk of ongoing and upcoming projects of the Philippine Alliance, especially in Iloilo City make it ideal for both architecture and engineering students to do their internship in the federation. Aside from the challenge of coming up with designs with very limited financial resources, students are also given the opportunity to supervise actual implementation of the project. “The multi-faceted nature of the required technical support of the federation makes it an ideal laboratory for students and technical professionals alike who want to learn and at the same time impart their technical skills to the urban poor sector”, Cadornigara added.

Speaking in behalf of the College of Engineering and Architecture of the University of San Agustin, Engr. Reynaldo Asuncion assured the Alliance of its continued support by linking the university's internship, research and extension programs with ongoing upgrading and housing initiatives of the urban poor sector.

Implementation of Incremental Site Development within CLIFF-San Isidro Kicks-Off

Drainage construction started in Category C wherein
families already moved in their houses.

March 4, 2011: The City District of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started to construct yesterday the drainage system surrounding the 1.6 hectare-CLIFF-San Isidro Site, Jaro, Iloilo City. Project funding came from Congressman Jerry P. Treňas, who have been an active partner by the Philippine Alliance for city’s development on socialized housing for the poor.

This 3-million-worth of project includes the construction of main drainage canal (with one-meter-diameter reinforced concrete pipe) and 300-meter-concrete wall covered canal, targeted to be completed within two months maximum from the start of project implementation. Project contract was awarded by the DPWH to V.N. Grande Construction as contractor.

Engr. Camarista explains the technical plan for the actual
implementation of the drainage system in CLIFF site.

“We have successfully negotiated with the City District of the DPWH to realign the proposed drainage project to implement in CLIFF site because of sensible and readily available subdivision plan, technical support, and active community association”,  says Engr. Joefry Camarista, ICUPAO detailed site engineer for CLIFF-San Isidro Project.

According to Camarista, the role of the barangay also played an important role to materialize such infra project for the benefit of the newly relocated constituents. With assistance from Barangay Captain Felix S. Dureza, a letter was signed by the private landowner allowing the construction of the drainage outflow going to the river, passing through the landowner’s property.

The covered concrete canal with 2.5 meter depth

Next to implement is the concreting of approximately 750-meter-road network within the CLIFF-San Isidro community, using Congressman’s funds. Survey of the road network has been initiated on site by the City District- DPWH while the topographic map still needs to be revalidated.

Engr. Camarista is confident that road concreting will soon be implemented, with full support from the Cong. Trenas and the city government particularly the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office, an agency concerned or in-charge in monitoring of site development in city’s provided resettlement area for the urban poor.

TAMPEI, ICUPN, HPFPI-PACSII FACILITATE COMMUNITY CONSULTATION IN HINACTACAN, LAPAZ

Iloilo City – March 04, 2011- The Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment (TAMPEI) together with Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI) and Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII) in collaboration with the Iloilo City Urban Poor Network facilitated a community consultation meeting in Barangay Hinactacan, Lapaz, Iloilo City. The meeting was organized by Benfred Tacuyan, President of the Iloilo City Urban Poor Federation, Inc. (ICUPFI) as a response to the barangay’s request for technical assistance to come up with an output which will be helpful for their initiative of securing land tenure.

 As a head start, Arch. Villa Mae Libutaque, TAMPEI President facilitated the leveling off of expectations. Lorie Bautista, one of the community members brought up her expectation and said, “We are here to listen to you since Benfred told us that you can help us solve our problems here in Hinactacan, we expect that you can provide us with tangible solutions which will be applicable to us”. Most of the participants affirmed to her response but Arch. Libutaque challenged them and said, “It should be the other way around, we are here to listen to you, tell us your problems and together, we will think about the ways on how to deal with it”.

According to local residents of Barangay Hinactacan, Lapaz, the land that they currently occupy was formerly a low-lying wetland which was and still being flooded regularly since it is located along Iloilo River and facing Iloilo-Guimaras Straight. Residents of Barangay Hinactacan are former or current workers in fish ponds surrounding the area who decided to put up some elevated huts as their temporary shelters for their convenience. In the course of time, these people who eventually developed the land by land filling, put up house structures and started to raise their family there.

Just a few years ago, a land owner from a neighboring lot made a proposal of building a memorial park on the lot area adjacent to Barangay Hinactacan.  This proposal has raised the local residents’ concern on their security of land tenure. Majority of them feared of being evicted considering that they do not have any legal documents which will support their claim of occupancy and right to the land. In order to clear up the issues, the said landowner called for a meeting and settled their issues by presenting the exact location of the lot where he intended to build the memorial park.  Confident that they will not be evicted from the land that they presently occupy because of what the landowner said, the community members started to disregard the issue. Years later, after the death of the aforementioned landowner, his wife started to claim the land as their property. She made a deal which required the residents of Hinactacan to pay for the rent of the land and even offered the property for sale.

The unexpected problem which arise due to the claim revived the threat of eviction which the community-felt years ago.

As a response, the community made initial research about the status of the land. Their initial findings showed ambiguous results which made it very difficult for the community to determine the real owner of the lot. The only thing that they hold on to is the likelihood that the land is a government property which they hope to be proclaimed by the President as a socialized housing site.

As suggested by Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO), proponents of the housing proclamation should submit to Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) a letter request together with a list of actual occupants of the area duly certified by the ICUPAO, sketch map and boundary description of the area or property.


As a response, TAMPEI facilitated a community mapping together with five (5) community members who are very much familiar with the frontier and the geographical area of Barangay Hinactacan, Lapaz. With the assistance of Arch. Libutaque and Arch. Ebreo of TAMPEI, community members draw the house structure, alleys, and boundaries of the barangay and eventually measured its perimeter. Data or information gathered through spot mapping and measurement will then  be formalized by the aforementioned technical assistants. Moreover, Helen Villarin, a community leader from HPFP suggested the conduct of an enumeration. She gave an orientation on how to use the HPFPI community survey form as it would be useful in coming up with a comprehensive barangay profile.

Currently an estimated total of 120 house structures with a population of 737 people reside in the area. Although the assistance extended by TAMPEI, ICUPN and HPFP-PACSII seems an indecisive solution to the community’s problem, certainly it has shown signs of concern among the urban poor communities which will surely strengthen their cooperation.

Philippine Alliance Hosts RLP Event and CSB Meeting

Achieving scale in housing and basic infrastructure services provision while building on community- driven strategies, institutional and policy support from public and private partners was the main trajectory underscored during the CLIFF Reflection Learning and Planning (RLP) Event as well as the CLIFF Stakeholders’ Board (CSB) Meeting Proper held in Iloilo City last February 5-9, 2011.  The event was organized by the Philippine Alliance composed of Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. and the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. in coordination with the Homeless International, a UK-based NGO responsible for the over-all management of the Community–led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF).  CLIFF is a global programme that aims to support organized communities to demonstrate slum upgrading solutions using a recyclable finance facility. 

CLIFF Partners who participated in the CSB Meeting were: Philippine Alliance, Indian Alliance, National Cooperative Housing Union Ltd. (NACHU), Pamoja Trust, Akiba Mashinani Trust (AMT), Muungano Wanavijiji and Lumanti. This created a venue for each CLIFF partner to share and learn from other countries’ experiences, success stories, and challenges in CLIFF implementation from community mobilization, planning, design and construction and fund management aspects including partnership building and networking.

CLIFF Philippines in Focus

 

The first day of the learning exchange focused on CLIFF Philippine experience. Local and international delegates were exposed to two CLIFF- supported projects in Iloilo City: the KABALAKA Demonstration Housing and Community Managed Resettlement Housing Projects. Likewise, the Philippine Alliance facilitated a sharing discussion highlighting the community-led processes in all aspects of the CLIFF management cycle. Equally important in project implementation are the valuable contributions of different stakeholders like the government, academic institutions, private sector and the institution of technical support known as the Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc (TAMPEI), which remarkably gained appreciation from local and international CLIFF partners.

Also, Alliance shared about its challenges in CLIFF Project implementation.  Among these are its difficulty in facilitating social preparation activities, assessing target participants’ loan affordability levels, sustaining communities’ participation in CLIFF-related trainings and workshops, procurement and actual housing construction, dealing with communities’ labor equity and CLIFF loan repayment issues, and strengthening its partnerships and networks.

CLIFF-Wide Sharing

Following this whole day activity, a CLIFF-wide sharing was facilitated by the Homeless International which provided participants a global perspective of CLIFF programme and how it is managed in other countries. This was also an opportunity for CLIFF partners to discuss their important breakthroughs in CLIFF implementation, their foreseen challenges and insights for successful scaling-up.

The Indian Alliance’s presentation highlighted the organization’s strategies in developing financing mechanisms in the context of slum upgrading and housing for informal settlements. Very notable about the Indian Alliance’s experience is its worth and innovativeness in leveraging financial resources from the government and private financing institutions to subsidize CLIFF Projects. While CLIFF India has gone so far in terms of scale, the Alliance recognizes that numerous challenges are still underway. These include time delays, increasing construction cost, political impediments and the need to explore and adopt community-driven construction practices that could further scale-up community-managed construction projects.

In Kenya, CLIFF programme was instrumental in federation building which apparently strengthened communities’ capacities and project involvement in areas like savings mobilization, enumeration, community mapping, site planning, construction management, loan repayment and collection.  Kenya’s experience on CLIFF has shown that communities are capable of building their own houses. They just need sustainable access to affordable finance, motivation and facilitation. While security of tenure is regarded as one of the crucial elements of a decent housing, CLIFF provided communities a leeway to achieve it incrementally. The slow pace of loan recovery in some CLIFF-supported projects is one of the present challenges faced by the Kenyan Alliance. Thus, in order to support communities in their loan repayment, they learned that income generating activities should be incorporated in the CLIFF programme.

The National Cooperative Housing Union Ltd. (NACHU) and Lumanti, the two new CLIFF implementing partners from Kenya and Nepal provided a background profile of their organizations, their key initiatives and their significant milestones in the housing sector. Operating on a microfinance-based framework, NACHU adopts a holistic approach in delivering affordable and sustainable housing to the urban poor. It basically integrates savings mobilization; incremental mode in housing development; provision of organizational, technical and financial support services to target groups; and mainstreaming gender, environment, lobbying and advocacy issues in designing housing solutions for slum dwellers. Similarly, Lumanti has developed wide-ranging strategies which are essential take-off points for the CLIFF programme implementation.

“After many years of struggle, some changes are seen.  Communities organised.  Government is getting positive.  Some resources are allocated and partnership is possible.  However, struggles need to be continued for scaling up the small changes achieved and for effective sustenance of a new beginning that has just started”. These encouraging statements from Sama Upreti, one of the learning exchange participants showed that Lumanti has successfully gained recognition and support from the government and other stakeholders which is viewed as a vital factor when housing is to be delivered sustainably.

Larry English, Executive Director of Homeless International discussed how the CLIFF programme supports the development of civil society organizations in delivering shelter and basic services solutions on a sustainable basis. He presented a framework describing the different levels of support services that these organizations need to become financially, technically and politically dependent while achieving project scale.

Decent Housing: Is It Affordable? – A Forum Discussion

CLIFF funding partners from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Department for International Development (DFID) joined the rest of the learning exchange participants during the third day’s area visit. This gave them an idea about the progress of the ongoing CLIFF-Community Managed Resettlement Housing Project in San Isidro, Jaro.  Likewise, they were exposure to the production facility and construction application of the alternative building technology called Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB) in CLIFF San Isidro Project. Most of them were inspired by the community’s involvement in planning, house design, procurement, construction and over-all project management. They also visited another community in Zone 8, Veterans Village, which is targeted as the next site for CLIFF expansion this year. 

A back-back activity with the area visit was a forum discussion on the topic “Decent Housing: Is it Affordable?”. This event was organized by the Philippine Alliance as an advocacy strategy to influence national housing regulations and policies. Specifically, the forum discussion aims to evaluate the government and private sector’s current approaches, practices, institutional and financial support mechanisms in delivering decent and affordable housing to the poor. This event was an opportunity for international partners to understand the complexity of housing laws and regulations in the Philippines which sometimes limit the exploration of alternative and more affordable housing solutions.

Invited speakers during the forum discussion were Engr. Isagani Jalbuena, from the National Housing Authority (NHA) Region VI; Engr. Gil Ramos and Marilyn Susteger from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) Region VI; Arch. Regie Gregorio from the Iloilo City Engineering Office; Juanita Genovania-Artiola from PAG-IBIG Region VI; Engr. Rony Firmeza former Chairman of the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office and Mr. Jose Roni S.J. Peñalosa, Head Officer of Iloilo City Planning and Development Office (CPDO).  These key shelter and local government representatives assured the Philippine Alliance of their continued support to the urban poor sector and their current housing initiatives.

CLIFF Stakeholders’ Board Meeting Proper

After the four-day reflection, learning and planning event, all CLIFF partners gathered last February 8 and 9 for the CLIFF Stakeholders’ Board (CSB) Meeting to discuss CLIFF Project updates and key results of their last year’s Business plan. This meeting was also convened for the deliberation and approval of this year’s proposed CLIFF projects. 

CLIFF RLP, A Success!

Having seen the current progress and scaling-up potentials of CLIFF-supported projects in the Philippines, donor agencies, Homeless International and other CLIFF partners were optimistic that this progress could lead to greater results. This is only possible if the Philippine Alliance has sustainable organizational, financial, technical and institutional support.  It is noteworthy that the impressive involvement and logistical support from Iloilo City government, partner academic institutions and local communities during the Reflection, Learning, Planning and the CSB have significantly contributed in making this weeklong event a successful one.