Homeless Families Seek New start at Balay Kawayan (Bamboo House)

By ROMA R. GONZALES

cross-posted from http://panaynewsphilippines.com/2015/05/07/homeless-families-seek-new-start-at-balay-kawayan/ published in Panay News on May 7, 2015 (Panay News is a leading local newspaper in Iloilo City).
Photos found herein are courtesy of Base Builds https://www.facebook.com/basebuilds?fref=ts and HPFPI http://www.hpfpi.org/

ILOILO City – Twenty bamboo houses were turned over to homeless family beneficiaries at Uswag Subdivision, a city government resettlement site for informal settlers, in Barangay San Isidro, Jaro district.

Beneficiaries were those affected by road-widening projects or those who received court ejection orders. They were screened by the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI) in cooperation with the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO).

With bamboo as the main structural material clad in concrete, “the houses were engineered to withstand intensity 8 earthquake and winds up to 220 kilometer per hour,” said Base Bahay, Inc. operations manager Jose Angelito Alburo, citing studies.

The two-storey duplexes were made possible through Iloilo Reference Project’s Balay Kawayan Housing Initiative funded by Hilti Foundation and implemented by HPFPI in partnership with Base Bahay, Inc., Technical Assistance for People and Environment, Inc., Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. and the city government of Iloilo.

One of those who will start a new, decent and comfortable life in these houses built using innovative bamboo technology is Joelito Torres.

During the turnover early this week, Torres was thankful to the city government and partners for giving him and his family a fresh start.

Torres has been a resident of Barangay Ungka, Jaro for the past 25 years. His house was demolished to give way to a road-widening project.

“This bamboo technology was studied in the laboratory. The engineering done to the houses was in such a way na magiging resilient siya at hindi basta-basta masisira ng typhoon,” said Alburo.

Alburo claimed that three houses built with the same technology in Bicol remained standing when typhoon “Glenda” struck while nearby coconut trees were felled.

He also said using bamboo is more sustainable than wood because felling trees causes deforestation.

Bamboo is also a lot cheaper than using steel thrusts, Alburo added.

Measuring about 25 square meters per storey per unit, each house costs P350,000.

Furthermore, the project promotes the use of bamboo as a major structural matter for housing constructions.

Regan Schegg, strategic developer from Hilti Foundation, said they developed the “low-cost, affordable housing technology for those in need” three years ago.

“Ultimately, it is not about the house. It is about the community standing up together,” Schegg said.

Raoul Imbach from the Swiss Embassy said the “Balay Kawayan” technology can be replicated.

The Swiss government is active in Western Visayas helping those stricken by super typhoon “Yolanda” and implementing the Joint Migration and Development Initiative, which encourages overseas returnees to invest in risk reduction and give their knowledge to help the community.

Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said the city government will provide additional two hectares to the project implementers and developers to build more homes for those in need./PN

"Know Your City, Know Your Slum"

Slum Dwellers International and Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines conducted 3-day training on Settlement Profiling and Mapping last January 13-15, 2015 at San Isidro, Jaro Iloilo City. This was attended by 37 participants from different cities like Valenzuela City, Quezon City, Bicol, Davao City, Kidapawan, Cebu City, Talisay City, Mandaue City, Lapu-lapu City and Iloilo City, 2 Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO) officers of Iloilo City.

Participants of the 3-day training on settlement profiling

5 members of Indian Alliance , John Samuel, Jyoti Aras Bhende, Nirmala Sham Gholap, Gunashekar Mulayan and Celine d’Cruz, are the resource persons of the training and helped out in the conduct of the actual settlement profiling.

Gunashekar Mulayan shared his experiences
as a slum dweller in India for 20 years

Settlement Profiling is a process of collecting data of the entire informal settlement, getting the profile of the community by counting the structures, the basic amenities in that area and mapping the boundaries.Celine d’Cruz of Indian Alliance and SDI discussed on the first day, the importance of settlement profiling as a necessary tool to understand the settlement and to empower the community to be capable in “speaking for themselves” and deal with the government.


On the second day of the training, January 14, 2015, the participants were divided into two groups and went on actual profiling of two different settlements found here in Iloilo City, Ingore in Lapaz Disctrict and Villa Anatolia in Molo District.

Participants paid courtesy visit to Brgy. Captain Jonathan Jalandoni
of Brgy. Ingore Lapaz, Iloilo City

Marking the house as part of structural mapping, Villa Anatolia, San Juan,
 Molo, Iloilo City

Ingore group doing the boundary mapping
at the settlement of Ingore Lapaz

After getting the necessary information’s of the settlement the participants encoded the data on the third day of training and uploaded on the platform of SDI.

The data will be viewed on the internet but is not yet ready to be viewed by the public since the site is still under maintenance to make it more comprehensive and user-friendly. However, the site is only available right now to HPFPI members for uploading the data.

Participants encoded the data they gathered on SDI platform

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI Visayas Coordinator emphasized that settlement profiling is necessary for members of the federation and as individual to get information and “knowledge of the community, of the city, of the national level and of the international level.” It is as an edge for the federation in engaging with the government and as individual to be well informed on the realities of the settlements.

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFP Visayas Coordinator
delivered her closing remarks

Celine d’Cruz of Indian Alliance imparted to the participants to “know your city, know your slums” as it is with great hope that the data collected will be used to “make real change in the lives of the poor.”

Celine d'Cruz emphasized the importance of Settlement Profiling