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.