Redefining Bamboo: Initiative from the Grassroots

A housing participant of the
lowest income group in the Alliance's
community-managed housing in Iloilo
City presents her dream house during
the housing design workshop held last
April 16 to 17, 2012

One of the most challenging parts in the Alliance’s housing initiative is addressing the housing needs of the poor while at the same time ensuring the provision of decent housing giving highest regard to their income and affordability level. For the past years, since the start of the housing project implementation in 2008, the Alliance has been exploring strategies to lower down housing project cost. One of its innovations is the use of the Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB) which has indubitably helped realize the Alliance’s aim of reducing construction expenses. First, in terms of the minimal use of sand, gravel and cement mixture as filling for the hollow block walls and second because of its load-bearing capacity, there is no need for the construction of columns or posts which are conventionally used.

Housing participants express there dream houses through
drawings as illustrated above

With the commencement of the series of trainings and workshops for the lowest income group in the community-managed housing last April 16 and 17, 2012, the inconvenient truth which poses apprehension on the part of the alliance is the meager seventy thousand capital fund for housing construction, a relatively small amount which raises the following question: “what is the solution when faced with budget limitation?” The answer lies within the community’s inherent resiliency. An ordinary housewife would normally stretch the household budget in order to subsist in a week or a month by practically living according to means and by finding alternatives in order to save.

Bamboo poles such as these undergo
treatment using boric acid like the ones used in
the Alliance Bamboo Footbridge.

Bamboo is one of the practical alternatives being considered by the alliance in order to maximize the budget. Bamboo as a building material has long been utilized even by the early inhabitants of Iloilo City in particular and the Philippines in general. Despite the customary use of bamboo in building houses in the Philippines, the known fact which remains seemingly accepted by the general public is that bamboo houses will not last long like concrete houses do. To pave the way for the realization of bamboo application in housing projects, visits, meetings and discussions were initiated with the key public and private individuals, institutions and companies which have experiences and expertise in terms of the utilization of bamboo for construction purposes. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Office VI was tapped to solicit information regarding bamboo technology in Iloilo. DTI chairs the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council at the national level. On the other hand, the alliance also consulted with the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV), the local partner academic institution of the alliance which operates a community-based bamboo enterprise development facility which advocates for the setting up of nurseries for bamboo plantations and the harvest of which will be used as materials for engineered bamboos. 

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI Regional Coordinator and Arch.
 Libutaque, TAMPEI President updates Prof. Prieto Carolino of UPV
regarding the upcoming Bamboo Workshop where the same would
be one of the resource speakers.

The alliance also visited the municipality of Maasin which is among the few local government units in the country which promotes the viability of bamboo and is considered as Iloilo’s bamboo-techno-demo area. Just recently, the alliance linked with Mr. Rex Dagdag, owner of the Elm and Oak Enterprises, Inc. in Oton, Iloilo which manufacture bamboo crafts and chemically treated bamboo for building houses. Dagdag won the bamboo garden lamp contract in January, 1999, at the Centre for International Trade Fair Exposition Mission (CITEM) Fair in Manila and he is presently doing consultancy work on bamboo related research.

These pile of bamboo poles are used to produce chopsticks,
one of the bamboo products manufactured by Iloilo Kawayan
Marketing of the Municipality of Maasin, Iloilo

Bamboo as a construction material is comparatively cheaper than concrete hallow blocks (CHB) or even the interlocking compressed earth blocks (ICEB) which is currently used in the alliance’s housing project. It can be used in a myriad of ways for building, such as for scaffolding, roofing, flooring, concrete reinforcement, walls and piping. A case in point is the alliances community-initiated bamboo footbridge in Matina, Davao City.

Bamboo Footbridge of the Matina Communities in
Davao City

Bamboo has a great capacity for shock absorption, which makes it particularly useful in earthquake-prone areas. It is extremely lightweight as compared with hardwoods and consequently, building with bamboo can be accomplished faster than building with other materials.

Bamboo is considered to be a sustainable and renewable alternative to hardwoods, foremost because it regenerates at exceptionally fast rates. It is also cost-effective, especially in areas where it is cultivated and is readily available. Transporting lightweight bamboo is less costly than transporting its heavier alternatives. In Iloilo, the UPV has conducted local researches on the availability of bamboo in the first and second district of the province and hopefully through the established partnership with the said academe, the alliance will be able to avail of such information.

Samples of engineered bamboo planks used to make bamboo
tiles, chairs and tables produced by the Pliantgraz Inc. in
Santa Barbara, Iloilo.

Construction using bamboo ordinarily does not require machinery and can be accomplished with simple tools. It is as long-lasting as its wooden correlates, when properly harvested and maintained. However, in order to ensure the longevity of bamboo houses, the alliance is looking towards the possibility of the use of chemically treated bamboo in combination with the ICEB.

This is a pilot housing demonstration project of the Alliance
in Matina, Davao City. Experiences in project implementation 
will serve as the Alliance's springboard to enhance future 
bamboo housing initiative.

As a response to social acceptance concern, the alliance will organize a Bamboo Workshop to commence on May 3-4, 2012. Such is paramount to its basic ritual on social preparatory activities. In particular, the workshop is expected to serve as a tool in changing the urban poor’s mind set towards bamboo as a construction material. With the combination of its strong partnership with the government agencies, academic institution, researches, workshop and training as well as the open mindedness and active participation of the urban poor sector in partnership with the local government unit, bamboo houses or a combination with ICEB is anticipated to be another breakthrough in the urban poor’s innovative slum upgrading initiative.

What We Did And Will Continue To Do

         The Philippine Alliance stands on its principle- that the development process appropriate for the poor should primarily be determined by the poor themselves. Determining such process is more than just applying an academically framed paradigm; it’s more than just having strong partnership with contemporaneous government administration and more than just delivering tangible output as proof of improvement. The alliance looks beyond what is visible- it specifically gives high regard to the people-centered process taking full consideration of the social context and the communities’ pace. Such is evident in all its slum-upgrading initiatives ranging from community savings mobilization, community survey, small-scale upgrading initiatives and at present, its community-managed housing initiatives which has not only made a great impact but has inspired local and international communities.

Sonia Cadornigara, HPFPI Regional Coordinator for Western Visayas presents 
the federation's experiences in housing project implementation with Vice Mayor
 Javier of the Municipality of Hamtic and Engr. Mondejar, the appointed project
 engineer of the upcoming project. Observing at the back are TAMPEI's (fr.L-R) 
Arch. Mandario, Rubinos-architect intern, Arch.Libutaque, TAMPEI President
 and Villarin, HPFPI Survey in-charge for Iloilo City

         Just recently, the alliance was tapped by the province of Antique, a province adjacent to the southern part of Iloilo, particularly of the municipality of Hamtic to assist and facilitate in the setting up of a Comprehensive Housing and Upgrading Project for families in the foreshore areas of Malandog, one of the coastal barangays of Hamtic. The project aims to a) promote community-managed housing construction, where the community plays a vital role in planning, procurement, actual construction and housing management; b) build on community’s collective capacities and resources through the promotion and expansion of savings program; c) facilitate skills and technology transfer by replicating the use of ICEB technology for the implementation of low-cost housing project and d) develop and strengthen pool of technical support, networks and partners to leverage financial, technical and infrastructure resources and jointly formulate policies or programs that support the delivery of  adequate, low-cost and sustainable housing for the poor.

Photo taken during the Workshop on Local Shelter Plan Formulation.
Participants compose of representatives from LGU' City Planning and
Development Office, Iloilo City Urban Poor Network, Housing and Urban
Development Coordinating Council, Housing land Use and Regulatory
 Board and National Housing Authority.

           On the other hand, in Iloilo City, the Alliance’s recently promulgated membership and representation in the Local Committee against Squatting Syndicates and Professional Squatters, reaffirmation of its membership in the Local Housing Board, participation in the consultation meeting on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Iloilo City, its involvement in the formulation of the Local Shelter Plan for the same and its recent participation in the proposal to amend the a national legislation on Urban Development and Housing are tangible  proofs that its constant and persistent initiative has not only made its presence undoubtedly visible but has to a great extent amplified its voice, loud enough not only to influence development policies but more importantly in taking the lead on setting the compass towards a more inclusive and participatory governance.

Lay-out and flooring of  the housing units of the
3rd batch of housing participants

         Currently, the alliance is nearing completion of one hundred seventy two (172) housing units in its community-managed housing project in San Isidro Relocation Site in Iloilo City. Eighty three (83) of which were officially awarded to first and the second batch of housing participants while the construction of the 48 units for the third batch is still ongoing. The initial course of implementing the remaining forty one (41) units for the last batch of housing participants which considerably has the least affordability level will commence through Savings Orientation and Housing Design Workshop on Monday (April 16, 2012).

Housing units of the 2nd batch of housing
participants. Because of a relatively lower capital
fund of  110,000 pesos compared with the
150,000 pesos fund of the 1st batch they have
decided to use ordinary GI sheets.

           The past few weeks have been quiet challenging and remarkably eventful for the Philippine Alliance particularly for the Iloilo Team, as exemplified by the abovementioned undertakings and activities. Such unfolding of events shows the Alliance’s potential to take greater leaps forward. However, “it is frustrating to know, see and encounter people who still think that they can just draw, plan, dictate, and build the house of the poor without getting them involved”, said Sonia Cadornigara, SDI Board Member. “We must keep in mind that we are not just building their houses but we are in a way building their lives and homes...and it is next to building communities...strategies which are in keeping with their progressive pace should be observed", she added.

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.

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.

CLIFF: The Philippine Experience

43 IFCP-Affected Families Finally Own CLIFF Houses

August 21, 2010 - After a year of managing the construction of their own houses, forty-three housing participants of the Riverview Homeowners Association, Inc. finally get a house through the Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) Housing Project in San Isidro Relocation Site, Jaro, Iloilo City. These families have been residing in high risk areas for many years, along the Jaro River, and who were identified and tagged as affected families of the Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP).

CLIFF is an international programme that aims to build the capacities of organized urban poor towards housing and slum upgrading solutions through a finance facility. CLIFF Philippines intends to provide low-cost and affordable housing to the poor. CLIFF is being funded by the UK-Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), managed by the UK-based NGO called Homeless International.

CLIFF-Philippines, which is being implemented by the Homeless People's Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI) and its is support NGO known as the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc. (PACSII),  started this housing project in 2007, having Iloilo City as the pilot city to test and learn from people's process or community-driven experiences in low cost and decent housing for the poor.

CLIFF programme was accessed by the Philippine Alliance with full support from the Slum Dwellers International (SDI) - the Alliance long time partner for development supporting grassroots processes.

Below were photos taken during the awarding ceremony.

CLIFF Communities Assess Alliance’s Procurement System

Jeffrey Subaldo in the grp discussion.  

"Community procurement has proven to be an effective approach to make our houses affordable and of good quality. We can attest our house is safe to live in because we only procure standard materials and oversees the construction works" says Jeffrey Subaldo during the initial assessment of CLIFF communities on the existing community procurement system of the Philippine Alliance (HPFPI and PACSII) conducted last September 26, 2010 (Sunday).  

Thirteen members from Kabalaka and San Isidro who were directly involved in the procurement activities were tapped as evaluators and the documentation team as facilitators. This is in lieu of establishing community procurement system in all its community-driven upgrading and housing initiatives of the Alliance.

This one-day-activity was aimed to:

1.   Identify any problems or difficulties encountered by the community in carrying out the procurement process and system.

2.   Gather insights, suggestions, and recommendations on how to improve existing policies, forms process and system.

3.   Improve different procurement forms being used in the procurement of CLIFF housing materials when necessary.

4.   Share community experiences and learnings in implementing community-managed procurement.



  CLIFF communities share and present their experiences on community procurement.
They also provide a list of recommendations to the Alliance for improvement. 



Summary of Workshop Results and Learnings Gained

The assessment did not only focus solely on the procurement procedures and system but also in construction management. Procurement and construction management are two important aspects that interplay whenever we speak about community housing.

Crisis on labour equity, insufficient supply of ICEB blocks and bad weather condition were three factors cited that affects construction pace. Problem on labour equity was the most frequent and common reason that delay the construction across different batches of housing participants. In spite of ample time (6 months to one year) given by the Office for these housing participants to comply their labour equity through community savings or sweat equity from family members, still many could not pay in full prior to actual construction or even on the date of moratorium period. The basic question is: Is it a matter of attitude or affordability issue? If members now have difficulty in complying their equity within an ample and short period of time, how could they repay for the monthly amortization for many years? These learning experiences pose a challenge to the Alliance how to recycle CLIFF capital funds for expansion not only city-wide but nation-wide.



Presentation and Consolidation of workshop results by Regie 

Community members have no difficulty in filling-up the various procurement forms if only they religiously follow their schedule of duty and perform assigned task. Members’ slow participation in site-related activities creates a “domino effect”. Outdated procurement records and discrepancies, purchasing, and site supervision emerged when members stop going to the site to perform their tasks. 

Kabalaka HOA won the best drama award for the role playing.

Task-based teams at the community does not only establish transparency, accountability and trust among the members but also serve as a support arm to the Alliance given the latter’s manpower and resources to implement CLIFF at city scale. Given the problem cited above, it is a challenge to the Alliance how to make these community teams work from the start till the end of the construction.   

Living by example is an element for good community leadership. Participants emphasized that it is easy to mobilize the whole community members when officers themselves perform what they preach. Take for instance labour equity issue where members’ equity was slow because they also look up to their officers who many of them did not reach the required equity.

There is no universal formula or specific approach for different batches of housing participant. Each has its own distinct characteristic or dynamics, thus, strategize to be applied should also be relative. Community trainings to prepare and capacitate people for actual construction evolve. The young professionals (YPs) who acts as facilitators were challenged to simplify its trainings without compromising the process and purpose of these capacity building activities.

It is anticipated that workshop results would be integrated in the working procurement manual of the Alliance, to be shared to other regions where HPFPI is seeding.

Additional 3 ICEB Machines Procured for Iloilo City; 2 for Digos City

The CLIFF-San Isidro housing project which involves the construction of 172 shell-housing for the affected families of the Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP). In this project, HPFPI and PACSII promotes an alternative building technology known as Interlocking Compressed Earth Block (ICEB).

As response to the recurring problem of inadequate supply of Interlocking Compressed Earth blocks (ICEB) blocks in CLIFF-San Isidro massive housing, the Philippine Alliance bought 5 sets of ICEB machines from Thailand. Three sets of these machines arrived in Iloilo City last November 18, 2010 while the other 2 sets will soon be delivered to Digos City as one of the next cities for CLIFF expansion nationwide.  

Newly awarded Category C houses and the ICEB production area.

The procurement of 3 more machines to be used for the massive production of ICEB responds to the greater demand of ICEB for the ongoing construction of CLIFF-supported Community-Managed Resettlement Housing Project in San Isidro, Jaro, Iloilo City.

Securing sufficient supply of raw materials (lime soil) and procurement of additional block presses were pushed through by the Alliance to ensure continuous supply of blocks for the remaining 129 shell-housing in CLIFF-San Isidro.

At present, only two (of the three old) machines are functional. With these new machines soon to be set up on site, it is anticipated to increase the number of blocks produced by the workers, thus, construction of ICEB houses would be nonstop.

“Mas mayo gid nga madugangan ang machine para madamo man ang ma-produce sang mga workers. Hindi na sila mabudlayan sa pagproduce kung magdululungan na ang construction. Isa pa gid ka bentaha para nga makahatag man obra sa iban nga gusto maka-income kay madugang man sang tinawo para sa pag-obra” suno kay Rosenie Malderama, ICEB In-charge”.

 (“It is better to have additional machines for the production so that workers could as well produce an immense number of blocks especially now that massive construction starts.  Another advantage of this, it provides employment for those who want to have an income considering the fact that it requires more workers to do the production” says Rosenie Malderama, ICEB In-charge”).

Second batch of another 40 housing units for Category B.

Forty-three ICEB houses was already awarded to the first batch of CLIFF housing participants (Category C) and another forty-eight units intended for the second batch of participants (Category B) are still under construction.

When compared to conventional way of housing construction ICEB technology is proven cheaper by 30% of the total housing cost including materials and labour costs.  

Digos City, a member city of the Philippine Alliance, intends to also provide affordable shell-housing units to its member communities, using CLIFF funds.

18 Families Moved In To CLIFF Houses

ILOILO CITY - Following the turn-over ceremony in CLIFF- San Isidro, Jaro in August this year , 18 of the 43 community members already moved in while others are still doing house improvements prior to actual transfer. This first batch of housing participants classified as Category C partly comprised the 172 member-families of the Riverview Homeowners Association, Inc. (RVHOA).  It obtained its legal personality from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) just this year.

"It is comfortable and secure here compared to our previous living condition. When it rains even a little I couldn’t sleep the whole night. I need to be vigilant and vacate our house when riverwater touches our floor". says Gina Yarra, the first to occupy the unit in San Isidro.

Members prioritized improving the basic parts of a house at their own expense including labor and materials. Some members utilized recycled the materials they got from their old house while the others really set aside a portion of their income for house improvements. Incremental developments done so far include installation of windows (19 units), doors (17), stairs (20), ceiling (3), beautification of comfort room (15), floor tiling (4), setback improvement (13), perimeter wall fencing, set-up of individual water system (9) and internal wall partition (1). Improvement costs shelled out from members’ own pocket ranges from Php140,000 to Php1,000 or Php22,000 average.

The community seems so busy each day. You can see how people invest their time, money and effort and explore different means just to make their houses beautiful. More and more members are getting inspired to clean and beautify their houses on weekends and they eventually occupy the unit.

“It is easier to call for a meeting now because they’re already here in the site unlike before it was really difficult to get a quorum. When we beautify our houses, we also think about beautifying the whole community” says Richie Jacusalem, member of Category C.

CLIFF is an international programme which supports organized urban poor communities using a strategic venture capital facility. It is funded by the UK-Department for International Development (DFID), managed by UK-based NGO Homeless International.

CLIFF Philippines was made possible through HPFPI's international affiliate Slum Dwellers International (SDI).