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

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 Iloilo Set Direction for 2011

ILOILO CITY- HPFPI and PACSII Iloilo staff and volunteers convened a meeting last January 5-6 to evaluate the federation’s performance in undertaking its development thrusts for the past year. Also, during the meeting the federation and its technical support organization, set their priority activities as new challenges and opportunities welcomes year 2011.

The federation enumerated its pipeline activities for this year which include follow through activities to update community savings status of CLIFF, Housing Materials Assistance and ACHR upgrading communities including those who availed the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s 4Ps Program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program). Since community savings has been the backbone and the primary organizing tool of the federation, there is a need to capacitate the existing savings groups in terms of financial management as well as to revive  those communities with inactive savings members. The federation has already identified key persons that will compose a team whose task is to validate and assist communities in updating their savings records and financial status. Follow-up orientation and hands-on training on community savings will be conducted for DSWD 4P’s beneficiairies who have not yet started their savings.


Monitoring of repayment status of communities who availed the upgrading loan from the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) is another task lined-up with the federation’s priority activities this 2010. It’s been three years already since the ACHR granted the seed capital to finance the 10 small-scale upgrading projects in selected pilot communities in Iloilo City. However, some factors like insufficiency of income sources of individual members, lack of receptivity of local government officials to the project and the skepticism of some members about the reliability of their leaders especially the designated loan collectors, have resulted to the unsustainability of loan repayment of upgrading communities. Difficulty of reorienting members of pilot communities about their loan repayment obligation poses another challenge to the Iloilo City Urban Poor Network which facilitates the community-led upgrading program. As a deliberate effort to address this problem, HPFPI will spearhead the regular loan repayment collection from upgrading communities every Thursday. Aside from regular upgrading loan collection, HPFP community leaders will also assist in recordings and bokeeping to keep track the community’s repayment collection.


These kind of initiatives being spearheaded by the federation to revive the savings and community-led upgrading program implementation is a good start for the year 2011. The federation also hopes to expand its membership on savings to its network communities including the non-affiliates. With proper and close monitoring of upgrading loan collection, the federation will have the opportunity to replicate the upgrading program to other communities who are also capable of demonstrating their own solutions to slum problems which they encounter.