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.

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.

Another Low-Cost Building Technology for the Poor Explored

In the aim to provide decent and affordable housing for the poor, Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI) and the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII) together with the Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI) are continuously looking for and applying alternative building technologies like the Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB) to various CLIFF housing project initiatives of the federation nationwide. 

Last February 8, 2011 (Tuesday), community leaders and technical assistants of the Federation from NCR, Iloilo and Cebu had a site visit in First Home Subdivision in Navais, Mandurriao, Iloilo City to explore and learn from another low-cost building technology. The activity was facilitated by Engr. Joseph Asturias of Salvacion Infrastructure and Development Corporation (SIDC) with office-based in Negros Occidental in collaboration with Jockin Arputham, President of Slum Dwellers International (SDI), together with an Indian community engineer. 

This alternative building material is called Plaswall,  was introduced as one of the recent building technologies developed by Sterling Construction and Development Corporation (SCDC). Plaswall is made of two cement board and spacers (a hollow permanent concrete formwork) which should be filled with concrete (mixture of sand, water and cement). It is completely a load bearing wall with complete rendered finish which can be modified according to the shape of your choice or depending on your structural design.  It is designed to carry loads such as beams and slabs and can also be a substitute for columns. It has faster speed of installation and requires significantly lower skilled labor to build high quality concrete homes and buildings at a shorter construction period. 

During a short discussion about the building technology, some local architects working with the Federation found the material quiet expensive for low-cost housing in Philippine context. They reasoned out that the most expensive part of housing construction using plaswall is the filling-in of concrete mixture on its hollow part.

On the contrary, Jockin Arputham, SDI president showed great interest to adopt this kind of technology in Kenya where CLIFF housing is present and quiet expensive. He encouraged HPFPI-PACSII and TAMPEI to study the building technology and find means on how to make useful for the poor. 

­­­­­­­­­­­“Don’t look at the monetary value of the building technology but focus on how to make the material more affordable for the poor”, Arputham stressed out.

TAMPEI Gains New Partnership and Commitments from PIA-Iloilo

Arch. Militante of PIA Iloilo (left) speaks with Arch. Libutaque, 
TAMPEI'sPresident (right) about his recommedations on
 construction management.(Architecture students from the
University of San Agustin at the back)

Iloilo City - February 19, 2011 (Saturday), a meeting between the Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment Inc. (TAMPEI) of Homeless People’s Federation Inc. (HPFPI) and the Philippine Institute of Architects (PIA)-Iloilo Chapter was held in CLIFF Project Site in San Isidro, Jaro, Iloilo City. PIA-Iloilo is a recognized institution of architects in Iloilo City, headed by their president Arch. Alex Bacallan. The primary agenda of the meeting was to introduce the Federation, the institution (TAMPEI) and initiate a partnership with a group of technical professional to address the pressing need to mentoring and in preparations for upscaling of community-driven slum upgrading and housing initiatives nationwide. 

Twelve members of PIA including the senior and the junior licensed architects together with the junior associates (architecture students) from the University of San Agustin (USA) had an ocular visit within CLIFF Project Site. Specifically, they visited the production area of the Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB) as well as the housing units of the various batches of housing participants.


Cadornigara, HPFPI Regional Coordinator for Western Visayas (left)  
chats withArch. Bacallan, PIA-Iloilo's President (in green shirt, center)



Mac Leo John Capre, Architect intern from USA, also a TAMPEI
 member (standing) shares his learning during Bamboo 
Workshop inDavao

“We organized a site visit for the Architects and showed them the product of the community-managed construction. They were impressed with the material that we are using. Actually, Arch. Bacallan himself was fascinated by how community’s participation was integrated in the process of building their homes”, Arch. Villa Mae Libutaque, TAMPEI President said.                         

An overview of HPFPI initiatives including existing and upcoming projects, particularly the CLIFF expansion nationwide vis-a-vis the need for technical support, was presented by Sonia Cadornigara, Regional Coordinator for HPFPI Visayas.

Arch. Villa Mae Libutaque and Arch. Christopher Ebreo introduced TAMPEI’s objectives and laid down the possible venues for PIA’s intervention and probable roles in CLIFF project implementation.  The federation’s need for senior technical consultant was also stressed during the presentation.

As an affirmative response to TAMPEI and the HPFPI’s concern, PIA-Iloilo assured the following support:

• Provision of two volunteer architects who will serve as senior consultants in terms of the technical aspect of the project preparation and implementation.
• Help establish contacts with direct suppliers of construction materials and negotiate discounts which could help lower down construction cost

• Help establish nationwide links, particularly in cities where PIA is rooted and recognized. As an initial step they invited TAMPEI to be one of the presenters in PIA’s National Convention in Manila, which is considerably the best venue to introduce TAMPEI with a larger audience of technical professionals as well as an opportunity to solicit their support.

• Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing between TAMPEI, HPFPI-PACSII and PIA-Iloilo scheduled on the first week of March 2011.  

Engr. Camarista, CLIFF Project Site Engr,
 discussed the existing site development projects

TAMPEI is looking forward for a successful partnership with PIA and hoping that this will be the start of a good partnership with professional institutions or organizations as well.