Enumeration: A Tool for an Effective Disaster Risk Reduction Intervention

 The Philippine’s archipelagic feature and location along the typhoon belt of North Pacific basin coupled with its position within the Pacific belt of fire increase its risks-levels to different types of disasters. The country is frequently devastated by typhoons, storm surges, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and drought that cause billion worth of damages on properties and lives of people. Susceptibility to disaster events and their impacts are usually exacerbated by climate change and unsustainable human practices thus, creating an ecological imbalance.  

In Philippine context, vulnerability to disasters is often linked with poverty issues. Those who are usually residing in relatively high risk areas such as along railways, under the bridge, riverbanks,  foreshore and dumpsite areas are low-income groups who cannot afford to live in affordable and descent houses.  In addition, these groups also belong to the informal sector who lacks security in land tenure and access to physical infrastructures and basic services.

In the past decade, the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI), a national network of urban poor communities originating from small saving groups throughout the country has integrated disaster response measures in its key rituals, using enumeration as a tool.  Its commitment to work with the most vulnerable communities began after the Payatas trashlide in year 2000. It was a tragic event that killed and displaced several hundreds of people after a mountain of solid waste dump in Quezon City collapsed due to heavy downpour.  Gathering data on the actual number of casualties and relief operations were the initial responses of the government and concerned civic organizations. However, the accuracy of reported casualties and damage assessment were contested and questioned for these did not actually reveal the exact number of disaster-affected families and the incurred losses on properties.  This apparent data gap on the number and status of communities in high-risk sites like Payatas, inspired the federation to start its enumeration initiatives.

Western Visayas Enumeration Update

 I. Introduction 

As of January 15, 2011 of the total 13,570 target households to be surveyed in Western Visayas only 6,726 households were surveyed which is almost fifty percent (50%) of the target. In Iloilo City, 3,576 were surveyed that is forty-seven percent (47%) of the target 7,570 households covering six (8) coastal barangays. These were Sto. Niño Sur, Sto. Niño Norte, Calaparan, in Arevalo Distrct and Calumpang, San Juan, Boulevard, West Habog-Habog and North Baluarte in Molo District. On the other hand, a total of 3150 households were surveyed which is 53% of the 6,000 target in Bacolod City covering only two barangays namely: Barangay 35 and Barangay Singcang.

Bacolod surveyed communities have relatively bigger number of households per barangay compared with Iloilo City because of the following reasons:

a) The spatial area of barangays in Bacolod City are comparatively bigger than that of Iloilo City. Barangay 35 for instance is composed of eight (8) major puroks which are subdivided into different zones. Five (5) of which are located along the riverbanks and the foreshore areas namely: Purok  Malipayon, Purok Mapinalanggaon, Purok Masinadyahon, Purok Maabi-abihon and Purok Mag-hiliugyon. On the other hand, Barangay Singcang is composed of 4 major sitios namely: : Singcang, Magsungay, Calong-calong and Airport. Furthermore, these sitios are further subdivided into 36 minor puroks. Fourteen  of which are located along the riverbanks and foreshore namely: Sigay, Talaba, Sisi, Batad, Greenshell, Tahong, Litob, Mars, Neptune, Kabulakan 1 and 2 and Sampaguita 1, 2 and 3.

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.

LGU & Public-Private Partnership and Knowledge Exchange on Earth-Based Technology

ILOILO CITY-Inspired by the aesthetic and economical gains of Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks (ICEB),  an alternative building technology  used in Community-Managed Housing initiatives of HPFP-PACSII, Iloilo City government  visited San Carlos City, Negros Occidental last October 28-29, 2010 for a knowledge exchange on ICEB’s design and construction application. This learning exchange was facilitated by JF Ledesma Foundation, Inc. in collaboration with the local government of San Carlos City. 

Among the LGU participants were Honorable City Councilor and acting Chairman of the Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs Office (ICUPAO), Edward Yee; Mr. Wilfredo Jurilla, Co-Chairman of ICUPAO; Mr. Alfred Villanueva, Head Officer, City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO); Engr. Llane Opinion and Engr. Liza Castillo of City Engineering Office; and Engr. Joefry Camarista, ICUPAO’s detailed CLIFF Project Site Engineer. Along with them were Mr. Benfred Tacuyan from the Iloilo City Urban Poor Network (ICUPN); Regie Ruego and Sonia Cadornigara of HPFPI-PACSII Iloilo.

Full of optimism to start a fruitful engagement with Iloilo City, Honorable City Vice Mayor Edgardo Quisumbing warmly welcomed the Iloilo participants in a luncheon meeting hosted by the City government of San Carlos. Senior Officers of JF Ledesma Foundation, Inc. (JFLFI) and Asian Rural-Urban Development and Peace Institute (ARDEP) also facilitated a short programme to share with Iloilo City the current operational framework of JFLFI’s partnership with the local government of San Carlos City in citywide mainstreaming of earth-based technology particularly the ICEB. Here, mainstreaming connotes the application of ICEB in almost all public infrastructures, not only in San Carlos, but to other cities as well. Dr. Nestor Abdon, ARDEP Managing Director stressed that in order to move to such technology replication, there is a need for an inter-LGU alliance or collaboration, and the best way to promote this technology to other cities is through knowledge exchange.

The application of ICEB in socialized housing programme was already shared by JFLFI to HPFPI and PACSII with the implementation of the Community-led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF). This time, upscaling ICEB to the local government level, will not only benefit San Carlos City by making it as a national capital or pilot institute of earth-based technology but will also help other cities in terms of creating social enterprises or livelihood targeting the poorest sector. Employment could be generated from production, construction to design processes in the utilization of ICEB. Aside from this, other cities which are investing on low-cost housing projects for the poor could benefit because this technology is very cost-effective. In fact, the Iloilo City government and HPFPI-PACSII are now looking into the feasibility of applying ICEB on the proposed medium-rise housing project.

Engr. Misael Hibionada, JFLFI, Deputy Executive Director for Social Housing and Building also gave a very brief presentation on the evolution of earth-based technology, its advantages and disadvantages, how their partnership with the LGU of San Carlos help them in upscaling technology replication, and the basic construction and design guidelines for ICEB. More enriching discussions between JFLFI and Iloilo LGU representatives regarding the application of ICEB technology came-out during the project field visits. Among the sites visited were St. Charles Homeowners Association, St. John Homeowners Association, St. Luke Homeowners Association, Gawad Kalinga Housing Project, JF Ledesma ICEB production site with the Philippine ICEB Resource and Reference Center and the Agricultural Productivity Training Center (APTC).  

“I hope that after this knowledge exchange, there will be a more tangible way of expressing our collaboration with the Iloilo City government, perhaps through a memorandum of agreement, trainings and further knowledge exchange”, says Dr. Abdon. 

Leaving San Carlos City with this challenge, Iloilo City LGU representatives expressed their willingness to work hand-in-hand with ICUPN, HPFPI and PACSII  in undertaking concrete steps that could help them materialize their common purpose which is to make Iloilo City an investment-friendly and environmentally sustainable city through the promotion of earth-based technology.