POPE FRANCIS VILLAGE

The Urban Poor Associates (UPA) spearheaded three separate consultations with eleven clustered homeowners associations (HOAs) to refine their list of members who will avail of permanent housing from Pope Francis Village (PFV). The activity was held at the activity area of Pope Francis Village in Barangay 99 Diit, yesterday.  Prior to the start of land development and house construction, 550 families passed the initial screening process facilitated by UPA based on agreed qualification criteria for the PFV. The masterlist was submitted to the City Government through the City Housing Office.  However as physical development unfolds,  the social team sees the need to revisit and update the listing as there were some families who voluntarily withdrew their application and chose to avail of other housing projects. There's quite a few who are still being evaluated and may be possibly delisted on the ground of non-compliance with the agreements stated in the covenant ent...

At first sight, I was impressed by the brick-laden land mark, well-paved roads, and seemingly sturdy rowhouses. I'm sure others will have the same first impression upon entering this public relocation project in Barangay Cabalawan. As we got closer to the interiors of the permanent housing project which was supposed to be an asylum for no less than a thousand typhoon Yolanda survivors, I blew off from what I've seen as a total contrast.   The entrance to Ridge View Park, a relocation project  of National Housing Authority and the City Gove The project involves the provision of 2,000 rowhouse units to typhoon Yolanda-affected families.  Exterior paint cannot conceal the substandard and poorly-built structures often misconstrued by outsiders as a humane disaster rehabilitation assistance. Who is apt to believe that a housing unit costs Php293,000 when right in front of you are rowhouses which lack reinforcement and wall forms  not properly aligned with g...

Bago pa man dumating ang dagok na dala ng bagyong Yolanda, 37 taon na akong nakilala sa pangalan na Yolanda Sembrero. Isa po akong survivor ng bagyong Yolanda na tumama sa Tacloban, Leyte noong Nobyembre 13, 2013 at ngayon ay nabigyan ng pagkakataong magkaroon ng permanenteng tirahan sa Pope Francis Village. Nitong Hulyo 15, 2016,  isa po ako sa napiling magrepresenta ng aming komunidad sa isang forum patungkol sa estado ng Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation na inorganisa ng Development and Peace at NASSA-Caritas Philippines.  (Before the devastating Yolanda came, I was already known as Yolanda Sembrero for 37 years. I am a survivor of typhoon Yolanda that hit Tacloban, Leyte in November 13, 2013 and now given a chance to have a permanent shelter at Pope Francis Village. Last July 15, 2016, I was chosen to represent our community in a forum about the State of Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation organized by Development and Peace and NASSA-Caritas Philippines.)  Ma...

It's been over two years and a half  since Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan), a massively catastrophic, level 3 disaster ravaged the Philippine archipelago. It presented huge challenges to affected communities, who despite the outpouring funding support from multi-lateral organizations, official aid agencies, non-governmental and other private-sector organizations continue to grapple with poverty and marginalization. The scale of disaster impacts likewise changed the landscape in which humanitarian and development actors operated and responded at the height of disaster response, recovery and rehabilitation. Although there have been numerous researches, evaluations and conferences conducted by different organizations related to the state of Yolanda recovery and rehabilitation, integration of much needed information and lessons to collectively address the issues of Yolanda survivors is highly wanting.  It was the first time that Development and Peace-Caritas Canada along with CBCP-N...

The Eastern Visayas State University has been an active partner of Pope Francis for Resilient and Co-Empowered Sustainable Communities (FRANCESCO) in the establishment of Pope Francis Village Model Community.  As the university continues to advance its extension program, FRANCESCO's collaboration with the College of Architecture and Allied Discipline  (CAAD) has gained positive reception as proven by  the sustained number of student volunteers presently deployed at the PFV Site.  Under the supervision of two architects from the Technical Assistance Movement for People and Environment, Inc. (TAMPEI), three architecture graduates and seven undergraduate students are now rendering a one-month volunteer work at the PFV Site. They were mobilized to assist in the development of miniature house design prototypes and 3 dimensional site development model that were all drawn from the series of workshops with members of Pope Francis Village last year.  Their o...

The belief in the supernatural is very prominent in the Filipino culture. Performing some house cleansing rituals come into play when, people are building houses or moving to a new house. Generally people do these to ward off evil spirits and other mystical entities. As a show of respect to traditional practices of Taclobanons, I have documented a seasoned ritual called “Padugo” or offering blood of an animal as a form of sacrifice at Pope Francis Village yesterday. The ritual was performed during the pre-concrete pouring for foundations of the first batch of rowhouse units.. It involves slitting of the throat of three white chickens and dripping the blood to the excavated holes before actual pouring of cement. This was performed by a folk healer who happened to be one of the community members of Pope Francis Village. According to traditional beliefs, this practice of taking the life of a sacrificed animal will prevent the evil forces from taking the life of workers or anyone conne...

Seeing this heterogeneous cluster of savers eagerly handing-over a Php20.00 individual savings contribution to their cluster leaders is a testament that poor disaster survivors have inherent capacity to mobilize their own resources, if driven by a certain purpose. Savings member brings their individual passbook which serves  as a proof of their weekly savings contribution.  This group is one of the seven (7) savings clusters of Magallanes Survivors Homeowner’s Association (MSHOA) that was organized by Urban Poor Associates (UPA) in early February of 2014. The cluster meets every Sunday for their weekly meeting and savings mobilization activity. For this savings cluster, the minimum individual savings contribution is Php20.00 The Bayanihan Savings Program is both an organizing tool and a strategy of UPA in preparing Typhoon Yolanda survivors in transitional shelters and in areas currently covered by No-Build Zone to  become self-sustaining while wai...