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To some, they belong to the lowest rung of society,
occupying private places they do not own and turning it into a hotbed of
criminality.
But informal settlers are human being too and they
deserve dignity like anyone else.
In Valenzuela City, some 600 slum dwellers have moved
to a safer haven provided by the city government, without sacrificing
economic dislocation.
Dubbed as in-city relocation, the informal settlers,
who were victims of flooding during Typhoon Ondoy, now lives on a condo-type
building which they will rent for a measly P300 a month.
The project, located in a two-hectare city government
property, was an innovative approach to the squatting problem that has
plagued many cities and other urban areas.
Instead of relocating the informal settlers somewhere
else, which usually results to economic dislocation, the Valenzuela city
government provided them a place within the city.
“These people have families, have children to feed
and support. They can be assets to society if only they are given a break,”
Valenzuela Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian said some relocation schemes fail because
it removes those who were transferred from their jobs and sources of income.
“The result: they go back to the city because their
jobs are here,” he said.
Led by Vice President Jejomar Binay, the city
government recently inaugurated 12 more buildings in the aptly dubbed
Disiplina Village, representing the new enclave for the informal settlers.
The initial beneficiaries were families who were
living at the banks of Tulyahan river. At the height Typhoon Ondoy in 2009,
their homes were washed away.
In 2011, the initial three clusters 16-unit housing
were completed, with 16 beneficiary families.
With the completion of 12 additional buildings, total
beneficiary families is expected reach 900.
The housing project, which was envisioned by
Gatchalian, has been cited for its pioneering approach in empowering informal
settlers.
In partnership with Gawad Kalinga, it aimed to make
the beneficiary families a stakeholder on the project, instead of a passive
recipient.
Beneficiaries were required to participate in the
construction of the units by logging 500 hours of work, as a condition before
they can avail of the housing program.
This represents their sweat equity, making them
stakeholders to their new enclave.
To be able to maintain their rented homes, residents
are also required to help in maintaining cleanliness in the surroundings and
help safeguard their new neighborhood.
The city government also required the residents to
participate in weekly community empowerment programs to prepare them as
“disciplined” residents.
Not only are they provided with new homes, they are
given the chance to earn additional income.
The city agriculture office launched a program called
Bayan Anihan that teaches beneficiaries to utilize vacant portions of
Disiplina Village for small scale backyard farming. The village is also a
recipient of the Department of Agriculture’s poverty alleviation program
Techno Demo Farm project that gives them additional income opportunity.
Gatchalian said the Disiplina Village experience
showed that informal settlers can rise above themselves and redeem their
self-worth and dignity.
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“Our role as public servants is to provide that impetus
and opportunity. That is how we do public service in Valenzuela City,” he said.
Innovative solutions
To prepare high school students for
college and technical education, the city government saw to it that they are
IT-ready.
Already, Valenzuela City’s high
school students are perhaps one of the most IT-prepared and enabled in the
entire country , with the city government flooding public schools with
computers.
About 850 stand-alone computers and
17 LCD projects have been provided to the city’s 17 public high schools,
allowing the students to be proficient in computer technology.
This innovative approach has
allowed Valenzuela high school students to develop the first ever computerized
campus poll in the country.
Such achievement is still
unrivalled by other schools (MCO).
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