Catalog

Living the Dream
ADB Review [ April-May 2006 ]

A new community housing project has become a model for improving the lives of informal settlers in the Philippine capital

By Rita Festin, (rfestin@adb.org)
Senior Media and External Relations Officer

DREAM COME TRUE Philippine Vice-President Noli de Casto (fourth from left) poses with Vilna Rafal (second from right) and her family at her new Dreamland home, along with officials from the Muntinlupa Development Foundation

San Pedro, Laguna

Vilna Rafal and her family used to live in a home along da riles, just like in a popular Philippine television sitcom, struggling to survive and risking life and limb in the informal settlements that cling closely to the railway tracks of Muntinlupa in Metro Manila. Now they live in dreamland.

Alongside 426 other families who used to live in Muntinlupa, Ms. Rafal and her family have their own home and livelihood in Dreamland Heights, San Pedro, Laguna, south of Metro Manila. The move was made possible by a $1 million grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR).

The project is a model for relocating informal settlers, and will also provide guidance to the $50 million ADB loan project on Metro Manila Urban Services for the Poor.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT Families that were once crowded along the dangerous railway track have found new homes and a safer environment in Dreamland.

Dreamland residents are given livelihood opportunities, including access to jobs in the city, new job opportunities at the relocation site, and access to credit. Bridge financing for off-site land purchase under the government’s Community Mortgage Program is available. And basic services such as water supply, sanitation, and roads are being financed. There are also sustainable revolving funds for housing construction, livelihood, and micro-enterprise development loans for bene- ficiaries, which, when repaid, will be extended to additional communities.

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Freedom from Fear

“Here, we no longer fear floods and typhoons because it is elevated,” Ms. Rafal says. Her new home is a 26-square meter (m2) house on a lot of 36 m2 and adjoins several row houses of the same size. The site of about 2 hectares in Barangay United Bayanihan is about 8 kilometers from their former homes. It was selected and named by the residents themselves.

“We feel so happy with the change in environment; I no longer feel afraid for my safety…in my old home near the Muntinlupa railways, whenever I left the house, I always got nervous when a train passed by.”

Twenty years ago, Vilna’s then 2-year- old daughter was almost run over by a train in Muntinlupa. And 2 years ago, her husband Rene only just escaped unscathed when he stepped in to carry another child out of the train’s way. The trains pass every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour on weekends.

“We are thankful to ADB that we were chosen as a beneficiary out of so many depressed areas,” says 49-year-old Vilna. In her new home, she crochets blouses, bags, and other novelty items for a living. She also sells purified water in the community. Her husband is a construction worker and is a volunteer member of the barangay (village) police. They have six children.

The local government will protect their vacated areas in Muntinlupa from being inhabited by other informal settlers by establishing greenbelts and community gardens, among other efforts.

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IN THIS TOGETHER Then ADB President Tadao Chino chats with Vilna Rafal in her former home by the railway tracks (above); ADB’s Matthew Westfall (left) and Habitat for Humanity officials, led by founder Millard Fuller (second from right), at Dreamland Heights (below)

Self-Help Approach

The project adopted a community-based, self-help approach to relocate informal settlers by forming a cooperative relationship among local government units, nongovernment organizations, and people’s organizations in both the sending and receiving municipalities. This aims to avert economic dislocation among communities.

The 427 families, out of an estimated 9,000–12,000 households, were selected from two urban poor, trackside communities in Buli and Cupang in Muntinlupa. The communities are Maralitang Nagka- kaisa sa Tramo Buli and Cupang Tramo Neighborhood Association.

“The new community at Dreamland Heights provides a decent, well-equipped living setting without the constant danger from passing trains,” says Michael Lindfield, an ADB senior housing and urban development specialist. “To ensure the project’s success, it was shaped by the beneficiaries themselves and not imposed on them.”

The total cost of the Muntinlupa project is $1.2 million. The Muntinlupa city government provided $200,000 for land purchase, site development, and housing construction. The executing agency is the Department of Social Welfare and Development while the Muntinlupa Development Foundation is the implementing agency. The project was also made possible in partnership with the National Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, and the municipal government of San Pedro, Laguna, in coordination with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Department of Education, and Department of Finance.

The project kicked off in August 2001, when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the Muntinlupa railways site to witness the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Philippine government and ADB.

Now, residents such as Vilna and Rene Rafal and their family have a safe, organized living environment where they no longer have to fear for their lives each time a train passes.

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