Asian Development Bank

From ‘HOME ALONG DA RILES’ to ‘DREAMLAND’

SAN PEDRO, LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES (19 December 2004) – She used to live in a “home along da riles,” just like the popular Philippine sitcom, but 49-year old Vilna Rafal and her family, along with 426 other families who were former informal settlers living near the Muntinlupa railways, are now in “dreamland.”

They no longer risk life and limb and hear the incoming screech of trains but have their own homes and livelihood in Dreamland Heights, San Pedro, Laguna, made possible through a US$1 million grant from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan.

Relocation site

The relocation site of about 2 hectares in Barangay United Bayanihan, San Pedro, Laguna, was selected by the communities themselves. They also coined the name “dreamland” for their community. It is about 8 kilometers from their former homes alongside the Philippine National Railways rail tracks. “Dito, wala nang baha at bagyo dahil mataas. At parang Tagaytay ang lamig; hindi kagaya sa Buli na ang sikip-sikip (Here, we no longer fear floods and typhoons because it is elevated. And the weather is cool, just like in Tagaytay unlike in Buli where we were so congested),” she says.

In turn, their vacated areas will be protected by the local government from being inhabited by other informal settlers through the establishment of greenbelts, community gardens, and other uses.

No longer afraid

Vilna’s new home is a 26-square meter core house with a lot area of 36 square meters. The Dreamland community is made up of several row houses of the same size. “Ang nakakapagpasaya sa amin ay iyong aming panibagong pamumuhay at iyong hindi na ako kinakabahan lagi. E noon, pag sa riles, pag lalabas ako, nakakatakot pag daan ng tren (We feel so happy with the change in environment and I no longer feel afraid for my safety. But before, in my old home near the Muntinlupa railways, whenever I left the house, I always got nervous when the train passed by),” she adds.

At the Muntinlupa railways site, the train passes every 30 minutes on weekdays and every hour on weekends. Twenty years ago, her then two-year old daughter was almost run over by a train. The daughter now has a family of her own. Vilna’s own husband Rene was almost sideswiped by a passing train just 2 years ago when he carried a child out of the train’s way. Both Rene and the child went unscathed but only by a hair’s breadth, she said.

“Nagpapasalamat kami sa ADB dahil kami’ ang napili na magbenepisyo sa dinami-dami ng depressed area. Malaking biyaya na napili kami (We are thankful to ADB that we were chosen as a beneficiary out of so many depressed areas We are so blessed),” says 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 police. They have six children.

The project is a model for the relocation of informal settlers. Residents are given livelihood opportunities, including access to jobs in the city, new job opportunities at the relocation site, and access to credit. There is bridge financing for off-site land purchase under the Government's Community Mortgage Program. Basic services such as water supply, sanitation, and roads are also being financed. There are sustainable revolving funds for housing construction, livelihood and microenterprise development loans for beneficiaries, which when repaid will be extended to additional communities.

Self-help approach

The project adopted a new self-help and community-based approach to the relocation of informal settlers by establishing 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 the community.

Two urban poor communities in Buli and Cupang in Muntinlupa City, composed of 427 families out of an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 households who lived along the tracks, are being resettled in this integrated urban development project. The communities are Maralitang Nagkakaisa sa Tramo Buli (MANATRA) and Cupang Tramo Neighborhood Association (CTNA).

“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,” he added.

Besides reducing poverty in the informal communities of Muntinlupa City, the JFPR project will provide guidance to a $50 million ADB loan project on Metro Manila Urban Services for the Poor.

The total cost of the Muntinlupa project is $1.2 million equivalent. The Muntinlupa City local government provided $200,000 equivalent for land purchase, site development and housing construction. The executing agency is the Department of Social Welfare and Development while the Muntinlupa Development Foundation (MDF) 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 HUDCC, Department of Education and Department of Finance.

In August 2001, 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 to kick off the project.

The JFPR was set up in 2000 with an initial contribution of ¥10 billion (about US$90 million). Total contributions now stand at almost $327 million for the fund, which is supporting 49 projects in 18 countries around Asia and the Pacific, with over 20 more in the pipeline. The fund supports projects that directly provide relief measures, improve services and facilities for poorer population groups, and apply new approaches, particularly in the social sectors.