(7th of a series)
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines鈥擮n a recent November morning, six women were huddled together inside a newly constructed, rustic little hut in Barangay (village) Bagacay, 10 kilometers north of this city.
Shelving their talk about politics, the women鈥攁ll survivors of Super Typhoon 鈥淵olanda鈥� (international name: Haiyan)鈥攚ere suddenly confronted with a problem: How to provide themselves and their families with permanent roofs over their heads.
Ironically, these women had reason to be proud. They just helped build a home for a 73-year-old widow named Serapia Medalla, doing it with little help from the government.
A pensioner and street sweeper who earns less than P3,000 a month, Medalla became the first recipient in September of a prototype low-cost, typhoon-resistant home envisioned in the Bagacay Housing Project.
The project鈥攏amed after the village where the humble homes will rise鈥攗ses an existing government template to provide low-cost housing for poor families who are mostly Yolanda survivors.
While local governments鈥攊ncluding the city of Tacloban鈥攁re facing roadblocks in securing land rights to permanently settle Yolanda鈥檚 homeless, the women of Bagacay have secured a P104-million loan from the Social Housing and Finance Corp., a government-owned firm, to buy a 3.5-hectare lot where about 50 earth-friendly houses would be built.
鈥淥ne down, 49 to go,鈥� said Dalen Palami, lead coordinator of the Bagacay project.
A sister to her more famous sibling, Philippine Azkals team manager Dan Palami, the 42-year-old social worker is showing the challenge her group must face: A seeming lack of funds to build the other 49 homes.
Financed by various donors, the houses are given free of charge but the chosen recipients have to pay an average of P706 for 25 years for the right to own the land their houses are built on.
With barely 400 finished of the close to 15,000 permanent homes to be built in this city, the problem of Yolanda鈥檚 homeless is foremost on the minds of these women.
But unlike most of Yolanda鈥檚 victims who are dependent on decisions made for them by the government, the Bagacay women are taking charge and making sure their plans for their future are met.
鈥淲e are tired of the government neglecting us. We are just doing what is good for us and for our future,鈥� said Virgie Lingan, 42, a widow and village councilwoman at Barangay 68 in Anibong district.
As community organizers, Lingan and housewives Arlene Iba帽ez, 35, Dolorosa Camenforte, 48, Lorna Lagario, 52, and Linda Lagario, 61, are the prime movers behind the Bagacay project.
Palami has found a kindred spirit in Eva Marie de los Reyes, a classmate since kindergarten, who shares with her a passion for rural development work and environmental activism.
Group of dreamers
Leaving their comfortable lives in Manila, Palami and De los Reyes鈥攂oth Tacloban natives鈥攃ame back to help their city heal and rebuild.
They joined hands with engineers, architects and urban planners鈥攎ostly college friends from the University of the Philippines in Quezon City鈥攖o get the Bagacay project moving.
鈥淲e realized that these women needed help. And they needed permanent homes in safe, secure and sustainable neighborhoods,鈥� said De los Reyes, 42.
To this group of dreamers, 鈥渂uild back better鈥� is not just an empty mantra鈥攊t is a mind-set, a way of life they want to impart to the women of Bagacay.
From recycling wastewater to flush their toilets and growing vegetables in their backyards, to harnessing energy from the sun for their lighting needs and the wind for cooling their homes, this breed of homeowners is creating a new way of life.
鈥淲e learned a lot of lessons from the Yolanda disaster. We don鈥檛 want to make the same mistakes again,鈥� Iba帽ez said.
Built on raised concrete bases as protection against flooding and with high-rising roofs to ensure natural cooling鈥攑lus cross-braised bamboo walls that resist strong winds鈥攖he three-by-five-meter huts and their typhoon-resistant designs comply with the national building code, according to Minerva and Albert Rosel, the architects who designed the houses to be used in the Bagacay project.
鈥淲ith this design, the homeowner is provided with just the bare necessities, the rest are just extra baggage,鈥� said Minerva Rosel.
Waiting for funds
Palami said the hardships the organizers experienced during the monster storm had fired up these women and their families to change their lives for the better.
鈥淏ecause of that, the chances of these women defaulting on their monthly mortgage are remote,鈥� Palami said, adding there were enough livelihood opportunities in Bagacay.
While waiting for funding to build each house, these women now live in 鈥渂utterfly鈥� houses鈥攕o called for the way they easily open up and be ready for use.
These prefabricated houses are provided free by the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation headed by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and business tycoons Manuel Pangilinan and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
Lingan鈥檚 neighbors and other volunteers have started the groundwork on the project鈥檚 second house. Two donors from Australia鈥擳rue Freedom in Christ Church and Clothesline Pty. Ltd.鈥攁re paying for the construction of Lingan鈥檚 house.
鈥淔inally, I will have a house that my three children and I can call home,鈥� said Lingan, who will start paying for her 25-year loan in January.
That鈥檚 two houses built鈥�48 more to go.