Southville 7 Making Resettlement Work Transforming Southville 7
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Southville 7 Making Resettlement Work Transforming Southville 7 For a long time, Southville 7 in Calauan, Laguna, was one of the Philippines National Housing Authority’s (NHA) more BOX 1: An Oral History of Southville 7 challenging resettlement areas. Today, nestled between Laguna Bay and the foothills of Mount Banahaw about Engineer Maria Belinda Valencia-Sevalla, better known in Calauan as Ma’am Bel, remembers the earliest days 75 kilometers south of Metro Manila, Southville 7 is home of Southville 7. She was on the 1997 relocation and to 5,000 resettled families and is on its way to becoming a topographic survey team of the National Housing resettlement success. This is the story of how things turned Authority (NHA), and helped design the site from 1998 around. to 1999. The site was originally a sugar plantation, is at the edge of a forest, in an area known to be a cobra habitat. Constructed in 1999, the housing project was originally The Calauan Housing Project—the development’s original meant for government employees, but its relatively name—was completed in 1999 for government employees. isolated location and a lack of basic services and local By 2006, the site began accepting people from jobs meant that only a few took up residence. It became a outside Calauan. It was renamed Southville 7 to receive relocation site in 2006 when 700 families were displaced funds from the Philippines North–South Railway South from informal settlements by a major fi re and to make Line development project, via Malampaya funds.a To align way for infrastructure projects. This was a time before itself with the objectives of the new funding, Southville 7 housing projects and resettlement sites were designed had to change its vision from socialized housing to housing to incorporate local services and social infrastructure, so for relocated informal settlers. In 2009, the ABS-CBN conditions were not particularly conducive to rebuilding Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation and the NHA signed a lives after displacement. memorandum of understanding, and Southville 7 opened its gates once more to allow the resettlement of victims of In 2009, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission was Typhoon Ondoy. In the other Southville neighborhoods, working to clean up the Pasig River tributaries in Metro the developer was to provide the homes, while the NHA was to provide basic services like water and electricity. Manila and needed to resettle vulnerable families living on Facilities were not part of the original plan, but through an the river banks. The commission was working with the ABS- Asian Development Bank grant, these became possible. CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation (ALKFI), the nonprofi t In 2015, after rising through the ranks at NHA, Ma’am 1 arm of one of the Philippines’ biggest media networks. The Bel was asked to serve as the NHA’s offi cer-in-charge for NHA off ered ALKFI homes in Southville 7 in exchange for Southville 7. Her offi ce has increased collection of housing ALKFI taking on the management of the community. ALKFI loan repayments, and she has been a visible force in the accepted, and invited private sector and nongovernment community. groups such as Habitat for Humanity to invest in the She is upbeat about Southville 7’s future, sharing the construction of houses and community facilities. Other community’s upgrading plans. These include selling large organizations provided basic health care and livelihood commercial lots to potential businesses—hopefully a opportunities to supplement the Calauan government’s factory or a mall—to bring jobs and stimulate economic limited resources to support the growing population. activity. “There is hope for Southville 7,” she says. a The Malampaya Fund refers to royalties from the operations of the natural gas facility in the waters off the island of Palawan. Executive Order 848 authorizes the use of the fund for purposes other than energy-related 1 When the grant was approved, the organization was known as ABS- projects. The Malampaya project is a joint undertaking between the CBN Foundation, but they changed their name in 2013. Lingkod Philippine government and Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX), which Kapamilya translates as “family servant,” and is the name of the entity has generated more than P200 billion in revenues for the government. from which AFI originated in 1989. Figure 1: Map of Southville 7 in Calauan, Laguna 2 Southville 7: MAKING RESETTLEMENT WORK Figure 1: Map of Southville 7 in Calauan, Laguna MML = Manolo M. Lopez, PH Ambassador to Japan, NHA = National Housing Authority. Note: Southville 7 is divided into three sites. Site 1 houses families relocated from the Pasig River and those affected by government projects in Metro Manila such as road widening. Households from the Pasig River and identified danger zones in Calauan, meanwhile, occupy units in Site 2. Families displaced by Typhoon Ondoy reside in Site 3. Source: National Housing Authority. But just a few months after ALKFI started work in Southville multisector partnerships, community development and 7, Typhoon Ondoy flooded much of Metro Manila in innovation, and social entrepreneurship. September 2009. Thousands of families were affected, and the NHA decided to open the doors of Southville 7 to Over the years that followed and with the project’s support, more than 3,000 families who had just lost everything. The Southville 7 began to transform into a model resettlement Calauan government worried about the influx. Electricity site. The experiences since have influenced other and potable water supplies were already sporadic. ALKFI, postdisaster resettlement efforts. For example, in January NHA, and the Calauan government struggled to help 2015, government representatives and community leaders the community recover. They realized they needed more from Tacloban, recently devastated by super typhoon support to meet the needs of the displaced families. In 2010, Yolanda, visited Southville 7 to learn from their Calauan ALKFI approached the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to counterparts. Southville 7 also received government officials explore partnership opportunities in Southville 7. from Myanmar in June 2014 and shared best practices for resettlement and housing projects. In April 2012, ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) approved a $1.5-million grant to address the growing In this collection of case studies, ALKFI and ADB are challenges in Southville 7. Promoting Partnerships and pleased to share the impacts, challenges, and lessons from Innovation in Poor and Underserved Communities recognized the experiences in Southville 7, along with a framework that that community integration and organization would be outlines the steps other organizations can take to make crucial for the success of the resettlement site. With ALKFI resettlement work. as the implementing agency, the grant aimed to support Southville 7: MAKING RESETTLEMENT WORK 3 Figure 2: Southville 7 timeline ADB = Asian Development Bank, ALKFI = ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, NHA = National Housing Authority. Source: ALKFI. CASE STUDy 1 Establishing a Public–Private Partnership Water Partnerships in Southville 7 for Water The lack of clean water was long a concern of Southville In 2014, ALKFI and the NHA considered how best to 7 residents. In July 2013, the NHA awarded Centennial approach the water problem. Centennial’s level III water Water Resource Ventures the exclusive right to provide connections were too costly as a universal solution. ALKFI level III water connections in Southville 7.2 However, many and NHA convened residents, discussed options, and carried homeowners could not afford the one-time connection fee out a community survey. The residents agreed that a level II of ₱3,500. Those who could afford the private connection water system, complemented by the existing shallow wells, frequently could not pay the monthly bills. Residents of Site would best meet their needs. ALKFI and NHA suggested 1 used a single water station constructed by Caritas Manila a network of communal water stations in Site 1, initially for and 22 shallow wells.3 Families in Site 2 relied on shallow 2,300 families. Knowing they could not provide the water wells but the water was not potable. Site 3 residents were themselves, they proposed a public–private partnership able to enjoy level III water services provided by Centennial to bring water to the community. They suggested that a if they could afford the payments. group of five homeowners’ associations should partner with 2 Water supply level I indicates stand-alone water points (e.g., hand pumps, shallow wells, rainwater collectors) serving an average of 15 households within a 250-meter distance. Level II is piped water with a communal water point (e.g., bore well, spring system) serving an average of 4–6 households within a 25-meter distance. Level III refers to piped water supply with a private water point (e.g., house connection) based on a daily water demand of more than 100 liters per person. (Source: National Economic Development Authority. 2010. Philippine Water Supply Sector Roadmap. Manila.) 3 The Caritas Manila station sources water from the Laguna Water District. 4 Southville 7: MAKING RESETTLEMENT WORK Laguna Water District, which was already supplying the of profit covers maintenance and other operating expenses single water station, to expand its services through multiple of the water consortium. water stands. The project would finance the installation of a pipe from Laguna Water to the communal water The water consortium ensures that the water project runs stations. Residents preferred water supplied by Laguna to smoothly and efficiently. The homeowners’ associations that by Centennial because they believed that Laguna’s oversee daily operations and accounting of the water water quality was better.4 This arrangement would shift the consortium. Each association also engages one maintenance burden of connection fees and monthly bills away from the worker to ensure the smooth mechanical operation of the households and to the group of homeowners’ associations.