Homebuilder a carmaker

Mariflor Abalajon could not remember the exact date when she and her husband moved into this grassy property located in Barangay Pulong Sta. Cruz in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

“I guess it was 11 years ago considering that we were one of the first settlers here. What I remember more vividly was how desperate we were in searching for a location where we could build a house without the authorities noticing us,” said the 33-year-old mother of six.

Abalajon together with the more than 300 families who now live in this area belong to what we now call as informal settlers. Despite being literally in the middle of nowhere—the place is surrounded by clusters of 7-feet-tall grasses with the North Luzon Expressway located a few hundred meters to the east serving as one of the few landmarks—Barangay Pulong Sta. Cruz has become their refuge.

“We can’t afford to rent, much more buy a house and lot. My husband manages to eke out a living by working part time in a construction site,” she said.

Life to change

But life may about to change for Abalajon, who together with her neighbors, was recently interviewed and evaluated by a team from Gawad Kalinga, a nonprofit organization that builds houses for poor communities and helps the people develop livelihood that could help them support themselves.

This is because their area was chosen by Toyota Motor Philippines as the site for its biggest housing project to date—the Toyota-City Government of Santa Rosa-Gawad Kalinga Village.

TMP donated P20 million—its biggest so far for this type of project—and is set to spend at least P110,000 for each of the 158 houses that will be built.

While the City of Santa Rosa donated the 8,820-square-meter property where the 158 houses will rise, the local government also provided the list of families that will be evaluated by Gawad Kalinga, which is tasked to select the recipients as well as organize the community.

“This is their chance to make a new beginning as Toyota-City Government of Santa Rosa-Gawad Kalinga Village would transform informal settlers through the ‘sweat equity’ of its many volunteers, including the future homeowners,” said Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation president Dr. David Go.

According to Go, construction will start in a few weeks and the houses are expected to be turned over by 2013.

Santa Rosa City Mayor Arlene Arcillas was elated that TMP and Gawad Kalinga partnered with the city government in pushing for this “humanitarian mission.”

“This particular project brings us to greater cooperation to be of better service to our countrymen. The Toyota-City Government of Santa Rosa-Gawad Kalinga Village only reflects the company chair’s (Dr. George S.K. Ty) philosophy who said, ‘We derive our resources from society. So, we should accordingly give back to society,’” Go said.

Poverty alleviation

Through the village, TMP aims to contribute to poverty alleviation and nation-building as part of its advocacy in community development.

Gawad Kalinga estimates that at least 4.5-million Filipinos are homeless, 75 percent of which are informal settlers in main urban centers, while the rest in urban areas live in danger zones and disaster-prone areas, making them vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

“This is not the first time Gawad Kalinga built a project in Santa Rosa, Laguna as the Toyota-City Government of Santa Rosa-GK Village is the organization’s second in the city and its 16th in the province of Laguna. However, this is definitely one of the biggest projects,” said GK Southern Luzon area coordinator Jose Emilio Oquinena.

Oquinena explained that Gawad Kalinga’s way is an innovative approach and is potentially an effective, sustainable and replicable model that would help address the problem of urban housing in the Philippines.

‘Sweat equity’

For its part, Gawad Kalinga enjoins the recipients to provide “sweat equity,” referring to the amount of time that a household’s representative must spend in the construction of the unit.

“This provides a sense of ownership for the would-be owner as well as a way for these individuals to build relationships with neighbors, a modern form of bayanihan spirit of being a hero to one another,” explained Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc.’s Jose Luis Oquinena.

Like the rest of the GK community, homeowners of the village will be organized into Kapitbahayan Neighborhood Association, which will inculcate stewardship and ensure accountability, cooperation and unity.