MANILA, Philippines — Knowing first-hand how the generosity of others can change people’s lives, 29 poor Metro Manila families who had been given houses in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City, opened their gates to neighbors whose homes were destroyed by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) on Sept. 26.

Each family-recipient of Bukas Palad Foundation’s “Sulyap ng Pag-Asa” (glimpse of hope) housing project took in one to three families at the height of Ondoy’s fury.

The residents, who have to work hard for daily survival, offered whatever food and clothes they had to their even less fortunate neighbors.

“It is very touching. These families are in need but they are still helping others,” said Lilia Tantoco, a member of the Focolare Movement, an international spiritual organization to which Bukas Palad Foundation belongs.

Some residents of Sulyap ng Pag-Asa work in factories or as drivers, while others are unemployed. The family-recipients, who moved in last summer, were selected from a list of hundreds of Metro Manila families who had no houses of their own.

Teresa Bejo, president of the Sulyap ng Pag-Asa homeowners’ association, said that when floodwaters rose on the afternoon of Sept. 26, male residents of the one-hectare elevated compound immediately went out to rescue neighbors being swept away by the raging waters.

Pigs, dogs, too

That day, the homeowners welcomed into the 30-house compound 155 individuals, and even their pigs and pet dogs.

A number of these victims have already left the compound to try to fix whatever is left of their homes. Because they have space to spare, Bukas Palad volunteers troop to evacuation centers to take families with young children to Sulyap ng Pag-Asa.

Thirty-four families continue to take refuge in the compound’s social center and in one unoccupied house.

Among them are Edna Suminggit and her three children aged 2 to 9.

“We are very happy here,” she said. “In the evacuation center, sometimes we were not allowed to use the toilet because of water shortage. So my kids either soiled themselves or relieved themselves in corners. But here, we can even use a shower,” she added.

Each freshly painted house in Sulyap ng Pag-Asa has a floor area of 54 square meters, inclusive of three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Another survivor, Florana Bais, is thankful that she, her husband and their four children aged 3 to 9 were able to relocate to Sulyap ng Pag-Asa.

“My children suffered from diarrhea in the evacuation center, where we shared space with the dead,” she said.

Thirty residents of Barangay Bagong Silangan were killed by Ondoy’s onslaught.

Sulyap ng Pag-Asa homeowners continue to cook for evacuees, help pack goods donated by different organizations to Bukas Palad and distribute these to their neighbors.

They even visit the families who have left the compound and note down the things the latter need.

“We tell them, ‘Pamilya na tayo ngayon (we are now a family).’ We are staying true to the name Sulyap ng Pag-Asa. We want to give them hope that things would be better, because hope is the only gift we could give,” Bejo said.