Resettlement site woes: Homes have same keys, rice stolen while still boiling

MANILA, Philippines—You’ve just moved into a community to start a new life. But can you sleep soundly at night knowing that your door can be opened by someone in the neighborhood with a similar lock and key?

Life in relocation sites may be far from ideal, but this stood out among the many concerns cited in a study assessing the government’s housing projects for the urban poor.

The study, which was presented Wednesday in a workshop-forum at Ateneo de Manila University, noted that aside from safety issues, livelihood opportunities in these sites remain scarce and hence petty theft among neighbors can be rampant. A pot of rice can be stolen from someone’s kitchen while it is still being cooked, according to some residents.

Researchers behind the Transformative Urban Resettlement in Metro Manila (TURMM) project came across one site, for example, where relocatees are being prohibited by their host local government from burying their dead in the nearest public cemetery.

In another site, residents complained of the stench from a lone septic tank that often overflows, especially when it rains.

The research team also learned that at the Golden Horizon resettlement site in Barangay Hugo Perez, Trece Martires City, Cavite province, the residents found out that they had the same sets of lock and key for their front doors.

In an interview with the Inquirer, a community leader said “duplicate keys” were also discovered in other resettlement sites, like those in Barangay Muzon in Bulacan province and Estero de San Miguel in Legarda, Manila.

“It happens when a subcontractor of the National Housing Authority (NHA) places bulk orders for locks and keys from one supplier,” said Filomena Cinco, president of Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Legarda Inc.

Check the keys

“So when we hold orientations in organized communities, we tell the residents to check their keys,” Cinco said.

She said the developer would replace similar locks and keys when they are reported. “(But) if you’re not made aware of this, then you can’t be considered safe. There’s no measure to ensure that there will be no duplication.”

Many relocatees thus installed double locks as additional safety measure, Cinco noted.

In a presentation during the forum held by the Ateneo School of Government, TURMM senior research associate Creselda Doble noted that while schools, clinics and churches had been built in the resettlement sites, there were still not enough teachers, health workers and priests to run them.

For their livelihood, residents were being taught in seminars to make soaps, candles and other consumer items, but were no longer assisted in finding a market for these products, Doble noted.

Breadwinners who are mostly minimum wage earners were moved so far from their places of work that they have to shell out P120 a day just for transportation, eating up one fourth of their daily pay, she added.

The findings were based on discussions with residents from at least 10 resettlement sites: Bistekville and Pansol in Quezon City, Eusebio Bliss in Pasig City, Estero de San Miguel in Manila, GMA in Cavite province, Buso-Buso in Rizal province, Southville 7 in Calauan, Laguna province; Southville 8 in Rodriguez, Rizal; and Towerville 6 and Barangay Muzon in San Juan del Monte, Bulacan province.

Evaluation system

Doble said that based on these concerns, the TURMM project created a “people-centered” evaluation system that government agencies, people’s organizations, developers and other stakeholders can use to assess and improve the resettlement process.

The evaluation applies a 10-point scoring system that assesses the quality of the shelter and living space, livelihood opportunities, the residents’ mobility and access to the community, social services and support group, community governance and integration with the host locality.

Applying this, the researchers gave Pansol the highest average score of 9.1, followed by Bistekville at 8.3. Buso-Buso, which registered the most complaints about residents being neglected, ranked the lowest at 2.2.

The project also sent urban poor community leaders to observe existing relocation sites and help them come up with proposals to be submitted to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which is overseeing the government’s P50-billion resettlement program Oplan Likas.

The TURMM project, held in partnership with the DILG, was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Ateneo-based research team is affiliated with the Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid in Southeast Asia.

The whole undertaking hopes to stress that resettlement “involves not just the physical building of houses but also the other dimensions of a community,” Doble said. “The community is disrupted when you move people. When you resettle, do it with a community in mind.”

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