Young Professionals Orientation and Training Program

Tanza (Bicol and Chungkang Areas) Micro-project:

Samahang Patubig ng Tanza

Samahang Patubig ng Tanza is a micro-project that aims to facilitate potent water connections for the whole community. Its initial objective was to set off a batch of 10 households by applying for a clustered water meter connection originally instigated during the YP Workshop held last October 21 to 27. An underlying purpose of the project is to educate the community on proper water management. Assuring the sustainability of the project was also a sub-objective that was taken into consideration. The project is being facilitated by community leaders, DAMPA organizers and the YP team composed of Cherry Mateo, Gloryrose Dy, Jesmar Catuiran, and Rowel Lucilo.

After the presentation of the project proposal during the YP Workshop, the team immediately organized a meeting at the community on November 9, 2009. An agreement that meetings shall be held every Monday was made. Brain storming on policies, beneficiary criteria and payments to be made was also done. In follow-up meetings and consultations, the rules on membership fees, passbook and savings requirements were also resolved. The Samahang Patubig membership has also increased from 13 to 29 members.

By December, project cost estimates and Certificate of Inspection (CI) forms and policies were finalized with the members. Household visits were conducted and a dialogue with Maynilad Water Services was held to discuss application and connection fees. The initial target of 10 households was also increased to 25 households because it was deemed more economical.

The YP team is now completing the mapping of the community to produce a water supply plan and distribution layout which will be used as a reference for the installation of water connections. A community echo-workshop on water and sanitation is also scheduled to the held by February.

MASAGANA Micro-project:

Community Pathway

The identified micro-project for the MASAGANA (Mamamayang Sama-samang Gabay ng Naaapi) community during the YP Workshop in October was the construction of an elevated pathway within the inundated areas of the community. The community pathway, seen as an initial effort to finding solutions to their water and sanitation problems, will provide easier access to people when fetching potable water especially during high tides. Meetings at the community were conducted after the YP Workshop and a committee for the construction of the pathway was created. Also discussed were project cost estimates, permits for construction, and fund raising. The YP team came up with an estimated project cost of PhP 800T for a 153-meter long elevated pathway made of bamboo and concrete.

A fund-raising activity (raffle) was organized in December to augment the organization’s funds for the community pathway project. However, the unresolved issue of security of land tenure will largely determine if the project can be successfully implemented. The organization is continuously negotiating with the landowner to resolve the issue and prioritizing projects to gain access to basic services such as supplying electricity to a number of households. A project on community-based solid waste management is also being implemented in MASAGANA. The YP team composed of Christina Fiel, Jan Michael Lumbang, and Verna Sarraga will also be providing technical support for these community projects.

UNNAI Micro-project:

Drainage Improvement

After the YP Workshop in October, the YP team assigned at UNNAI (Upper NAWASA Neighborhood Association, Inc.) met with the community leaders and considered two micro-project proposals for the community. The first micro-project is the improvement of the drainage lines in Purok 5, the area in the community with the lowest elevation and where flooding occurrence is most severe. The second micro-project option is the rehabilitation of an existing community deep well.

The YP team (composed of Jayson Cruzat, Razel Robines, Inno Bengson, and John Sayson) together with the community leaders has done ocular inspections to determine ground elevations and existing conditions of the drainage lines. They have also mapped the drainage lines, approximately 60 meters in length, which have been targeted for improvement. The team is currently facilitating consultations with engineering professionals to discuss their proposed schemes for the project.

Reflection by Gloryrose Dy

Reflection by Jan Michael Lumbang

Reflection by Cherry May Mateo

Reflection by Gloryrose Dy

TAO-Pilipinas was timely for me. The day after I was hired to be a staff of the Human Settlements and Environment Program under TAO-Pilipinas was the day Typhoon Ondoy struck our nation killing almost a hundred and leaving thousands of our countrymen homeless. It seems as if a supreme being was telling me that I am in the right place which to help the urban poor in Metro Manila.

I had a fairytale concept on what my job would be because it seemed to be a very heroic occupation. I imagined being like Angelina Jolie helping the poor in Kenya or Oprah Winfrey talking to a marginalized citizen in the US. I looked at helping the urban poor as sort of a fancy thing like saving a damsel-in-distress Indian princess drowning because of Captain Hook.

The YP workshop made me more excited to do my job. I thought that finally I could save the urban poor for real since I have already been stuck in the office for quite long. So I had a well organized bag with a lot of shirts and pants ready for the whole event.

The first two days of the workshop was quite technical. Having a technical background helped a lot. Although, I had to tap my intelligent persona which I wanted to leave behind after I graduated college so that I could understand the seminar. While sitting on the chair listening to the soporific talk of the lecturer, I daydreamed about the next day where we will have to go to the site for real.

But when we went to the site for the first day, I suddenly lost all the excitement I saved when I was still preparing for the event. As I saw the real situation of the community, I felt so hopeless for the Philippines. I knew that if only we had an incorrupt government, we could have easily made their lives wonderful.

I saw the real poorest of the poor in the Philippines. It was inevitable to compare it to the rural poor areas where they could still see a large amount of land beside their houses. But then, I also realized that the community was so skeptical at times with the help that they are getting. Maybe it was because of the thousands of broken promises they encountered in their life. I could not blame them but I could not also blame myself for feeling less stimulated.

There are times during the workshop when I felt so uninspired as if Bic Runga’s song was playing “My head is battling with my heart, my logic has been torn apart…” This was the moment when I tried to ask myself, “Is this really this difficult or was I just so naïve in thinking that helping the poor was as easy as helping save the Indian princess in Neverland?”

Indeed it is. It is difficult to help the poor. It is not a fancy thing. It is not the same as we see them in the movies. Helping the poor is just like marrying yourself to the poor people themselves and sometimes it is like marrying a person when you know that the end is still a divorce.

But as I looked at the eyes of the TAO-Pilipinas facilitators of the workshop; the eyes of the people that I am going to work with for years, I saw that they had hope in it. I saw their eagerness and enthusiasm to woo help whatever it takes.

TAO-Pilipinas was indeed timely for me. It made me realize the complexities of life during the point when I thought life was fancy. It also made me realize that life is full of synchronicities. If I choose to help the poor, the poor will choose to help themselves. It is that simple but then again that difficult.

Gloryrose Dy, 23 years old, is a BS Architecture graduate from University of the Philippines – Mindanao. Lotlot graduated in 2009 with the Best Thesis Award for Architecture in UP Mindanao and was also given the Red Point National Best Architectural Thesis Award in the Philippines by Cirdia Foundation. Lotlot is a member of the UP Mindanao Dance Ensemble. She recently joined TAO-Pilipinas as a staff in its Human Settlement and Environment Program.
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Sustainable development, social housing, and water and sanitation issues tackled in lecture sessions
The lecture sessions of the YP Workshop introduced participants to a comprehensive background on social housing and the different topics that are associated with it, from the broad context of sustainable human settlements development to the discussion of issues that urban poor communities face in their struggle for shelter security. Lecture topics were grouped into three sessions on the first day of the workshop: Design Professionals and Sustainable Human Settlements Development; Tools and Approaches to Social Housing; and Young Professionals and Communities as Collaborative Partners in Building Sustainable Communities.

Dr. Laura David provided a keynote presentation on “Climate, The Environment, and Our Future” while Architect Ning Encarnacion-Tan gave a lecture on “Sustainable Design and Sustainable Communities.” The staff of TAO-Pilipinas served as resource persons for the various topics on social housing, including standards in social housing provision and design; participatory design approaches; and alternative building materials and technologies.

On the second day of lecture sessions, participants were exposed to different levels of discussion about Water and Sanitation (WATSAN), from a global perspective to the implementation of local projects for poor communities. Four sessions on WATSAN were held with various resource persons from government and non-government agencies. Session topics were categorized into: The Water and Sanitation Challenge for Young Professionals; Water Supply Availability, Management and Sustainability; Urban Sanitation Systems; and Water and Sanitation Options for Urban Poor Communities. Among the speakers who gave presentations were: Dr. Maria Antonia Tanchuling of UP-Diliman; Mr. Dave Robbins of Philippine Sanitation Alliance; Engr. Sonabel Anarna of DOH; Ms. Cherubim Ocampo of Maynilad Water Services; Dr. Gulliermo Tabios III of National Hydraulic Research Center; Ms. Lyn Capistrano of the Philippine Center for Water and Sanitation; and Mr. Leo De Castro of the Center for Advanced Philippine Studies.
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Young professionals and students from local and international academic institutions and representatives from urban poor community associations took part in the 2009 Young Professionals Workshop on Social Housing on October 22 to 27, 2009. The workshop is an annual project of TAO-Pilipinas’ YP Program which aims to orient young design professionals and students on social housing through training activities that will enable better appreciation of the concerns/issues affecting the urban poor. This year’s workshop is already the fourth organized by TAO-Pilipinas

The workshop was participated by local delegates from architecture and engineering departments of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), and the University of the Philippines (UP), as well as foreign delegates from Harvard University, Politecnico de Torino in Italy, and Lund University in Sweden. They were joined by representatives from people’s organizations in communities assisted by TAO-Pilipinas Inc. in Navotas and Quezon City. Community organizers from TAO-Pilipinas’ partner organization, DAMPA (Damayan ng Maralitang Pilipinong Api, Inc.) also participated in the workshop. A total of 26 participants were gathered to undergo 6 days of programmed activities.

The 2009 YP Workshop focused on the theme, “WATSAN in Social Housing: Improving Access to Water Supply and Sanitation for Urban Poor Communities.” The workshop program was divided into two parts spread over six days. The first part of the workshop comprised of lecture sessions which were held on Days 1 to 2 at the Villa Cristina Hotel & Resort in Antipolo City. The lectures were divided into seven sessions with several small group activities conducted in between.
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