Habitat builds houses for BayaniJuan sa Calauan

MANILA, Philippines – Nanay Alberta Maloloy-On Abenaza knows what it’s like to sleep under the stars – and it’s not always pleasant, especially when strong winds and the pounding rain rudely rouses her family from slumber. 

For many families living at the foot of the mountain in Brgy. Dayap, Calauan, Laguna, this is a reality that they have to face. There’s no place to bathe, no provisions for electricity since their area is deemed unsafe and, until recently, before laymen helped put up communal toilets to be shared by three families, no toilet facilities.

Nanay Alberta and her neighbors dream of improving their lives with a sturdy house to live in, but due to lack of money, they have to make do with makeshift houses of tent material and rubber, without proper roofs or walls since their old homes under the Osmeña bridge were demolished.

Luckily for Nanay Alberta, it is people like her that ABS-CBN Foundation’s managing director Regina Lopez is looking to help in the area of Calauan, Laguna, one of the resettlement sites for the Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig project. The multi-sectoral partnership is a seven-year endeavor aimed at rehabilitating the Pasig River by relocating thousands of informal residents that have settled along the riverbanks and, consequently, polluting the river with their waste.

At the BayaniJuan sa Calauan ceremonial activity held at Brgy. Dayap recently, all those involved in the project came together to celebrate the good news of new homes for 800 future home partners.

The ABS-CBN Foundation, which spearheads the project with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the National Housing Authority, and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, aims to initially build and rebuild a community of 800 houses with the help of Christian housing ministry Habitat for Humanity Philippines, Couples for Christ Foundation for Family and Life (CFCFFL), Manila Water and Globe Asiatique Realty.

“There will be very beautiful houses here. The houses of Habitat will be beautiful and I’m happy to hear that now, they will be helped by Couples for Christ. What we really do is build a community where residents love and help each other - the essence of what is Filipino,” Lopez said.

Promise of a better life

Nanay Alberta has already volunteered to help with the sweat equity, even if she wasn’t sure at first if she would be the recipient of a house. She was happy enough that a new community was going to be formed, because this would mean livelihood for many of the existing informal settlers.

“Livelihood is what we really need here. But being part of the housing project is really a big blessing for us. It is also important to have your own house. If we have our own, the safety of our children is secured,” Nanay Alberta said.

She believes that hard work and perseverance will lead to a better life and encourages other people who are in a similar situation to stop relying on dole-outs.

Habitat for Humanity Philippines (HFHP) is a non-pro?t housing ministry that helps build responsible and self-reliant communities by enabling Filipino families in need to acquire affordable, decent, and durable homes. It partners with organizations, institutions and individuals in transforming lives and promoting people’s dignity through building homes and conducting community development programs.

Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit, financed with affordable, inflation-adjusted mortgage loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments go into a local revolving fund and are used to build more Habitat houses.

In addition to monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest their own labor – sweat equity – into building their Habitat house and the houses of others, increasing the pride of ownership and fostering the development of positive relationships within a community.

Over the years, Habitat for Humanity has helped rebuild the lives of over 24,000 families and built over 200 school classrooms nationwide.