Ayala Land, Inc.
Whenever land needs to be cleared for any development,
the easiest way is to pay off settlers to keep them
out of sight. Demolitions and clearing operations
happen and the area is secured. The settlers walk
away with cash, but not enough to start a new life.
Actually, it only goes as far as being able to set
up a roof over their heads--in another squatter's
area. The cycle unfortunately continues.
Through many years of land development, Ayala Land
Inc. (ALI) has learned the value of enriching lives,
not only of the communities it builds, but of those
that surround its projects.
It strongly emphasizes involving neighboring communities
in the greater vision of progress and development.
A thriving low-end community that surrounds any residential
or commercial establishment means a reliable labor
and manpower base and support infrastructure.
In 2006, ALI decided to build a model low-end
community. A sustainable informal settler relocation
program was introduced to clear an area of over 170
households in one of the historically intractable
areas in Canlubang. Instead of paying settlers off,
ALI engaged an NGO whose advocacy it was to organize
communities and create sustainable human settlements.
Involing I-Serve
Integrated Services and Social Development (I-Serve)
assesses the practicability of a full relocation of
a mix of outright informal settlers and former employees/beneficiaries
of the Yulo family, ALI's business partner.
Generally, settlers frown upon relocation, and so
I-Serve did a local situation scan of the six encompassed
sitios. To effectively run the research work, I-Serve
set up a staff house that was accessible to all. This
is an integral part of the way I-Serve does community
building: living with the constituency.
They led modest focus group discussions and despite
the resistance, produced the necessary data in less
than six weeks. From what they gathered, 94% can be
relocated with a decent housing and financial package,
comparable to what were previously offered in the
early 1990s; 26% refused to decide until packages
have been offered, 3% preferred a cash-only option,
and only 3% refused to relocate.
I-Serve's transparency, clarity and democratically
empowering approach were crucial in getting the settlers
to cooperate or at least consider the matter. As hoped,
the settlers felt that they were part of the decision-making
process. They also shared that this was the first
time they were really consulted and listened to.
I-Serve was further engaged to prepare the settlers
for actual mobilization: a) clustering settlers according
to package entitlements, b) running an audience with
the Yulo family for appeals; c) preparing lot allocations
and catering to housing orientation and requests;
d) running a values formation and basic leadership
program for the identified leaders so they may assist
in ensuring a smooth transition.
I-Serve's operations were largely dependent on resource
issues, which had to be worked on in the backend by
the Project Development Team. This poses a lot of
challenges- from keeping the business grounded on
the sustainable relocation strategy and not simply
reverting to cashing out was one of the major difficulties
as they fundamentally had no understanding of why
the latter was not sustainable. Resource limitations
were also an obstacle. To better manage I-Serve's
operations, ALI took over their resource requirements
beginning Phase 2. At this point, any momentum in
convincing settlers to move should not be compromised
by operational humps such as non-liquidity.
Engaging Habitat for Humanity
As I-Serve continues to Phase 2 of operations, another
NGO partner has been engaged to complement their work.
Habitat for Humanity Philippines, close to the hearts
of many ALI employees, is a non-profit organization
that has been building decent and affordable shelter
for more than 12, 000 families in 166 communities
all over the country, all in a little over a decade.
Habitat has been engaged to build the 120 single detached
and duplex houses within the Majada relocation site.
Habitat brings to the fore its values and development
philosophy. In regular builds, Habitat requires the
beneficiaries to pay 1/3 of the house cost over time.
This instills a culture of savings and a sense of
responsibility in the home partner. In the case of
the settlers in Majada, Habitat will not make them
pay for the houses but will mandate its standard 400
man hours of sweat equity per beneficiary.
As I-Serve and Habitat have come fully on board the
project, the relocation has become a showcase story
of transformaton and grassroots empowerment. By December
2006, 85% of the settlers have been convinced of moving
to the identified relocation site at Majada. House
construction is expected to commence before February
2007 and we hope to have completely relocated everyone
by April.
A social development program will be instituted in
Majada after the households have been set up. In fulfillment
of building model low end communities, the Majada
relocation sites will be the pilot for creating a
mini-Ayala community. Community- and day-care centers
will be built; waste management and security systems
will be put in place and health and education facilities
installed. The settlers will go through a skills development
program that will later translate into employability
ino the ALI projects.
In the medium- to long-term, ALI hopes to include
scholarship programs, microfinancing and small-business
opportunities especially for those who cannot be employed.
The leaders who have been gradually trained during
I-Serve's first phase of engagement have now become
full-fledged and self-starting sitio leaders. Their
number has grown to 12 and organized to facilitate
not only the mobilization into Majada, but also to
ensure that they can safeguard whatever infrastructure
comes in through the Social Development program. They
have elected themselves into a board of officers which
they perceive will enable them to register as a political
party, thereby garnering mandate from the local government.
In time, this will make them eligible to apply for
and operationalize LGU-sponsored community programs.
These sitio leaders had absolutely no history of
community organizing other than what was taught to
them by I-Serve. At first, they strongly protested
against I-Serve, wanting to drive them out. Now, they
speak highly of professional community organizers
and serve as inspiration to many on the field.
NGO Partnership is ALI's distinct approach in reaching
far and deep into neighboring communities. In Canlubang,
it introduced a new solution to a historically intractable
problem. The story will continue to be written as
we literally build a community out of settlers we
never thought we'd see eye to eye...
