Cavite starts housing revolution

Cavite starts housing revolution

 By Rita Festin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
09/06/2009

 GENERAL TRIAS, CAVITE – Being close to Metro Manila, Cavite has become a first-class province and a highly urbanized center whose high growth rate is unsurpassed in the country.

But to meet that high growth, the province has had to contend with the need to provide decent living conditions for its working population. And an ambitious mass housing project is doing just that.

Pamayanang Maliksi is the first mass housing project of the province in a 53-hectare property in General Trias that offers 6,000 low-cost housing units for Cavite’s blue collar workers.

The project is spearheaded by the provincial government in partnership with developer R-II Builders Inc. with P400 million funding from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Development of Poor Urban Communities Sector Project (DPUCSP).

The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, as oversight agency of the housing sector, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), as development bank, are coexecuting the project.

The groundbreaking was held on March 14, 2008 and as of August, 1,000 housing duplex units have been constructed in the first cluster, of which 509 beneficiaries’ applications have been approved through the Pag-IBIG Fund.

Over 204 homeowners have already moved in, while 188 applications are under process. Buyers are enticed by the spacious roads that match the more affluent housing subdivisions, amenities like a clubhouse and playground for each of the five clusters, and ready drainage, water line and power connections. A public school is also being built within the site.

At least 10 percent of the provincial government’s employees make up the current crop of home buyers since the site is just 10 kilometers away from the capitol. Factory workers in ecozones make up half, a third are employees outside the ecozones, while the rest are teachers, military, self-employed and overseas workers. Most of them are in the P6,000 to P15,000 monthly income bracket, are regularly employed and Pag-IBIG members.

Riza Ferrer, 30 years old, works in a garments factory in Imus that exports children’s clothes to the United States. She moved into her unit on Aug. 29 with her husband, their 5-year-old daughter and her brother-in-law. She was paying P2,300 in the boarding house that they used to occupy and had to contend with a very strict landlady who had no compassion for delayed rental payment.

At Pamayanang Maliksi, she pays a slightly higher amount at P2,365 monthly amortization rate for 20 years. She is the first worker from her factory that has bought a unit here but her coworkers have already expressed their desire to visit and see the community for themselves, especially those who also dream to have their own home.

For Analyn Rillera, 28, she is the 10th in her Japanese-owned car spare parts factory in Dasmariñas town to have bought a housing unit here. She was paying P2,000 monthly rental in a small house with the same size as her new home. Her monthly amortization rate is P2,150 for 25 years. She lives with her husband and mother. She has been trying to conceive for three years now, so her mother hopes that in their new home, Analyn can finally produce an offspring.

Both Riza and Analyn rave about the simple application requirements and quick processing of their papers by the Provincial Housing Development and Management Office. Riza’s application only took two months, while Analyn’s took three months.

The typical duplex unit that they bought has a cash price of P300,000, payable at P2,150 monthly amortization for 25 years, with no down payment and no collateral. Each unit has a floor area of 22.55 square meters, while the lot area measures 48 sq. m.

There will also be single attached units available at P400,000 per unit, or at P2,800 monthly amortization for 25 years measuring 30-sq.-m. floor area at a 60-sq.-m lot.

ADB’s $30 million concessional loan to the DPUCSP project is coursed through the DBP as the conduit. The project provides affordable housing, serviced building sites and microcredit facilities to improve the income and quality of life of the urban poor outside Metro Manila. Other project sites are in Angeles City, Butuan, Lingayen, Pangasinan, Isabela and Tarlac.

“The Cavite site is much more impressive than any other DPUCSP project site,” said Florian Steinberg, ADB senior urban development specialist.

The project has a relending component for site development and secure tenure to qualified local government units (LGU), nongovernment organizations, private sector developers and similar project proponents. It finances the acquisition of serviced plots, construction of new housing units, improvements to existing housing and microenterprise credit facilities. It provides capacity building and project implementation support to beneficiary local communities, LGUs and other project proponents.

Provincial employees wear T-shirts with the slogan “Be part of the revolution” since Cavite has produced many heroes and the entire province is known for its many historical landmarks. Part of their modern revolution is to provide decent mass housing for an even more progressive Cavite for the future.

Water system brings joy to Christmas town

Water system brings joy to Christmas town

Naawan folk get the service they deserve

By Rita Festin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
08/13/2009

Naawan, Misamis Oriental—This fourth class municipality just one hour out of Cagayan de Oro City was unheard of before it landed on the front pages of newspapers by being the “Christmasterpiece: Bayanihang Pasko 2005” grand winner.

Beating major cities and towns nationwide, Naawan won the Christmas landmark competition with its colorful “Arch of Friendship: Building Future with People” entry.

But behind its fertile creativity lurked a need for basic services, such as potable water.

In 2003, its water system only served 517 households. The town availed of a loan to improve sanitation and expand its level 3 potable water supply system to reach more households and consumers.

Out with the old

The improvement and expansion of the water system covered three coastal communities, the poblacion and the towns of Manticao and Lugait.

Old pipelines were replaced with new ones, and a new 220-cubic meter capacity reservoir was put up.

A 10-horsepower pump, one of two to be found at the time, was replaced with a more powerful 25-horsepower pump to boost capacity and cater to the 60-cubic-meter-per-hour requirement of a newly established copper industrial plant.

Dramatic increase

Total cost of the project was P15.8 million, of which, almost P12 million was financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through its Mindanao Basic Urban Services Sector (MBUSS) project being implemented by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in partnership with the Nordic Development Fund and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

With the expansion, 1,391 households began to benefit from the water system, including the 300 households in neighboring municipalities.

Average monthly income also increased dramatically from P300,000 to P1 million on its initial operation. It even reached P2.7 million as of end-2008.

This 700-percent increase in five years is already half of the municipality’s entire revenue collection.

So, in Naawan, water is now “naawas,” or overflowing, not only in this town but in adjacent towns as well.

“This project benefits a lot of people in the municipality of Naawan,” according to Mayor Dennis Roa. “I am thankful to the ADB/DILG MBUSS project.

We are not only serving the people, helping the people, but we are gaining from this project as well. We have paid most of our loans and the profit is a little bit high. It’s good for our town and municipal coffers.”

The ADB’s MBUSS project helps improve living conditions of urban residents in Mindanao by giving them access to basic urban infrastructure and essential municipal services, based on their demand and needs.

It covers the construction and rehabilitation of public markets, gymnasiums, transport terminals, cultural centers, water supply and municipal buildings to benefit 11 provinces, covering about 40 local government units.

It also trains LGUs so they can better manage and sustain the infrastructure projects.

Apart from Naawan, other cities and towns in Mindanao have benefited from MBUSS subprojects.

Juices flowing

New public markets have sprouted in Ozamiz City; R. T. Lim Zamboanga Sibugay; Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur; Alicia in Zamboanga Sibugay; Datu Odin Sinsuat and Buluan towns in Maguindanao; and Mati, Davao Oriental.

Gymnasiums were built in San Isidro, Surigao del Norte; Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte; and Pilar, Surigao del Norte.

Transport terminals were also established in Panabo City; Isulan, Sultan Kudarat; and in Kidapawan City.

Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte has a new auditorium, while an exhibition center in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte was built.

Other water supply systems were built in Impasugong, Bukidnon; Alamada, North Cotabato; and Tago, Surigao del Sur.

President Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated some of the subprojects like the Kapatagan municipal hall in Lanao del Norte in 2006 and the Ozamiz City Public Mall in 2009.

With water more abundant, Naawanons promise to keep their creative juices flowing.

It’s a go for ‘green’ lights in CDO

It’s a go for ‘green’ lights in CDO

 By Rita Festin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
07/18/2009

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – This very progressive city located in Northern Mindanao will soon “go green” as 100,000 compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) will be distributed for free to residential customers soon as part of the government’s energy efficiency program.

With annual growth in energy consumption consistently among the highest in the country, Cagayan de Oro City needs to meet its rising energy requirements.

Thus, a Department of Energy (DoE) project that will help reduce the peak demand and energy consumption by simply replacing incandescent bulbs with more efficient CFLs will be a welcome solution to the lack of power plants in the area.

Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco), the fourth largest privately owned electric distribution company in the country serving the city of Cagayan de Oro, the municipalities of Tagoloan, Villanueva, Jasaan and the Phivedec Industrial Estate is participating in this bulb swap project.

Cepalco’s residential customers can visit any of its sub-offices located in Carmen, Puntod and Puerto with their latest official receipt, identification card and two functioning incandescent bulbs of any wattage, which would be replaced by Cepalco with a 15-Watt CFL.

The CFLs provided by DOE for the project are estimated to last for about 10,000 hours. This significant disparity in life span between CFLs and incandescent bulbs will result to a reduction in energy consumption and electric bills.

Ralph Paguio, Cepalco vice president, said electric distribution utilities would also benefit from this demand side management (DSM) project since it would result to a reduction in demand during peak hours thus freeing the utility’s distribution facilities for more productive use and delaying the upgrading of its facilities or purchases of new equipment.

Likewise, this will result in the reduction of customer’s electric bills due to the reduced wattage of the CFL without reducing the quality of the light that it emits.

“It’s a worthwhile project which Cepalco wholeheartedly supports,” Paguio said.

Other utility firms that will be distributing CFLs in their respective franchise areas are Manila Electric Company (Metro Manila), Visayan Electric Company (Cebu City), Davao Light and Power Company (Davao City) and about 120 electric cooperatives nationwide.

The bulbs to be surrendered should be in good working condition so that the reduction in wattage will qualify for carbon credits he stressed, and this is part of the project innovation. Later on, the recovered incandescent bulbs will be crushed and disposed of properly.

The project was made possible through a $31-million concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), of which $18 million would be set aside for this National Residential Lighting Program where 13 million CFLs would be procured.

The 450 megawatts that will be taken off the load is approximately three percent of the Philippines’ total generation capacity, and will defer investments of some $450 million in new power plants. It will also save about $100 million annually in fuel cost, and avoid 300,000 tons of CO2 emission annually from reduced power generation, which is about $3 million per year.

ADB is the lead financing agency in the Philippine power sector, with a third of its total over $10 billion country lending in generation, transmission, distribution and sector development support. ADB also actively supports the government’s power sector restructuring and privatization program of power plants to encourage competition that helps lower electricity costs.

The focus of ADB’s future power sector operations will be on promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and improving the distribution systems in the rural areas.

Milking profit from carabaos

Milking profit from carabaos

By Rita Festin
Philippine Daily Inquirer
06/06/2009

TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija – This town in Nueva Ecija is known for its fresh carabao’s milk and low-fat pastillas de leche. And to the health-conscious, these are welcome alternatives.

Joyce Ramones of the provincial agrarian reform office regularly drinks carabao milk herself and shows off her svelte figure and youthful looks that belie her age of 46.

“I am living proof of this,” she told visitors. “I not only stay fit and slim, I also have no hypertension because of low levels of cholesterol from carabao milk.”

At the center of the dairy activity here is the Nueva Ecija Federation of Dairy Carabao Cooperative (Nefedcco), which produces the most carabao milk in the province from among its 27 farmer-cooperatives and five associate member-cooperatives.

It started with only nine member-cooperatives in 2002. Back then, the need to form an umbrella federation became apparent since milk is highly perishable, and the cooperatives needed to compete as a group for better pricing and quality control.

Today, the federation procures 1,000 to 1,200 liters of milk daily, just enough for their small-scale operations. It is far short though of the 5,000 liters/day requirement of a major ice cream maker that approached the group with an exclusive supply contract.

Out of its daily procured volume, most of it, or 650 liters, is sold as raw milk, and the rest is processed into pasteurized milk, chocolate milk, lacto juice, pastillas plain and yema, white cheeses and pastillas de leche. Orders for ice cream and cheese pimiento are also accepted.

Nefedcco collects the raw carabao’s milk produced by its members and processes and markets the product to major food and pasalubong outlets in Bulacan, Angeles City, Olongapo City, Cabanatuan City, Baguio City and Metro Manila.

From its ragtag operations using plastic pails and containers, Nefedcco has metamorphosed into a modern, more sanitary and professionally run enterprise that uses stainless steel milk containers for collection and storage.

Almost 700 Novo Ecijano farmers with over 800 animals supply it with milk, and the activity has increased their farming income by at least four-fold.

Andy Vallarte, 64, is the federation’s vice chairman and has two carabaos that he milks every day, 10 to 11 months in a year. Out of the 10 to 11 liters a day that he collects, he earns a net of P29 per liter or up to P80,000 a month. He can only earn P40,000 maximum per hectare from palay twice a year, and only break even during a typhoon.

“Walang lugi sa gatas. Kahit may bagyo, tuloy ang paggagatas [I don’t have any losses in dairy farming. Even if there is a typhoon, I can still milk my carabao]” he said.

He no longer incurs debt at high interest rates just to get by, unlike before when his only source of income was farming. Today, if he needs to borrow money for an emergency, he knows that he will be able to pay it back right away with his income from carabao milk.

Various government agencies, both at the provincial and national levels, have been supporting Nefedcco. About half a million pesos worth of milking equipment and capability training (i.e., milk collection, milk quality control and beef management) were provided under the Asian Development Bank’s Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ADB ARCP) implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Under ADB ARCP, nearly 30,000 rural households, or 140 agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in almost 1,000 poverty-stricken communities nationwide came to benefit. Of a total project cost of $168.9 million, ADB provided $93.2 million loan in 1998.

To qualify for ARCP, farmers must be organized into ARCs. Most already own land but lack basic infrastructure and support services to maximize earnings. The project provides them with roads, bridges, communal irrigation, drinking water supply or other infrastructure.

For Nefedcco, the ADB ARCP provided equipment and six farm-to-market road networks in Talavera that improved farmers’ access to markets and reduced transportation and hauling costs. The concrete road leading to the coop’s milk collection and processing/marketing center in Barangay San Ricardo in Unlad Buhay ARC is, in fact, provided by ADB ARCP and is conveniently just 6 kilometers away from the town proper.

With the success of ARCP, which was completed in 2007, the ADB approved a second phase late last year. It is a follow-on ARCP project focusing on the Southern Philippines where three quarters of the rural poor live. ARCP II would assist 152 ARCs, covering 731 barangay (village) units in 137 municipalities of 18 provinces in six regions. Beneficiaries are expected to increase to about 215,000 rural community members with the inclusion of three provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Nueva Ecija has been long known as the “Rice Bowl of the Philippines,” being the country’s largest rice producer. With its increasing production of carabao milk, it may soon be also known as “Dairy Capital of the Philippines.”

And with milk and dairy products eating up a fourth of the Philippines’ total agricultural imports, the potential of carabao milk farming can indeed be very lucrative and promising.