The newly turned-over housing units at Barangay Kuloy in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur. KAPYANAN or the Kapayapaan sa Pamayanan Program of the Office of the Chief Minister led the ceremonial awarding of the houses to its beneficiaries on October 4. (Marhom Ibrahim/BIO)
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao del Sur — In many communities worldwide, marginalized societies often face numerous challenges when it comes to accessing safe and affordable housing. Inaccessibility to these human basic needs is even more difficult due to economic disadvantages, discrimination, or systemic inequalities.
In most cases, individuals from marginalized communities had trouble accessing either commercially-market or government-provided housing programs suitable to their needs.
The World Bank reported that there are 1.2 billion individuals across the globe who live in substandard housing and expected to reach 3 billion by 2030.
In the same report, 70% of Filipinos live in substandard housing. While the urbanization level in the country recorded at 54% as of 2020, Mindanao remained at 45%. With 1.75 million housing needs (2022), this simply translates into 11,611 hectares of land area.
Said report further stated that there are 6.5 million housing backlogs in the Philippines as of 2022, and projected to reach 22 million by 2040. This simply means that the government needs to build at least 345,000 housing units per year to catch up.
BARMM continually changes the housing landscape in the region
On Wednesday, October 4, the regional government held a ceremonial turnover of 150 decent housing units built in three different municipalities— Barangay Kuloy, Shariff Aguak; Barangay Nunangen, Datu Angal Midtimbang; and Barangay Sugadol, Datu Abdullah Sangki—all in Maguindanao del Sur where each site has 50 units. The ceremonial awarding was held in Barangay Kuloy while subsequent visits will be made by KAPYANAN to other sites to continue the awarding.
The housing units are part of the Kapayapaan sa Pamayananan or KAPYANAN program of Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim. One of his flagship programs, KAPYANAN is intended for the poorest of the poor, internally displaced persons, martyrs of war, indigenous people, and other members of marginalized communities.
While accessing equitable housing is continually marred by societal intricate challenges, the case is different in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as the housing program of the regional government rekindles hope for marginalized communities.
“Yung bahay na natanggap ko sa BARMM ay naging daan para mabuhayan kami ng pag-asa,” said beneficiary Datu Kong Kamid of Barangay Kuloy.
Kamid, 43, primarily sourced his income from farming which is barely sufficient for their basic needs. He has four kids and dwells in a house made of light materials thus he is grateful for being chosen as one of the beneficiaries.
“Masaya po ako dahil buong buhay ko, ngayon lang po ako nakatanggap ng ganitong pabahay,” he added.
First of those who occupied their home immediately after the turnover was the family of 32-year-old Darwisa Kamad. She has six children and is currently pregnant with her 7th child.
Kamad could not stop her tears from flowing during our exclusive interview. Speaking in Maguindanaon vernacular, she said that her family doesn’t have a shelter they can call their home.
“Wala po kaming bahay Sir, kaya nilipatan na din po naman agad itong bahay,” she said.
Like most of the beneficiaries, Kamid’s family income is dependent on farming and just like the majority, their income is barely enough.
Aside from battling for their source of income and shelter, Kamid also faced another problem—one of her children is challenged with a spectrum disorder.
The KAPYANAN core shelter, funded through the Bangsamoro Appropriations Act (BAA), features two bedrooms, a comfort room, a dining area, and a small living room and is equipped with a water system and solar power. While most of the new BARMM housing design has three bedrooms, the structure in these sites is based on the earlier batches of core shelters hence it has only two bedrooms.
To ensure that beneficiaries would take care of their unit, KAPYANAN Project Manager Engr. Mohammad Abdullah said that they will do constant monitoring even after the core shelter has been turned over.
“We have a dedicated staff to monitor our facility to ensure that our beneficiaries are compliant with our agreement,” said Abdullah.
He added that this initiative is on top of the forged agreement between KAPYANAN and the beneficiaries where proper usage of the core shelter and other conditions were clearly stipulated. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
