Assistance for the Urban Poor

Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento today handed over a check amounting to Ten Thousand Pesos (Php 10,000.00) as financial assistance to the Sta. Cruz Homeowners Association (SCHA) of Brgy. Rawis. Said assistance will be used by the group for relocation survey and related activities aimed at providing security of tenure for the association members.

The 53-member association is one of the more than 50 homeowner associations composed of informal settlers which were organized by the City Government through the City Urban Housing Division (CUHD).

Mayor Mel Sarmiento handing out the check to SCHA President Marlon Fortaleza. Looking one are Rawis Brgy. Captain Isidra Oriendo (to the Mayor's left), Bebot Oquendo of the CUHD (extreme right) and the SCHA officers.

For a short background on how the program came to be, let me give you a paragraph from my blog update on the City winning the KAME in 2006. (for related posts, please check these: link 1, link 2 & link 3)

. . . As in many urban centers, Calbayog City is beset with an increasing number of rural migrants and informal settlers. While most urban local governments are unable to address this problem effectively, the City Government faced this squarely by creating a City Urban Housing Development Division which work closely with informal settlers, organizing them into homeowners associations and forming a federation among such associations. The federation collaborates with the City Government in the planning and implementation of housing projects for the informal settlers. To date, it has facilitated the preparation and release of 3,000 land titles to beneficiaries. The City Government promoted he bayanihan system in the development of these sites to bring down costs and to foster strong community - local government partnership.