CMP: Responding to Disasters
For the past 27 years, the Community Mortgage Program ( CMP) has opened the door for legally-organized informal settler families (ISFs) to acquire security of land tenure through affordable financing. True to its roots, CMP has been continuously assisting residents of blighted or depressed areas to own the lots they occupy, or where they choose to be relocated, and eventually to improve their neighborhood and homes to the extent of their affordability. It also promotes a community-driven approach which leads to community empowerment and transformation.
But in the course of changing times, CMP too has been undergoing changes and development in order to become responsive to needs of its primary stakeholders and to become relevant in responding to unexpected events such as natural disasters.
For the longest time, relief- giving has been the initial response of SHFC to CMP communities who were affected by calamities. A moratorium on payment of monthly amortization is also being implemented. But in the past years, bigger and more destructive catastrophes have caused so much destruction to some parts of the Philippines, including CMP communities.
Last November 2013, the world’s strongest typhoon hit the country, wreaking havoc to several portions of the country.
As an initial response, SHFC extended relief goods to Yolanda-stricken communities in Leyte. A one-year moratorium was also implemented to CMP communities affected by the super typhoon in Leyte. As recovery from the disaster continues, CMP plays a vital role in providing safer relocation sites for Yolanda victims in Tacloban City and Ormoc City.
As of June 2015, about 3,214 families from Capiz; Estancia, Iloilo; Tacloban City and Ormoc City, Leyte were given a loan amounting to a total of P243.8 million for purchasing safer relocation sites. This off-site relocation will pave the way for safer communities for Yolanda victims. Aside from land acquisition, CMP is also assisting ISFs in site development and house construction.
Aside from providing financial help, SHFC has been linking these community associations to national and international non- government organizations ( NGOs) — partners that help them build their capacities through technical assistance. With the help of these partners, CMP communities were given assistance which will be used for rebuilding their houses. These partnerships have resulted to a faster and more comprehensive way of community rebuilding.
In July 2014, the SHFC has forged partnerships with UN Habitat and other public and private partners to implement the Post-Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements Project in Yolanda-affected areas in Capiz and Estancia, Iloilo.
The culmination of the project last June, has paved way for the construction of 660 disaster-resilient homes that can withstand strong winds of up to 230 kph. The project also trained 323 carpenters and local artisans on how to construct disaster- resilient houses, benefitting 4,594 households.
More than the houses, the SHFC and its partners have developed disaster-resilient communities through strong partnerships and capacity-building.
The community-driven housing CMP has been propagating for the past two decades was adopted by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) to implement its rehabilitation programs in disaster-hit areas.
SHFC is also intensifying and widening its reach to assist Yolanda victims in Palawan.
CMP goes beyond providing security of land tenure. Furthermore, the program builds and empowers communities to become disaster-resilient.