THE house (small or big) is said to be the “nest” of a family. That could be the reason why parents aspire to have a house of their own that they may call home. Home is the heart of the family where love, respect, dedication, cooperation, understanding, and commitment grow.
I could attest to that because before having a home in my own house I lived in several rented houses. A rented house is a temporary home because it is surrounded with insecurities. It is never safe to live in a rented house. You will be fixing so many things just to find out later that the rent has gone up and there is another party waiting at the end of your contract. How many Silaynons have experienced the ordeal that I have been through?
Now is the time for our homeless Silaynons to have houses of their own. The Silay City Government and the Habitat for Humanity Philippines Foundation, Inc. had already signed a memorandum of agreement (Nov. 13, 2017) for the construction of an initial 100 units of cement-bamboo frame housing units in 10 months. It would cost about P45 million.
The MOA was signed by Mayor Mark Golez and Michael Meaney, managing director of HHPFI, and witnessed by Representative Albee Benitez, chair of the House committee on housing and urban development, and Lili Fuentes, project director of Habitat. The site of the houses is at Bonbon Resettlement Project Phase 3 in Barangay E. Lopez.
The existing Bonbon Community was developed by the Silay City Government with projects undertaken also by the previous mayors having financial assistance from the National Housing Authority under the LGU Resettlement Assistance Program.
For the homeless residents of Silay who have settled at the area and the incoming homeless residents who will be occupying in the near future the 546 housing units, Bonbon has become a symbol of hope as a projected community that will fulfill the dream of the urban poor.
We all expect that the Golez-Gallego administration, with the support of Cong. Albee Benitez and the rest of the officials, will make Bonbon a model community in Silay with facilities that will give dignity to human growth and development.
We look forward to see a stable supply of electricity and water. There will be a play park where the children could play and recreate safely. The environment will be free of pollution. The Local Livelihood Program Office is expected to start livelihood projects and cooperatives.
Livelihood Training Center will train mothers to have skills in cooking, dressmaking, and embroidery to start a low-level entrepreneurship program.
Barangay E. Lopez already has good buildings for the elementary pupils and secondary students under the K to 12 program. I am sure that Cong. Benitez will make this a showcase in his committee in the Lower House.
This will be a developing tourist attraction in Silay because the houses are made of cement with bamboo frame. We can baptize this house as “Balay-Kawayan.” It can feature the indigenous Filipino architecture making use of the bamboo for the interior and the exterior design. “Balay-Kawayan” will be an ideal house for the ideal family to suit our tropical climate.
The houses will also embody the “bahay-kubo” concept wherein vegetables, fruit trees, and medicinal plants are growing around the houses with native chickens strolling and a pig in a humble pig pen two meters away from the kitchen. What we humbly need is a good foot walk, good drainage, and the beautiful potted ornamental plants in front of the houses. The Silay City Tourism Office can extend invitation to the students of colleges and universities in Bacolod to do their outreach program in the area.
“Come to Bonbon Village in Silay, a community where the heart is.” To understand what is meant, students and teachers will start coming to see the place, buy their delicacies and other products, take home their potted plants…after experiencing a life of hope of the urban poor that has been empowered. Since this is a project of the Habitat for Humanity, we can expect foreign and local volunteers to see what has been transformed.
At Bonbon, the Silay City Government will create a community that could be duplicated in other barangays. If Bonbon is going to be the model, then let it be the best so that the rest of the projects that would follow could be excellently done. More challenges are waiting ahead. If all sectors will just cooperate…nothing is impossible.
Congratulations Silay! Another chapter is added to the history of its achievements. Just keep it up.