The “squatters’ of Intramuros

Squatters are now called “informal settlers.” And in the case of Intramuros, it may not even be right to call them such because many of them are renting from registered land owners.

It was a long time ago when then Mayor Villegas managed a large scale demolition of squatter shanties in the Intramuros area. There was a time when it was not even safe to walk there because gang wars happened all the time with deadly steel projectiles fired from slingshots (pana).

The thing with Intramuros is that most of the land isn’t really government owned as many assume. There are many small landowners, some absentee, who don’t have plans for their properties that could be in line with the area’s heritage nature.

And those who have larger cuts of property are using it for warehouses and other activities that don’t help preserve the area as the country’s premier heritage community. Yet, developing Intramuros the way the Malaysians developed Malacca had always been our dream.After all, Intramuros is larger and prettier than Malacca. But we need to fix it.

It seems the first order of business to realize that dream of developing Intramuros is to deal with the small landowners, their tenants and other informal settlers. During the last thousand days of the outgoing administration, we had the good fortune of having Singapore-educated Marco Sardillo appointed head of the Intramuros Administration. He immediately saw the work cut out for him and set out to get things moving.

Drawing up a development plan is the easiest thing to do. Implementing that plan brings every Intramuros Administration head right smack against the reality of small landowners and the informal settlers.

The first thing Marco had to do was to develop a personal relationship with the settlers. He walked around the community, talked with them and tried to win their trust. He shared their dreams and understood their fears as he set out to introduce programs acceptable to them.

Marco told me they have P410 million to be spent on four (or five) target/priority sites for housing the Intramuros settlers, selected on the basis of: (1) proximity to our tourist corridors; (2) extent of blightedness; and (3) willingness to voluntarily resettle. “The third criteria, Marco explained, is the most important, and that is what distinguishes these efforts: it is purely voluntary.

“With the help of PBSP, USAID and UP-PLANADES, we set out to perform a socio-economic profiling of all the ISF sites in Intramuros. Needless to say, some Barangay chairpersons were more helpful than others.”

Marco expressed confidence “that, by the time I leave (or soon thereafter), you will see a community voluntarily resettle. We are at the tail-end of our preparations.”

They are working with Phinma for the possible purchase of socialized housing units in their project in Bacoor  — which is barely 40 minutes away from Intramuros. They are also trying to establish linkages with the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, and even deeper relationships with PBSP and USAID, for the project.

They have also prepared to run a pilot program inspired by conditional cash transfers. “This is most exciting about our effort, and this (aside from the results that we hope to show, by the time I leave) is what we will leave behind: a clear, rational, and humane way forward.”

The Intramuros Administration program for “our informal settler-beneficiaries is called, Pagtugon at Pagtupad Tungo sa Tagumpay. Premised on conditional cash transfers, we are looking to incentive good behavior by linking the availment of our benefits to “human development” goals.”

Marco’s program talks of “socialized housing” (and not “low-cost” housing). Socialized housing units are twice the price of low-cost housing units, because they are located in more prime areas — which, serves as a good proxy for the problem oft-alluded to when it comes to low-cost housing: access to employment opportunities.

The Phinma project, for example, is barely 10 minutes away from SM Bacoor and is close to where an LRT station shall be built. And because socialized housing units are also better built (and in better locations), they tend to appreciate in value and are, thus, properly regarded as “assets.”

Marco explains that “entrusting these units to our ISF-beneficiaries would mean they will have a real asset whose value will increase over time, an asset that they can use as capital or as collateral for other transactions in the future.

The program itself is made up of three stages: (1) Pagtugon; (2) Pagtupad; and (3) Pagtagumpay — and for every stage, and for every condition, they earn corresponding percentage points out of our total subsidy.

1) Pagtugon refers to voluntary undertakings: participation in the socio-economic profiling (two percent); participation in financial literacy, gender-sensitivity, and values formation trainings (three percent); and voluntary application and submission to our program (10 percent). By giving them 15 percent, at the very start, we have given them a real stake in this shared vision for their future.

2) Pagtupad refers to the menu of options, the conditionalities that, based on their own efforts, they can earn over the course of approximately 15 years. These options cover: voluntary dismantling of unit (five percent); voluntary transfer (five percent); trainings and certifications that enhance their productivity and skills (two percent for every completed course); estate management, i.e. no unauthorized repairs or alterations (10 percent, at the end of the term); demonstrable enhanced productivity (either through new employment or enterprise, five percent milestone bonus, and one percent for every year); membership in good standing in a cooperative (one percent for every year), etc.

3) Pagtagumpay refers to the remaining five percent (or 10 percent) that we will award, to confirm their success, as soon as they have earned 90 percentage points (or at the lapse of 15 years).

Marco said they are thinking of subsidizing half of the price of the socialized housing units: that is, our beneficiaries would pay only what they would, otherwise, pay for low-cost housing units, but receive (through IA’s support and subsidy program) a socialized housing unit.

Because some potential beneficiaries had worries about their ability to pay during the course of the 15 years, Marco said he is thinking of adding a component for “forced savings.”

“Two weeks ago, I met with our colleagues from Land Bank, and we are exploring possibilities of working in synergy to develop ‘forced savings’ a la ‘investment retirement account’ for our ISF-beneficiaries.”

Marco is making every single day of his 40 or so days left count. “That’s still a lot of time to get things done… When I’m done, we hope to leave behind a program and a pilot/proof-of-concept. Our program is a radical departure and paradigm shift, especially as it seeks to put forward an answer to the question: what can the government do when it comes to informal settler families residing on privately-owned land?

“I would like to think it is humane, as it takes government to task in mobilizing resources to invest in its people and their future — and yes, by giving them rational options and incentives, to empower and enable them to make a decent decision. It is ambitious, because it sets out to chart a course that runs for 15 years (because, we are talking about intergenerational poverty and some things, one cannot rush).”

I like the fresh thinking for addressing an old problem that Marco is providing Intramuros Administration. If his concept works, it could be a template for addressing informal settler problems elsewhere.

What is important is the trust Marco was able to win from the settler families. Whoever takes over from him should build on this trust. Disappointing them now because of a change of administration is something that should be avoided at all cost.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.