TACLOBAN CITY- A new way of constructing houses using bamboo as the main material is being introduced by the Hilti Foundation (Base Balay Inc.) in partnership with the Operation Blessing intended for families in Tacloban who completely lost their houses due to supertyphoon “Yolanda.” The bamboo-made housing units are to be constructed in Barangay Palanog.

Jessimar Gallarde, project site engineer of Base Bahay, said that using bamboo in the construction of houses is environment-safe. He also said that the technology will also provide employment as they intend to put up a factory in Tacloban once they get the needed supplies of bamboo. He added that they are using “kawayang tinik” or thorny bamboo in the construction of houses in Palanog which is abundant in the province. “There are still laboratory tests being conducted for other bamboo species but as of this time, this specie is the only acceptable and the only approved specie for construction use,” he added.

Gallarde added that they are hoping that this new technology will be incorporated with the building code of the country. “This bamboo technology was laboratory-studied to ensure that structural design of the house is very resilient from disasters like typhoons and earthquakes,” added Gallarde.

Houses made of these materials are designed to withstand an 8 intensity earthquake and winds of up to 280 kilometers per hour. Base Balay and Operation Blessing are constructing 324 housing units in a 1.5 hectare land in Palanog area for families from Barangays 89 and 90 in this city who lost their houses during the onslaught of super typhoon “Yolanda.”

Each unit cost PP350,000 and measures 25 square meters and two meters away from the next unit. The company is hoping to reduce the construction cost of this type of houses once they are able to set up a plant in Tacloban. About 20 units were initially targeted to be finished by November 24 of this year while the rest are expected to be finished before the end of 2016. Aside from Palanog, Base Bahay is using the bamboo technology in projects sites of Operation Blessing in Jaro, Estancia both in Iloilo and in Bagong Silangan in Quezon City.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

CATBALOGAN CITY- A peace agreement will be signed by security and elective officials of Samar as a way to combat the series of killing incidents that have rocked the province for the past months now. The signing of the peace agreement is scheduled on October 1 in Calbayog City where most of these incidents took place. During a peace dialogue held in this city last Sept.12, those present of the said occasion have agreed to come up with an agreement in hopes of solving the killing incidents. Present during the said peace dialogue with Governor Sharee Ann Tan were Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and the mayors of Gandara, Matuguinao, San Jorge, Santa Margarita and Almagro.

The scheduled peace agreement was agreed in the wake of a shooting incident on September 15 in Calbayog killing five people, two of them were children. The seven perpetrators were said to be members of a private armed group. Since the start of the year until this month, 34 shooting incidents have been reported with 22 deaths, most of them barangay officials. Gov. Tan and Mayor Aquino, who belong to different political camps, said that they want to see an end of violence rocking their province.
“I’m very positive that with the signing of a peace agreement, we could achieve peace, particularly in Calbayog where most of the incidents happened,” Tan said.
Aquino said that he want to see the end of killing incidents in his city. “Nothing will happen to us if these killing incidents will not stop. We want to have a peaceful and better Samar,” Aquino, who chairs the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), said.

Samar, particularly in Calbayog, has always been identified as “concerned area” during election time due to the presence of armed men reportedly maintained by some local politicians. Both Aquino and Tan have denied that they have armed groups.

Police Regional Director Chief Supt. Asher Dolina and Major Gen. Jet Velarmino, commanding general of the 8th Infantry Division, have also vowed to break the private armed groups in the province. Both security officials said that for them to achieve their goal in ensuring peace will prevail in Samar, officials of the province, to include in the barangays, should extend their cooperation and support on their campaign. “We need your help to stop these killings. You are from Samar, you must show your concern to your province like how we in the law enforcement agency show our eagerness to solve the problem in this place,” Velarmino said. “We don’t like to see people die just because of misunderstanding and indifferences in our political view,” he added.