COMMUNITY BASED RESETTLEMENT APPROACH AS THE DIRECTION OF FUTURE RELOCATION PROGRAMS – VP NOLI

September 27, 2009

With a few months remaining in his term as Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), Vice President Noli ‘Kabayan’ de Castro laid down the principles that should guide the implementation of future resettlement programs.

Speaking before stakeholders and beneficiaries of the North and South Rail Relocation Program during a Resettlement Congress held in Quezon City yesterday (23 September), De Castro discussed the principles that were adopted in the relocation of some 80,000 families affected by the North and Southrail Development Program. “From our experience these past four years, we were able to draw out workable and feasible principles in ensuring a ‘win – win’ formula that paved the way for a smoother implementation of the relocation and resettlement projects,” De Castro said. He admitted that the resulting approach is far from perfect, but given constraints and limitations, it is still the most workable approach adopted, thus far. “The implementation approach needs further improvement and fine tuning, but I believe that the guiding principles that we adopted are proven and tested to be effective and efficient in ensuring a successful relocation program,” De Castro added.

The resettlement principles referred to by De Castro are as follows:

1. A relocation program should be beneficiary-led and therefore the resettlement site should be the choice of the affected families. To avoid severe dislocation, an “in-town or near-town” policy should be adopted.

2. A multi-sectoral and local based consultation mechanism, led by the Local Government Unit should be established to oversee the implementation of the relocation activities, from the determination of site to the qualification of beneficiaries as well as in ensuring the readiness of the new communities based on agreed minimum resettlement requirements. The same mechanism should be institutionalized to receive and process relocation and resettlement issues and concerns.

3. Considering that government can provide only for minimum resettlement requirements (e.g. serviced lots, core houses, and basic community facilities), an incremental approach to development should be pursued. This would require the support and cooperation of various sectors and stakeholders from the government and the private sector, with the national government (through HUDCC and NHA) playing the role of catalyst to implement the development process.

4. Value formation and capacity building are critical elements in ensuring and sustaining community-based development.

“The development in each community is a work in progress. Alot of it will depend on the efforts of the people themselves and the continuing support of the national and local based stakeholders from both government and the private sectors,” De Castro noted. “This the reason why we thought of convening Resettlement Congress every year to keep track of where we are, learn from each other’s experiences, and determine workable solutions to identified issues and concerns. I am pleased that our advocates are increasing, as can be seen from the number of attendees that we have this year. Substantive outputs are likewise realized, highlighted by the formulation of the communities of their respective five year community development and management plans with clearly defined and timebound targets,” De Castro added.

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