Youths get drawn into new war vs homelessness Jeffrey M. Tupas Inquirer
November 12, 2006
YELLOW hard hats glowed against a backdrop of a deep orange sky as a popular upbeat music echoed from the not so far barangay hall of Lower Glad in this town.
The young men, the youngest of them being 17 years old, packed their belongings in excitement but not in haste, some of them still with their hard hats on as if it was their first time to wear a gear designed for the safety of construction workers against falling materials.
The music was an obvious invitation of a pasala (dance) happening that night at the center of the village, a community fund-raising event for the upcoming fiesta. Though tired by the day’s demanding activity, 21-year-old Rahib Alagasi had that look that he was attending the dance.
Alagasi is not a resident of Lower Glad, predominantly inhabited by Ilocanos. But for so many days already, he has become a familiar face in the village along with other young men from his village in Nalapaan in Pikit, a known war-torn area.
Village in a village
He is part of a group of out-of-school youths building uniform-sized houses for bakwits or internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Lower Glad, the site of which is clearly a replica of a village within a village.
Earlier, Alagasi and his group finished a house that is now ready for occupancy. The day, he said, was so exhausting but seeing the house, a gas lamp lighted on one corner, satiates the fatigue of the flesh.
Grinning, he said in jest that he and his buddies will be storming the dance floor that night.
In their village in Nalapaan, Alagasi said, he was preoccupied by so many other things which rendered him unproductive most of the time. A son of a former combatant of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Alagasi said his activities always evolved around tilling their small farm, if not playing and memorizing every part of a gun.
He was kind of restrained for disclosure and instead articulated it best by saying: “Dati kasi ang hawak namin ay gatilyo…pero, ngayon, ang hawak na naming ay martilyo (We used to hold and play with guns… but now, what we’re holding are hammers).”
Muslims, Christians
Alagasi’s group, along with their counterparts from the host village, had built at least 10 houses for both Muslim and Christian bakwits.
This after the young men completed a rigid theory and actual training on masonry, plumbing, electrical wiring, and steel framing through the partnership of the Habitat for Humanity-Philippines and the Alternative for Planning Initiatives or Alterplan.
In October, Alagasi and at least 77 other out-of-school youths from the villages of Lower Glad, Sadaan and Tumbras in Midsayap and Nalapaan and Balatikan in Pikit town received certification from Tesda. Of the number, 27 were former child combatants.
“Talagang masaya kaming lahat dito at maging ang pamilya namin kasi nakakatulong na kami sa kanila. Iba rin syempre yong saya na nararamdaman mo kung masisiyahan ang may-ari ng bahay sa ginawa mo (We and our families are really happy here because we are able to help. It’s a different kind of happiness to see satisfaction in the homeowners),” said 24-year-old Hamsa Pagayan, also from Barangay Nalapaan.
Habitat for Humanity, a program supported by the European Commission, has always been visible in conflict areas as the agency desires to reintegrate bakwits into the mainstream community by building decent houses for them in areas safer and ideal to live. 1,000 homes
For its Build for Peace Program, the agency seeks to build at least 1,000 houses in Peace and Development Communities in Southcentral Mindanao.
Alterplan, on the other hand, is a nongovernment organization that coordinates with community-based organizations in building capacities to analyze, implement, plan and steer area-based development. Known as an organization expert on technical services, the group was formed in 1990 by architects and planners.
The two groups met when the two agencies agreed to implement housing projects for poor families by training out-of-school youths on basic house construction skill.
A paper about the partnership indicated the training program provided the participants with marketable skills in building trades through classroom and hands-on sessions.
“By creating a significant pool of out-of-school youth skilled workers in the civil trades in conflict-related areas in Mindanao, this partnership aims to stimulate economic activity and contribute to the social rebuilding of communities that have been long torn apart by armed conflict,” the paper said.
Eliezer Vicente Bañarez, Habitat for Humanity project manager, said they saw how idle youths suddenly valued responsibility and appreciated opportunity.
“We have observed that most of the out-of-school youth in our areas were unproductive. We needed a pool of workers and we thought of making the youth our partners in delivering services to the same community we want to develop,” Bañarez said.
This partnership can become a model for the synergy of efforts of civil society organizations and nongovernment organizations, backed by the government through the Action for Conflict Transformation for Peace Programme (Act for Peace), which is now in the period of intensive partnership building and social preparation at the community level.
“No better than today to start providing assistance to out-of-school-youth in the peace and development communities in a manner consistent with the programme’s principle of convergence for integrated programs and services that complement resources of partner-institutions to achieve greater impact at the community level,” explained Jesus Dureza, national program director of Act for Peace.
“The partnership can surely enhance all the existing arrangements with the partners and greatly enhance the desired impact on the community level,” he added.
More than providing the community with the services, the partnership also aims to see the trainees organizing themselves into an association or cooperative as it is expected of them. Through cooperatives, they are to receive better livelihood opportunities and more sustainable economic activities.
The trainees, like Alagasi and Pagayan, are also expected to become active service providers for Habitat for Humanity projects. Pagayan and Alagasi are now in Manila working for a project of Habitat.
Other out-of-school youths from Mindanao, who have undergone the same training, are also working to rebuild the calamity-stricken Guinsaugon village of St. Bernard, Southern Leyte.
During the interview, both Pagayan and Alagasi admitted being upbeat about this latest development as they can already help their respective families.
“Sinong ba ang mag-aakala na mula sa libreng training ay nagkaroon kami ng kaalaman at magkakaroon pa ng trabaho… swerte talaga (Who would have thought that we acquire these skills and jobs),” Pagayan said.
While the trainees were slowly leaving the site, the newly moved-in family of Tabaita Tatak, 43, was enjoying the security of their new house, her two very young children chasing each other around a pile of hay, oblivious of the darkness closing in.
Tatak’s family originally came from Barangay Rangeban, a war-torn village.
The next three houses are owned by Tatak’s sisters. Evidently, the family loved their new place despite the fact that the house was not for free and that paying for it has never become an issue for them.
Tatak said she has already paid P4,000 for the house that costs P5,400.
“Mas gusto na namin dito kasi tahimik... walang gulo at walang nanggugulo. Parang walang problema (We like it better here because it’s peaceful... there’s peace and quiet. It’s as if there are no problems),” said Noraida, Tatak’s 19-year-old daughter.
