The Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro (Mother Club) has entered into a service contract with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) for Community-Based Emergency Employment (Cash-for-Work) and livelihood skills training of Tropical Storm Sendong survivors through the construction of permanent shelters for their homes.
Contract signing between ILO, AusAID and the Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro (Mother Club) July 18 at a local hotel.
Engr. Marillo S. Paano, President, Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro (RCCDO) signed the service contract on July 18, 2012 at a local hotel with Lawrence Jeff Johnson, ILO Manila Office Director and Erika M. Geronimo, portfolio manager of AusAID.
Under the terms of the contract, the ILO through AusAID will provide US $10,532 (PhP 446, 134.20) to be used for the emergency employment and transfer of skills for Sendong survivors by employing them while they are trained on-site through mentoring by skilled workers for the construction of five quadruplex units and the completion of another five units
As fund administrator, RCCDO will be responsible for the disbursements and liquidation of expenses and compliance with the Terms of Reference set by the ILO.
“The project will benefit 60 survivors as trainees/workers and 40 survivor families who will occupy the compelted permanent shelters,” Mr. Paano said. “The 60 unskilled workers are all survivors Tropical Storm Sendong (International name: Washi) on December 16/17, 2011. The 40 qualified survivor-families awaiting the completion of the 40 permanent shelter units are still living in tents and temporary shelters in transitional relocation sites.”
“Most of the affected families that lost their means of income are now in search of alternative livelihood,” Mr. Paano said. “One of the identified job opportunities available is the construction of permanent shelters and support infrastructure such as drainage, slope protection, road maintenance or reforestation where the survivors can work, acquire new knowledge and skills, learn construction techniques or become skilled workers.”
After working on a few units, the unskilled workers will be field tested by constructing the same type of units by themselves. If they pass their tests, they can find employment in similar projects in the future.
Ground breaking for the project was made last February 17, 2011 under the leadership of immediate past president Ian Mark Q. Nacaya in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines Director Tots Escalada for the construction of 10 safe and permanent quadruplex housing units in Barangay Indahag.
“This housing project is one of the relocation sites identified by the city government of Cagayan de Oro,” said Rtn. Nacaya. “It falls within a 10-hectare lot intended for some 1,597 permanent shelters for Sendong survivors.”
The city government owns the land where the houses will be constructed. DPWH and the LGU are collaborating in the construction of the roads and other amenities in the Indahag relocation site. Other private organizations are also involved in the construction of a thousand similar houses in the area.
The RCCDO Foundation under the stewardship of Past RC District 3870 Governor and former CdO City Mayor Constantino G. Jaraula initially undertook the project with funds donated by
Norfolk Sisterhood Cities of Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A. which donated P263,642 and the Orthodontists Association of the Philippines through Dr. Arnold Duterte which donated P80,000.
However, the huge amount needed to complete the project constrained the RCCDO to turn to the ILO for funding support, especially for the labor component.
“With AusAid support, the ILO brings into the relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts its core messages of 1. Social dialogue through the series of consultations with stakeholders, beneficiaries and other parties; 2. Social protection, through the provision of personal protective gear and insurance coverage; 3. Worker’s rights, by observing 8-hour daily and 40-hour weekly work, and 4. Paid labor, by ensuring equal pay for equal work applies,” said Honorio T. Palarca, national program officer, ILO-Employment Intensive Investment Program (EIIP).
With its traditional partner, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the project brings cash-for-work to the survivors in affected barangays through clearing and cleaning of surroundings of the tons of mud and debris left by the floodwaters, and lately through the de-clogging of drainage canals as the rainy season has set in.
The collaboration with the city governments of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan led to the construction of transitional shelters, to addressing the threats posed by environmental degradation through slope and riverbank protection and erosion control.
“The collaboration with Rotary Club of Cagayan de Oro District 3870 is another facet of the ILO-AusAid assistance through the construction of permanent shelters for the victims.,” Mr. Palarca added. “Working with the Rotary Club of CdO is a privilege as this showcases an opportunity to work with a civic organization that genereously shares its resources, expertise and time for the survivors of the calamity.”