One of the expansion communities of Strategic Private Sector Partnerships for Urban Poverty Reduction Program or STEP-UP in Malabon City is the Sambal Phase I Homeowners Association (Sambal 1 HOA). The community is located in Acero Libis, Brgy. Tugatog, Malabon City. It has a total land area of 5,719 sq. meters and a total population of 184 member households. Under STEP-UP, Sambal I has undergone series of trainings to capacitate them in handling community projects as well as their organization. Among the prevalent problems of Sambal I are lack of alleys, concrete road network, proper sanitation, waste disposal and inadequate drainage system.
PLDT, through its ULABs donated to Balik Baterya, funded the drainage system project. The drainage will be a combination of culvert and box type canal made of concrete hollow blocks with concrete cover. For areas that are not stable, a concrete hollow blocks riprap will be provided to avoid soil erosion.
To date, a total of 110 meters of the drainage has already been concreted, 28% of the target 486 meters (before and after pictures in one of the portions completed shown here). The HOA has also formulated policies on waste disposal, maintenance and sustainability of the drainage project.
Sambal I was able to mobilize counterpart contributions amounting to
P 69, 284.25 from Oct-Dec 2008. To generate such amount, Sambal I mobilized its members to contribute money give in-kind donations for the lunch and snacks of the laborers. The HOA also collected P50 from the members to pay for the hauling of the landfill materials from the dumping site to the swampy areas. HOA members also agreed to declare Sunday as volunteering day.
The drainage project is just one of the many assistance PLDT has extended to the STEP UP communities in Malabon through the ULABs donated to the Motolite-PBSP Balik Baterya Program. We will be seeing more in the months to come.
