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LEGAZPI CITY, Albay: Tears stream down her cheeks, but typhoon
victim Rebecca Potentado is smiling. After almost one year of
painful waiting, she can now help finish building houses not only
for her family, but also for many other Bicolanos left homeless when
super
typhoon “Reming” ravaged the Bicol region on November 30, 2006.
Armed with newly learned skills from cement
manufacturer Holcim Philippines’ seven-day Galing Mason basic
masonry skills training program, 49-year-old Aling Rebecca says her
priority project is to fast-track construction work for her new
house. The local government and various local and international
civic organizations awarded her a basic unfinished structure in the
Taysan Resettlement Area which she will proudly finish, applying her
freshly acquired masonry techniques. After that, she says, she will
assist her neighbors in building their own houses.
“The ‘galing Mason program is a brainchild
of Holcim Philippines and it has become our flagship corporate
social responsibility program. This is Holcim’s way of
giving back to the community what we know and we have as a
construction materials manufacturer,” says Ian Thackwray, chief
operating officer. Besides training, the Galing Mason program also
has the Galing Mason Olympics which showcases masons’ skills in
various levels of competition and the Galing Mason Award which
recognizes exemplary masons.
Aling Rebecca was among thousands of Bicolanos
affected by the strong winds, heavy downpour, and mud rush brought
by Reming. Barangay Padang where she, her husband, and their
five children used to live, recorded the biggest number of
casualties among villages in Legazpi City.
As if watching their home get buried under deep
mud was not painful enough, the family, like their neighbors, had to
endure almost a year of living in tents and makeshift houses.
Difficult and depressing is how Aling Rebecca describes their living
conditions. Besides the lack of proper housing, she and her
neighbors have undergone health problems, lack of food, and
joblessness, not to mention nigh hopelessness.
Hearing about Holcim’s Galing Mason training
program for Albay typhoon victims, the homemaker quickly signed up.
“I wanted to learn the basics of building a house, the proper
measurements, the correct use of cement, bricklaying and all other
masonry tasks. After this training, I will work double-time to
finish our house,” she says in the vernacular, pointing to a bare
concrete frame which she will finish to make her home. Her
family is proud of her, she says.
Amid the hustle and bustle of building four
houses as part of training activities, it was easy to spot Aling
Rebecca, the only woman among 38 trainees in Taysan. Unmindful
of the view that masonry is a man’s world, she braved the rainy
afternoon workday, shoveling sand into bags, laying bricks, and
mixing cement. “She is good and she is a fast-learner.
This, despite the fact that she does not have previous masonry
experience,” Justo Ferolino, an accredited assessor from the
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), says.
Another training session was held simultaneously
at the Anislag Resettlement Area where 40 typhoon victims, seven of
whom were females, participated. As with the Taysan trainees,
they were assigned to build four houses.
Under the Galing Mason program, Aling Rebecca
and her co-trainees learned trade mathematics, work safety, basic
masonry tools and equipment, masonry works, basic carpentry, mortar,
concrete, and many other skills, from trainers sent by the
Association of Construction and Informal Workers (ACIW). Other
project partners are the local government of Legazpi, the National
Disaster Coordinating Council, the Department of Social Welfare and
Development, and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
“After the seven-day program, trainees were
given a Tesda certificate, making them highly employable not only
locally, but internationally,” ACIW head Eduardo La Cumbias says.
The rigorous training, he adds, has produced about 80 skilled
typhoon victims who will form part of the province’s pool of
workers to hasten rebuilding homes. Sorely needed are their
skills. Of 4,000 families left homeless by the typhoon there,
only 1,600 have benefited from housing units.
In addition to the free training sessions and
certification, Holcim gave each mason-participant a set of
construction tools—a trowel, working gloves, safety hat, dust
mask, safety goggles and paint brush. The company also shipped
cement for their training and to build houses, as the Bicol region
is not its market area.
“The most important thing I learned apart from
masonry skills,” says Aling Rebecca, “is having the proper work
attitude. I learned that cooperation is very important in
building a house. Safety at work, too, is a key factor in the
training sessions.”
On graduation day, Aling Rebecca and her fellow
trainees were all smiles receiving the Tesda certificate they have
worked so hard for. The Tesda certificate means not only new
skills acquired and broader employment opportunities, but also hopes
for a fresh start.
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