Project Title & Location
LA HUERTA URBAN POOR HOUSING
Parañaque City

Client
PUBLIC ESTATES AUTHORITY
Makati City

Project Completion
July 1991

Associated Firms
Social Housing Movement, Inc.
Alyansa ng Magdaragat, Inc.
E.M. Flores, Engineer

Services Provided
- Dialogues with the Community
- Conceptual Layouts
- Subdivision Planning

La Huerta is a small fishing village of informal settlers in Manila Bay. It is located at the south bank of Parañaque River, very close to its mouth. The construction of the Radial Road One (R-1), also known as the Aguinaldo Highway, is considered by the La Huerta families as the beginning of the destruction of their village. It is however fortunate that the Public Estates Authority, the developer of the Radial Road One (R-1) recognizes this predicament. For this reason, a fisher's market is now located west of R-1, just past the Parañaque River Bridge. An area on the opposite side with access along the river provides the village with a relocation site for housing. This has an area of 4,209 square meters.

Considering that the land is public-owned and that this is already partially occupied by informal settlers, in-filling becomes a necessary development strategy. Dialogues on how to allocate the land and how this can be incrementally improved are made to arrive at a common consensus. Because the land has to be filled up to 1.8 meters in depth, the core areas are first vacated with the dwellings transferred at the periphery and eventually the rest is up-graded. After completing the landfill, the utilities of dwellings are built along a self-help basis.

The project contains 79 lots having areas of 40 square meters. Infrastructure supports are provided by the Public Estates Authority. The bank of the Parañaque River is used for mooring bancas of the fisher folk. A cooperative housing arrangement is proposed to sustain the village.