SMART Amazing: GK Village-Camp Abubakar Iranun tribe goes back home

Like many members of the Iranun tribe, Salamona Hakim and her family lost their home a couple of years ago when they fled to Lanao following an all-out war waged by the military against Muslim separatists. They also lost their one-hectare plot of land, where they had a small coconut plantation.

Now, they're back in their hometown, in Barangay Tugaig, Camp Abubakar. They now live in a house in the SMART Amazing GK Village.

A teacher, Salamona said Alex Tomawis, the mayor of Barira town where Camp Abubakar is, encouraged them to come back. "He told us Gawad Kalinga, Smart (Communications, Inc.) and DSWD are building houses," she said in Tagalog.

"Ang Camp Abubakar ngayon ay ibang-iba na. Ang bayang ito dati nakakatakot. Dito po ay tahimik na ngayon. Sana magtiwala pa kayo at tumulong sa aming bayan. Sana tayong lahat magtulungan para sa magandang kinabukasan ng Muslim, Kristiyano at ng iba't ibang tribu," said Mayor Tomawis during the Highway of Peace anniversary in Camp Abubakar recently. (Camp Abubakar is different now. Where before fear reigned, now it is a peaceful place. We hope you trust and help us. Let's help one another for a brighter future for all Muslims, Christians and the various tribes here.)

Last May, SMART completed the building of 100 houses in Camp Abubakar, Barira, Maguindanao in partnership with Gawad Kalinga (GK) Foundation and the local government. The beneficiaries - members of the Iranun tribe who were displaced from their hometown a few years ago - are now occupying the units.

Half of the houses are in Barangay Tugaig near the former training camp of MILF rebels, and the other 50 are in Barangay Lipawan, near the municipal hall.

Abdul Rashed Diron and his family are also now starting over in Camp Abubakar with a new home in SMART Amazing GK Village. Before the 'all out war,' they had their own house, a Ford Fiera that he used as a passenger jeepney, and a small sari-sari store. "I had to sell the vehicle because one of my children got sick during the war. He eventually died. We lost everything, all our money. Not a single centavo was left. Our house was ruined, too, during the war. The roof was gone," Diron said in Tagalog. "Mayor Tomawis told us to go back, that we will have a new home. People whom we knew also helped us, and we are now selling softdrinks again."

Salamona, who is now a District Planning Officer for Barira North, Maguindanao for the Department of Education (DepEd), said she hopes that a new school will be put up in Camp Abubakar for the children since the public school was also ruined during the 'all out war'. "Many of the children here had to stop going to school," she said. For now, she gathers children and teaches them whenever she could.

The community also needs a market or a cooperative that would enable residents to have a sustainable source of livelihood, and a health center, she added. In their case, Salamona said her daughter sells Smart Load to augment her income at DepEd. Most of the residents, however, have no steady sources of income for now.

Suraida Guzon Didaagen, for example, said they plant rice and corn in their own land. "Minsan malaki kita, minsan failure (Sometimes we earn a lot, sometimes we don't recover our capital)," said the mother of two kids. She was in Marawi during the all out war, studying. They moved to another town, in Buldon, and are now back in Camp Abubakar.

A total of 230 GK houses are being built in Camp Abubakar, 100 from SMART and 130 from DSWD and other partners from the Middle East. Of these, 180 will be in Tugaig, and 50 in Lipawan. In Tugaig, 117 houses have been built. The remaining 63 houses will be completed by October 2006.

The SMART Amazing GK Village in Camp Abubakar is part of GK's Highway of Peace project in Mindanao. SMART provided funds, the local government provided the land, while GK and the beneficiaries provided 'sweat equity' and built the houses together. Religious differences were set aside as Christians helped their Muslim brothers build their new homes.

"Through this program, we are not only rebuilding the communities that were devastated by war, but also building new bridges between different communities in this area," said Ramon R. Isberto, SMART head for Public Affairs.

"It is very significant that we are in Camp Abubakar. Tayong lahat - Kristiyano, Muslim, Lumad - Pilipino, magkakapatid. Mahalaga ang kapakanan ng bawat isa. Tulung-tulong tayo," said Frank Padilla, chairman of Gawad Kalinga.

The SMART Amazing GK Village in Camp Abubakar is one of seven communities nationwide that SMART, together with parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and the PLDT Foundation, have adopted under GK's ambitious GK 777 project.

The Church-based foundation aims to build 700,000 houses for 7,000 communities in seven years, or by October 2010 through partnerships with private corporations, international donors, local government agencies and the national government.

The PLDT Group, through SMART, built its first Gawad Kalinga village in BASECO Compound, Tondo, Manila, in 2004. Beneficiaries were fire victims in the formerly notorious slum community. In March 2005, SMART adopted another village, in General Nakar, Quezon, for the victims of the devastating floods and landslides in December 2004. The third GK village adopted by SMART is Camp Abubakar.

This year, PLDT and SMART jointly adopted three more GK villages - in Brgy. Budlaan, Cebu City for informal settlers, in Fort Magsaysay, Laur, Nueva Ecija, for families of soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and in Arevalo, Iloilo City, Iloilo for street children and their families.

The PLDT Group has also committed to build its seventh GK village in Southern Leyte for the survivors of the recent mudslide in Brgy. Guinsaugon, St. Bernard.