"ECO-BAHAY". A groundbreaking activity for the "Eco-Bahay" project for the Ati Indigenous People (IP) community in Barangay Pili, Calinog, Iloilo was held on Dec. 6, 2021. The project will make use of trash-filled bottles as a building material. (Photo courtesy of Balita Halin sa Kapitolyo FB page)
ILOILO CITY - A town hall made of eco-bricks or trash-filled bottles called "Eco-Bahay" will soon rise for the Ati indigenous people (IP) community in Barangay Pili, Calinog, Iloilo.
A ground-breaking activity was held on Monday led by Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr and Calinog Mayor Francisco Calvo, three years after the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Iloilo provincial government, non-profit youth organization Eco-Youth Philippines, and Robinsons Place for the establishment of the project.
“We have no budget from the province. This is a voluntary movement. We are calling for any volunteers during the construction, any contribution or donation from stakeholders that can help materialize the tribal hall,” said the provincial government’s senior environmental management specialist Mitzi Peñaflorida in an interview on Tuesday.
She said their engineer is finalizing the area for the tribal hall but they already have a design for the project.
They will be mixing cement for the posts while the windows will have bamboo as additional materials to also preserve the culture of the Ati community.
To date, they have thousands of collected eco-bottles as a result of the “Trash in a Bottle" program launched by the province of Iloilo way back in 2015, which campaigned for an alternative recycling activity for plastic wastes and the "Bote Ko, Ipalit Ko Program" launched in 2019 together with the Robinsons Mall, where trash-filled bottles are exchanged with eco-bottles and eco-bags.
Those who are willing to donate bottles can coordinate with the Provincial Environment and Natural Office (PENRO) on the fifth floor of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol.
Donors are encouraged to use one liter or 1.5 plastic bottles to stuff their residual wastes.
Barangay Pili is just a pilot area and there are other barangays in Calinog with an IP community that are also interested to avail of the project, Peñaflorida said.
“Hopefully we could expand this 'Eco-bahay' and will be appreciated by our stakeholders not (only) for the Iloilo province but in Region 6 and the whole Philippines,” she said.
Peñaflorida added that eco-bricks can be used as alternative construction materials for hollow blocks.
Putting residual wastes in a bottle will have an impact on the environment because it will prevent the throwing of garbage anywhere, she said. (PNA)
