Area Profiles

Marytown

The name Marytown got its name from the area visits during the 1970s of two sisters from Maryknoll (which is Miriam College at the present). The area became part of their apostolate and they named it after the Virgen Mary.

Marytown is located at Esteban Abada St., Brgy. Loyola Heights, Quezon City. It is accessible either through an alley in Esteban Abada Street or through another alley near the overpass fronting Miriam College. It has an area of 1 hectare and 40 sqm. It is a park therefore a government property with a parcel of land donated by the Castro Family (privately owned) or the Tuazon family.
The overall environment of Marytown is not that well. Even if residents here are thrifty, it cannot be avoided to produce litter in the alley and in the water way. Maybe this could be linked with the lack of sanitary infrastructures in Marytown. There are still households who do not have their own toilet bowls nor bathing area in their houses. It is only outside of their houses
where some residents wash their clothes and take a bath. Garbage is also thrown in the water way, where most diseases like hardly treatable wounds and galis would come from. All these could be linked with the lack of sanitary and hygienic information among the residents.


It became an apostolate area of AtSCA about 28 years ago. In fact, Marytown is the oldest apostolate area of AtSCA. Few of the projects contributed by AtSCA to the area include Linis Sapa, KADIPA or prayer session with the youths, erection of a small library, weekly tutorials, and weekly visits to the families or ”babad”.



K1b4

K1b4 is part of Barangay Pansol. Barangay Pansol used to be a part of Sitio Balara (barrio of Marikina, Rizal). It became part of quezon City in 1939 when President Manuel L. Quezon signed into law Commonwealth Act No. 502 on October 12, 2939 creating Quezon City.

K1b4 became an apostolate area of AtSCA in the School Year of 1993-1994, formerly known as Cell 6.

Kaingin Uno Block 4 (K1b4) is part of Kaingin Uno. Kaingin Uno fills up a 18.2 hectare area. K1b4 is a hilly place located near NAWASA or Balara Filtering Station which also provides many of the jobs in the area. It is sandwiched in between 2 high-end communities namely the Ayala and La Vista Residences. The street is wide enough to allow one car to pass through. The houses in K1b4 are connected to a main street.
The location of k1b4, lower part of the Kaingin hill, makes it more prone to floods especially during typhoons since water coming from the communities in the higher part such as k1b6 flows downward k1b4.


K1b6

K1B6 is actually an arbitrary name assigned by AtSCA (although recognized by a few residents there), for the Block 6 of Kaingin-1, Barangay Pansol, Balara, Quezon City. It was called as such to differentiate it from another area by AtSCA which is Block 4 of Kaingin-1. Because of the impending relocation plan to one of the areas of AtSCA which is Rona’s Garden during the year 1996, AtSCA entered the area of Kaingin-1 Block 6 and dubbed it “K1B6.”
The hilly place of Kaingin is purported to be once a forested area, before some people went there and performed “kaingin” or slash-and-burn to turn it into an urban settlement that has long been there for at least four generations. Being a once forested land, it enjoyed legal rights as a highly-disputed and controversial government property. It used to be a part of sitio Balara (barrio of Marikina, Rizal). In 1939, it became part of Quezon City when President Manuel L. Quezon signed into law Commonwealth Act no. 502 on October 12, 2939 creating Quezon City, with some of the territories including Kaingin-1 to be included in this new city.
This made the area lucrative to private individuals, developers, and capitalists as it had the potential to be a residential area or even a golf course. K1B6 in particular, is sandwiched by the Ayala Village and a huge private estate by Soliven. Before, most residents of Kaingin-1 resided in the lower part of the hills, assigning geosocial boundaries known as Blocks. Kaingin-1 even included areas at the back of the hill and is difficult to be accessed – Ipit-ipit and Bagong Sibol. But the permanent blockage and closure of the entrance-exit in Bagong Sibol brought about by the purported action of the Ayala Corporation made the people use the entrance-exit in the Block 4 region. Due to frequent passage towards the sole entrance-exit, houses have been built in the highest part of Kaingin-1 hill, and this highest region is now commonly known as Block 6. Some time ago, the area is under threat by an expansion of the private fence of Soliven property, probable construction of large pipes of Manila Water, and possible construction of C-5 highway.
The growing number of families and the inclusion of the educated (tertiary level) citizenry into the population of the area brought about a strong population that is enlightened on the legalities of their residency, and the subtle oppressions that seemed to have endangered even their lives. The area was once featured in the news when SWAT was stationed in the boundaries of K1B6 and the Soliven property, amidst unrest and political activism of the residents at that time when Soliven was trying to expand territory by building a new wall overnight to creep into uncharted public territory. With the support of barangay, an organization called UMASA KA was instituted to try to push the papers of land ownership into Congress and judiciary. With many hearsays and stories about the controversies concerning the incapacitated UMASA KA, another organization was instituted by residents with keen political insight and basic legal know-how. This organization is called KASAMA KA. Political organization of the urban poor residents of Kaingin-1 resulted into near-awarding of the land title, and continued to be the reason why they cannot just easily be relocated or their houses be demolished, as well as the granting of more basic necessities such as electricity and water. An air mixed with both insecurity and complacency abounds the residents – some don’t have electricity and pipe for water while others have, and as manifested by a variety of houses – some of which are shanties, while others are made of concrete.


Park 7

In 1975, only seven families occupied the vacant area. Passersby would think that the strip of land was not occupied, as many ipil-ipil and banana trees were planted there. As time passed, houses replaced the trees. By 1983, the number of families living in Park 7 mushroomed to 37. The residents came to recognize that they were a part of the STA. MARIA DELLA STRADA parish. A small organization was formed, aiming to preserve the solidarity and peace, and to care for one another. This organization also looked for ways so Park 7 would be recognized as a community. Through the local government and several NGOs, they became aware of the rights and benefits they were entitled to. In 1984, Fr. PAT LIM approved the inclusion of Park 7 as the 14th participant in the SMDS PARISHIONER COMMUNITY.

By 1997, 170 families were already living in the area. The SAMAHAN NG MGA MAMAMAYAN NG PARK7 (SMP) was established and registered in the SECURITY AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION.

SMP first elevated the status of their housing, which was grounded on the belief that no Filipino is a squatter in his own country. They began asking for help from barangay and Quezon City leaders so that their houses would be considered as part of the HOUSING PROJECT. Unfortunately, their request remains unapproved.