SEN. GUINGONA PROMOTES BUTTERFLY HOUSE PROJECT FOR IDPs
Commends innovators for affordable, habitable and durable emergency shelters

Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III has filed Senate Resolution No. 879 commending the Filipino inventor, designer and architect behind the Butterfly House Project that provides affordable, habitable, durable and convenient emergency shelters for displaced families in lieu of traditional tents and bunk houses.

Sen. Guingona, who is also pushing for the passage of Senate Bill 2368 that promotes the rights and dignity of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country, said this project creates an environment that values and utilizes design as a problem-solving mechanism. The Resolution commends the Butterfly Team: Founder and Inventor Rogelio "Vonz" Santos, Jr., Designer Budji Layug, and Architect Royal Pineda for designing this project for social innovation, and utilizing the innate ingenuity and resourcefulness of Filipinos in addressing socio-economic problems.

"The Butterfly House Project is a better alternative to the usual tents and bunk houses provided by the government to our citizens that have been displaced by natural and man-made calamities and insurgencies. It also showcases the Filipino innovation in solving the problem of homelessness brought about by internal displacement," he said.

Aside from the IDP Rights Bill (SBN 2368), the Butterfly House Project complements the Philippine Design Competitiveness Act (Republic Act 10557), authored by Sen. Guingona, and which was signed into law by President Benigno S. Aquino III. The Design Law supports the shared and collective ingenuity of Filipinos for innovation to provide meaningful solutions to the country's challenges, and to tranform the lives of the Filipinos for the better.

"With the aid of innovation in design and technology, the government can provide our IDPs with a better living condition that would help them recover from their ordeals," he added.

The Butterfly House Project is a private-sector initiative, which aims to provide a corruption-proof housing solution to the IDPs by providing strict quality control. The Project ensures that each Butterfly House is a product of integrity.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the combined impact of internal armed conflict and natural hazards placed the Philippines among the top 12 countries with new highest displacement figures in 2013. The UNHCR has monitored the state of internal displacement in Mindanao over time and noted that recurring typhoons such and the 23-day Zamboanga armed conflict in September 2013 contributed to the rise of IDPs in the country. In the Visayas, typhoon Yolanda, the strongest tropical cyclone in the world on record, has left thousands homeless.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) also reported that internal displacement, caused mainly by the loss of homes, increases the risk of human trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, child exploitation and concerns about highly vulnerable sectors, such as elderly people, persons with disability and indigenous populations.