The Story of our House, The Story of my Life - Part 1

This is our house it may not look good but for me it’s the most beautiful house in the Philippines. Why, because for me it's a dream come true - having our own house & not paying monthly rent is one of my ultimate goal in life - "simpleng pangarap, sariling bahay, sala, kusina, comfort room at kwarto sa taas."
Build through hardship & labor of love, every member of the family helped not only financially but physically contributed an effort to build that house, “lahat tumulong, lahat nag-abot ng hollow blocks, nagpala at nagmisla ng cemento”. It was also built during the hardest & the most difficult phase in my life, I was physically, family, emotionally & financially down. Physically down- I almost got an ulcer not only because I’m not eating but because I was thinking too much of all the problems I had before that cause my loss of appetite too. Emotionally down - sumabay pa ang lovelife (now u know why I’m still single today :). Family down – my father was jobless, often gets into trouble when he gets drunk so we were all crazy affected by him (baligtad sa amin-anak ang namumroblema sa ama). Financially down – zeroed & negative, "pikit-mata ang pagpagawa ng bahay" as what my mother recalls the situation. But inspite of all that hardships before I'm holding on to one thing - Faith, that God will help me get through it & eventually all those difficulties will come to pass.

Now this is the story of our house.

The first lot (35 sqm lot) was bought February year 2000. The right was sold to us  @ P75,000 by a tenant of that area who showed us the court decision from DENR giving him the right to occupy the land but the same right was also given to those who are an actual occupant on that area. So I took the chance, handed him a down payment of P40,000 while the remaining amount (P35,000) will be paid in installment as per agreement. Then somebody advises us to build a house there, for there were some instances that the tenant might re-sell it again if he sees it vacant. So after a few months my mother insisted we must find a way for that, my younger brother assembled 3 computers & sold it for P45,000 (the starting amount when our house was built) & I needed to produce another P50,000.00 ( through SSS loans, Pag-ibig MPL loans, paluwagan loans, & some loans from my colleagues @ work) for back up (still kulang pa rin yan-) so we sometimes borrow some construction materials to the hardware & paid it in 1 to 2 weeks. The construction was on & off plus there were some requirements in city hall assessors ofc, meralco, nawasa that needs to be completed for house construction. I was only earning P P165 - P170 (8hrs/day) I think, I needed to do overtime 5 to 8 hrs overtime just to have a salary of P1,500 to P2,000 weekly (minimum wagers are not yet exempted to tax that time). We we’re still renting that time while paying for that lot plus the monthly bills & my brother was still studying that time. By January 2001, I told my mother “di ko na talaga kaya ang mga bayarin, ma” so we moved to that house even its not completed (basta may haligi, may bubong, may kuryente, may tubig, kahit lupa pa ang sahig, puede na). Little by little we try to improve it in any way we can. By the end of 2002 we already have a two storey house & already finished paying for the lot.

So, why did I took that risk, it was only a right? 

At 25, the age I have set that I must own a house & lot and my choice that time was to avail a housing loan in Pagibig or take a risk here in Taguig. But if I’m going to avail a low cost housing in Cavite, the initial problem would be the transportation fare & the house rent again since my brother & I were working/studying here in Makati & Taguig. Another factor that I need to consider was the status of my job since I’m not sure of the stability of our company back then so the possibility of foreclosure of property might also be my future problem (by 2005 – our company’s operation shuts down). These are the reasons why I choose to live here.

Have you ever experienced any of these:

1) Living in your relatives then after few days they will tell you that they cannot accomodate you anymore so you have to transfer to another relative's house because you have no money to pay for the rent.
2) Renting a small room with no window just door -"kapag humiga kasya lang kaming lima."
3) Living in my mother's friends garage - where the roofs & walls are made of "tapal tapal na yero" but we are so thankful that time that they allowed us to live there unlike some of our relatives who doesn't care @ all - "minsan mas mabuti pa ang ibang tao"
4) Renting a small room "pero lupa ang sahig, may papag naman kami o di ba bongga pa rin"
5) Renting a square room, studio type ika nga- sala, kusina, kwarto pero ang common ang cr sa mga nangungupahan, ewww ang cr --you know what I mean.
6) Renting a big 2 storey house but it gets flooded once it rains. Well, I enjoyed living and fishing inside the house - just kidding, once the rain stops and the flood outside our house subsides thats the time we have to clean/ "limas ng tubig" inside, thrice I caught fishes & put it in a glass jar :) Plus I have an invisible friend there who always makes me cry,hu huh.... hey I was only 11 yrs old that time.
7) Living in a house but near the common comfort rooms and its ventilation or singawan is near our window, ewww again.
8) Renting in an almost ideal house but needed to move out because the owner decided to finally live in that house.
9) Renting a house but we we're forced to move out because we haven't paid for a rent for almost a year-- I was 12 yrs old that time & I remember we borrowed "kariton" to move our stuffs.
10) The saddest part of renting is--- just when you've learned to love the house & the place, all your neighbors are kind, so many friends to play around with we just need to move out & look for another house to live.
11) Your savings always gets drained after paying for monthly deposit/advances and once you've started living in that house you'll be worried for the monthly rent again, " As always "bayaran na naman ng upa ng bahay pag katapusan"

Well I did, all of it .So if your answer to that question is no then I guess owning a house is not your priority. But if your answer is yes to most of the situation above then you'll understand why I took the risk that time.

Now the question is - Will it be ours or will it just be in my memory again? Will this be an asset or a liabilitiy to me? That remains to be seen, though most of the areas here there we're already awarded by the government. As of now still praying for a good result, but whatever the result is - I must be prepared. Worriness will do no good for me, it's a good thing I've been reading a books lately to battle my negative attitude.


Just sharing today! Happy Monday!!!!