ERMITA

History and Overview:

           Barangay Ermita is a small urban poor settlement in unsteadily and commercial area. It once became the center of trade in the city and province of Cebu before the emergence of shopping malls, being the landing and vending area of almost all kinds of items and fresh goods from the mountain barangays. Long before, Barangay Ermita was only a part of Barangay San Nicolas. It was properly known through the landmarks such as Carbon Market, Visayan Electric Company (VECO), Freedom Park, Riles (railway), and Calanding (landing area).
 Barangay Ermita has different programs such as Assistance to Women, Youth Program, Skills Training Program, Adult Literacy Program, Drug Awareness Program, and Barangay Fire Brigade.
            Late Hon. Florencio Urot gave the name “Ermita”, which means “ hermits or ermitanyos”. It was in recognition to the seven industrious hermits who resided beside the present Guadalupe River Forbes Bridge, corner Magallanes and El Filibusterismo, whom he usually saw buy in their “nipa” trade every time he passed by the place.
            The CIP has helped Ermita through conducting tutorials and taking over the teachers in the day care centers at times. The teachers at the day care centers were very vocal about the convenience they started to have since the CIP started reaching out to their community. They do not feel so tied up anymore because the students can share the load with them.

History and Overview:

            Lorega San Miguel got its name from a very popular resident soldier General A. Lorega. When he died, he was buried at the Lorega Municipal Cemetery. The area is best known for its old slaughterhouse. The old warehouse of San Miguel brewery was formerly located in this area until it was transferred to the north reclamation. The barangay is considered as one of the depressed communities in Cebu City. It has 13 sitios (Lorega proper, Lawis (upper and lower); Itum Yuta; Caimito, Creekside, Riverside, San Miguel, Lagua/Laray; San Roque; Seres; Echaves extension; Lomar and Camanse.)
            Drug addiction is the number one problem of the community, gambling is another. More specifically they are fond of card games and mahjong. They even consider these as their source of income. Many of the youth become idle because they have low educational attainment and there are minimal job opportunities. Poor sanitation and nutrition is another problem. This often results to health problems. Most families prefer buying cooked food and instant food. They are not so particular with nutrition.

Education and Employment:

            Majority of the population is composed of children and youth. The families live either in houses that are made of light materials; semi-concrete houses apartment or duplex houses. The residents are usually employed as butchers, laborers, drivers, laundry women, restaurant helpers, and sales clerk. Most of the family members have low educational attainment. Based on a survey done, majority of the women is unemployed.
            Based on a survey, many of the couples are mostly on their teens or still in their early twenties. These young couples still live with their parents. Most of the people from the community have low educational attainment. Therefore, they are financially unstable.
            In three sitios, more than one family live in a house. This is because majority of the people in the sitio Camanse, Itum Yuta, and Lawis do not own the land where their houses are built. Another reason is the lack of money to build a house.

Health and Sanitation:

           Most of the children are malnourished specifically in Sitio Camanse. The people, because they cannot afford hospitalization and the cost of consultations, are advised by the elder ones in their area to apply herbal medicines. There are also some that believe in quack doctors and faith healers.
            Regarding the toilet facilities, most of the respondents specifically from Itum Yuta and Lawis have toilets. But in Sitio Camanse, most of them use the public toilet and they are charged P3.00-P4.00 for every use. Others may use the toilets of their neighbors, friends, grandparents, and relatives.
             Many have electrical connections but some, when their electrical connections are disconnected, resort to the use of lamps or gas lamps. Their number one source of water for cooking, drinking, and taking a bath is MCWD. In washing their clothes and dishes, they get water from the artesian well.           

Faith and Religion:

            The three sitios have their own chapels. Majority of the people belongs to the same religion, which is the Roman Catholic. There are also other existing religions or religious groups such as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement (CCRM), Born Again Christian, Iglesia ni Cristo, Protestants, Mecy and Salvation Army.             These religious groups conduct activities like prayer meetings to help strengthen the community’s faith in God. Others also conduct Bible study, they provide supplemental feeding especially to the children of selected families. The activities are said to have been beneficial to the people from the community.


           In Lorega, many of the students in elementary stop going to school at the middle of the school year because their parents cannot continue supporting them financially. The children are forced to work instead. This is where the STC-CIP comes in. on Saturdays when they conduct tutorials to children in Lorega, even those who are not students can join. So their education continues even outside their schools. They can focus more on the subjects where they are weak in so they can cope up with classmates in school.

History and Overview:

            The name Pasil has a pre-hispanic origin. It is derived from an old visayan word “pasir”, meaning a clean sandy beach with two rivers: Guadalupe and Mambaling. Pasil marked the fact of the early settlements. Historic evidences show that Pasil was not only a flourishing fishing village but one of the leading ports for inter island and Asian long distance trade before the coming of Magellan in 1521. Pasil has become the oldest town of the province of Cebu.
            Oral tradition claimed that the shores of Pasil is the site where Magellan’s cross was planted and where the image of the Sto. Nino was recovered. Pasil is one of the most popular urban barangays in Cebu City.

Education and Employment:

            The community has four Day Care Centers. Many of the residents are not well educated since not all of them went to school. Most of the people in their community are employed as fish vendors,

SAWANG CALERO

History and Overview

            Calero is a Spanish term for a hot burning place of a furnace. This calero is a big and deep hole where its ember never extinguished. Many people inhabited the place because the calero was important to their means of livelihood.
            Incidentally, King Humabon and Queen Juana, together with the kingsmen established a kingdom in the place. After Magellan baptized Queen Jauna, the people would talk about her. When many asked who was baptized and where the baptism took place, they answered: “Asawang Humabon sa Calero!”. Through time, the information was passed on until it became “Sawang Calero” and became the name of the place.
            Most of the homes of the residents are made of light materials and are built close to one other. Some use electricity for lighting while others use kerosene lamps. Almost all residents do not have toilet facilities. They dispose their human wastes in canals, sea wall, and others use the “wrap and throw method”. Some pay P2.00 every time they use the comfort room of their neighbor. Those who do not have their own water supply purchase from the communal water or to their neighbors who have water connection.
            There are two nearby hospitals in the barangy: Cebu City Medical Center and Miller Sanitarium Hospital (MSH). Services of the said center include immunization, prenatal care, family planning program, free dental, feeding, and check-up.
            The barangay has more out of school youth because the parents have the difficulty in supporting the educational needs of their children. Drug addiction is the number one problem in the community.
           The CIP has worked with the Day Care Center and BIDLISIW in tutoring the small children and the out of school youth. CI groups go to the Day Care Center to help the teacher in the lessons she teaches to the pupils. They teach the kids how to pray, how to write and some nursery rhymes and action songs. There are also other CI groups in Sawang Calero which work on tutoring the out of school youth, mothers who did not have education.

SITIO KAWAYAN

History and Overview:

            In the 1930’s Sitio Kawayan was an area covered with cogon and “bugang” grasses and plenty of bamboo, from which the place got its name. Sitio Kawayan was owned by the national government. Through the initiative of the late House Speaker Sergio Osmeña Sr., appropriate funds for the purchase of the lot were acquired. The government later on donated the land to Southern Island Hospital, presently Vicente Sotto Medical Center. Some people asked the hospital administrator’s permission to build their homes there. The administrator agreed to let them settle without pay with the condition that they till and clear the land. The people went and raised some crops giving the administrators a share of the harvest.
            Sitio Kawayan is located at B. Rodriguez, Cebu City. It is one of the sitios under Barangay Sambag II which has a total land area of 9.5 hectares. The area is divided into two parts, the upper and the lower Kawayan. It is densely populated. Most of the houses are built in light materials. Its main problem is garbage disposal.

Education and Employment:

            Sitio Kawayan has a very young population. In terms of gender distribution, there are more females than males.  The income opportunities of the barangay is scarce except for the presence of a single factory. Other family members are also engaged in coco-medrib basket weaving for additional source of income.
            There are three organizations present in the community, namely, the Sitio Kawayan Youth Development Organization (SKYDO) – composed of all youth members in the community; Light Bringers Club – an organization of adults and married members; and the Side Owners which is composed of families owning a house in the community.

            The members of the core group in Sitio Kawayan were very vocal in thanking the STC-CIP because they see that it has greatly helped the students in their area. The children, they say, do not have a hard time in school because of the tutorials conducted in their area. One even said that because her grandchild is religiously attending the tutorials, it has graduated in the elementary with honors. The CIP is quite successful in helping the children in Sitio Kawayan in their area.