Press Release
September 3, 2014

PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF SENATOR TEOFISTO "TG" GUINGONA III

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On Senate Resolution No. 879

RESOLUTION COMMENDING BUSINESSMAN AND INVENTOR ROGELIO 'VONZ' SANTOS JR., DESIGNER BUDJI LAYUG, AND ARCHITECT ROYAL PINEDA FOR HAVING INITIATED THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE PROJECT, A DESIGN-LED APPROACH TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE, HABITABLE, DURABLE, AND CONVENIENT EMERGENCY SHELTERS FOR DISPLACED FAMILIES, IN LIEU OF THE TRADITIONAL TENTS AND BUNK HOUSES; AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT SUCH GOOD DESIGN BY CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT THAT VALUES AND UTILIZES FILIPINO INNOVATION AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING MECHANISM

Mr. President, Distinguished Colleagues, Ladies & Gentlemen:

A humanitarian issue that has always been prevalent in the country is "internal displacement." In a nutshell, internal displacement refers to the involuntary movement or forced evacuation of persons, within their country's borders, who flee their homes, mainly because of man-made or natural calamities, armed conflicts, and the like.

Internal displacement is a serious social problem that needs to be addressed, as it results in loss of lives and properties, psychological trauma, family disintegration, disruption in education, loss of employment, as well as increases the risk of human trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, child exploitation, and the like.

Internal Displacement is undeniably a common phenomenon in the Philippines. According to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), 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 UNCHR has monitored the state of internal displacement in Mindanao over time, and noted that recurring typhoons and the Zamboanga armed conflict in September 2013 contributed to the rise of IDPs in the country.[1]

And homelessness, Mr. President, is the most palpable and glaring consequence of internal displacement.

And like every enterprising Filipino, who sees every challenge as an opportunity, a group of ground-breaking designers have taken up the cudgels for the homeless by creating the Butterfly house. Businessman and founder of Butterfly.PH, Rogelio "Vonz" Santos Jr. and the Budji Layug + Royal Pineda firm teamed up to create a design solution to homelessness: The Butterfly House.

The "Butterfly House" is a human-centered innovation, which aims to serve as affordable, habitable, durable, and convenient emergency shelters for internally displaced families. It is a new, innovative steel-framed housing structure that can be folded for compact shipping and storage, and unfolded into an immediately livable structure.[2]

The traditional response to occurrences of internal displacement is for the government to build interim tent cities or bunk houses, which, in some cases, are inadequate, of substandard quality, uninhabitable, expensive, and mired with corruption.

The Butterfly House Project, on the other hand, is a private sector initiative, utilizing a design approach to provide a corruption-proof housing solution to the homeless, by providing strict quality control, thereby ensuring that each Butterfly House is a product of integrity.

As author of the Philippine Design Competitiveness Act of 2013, I am proud of this design. The Butterfly House proves that the traditional notion of design goes beyond mere aesthetics. Ultimately, it is a problem-solving mechanism, which leads to improving the quality of human life.

I would like to invite all of you to see for yourselves why the government should support this worthwhile endeavour.

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Like a butterfly that spreads its wings, this Butterfly House gives hope to thousands of internally displaced persons by restoring to them their dignity.

On behalf of the senate institution, I would like to congratulate and commend inventor Rogelio 'Vonz' Santos Jr., Designer Budji Layug, Architect Royal Pineda, and businesswoman & philanthropist, Loida Nicolas Lewis for this exceptional Filipino innovation.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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[1] "United Nations: Number of global refugees highest ever," www.rappler.com, June 20, 2014.
[2] www.socialproject.ph.

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