TAO-Pilipinas undertakes research to support the objectives of its programs, and provide knowledge to its network of people’s organizations, non-government organizations, professionals and people in the academe. The following are the major research projects:

Sourcebook of Alternative Building Materials and Technologies (SABMAT)

This project is envisioned as a compendium of alternative building materials that are appropriate, affordable, and locally available for social housing projects or for communities doing self-help building projects.

A partnership between TAO-Pilipinas and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines College of Architecture and Fine Arts enabled the first phase of the project to be implemented in November 2006 to March 2007. Fourth year architecture students contributed to the project by researching selected alternative materials that were then presented to TAO’s partner communities and non-government organizations.

The SABMAT is expected to grow and evolve as more materials are added to the compendium, and the materials are evaluated and tested by community organizations.

Research on Land Acquisition, Registration, Surveying and Titling Processes in Metro Manila

Lack of employment, absence of livelihood and other opportunities in the rural areas have driven most people to migrate to urbanized cities and compete for available urban space and limited land resources. This pattern of migration has made land a scarce and valuable resource often inaccessible to the poor. As a result, they resort to informal means of land acquisition. In Metro Manila, many Filipinos live in hazardous places such as land beside railroads or under bridges, while some live on lands owned by private individuals, corporations or the government.

There are many factors that contribute to the predicament of the landless urban poor. Among these factors are their lack of information about the laws and processes in land acquisition and titling and the confusing process per se.This research aims to help in the struggle of informal communities to secure tenure by documenting and clarifying the processes of land acquisition, registration, surveying and titling.

The first phase of the research was done with the help of interns Aaron Ching and Mark Lopez from the University of the Philippines Geodetic Engineering Department. This involved studying the laws that govern land management and land registration, and interviewing key resource persons from the academe, government offices, and representatives of urban poor communities. The output from this phase is currently being validated. The next step is to popularize the results and make it more accessible to the urban poor.