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BAHAY NG KAWAL KO

THE LEGO CONCEPT FOR ARMY HOUSING

Lego is a globally acclaimed children’s toy which enables one to create a single structure by putting the pieces together. Ingenious, isn’t it? But what’s more ingenious is to have this same concept of building structures in building a house. This is the future housing for soldiers that the Army is considering to put into action! The said project is to be termed as “Bahay ng Kawal Ko” (House of my Soldier).

 

The assembled materials in the Lego-type houses are prefabricated which are built in small blocks or segments. These special materials are mostly made of a combination of Styrofoam, fiberglass, steel bars and cement which can be put together and finished with minimal labour no longer requiring the expertise of skilled workers or construction professionals. With very affordable materials and with the need of only a few knowledgeable and professionals persons to oversee the construction, each segment constitutes to a commendable house which can be built in just thirty days. As said by Army spokesman Capt. Anthony Bacus, “Its construction could be done by non-skilled laborers and with only a few teams of supervisors. Hence, expenses are minimized compared to that of the traditional building construction being done”.


Despite the notable affordability of the materials, Lt. Col. Maynard Camarao, Chief Operations branch of the Army Chief of Engineers Office shared, “There is a secret material being used in the construction of this special kind of housing units that only the manufacturers in Malaysia know,” Together with this secret material, the layers and segments are being assembled to form one durable unit that can withstand the drastic climate in the Philippines, as well as the possibilities of experiencing up to a 7-magnitude of an earthquake hit. These houses were built to ideally hold out to other various challenges brought about by the usual environmental and weather changes in a tropical zone such as the Philippines. To better study the probabilities and capabilities of a Lego-type house, a team of Army engineers from our country was sent to Malaysia.


Capt. Bacus added that the housing unit would cost only Php 495,000.00 which was below the given budget range of Php 500,000.00  to  Php. 700,000.00 for the traditional low-cost housing units in the country. With a floor area of 52 square meters, every unit was a single-detached two-storey building that has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Each of these units given to a soldier carried with it an aim to provide a decent and secured living at a lower price which could help motivate each member of the Army to serve the country well having in mind that their families are safely sheltered. He further said, “If adopted by the Philippine Army, this will not only boost its effort in providing low-cost housing units to its personnel, but a giant leap for the Army organization as a whole”.


The Lego-type houses do not only arouse excitement and anticipatory hopes from the soldiers but also a big indication of how the Army conceptualizes new things in providing and supporting a better living for all the members of the organization. 

 

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