|
With the
demand for sturdy low-cost housing steadily rising,
attributed in part to the dream of Filipino migrant
workers to own their own homes in the motherland,
property developers are turning to foreign
technologies—such as prefabricated materials—that allow
the fast-tracking of construction, thereby
cost-efficient.
Not
Hilario N. Abbatuan, though. This mechanical engineer
from the north says he is sticking to indigenous
technologies for housing and good, old and solid
concrete to do the job.
Abbatuan,
fondly called Larry by friends and family, says he can
finish a house in as short a time as 24 hours through a
system he has developed—the H.N. Abbatuan Form
System.
“With my
system, I not only finish a unit faster than the
conventional method of constructing a house—from laying
down concrete for a foundation to the installation of
galvanized iron sheets to form a roof—the house also
comes out cheaper by about 30 percent,” Larry says.
Forming
dreams
The use
of the word “form” in the system’s name is not without
basis, Larry explains. It turns out the system relies
heavily on forms—much like molds—that dictate how a
house will be built and how it will look
like.
Larry
says the proper name for the system is “cast-in-place”
since the foundation, walls and roofdeck—yes, almost all
the units he has built since the founding of his
company, H.N. Abbatuan Builders, have solid concrete
slabs as roofs—are literally cast in place using the
forms or molds.
“The
Abbatuan System entails the designing of a complete
house form that allows the simultaneous concrete pouring
of walls, partitions, beams and columns. The effect?
Uniform distribution of strength for the whole house,”
he explains.
The
system does not use hollow blocks and plywood girders,
two elements vital in the conventional way of
constructing a house that Larry labels as “unnecessary
expenses.”
“Construction sites are very chaotic and materials often
get bruited about. Hollow blocks, being very weak,
crumble easily when care is not exercised. At the end of
a construction period, a contractor usually finds
himself straddled with the loss of hollow blocks and,
thus, more expenses,” Larry points out.
“It’s
the same with plywood and other lumber. Once it’s used
to form a cast to hold and form concrete, the wood is
virtually useless—it can’t be used again,” he adds.
Fast and
furious
The
Abbatuan Form System is also labor efficient, requiring
only 12 workers to build a single 36 square meter to 72
square meter house in 24 hours. Larry also boasts that
his company can build a medium-rise apartment building,
from foundation to roof, in about 90
days.
Larry’s
claim has been proven several times in the recent past,
at housing sites in Quezon City, Manila, and Muntinlupa
with the help of local governments.
He has
also participated in building homes for the less
fortunate through the National Housing Authority, which
has recognized his system with a certificate under the
Accreditation of Indigenous Technologies (AITECH)
program of the Housing and Urban Development
Coordinating Council.
The
goodwill he has fostered with the government, however,
is not without its downside. Larry recalls a time he
built a mass housing project for a local government but
did not get paid.
“I even
got sued. But the circumstances leading to this problem
is a different story and cannot be talked about—for
now,” Larry explains.
At
present, Larry is engaged in projects in General Santos
City, where he hopes to recover from the aches of
projects that failed “through no fault of mine.” He is
also on the prowl for a good challenge, someone who can
dare him to a contest on who can build a house the
fastest.
“I want
the chance to prove that the Filipino can innovate and
use the products of his considerable intellect to help
his countrymen. I am surprised—and disheartened at the
same time—to learn that many Filipinos still turn to
everything foreign for solutions to their woes,” Larry
says, referring to the foreign housing technologies now
flooding the market.
“What
the Abbatuan Form System proves is, what foreigners can
do, the Filipino can do better,” he adds. |
