William J. Keyes MANILA SCA VENGERS: the STRUGGLE for URBAN SURVIVAL

William J. Keyes

MANILA SCA VENGERS: THE STRUGGLE FOR URBAN SURVIVAL U Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

It is characteristic of 16w income and particularly squatter urban communities that a certain per6entage of the poor support themselves by scavenging. Whether in Manila, Calcutta, or Rio de Janeiro, the scavenger is sure to be present. Emerging from the heart of the slum area, the scavenger, often accompanied by his family, pushes his cart into the "respectable" areas of the city. Challenging traffic, upsetting garbage cans, he becomes an object of admiration to a few, of pity or repulsion to most. The few see in him a man of courage and boldness, industry and enterprise', beyond shame, and uncaring 'of what people think of his trade. In contrast, most better off urban dwellers feel in- stinctively repelled by the unpleasantness of what they see--dirty, undernourished people in tattered clothes handling mounds of refuse. Would-be reformers sometimes attempt to eradicate this blight on the urban scene by outlawing or severely restricting the scavenger's attempts to stay alive in the city. -

The Present Study

Manila has a "scavenger problem." In every town and munici- pality comprising Metro Manila, there are scavengers. No one really knows how many there are. The police precincts have no records; and estimates offered by dealers, factory heads, scavengers themselves, and even representatives of a scavenger association vary considerably. Judging from these estimates, there may be around 2,500 families supporting themselves in this way. Government, in relating itself to the scavengers, has been restrictive, viewing them primarily as menace to traffic and neighbor- 2 Keyes: Manila Scavengers hood cleanliness. Yet, little is known about scavengers from an "insider's" viewpoint. Also, little appreciation is given to their role in the larger economic system in which they play a significant part.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this paper is to understand these familiar figures in our urban environment, embodying as they do the state of ur ban poverty. Specifically, it seeks answers to a series of questions focusing on the three major components of the system: (1) the individual scávenger; (2) the middleman; and (3) the factory. At the individual level, these questions apply: Who is the scavenger? What is he like? How does he live? How much does he earn? What are his feelins about what he does fora living? Is he conscious of the filth in which he is steeped? Ishe ashamed of his occupation? How did he get involved in this work and why does he stay in it? Does he have any real altrnative? How does he view society's distaste for and even hostility towards his work? How does he see his future? - Inquiries at the middleman and factory levels attempt to focus primarily on the economic aspects of the industry: in which the scavenger plays a part: the range of buying-and selling prices, the dynamics of supply and demand, the gross volumes involved, and the percentages of profitability.

Hypotheses

In attempting to present a socioeconomic profile of the scavenger, the study examines the foIlokiing hypotheses: 1. The scavenger earns per hour considerably less than the legal minimum wage of P1 an hour. 2. The scavenger's share of the total value of what he gathers is proportionately quite small when compared with the shares of the middlemen and the factory. 3. The scavenger has little job mobility and does not view other forms of employment as feasible alternatives.

The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 3 4. Although not unconscious of the demeaning conditions associated with his work, the scavenger's perception of his occupation focuses on the positive economic benefits arising from his activities rather than their negative aesthetic features. 5. Scavenging contributes significantly to the industrial process of certain industries. These industries are, in fact, dependent on the regular receipt of recycled raw materials collected by scavengers.

Methodology

The study on scavenging is part of a larger study on urbaniza- tion, poverty, and population policy, and is the responsibility of a single researcher who spent over a month in the field. • Interviewing procedure. The scavengers involved are residents of Barrio Maligamgam, Sampaloc, Manila. After a period of preliminary contact with the community, the researcher chose 15 scavengers for longer interviews. Nonscavenger members of the community were also asked questions in the broader social survey to elicit their attitudes towards the scavengers in their midst. Information on the bodega level was gathered through interviews with three bodega operators in the area and with several others around the city. A considerable amount of time was spent in one bodega in order to observe the activities of the day and gradually to learn more from its operator. On the dealer level, interviews were conducted outside the Barrio Maligamgam area since there are no dealers in the area. Although emphasis was given to the dealers who are supplied by Maligamgam, others were also visited. Once general attitudes were formed, depth interviews were conducted with one of the dealers previously contacted Interviews with factory personnel were conditioned by varying degrees of willingness to cooperate. Several factories were visited, both those dealing with scrap material and one dealing with primary sources. Two factories offered excellent cooperation even to the extent of making company documents available to the researcher. 4 Keyes: Manila Scavengers The case studies presented in the report portray real situations. Names are disguised to provide a degree of anonymity to the respondents...... Instruments. An interview schedule fOr scavenger respondents was prepared in order to elicit basic demographic, economic, and attitudinal data. I Nwformal instrumentswere used in the interviews at the bodega and factory levels.

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.4. Chapter 2 PROFILE OF THE SCAVENGER

The profile is divided into two sections. The first section draws on interview results to formulate a general image of the scavengers in the Maligamgam area: who they are, how much they earn, their attitudes towards their work, and other descriptive materials. The second section gives more biographical data on certain scavengers with whom the author had more prolonged association. Three biographies are given, judged to be somewhat typical of the scavengers in general. In this manner, the composite image of the first section can be seen in more detail through the three brief histories.

Scavengers as a group

Scavengers in the Maligamgam area are a heterogeneous group. Sixty percent of those interviewed were born in Manila.' Just over half are male, married and with children, and in their midtwenties. But boys as young as eight or nine also scavenge, usually in groups of two or three. Several families go out together--husband, wife, and children. There are women, too, who scavenge on their own, being the only breadwinners in the family. In response to the question "How long have you been scavenging?" the most frequent response was, "Matagal na," but when pressed to be more specific the respondents reported a median length of time of five years. None of those interviewed prefer scavenging to other occupations; but they resort to it simply because they do, not see any other means by which to earn a livelihood. Most have never held any permanent salaried job. Some were once construction workers or government casuals. Most adult scavengers work alone and ply their trade six or seven days a week. There is a natural cycle to scavenging. The carts go out in the early morning, returning about 10:00 a.m., and then Keyes: Manila-Scavengers leave again about 6:00 p.m., turning in around midnight. The sun's heat along with patterns of garbage disposal make midday scavenging unattractive and unprofitable. At midday carts lie idle unless borrowed by the younger boys. During the course of the study, a government anti-scavenging drive resulted in the impounding and burning of carts. Scavengers had to take turns using whatever carts remained as fewer and fewer of them were available, thus considerably curtailing operations. Reports on earnings show considerable variation. A low income rate of P3 a day was reported by half of the répondents; however, the modal range appears to be P4 to P6. Reaons given for the variation include access to'a suki,2 good fortune, physical stamina, and the availability of carts. - - Since there was reason to suspect that respondents might have been understating earnings out of a presumption that the research would be an instrument of almsgiving, a secondary cheôk wès made by prolonged observations at the weighing scale at the bodega. The following breakdown is presented as typical of what a man earns on a successful night's collection.

Personal profiles

Apolinario Santos - His real name is Apolinario -Santos but everyone calls him "Junior." He is 31 years old, married with five children, four of whom are boys. The eldest, Mario,is now 11 years old. - In one regard, JuniOr is no typical scavenger. He has extraordinary academic attainment by Maligamgam standards, having finished three years -of college! He studied commerce at Araneta Uni- versity, supported by his grandmother -who was receiving U.S. veterans' benefits. When she died, Junior; who wanted to get married anyway, left school. He could not find steady employment for three years. His first job was in construction work in Olongapo where, as an unskilled laborer, he received less than the minimum wage. After six months, the project having been completed, he was laidi off. He did not find employment again for several more years, and he livedwith The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs Table 1. A scavenger's typical daily collection

Type of waste material Weight Price/kilo Total daily earning

Waste #2 and chipboard #2* 46 kilos 00.07 P3.22 Cans and metal 8 " 0.10 - 0.80 Kraftboard 4 " 0.46 1.84 Kraftpaper . 2 'Y 0.16 0.32 Milk cans 24 units 0.02** 0.48 Total P'6.66 "The distinction between #1 and #2 is primarily in terms of cleanliness and relative freedom from impurities. *price per can. his aunt who supported him with earnings from a small coconut farm in Quezon Province. He worked next as a casual in a tile factory, getting work only three or four days a week, again at below the minimum wage. The factory failed and hewasagain jobless. By this time his third child was born and he was living with relatives in a squatter area on Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. There he stayed until the house was demolished. Starting out as an agent buying and selling bottles and paper, he later switched to outright scavenging in order to increase his earnings. It was not difficult for Junior who gets along easily with people to get started at scavenging. He was young and, though short, of strong build. When he was lent a cart he showed himself to be industrious and capable; hence, in a short time he became one of Mang Jose's regular suppliers. That was three years ago, in 1971. - Now at around 4 o'clock in' the afternoo'n, after a long siesta, he quietly leaves the area pushing the borrowed kariton (cart) towards EspaPia; he will not be seen again in his neighborhood until 10:00 p.m. He is not too communicative about where or how far he goes, álmóst as if these were "trade secrets." Nevertheless, when 'h returns, his cart is full. He sorts dut the contents in a Keyes: Manila Scavengers short time, sells them to Mang Jose for P5 or ?6 then goes home to sleep. "Home" for Junior is a rented space with a dirt floor under another squatter's shack. Secondhand plywood has been nailed to the house posts providing a degree of privacy and protection from the elements. There is no furniture except a small cabinet and a large bamboo bed on which the whole family sleeps. There are no tables or chairs. Clothes are hung from the ceiling. Most of the family activities take place just outside the door- way where meals are prepared. The family takes the main meal at noontime; Junior usually helps cook the rice while his wife pre- pares a soup or viand, usually without fish or meat. A few large stones make up the stove, while scraps of wood which Junior collects feed the fire. Although Junior's children seem terribly thin and small for their age, and despite their frequent bouts with sickness, they always seem cheerful. Their eyes have an alertness lacking in other children of the area. Both mother and father display a good deal of affection to the children. One observer commented that Junior and his wife, both being small, look more like two teenagers play- ing house than husband and wife engaged in the serious responsibility of raising a family. Money is always a problem. The few pesos Junior earns buys enough food to keep them alive, but there is nothing leftfor anything else. Junior no longer , has decent clothes. Should he hear of a job opportunity he would not even present himself. Whatever the illness of the children, aspirin is resorted to because that is all they can afford. Recently, their third eldest puiled the cooking pot onto his legs and was badly scalded. They could not buy medicine nor even gauze to bandage the large open burns. The child cried continuously for several days from the pain, but within a week was cheerful again and rather proud of his new scars. Junior speaks freely about his work. '(Sure I know people think it's not decent and sometimes the smell and dirt get me down, but at least I can earn a little. I don't have to wait to be called by a boss in order to earn and I can set my own hours." - Nevertheless, both he and his wife wish he could get a regular salaried job. When asked, his wife confided privately, "Junior is

The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 9 shy. He's 'embarrassed to ask for work. That's why he has never really had a good job." For their children, they have high ambition. With perfect con- fidence, surrounded by the squalor of their home, Mrs. Santos pointed to their only daughter and prophetically declared that she would study medicine, while .their eldest son,, -they hoped, would someday be a priest. While the dreams are optimistic, even considering Junior's edu- cational attainment, they cannot at present seem to find any opportunity to escape or lessen their poverty. Now, with punitive measures from the police threatening the one source of security they have achieved, and with rumors constantly circulating about squatter-shack demolition, they, are becoming increasingly appre- hensive about the future. Arcadia Pitongco The scavengers in the Pitongco family are Francisco, aged 17, and Restituto, his brother, aged 14. Francisco and his brother are both very shy, tending to answer all questions by smiling nervous- ly, scratching theirheads, and saying very little. Their mother, Aling Arcadia, is almost the opposite: talkative, quick to laughter, and a delightful storyteller. A visitor to Maligamgam easily gets to know Aling Arcadia. Her shanty is near the entrance to the squatter area, and she spends many hours a day sitting at the doorstep observing and greeting the passersby. She is old now (53), she says, and does not work anymore except to fetch water and-take care of the house. Any- one who chooses to sit awhile will soon hear many stories about her life and her problems. AlingArcadia was born in Bohol and came to Manila in 1940 when she was 19 years old, aspiring to be a housemaid. She initially stayed with relatives but within a few months found her first opportunity and became a live-in labandera (laundress) for a private home. After"a year or so she married her first husband who turned out to be both irresponsible and sickly. She describes the marriage as having introduced her to a far more difficult life than before. She supported herself and her husband through a variety of jobs: Labandera, kutsinita (kitchen helper), and sweepstakes ticket vendor were mentioned. "Thanks be to God," she says, that 10 Keyes: Manila Scavengers after several years her husband died; but he left her penniless and with three small boys. Her second husband, Vidal; also had been married before and had one son, now himself married' and living in another part of Manila. Aside from her two scavenger sons, Aling Arcadia's other son, the eldest called Cesar, has a job, in a window sash factory in Leyte. He earns a regular salary but surrenders very little to the family. He made a prolonged visit recently while recuperating from a liver ailment. Although his presence imposed added financial burden on the family, he apparently saw no compulsion to help, spending some money on his own clothes and cigarettes but giving only about P5 a week to his mother. Vidal has advanced tuberculosis. He has not worked for years and for the past several weeks has been quite sick. He lies on the floor of their shanty--there is no bed--covered by a blanket so small that his bare feet protrude from the bottom. A week before the interview, she took him to the government-run hospital for tuberculars, Quezon Institute, which is within walking distance of Maligamgam. She recounted that a nurse ordoctor there told her that her husband could not be admitted because he was not yet spitting blood. They told her what medicine to buy and sent them home. k. . - The only real support for the family comes from the scavenging of the two younger sons, Francisco and Restituto, whose attitude towards supporting the family is quite different from their elder brother's. Neither goes to school. After a few years they dropped out, more out of disinterest in schoolwork rather than strictly out of financial necessity. Despite their age, they easily got a kariton from Mang Jose's bodega because their mother is well known and liked in the neighborhood. Before the recent campaign against scavenging, they would go out twice a day and earn more than P15. Now they earn about half that amount.; - - The exterior of the Pitongco house is somewhatattractive. Al- though the walls are not built perfectly straight and the wood is obviously secondhand, the facade is painted--a rarity in Maligarn- gam. There is a small picketlike fence and Aling Arcadia keeps a variety of plants growing in tin cans. She pointed proudly to a real apple tree, about three feet tall, which she grew from seeds, and The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 11 asked the researcher, an American, to verify her claim to her skep- tical neighbors. In contrast to the exterior, the interior of the house is quite dark and depressing, especially as a room for the sick. The floor is not level. There is no furniture to speak of. The low ceiling is made of G.I. sheets obviously salvaged from a fire. The black charred ceiling adds to the generally gloomy appearance. Little wonder that Aling Arcadia spends much of her time at the doorstep instead of inside the house. Aling Arcadia is a very religious person. She wears a Sacred Heart badge all the time, pinned to her tattered dress, and her speech is constantly punctuated with references to God or to the Blessed Mother. The house, too, has several religious images, mostly calendar pictures. Her belief in God does seem to give her a stability in the face of life's problems. She is sure that "God will provide and we will get along just fine." She prays for a little capital so that maybe she could try selling sweepstakes tickets again in Quiapo, or maybe something else. The plans seem very vague. She worries, too, about her sons and cried to think of them always dirty and apparently without much opportunity in life. Unlike other families in Maligamgam, Aling Arcadia has a definite plan if demolition becomes inevitable. She will try to return to Bohol. Her parents are both still alive and have a house big enough for all of them. She hopes that she can nurse her husband back to health better there than in Manila where life is hard for them. If she leaves it would be the end of an experiment which began over 30 years ago. She came to seek a better life in the city but now is about to admit that she has failed. Oscar Remedios Oscar Remedios has been a scavenger for 11 years. He is now 21 years old but, because his features are boyish and he is rather short, he looks considerably younger. Like Aling Arcadia, Oscar talks freely about himself and his work. He was born in the Maligamgarn area. His mother came from the Visayas and his father from Manila. There were three children in the family until his only sister died a few years ago in childbirth. He and his brother, -Boy, who is two years older, are both scavengers. They usually go out together, sharing one cart. 12 Keyes: Manila Scavengers Both had very little schooling. Oscar's memory of his two years at school is more in terms of the barkada (gang) with whom he used to skip classes, than anything that happened in the classroom. He is illiterate but feels he is adequately capable of counting money so as not to be cheated. When Oscar was nine years old, his father died of asthma. He had been a painter, spray-painting auto- mobiles in a nearby garage for which he earned a minimum wage. Oscar's mother also earned some money by taking in laundry. Oscar recalls that in those days before his father died the family was better off. They were able to rent a room, and life seemed somewhat secure. Although Oscar left school at the time of his father's death to help support his mother, he did not regret it as he really. was not that interested in schoolwork anyway. He and his brother became "garillo" boys, sellingcigarettes to motorists on nearby. Espafia for which they each earned about P3 a day. Their earnings together with their mother's income from doing laundry enabled the family to get by for a while: But eventually, they had to leave the room since they could no longer afford it. It was then that they first became squatters and moved into a small shack in the area. After two years, the government demolished the house and they were taken to Sapang Palay. Owing to the absence of any means of livelihood there, they soon returned to the city and lived with relatives until family quarrels, brought on by the crowded condition of the house, drove them again to squatting. After the recent demolition of the Maligamgam squatter houses, his family was again taken to Sapang Palay. Oscar started coming back to Manila almost immediately, otherwise there would be no income. Since the bus fare was too high for daily commuting (P1.60),he decided to stay with his friends in Maligamgam, sharing a shack that the demolition team overlooked. The friends are 11 other boys more or less the same age. Although none of them are orphans they live together, sharing the single small room and only occasionally seeing their, parents. Oscar says that his 11 compa- nions, all scavengers, are his closest friends in life. Oscar is now the only support of his mother in Sapang Palay. She cannot earn there since there are no well-to-do families for whom to do laundry work. Moreover, Oscar's brother began living The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 13 1 with his girl friend four months ago and now-uses his earnings for just the two of them. Oscar is not very articulate about his own future. He does not seem to think of it, has no dreams, and presumes that life will always be hard for him. Pressed further, he says he hopes that he and all his friends will get permanent jobs. His own ambition seems to center solely around continuing to help his mother. Oscar has worked occasionally as a casual for construction companies. He recently helped dig a pit for a gasoline tank in a nearby Caltex station. He almost got a permanent job once but when he tried to get the necessary police clearance, the police noticed that he had body tattoos. As a result, in accordance with an existing city ordinance, they put him in jail for 15 days. When he was re- leased, the job opportunity was gone. Now he is afraid to try again. Although Oscar regularly gets into trouble with the police for scavenging, he seems resigned to it and shows no bitterness. Since arrests for scavenging have intensified lately, he tries to leave a small sum with one of his friends for the purpose of being bailed out when necessary. He neither seems to object to nor be embarrassed by these arrests. Yet, he is becoming increasingly frustrated since fines absorb much of the money he wants to turn over to his mother in Sapang Palay. The police fine at present is P35. He also has to pay Mang Jose, the bodegero (bodega operator), if the police confiscatecart or the,if he has loss to abandon it to escape ap- prehensior Another trustration is the lo of an entire night's collection when he runs tO escape arrest. Since' the May demolition, Oscar thinks that Mang Jose has changed. He is tiow the only bodegero left in Maligamgam and does not seem to be as kind to the scavengers as he used to be. Oscar says he is lowering his prices since the scavengers have no other bodega to which they can turn to sell what they have collected. It is possible that Mang Jose is also under increased pressure frori the police. Oscar doubts that the bodega can last much longer in the Maligamgam area.*. Generally the neighbors dislike squatters and they especially dislike scavengers. The area around the bodega is an eyesore, and neighbors have continued their com- plaints to the barangay officials and'to the police. When the bodega goes, Oscar simply does not know what he will do or how he and his mother will stay aliie Chapter 3 REVIEWING THE INITIAL HYPOTHESES

The Initial Hypotheses

Against this intimate view of the scavenger in his own context, the initial hypotheses presented earlier can now be considered in closer detail. The scavenger earns per hour considerably less than the legal minimum wage of P1 an hour.

Generally, scavengers do earn about P1 an hour; hence, strictly speaking, the hypothesis is not borne out. However, the process of calculating their earnings brings several other considerations into focus: a. Scavengers tend to eke out of the situation about as much as can be gleaned. They are dependent on supply so that they cannot effectively raise their earnings by working longer hours or applying more labor. An increase in hours or manpower would tend to result in a declining 'wage/hour rate. b. There is a connotation in the word "scavenge" which implies that the scavenger has access only to what is discarded, what is unwanted or judged valueless by others. Perhaps the major reason why the scavenger cannot earn a better living is that his access to refuse is quite limited. Approximately 70 percent of what the scavenger collects is classified as "waste #2" or "chipboard #2" for which he receives P0.07 per kilo. At the same time, current prices for other forms of scrap are considerably higher. Newspapers sell for P0.70 per kilo; cartons for ?042 per kilo; and plastic for P0.50 per kilo. Bottles in good condition also command high prices. As various forms of waste material increase in value they become less

The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 15 accessible to the scavenger, being siphoned off at the higher stages by better organized and better capitalized scrap dealers. The scavenger gets only the rejects.

2. The scavenger's share of the total value of what he collects is proportionately quite small.

When "value" is presented in monetary terms it is a simple matter to show the proportioate share received by the scavenger. But such a presentation would not bring Out what is perhaps the most interesting finding under this hypothesis. The scavenger is paid P0.07 a kilo by the bodegero for what the dealer in turn pays P0.10 and then sells to the factory for!0.13. On the face of it the rates do not seem to be unbalanced. How- ever, volume considerations come in at each successive stage. The scavenger's average daily collection of "waste #2" is about 50 kilos, while the average bodegero's normal collection would be 700 kilos and the dealer's would be 5000 kilos. With each successive step of increasing volume new considerations also come into focus. The bodegero must provide the cart and have adequate working capital in order to have ready cash in his pocket for a returning scavenger. He must also be ready to ex- tend credit in times of need. The dealer owns trucks, must rent a warehouse, and employs people. He too usually extends credit to the bodegero and sometimes has to wait several weeks for payment from the factory. From the above presentation one might conclude that the scavenger's share is proportionate to the total earnings. In reality however, his share is not proportionate. To show how disproportionate- ly small it is we must move away from dependence on numbers to a consideration of basic economic laws. Elementary economics tends to presume that prices seek a level where supply and demand meet. What is sometimes overlooked in this basic law of supply and demand is a presumption of a certain tension between contending polarities of power, a presumption that suppliers have the power to influence the price. 16 Keyes: Manila Scavengers

In the Philippines, the price setter of scrap materials is the com- parative price of imported substitutes.. With a current world shortage the price of imported bleached long fiber pulp rose more than 100 percent in the first six months of 1974. Consequently, scrap prices for "white bond" paper rose proportionately. Prices of all raw materials in the paper industry are, generally, about 100 percent higher than a year ago, with the exception of "waste#2." The factory price of "waste #2" has remained constant at 0.13 per kilo with little fluctuation for many years. What explains this constancy in an inflationary period when the prices of everything, especially paper, seem to be spiralling? Prima- rily, it is the powerlessness of the poor who initially collect the scrap. Having no economic reserves, they must sell everyday, hence, the factories can depend on a regular supply at the constant price of 'P0.13 a kilo. Dealers are hot overly concerned since their primary source of income is in the more expensive types of scrap. Although they do not enjoy a good margin on the lower forms of scrap,, they have earned good profits in this time of shortage. Moreover, dealers lack the unity to organize themselves into an effective cartel, and have not collectively attempted to withhold supply to force the price upwards. The scavenger's share, therefore, remains proportionately quite small because the price of what he sells does not rise. As the food he must buy to stay alive in the city costs more and more, the buying power of his earnings grows increasingly, smaller. Free flowing economic forces tend to intensify poverty. The poor get poorer.

3. The scavenger has little job mobility and does not view other forms of employment as readily open to him.

The hypothesis is found to be generally true. There is not a single scavenger respondent who would not prefer a factory job or work as a cargador (stevedore) or start acareer as a jeepney driver. All seem to aspire for employment that is permanent; however, they view themselves as totally lacking the job opportunity. Al- though some recognize-the advantages-of having no boss and of setting their own hours, no one would deliberately choose scavenging in the face of any definite alternative.

The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 17 4.Although not totally unconscious of the unsanitary conditions associated with his work, the scavenger's perception of his occupation focuses on the positive economic benefits of what he does.

The hypothesis is generally true. Scavengers were asked expli- citly what they found unpleasant about their work; they rarely mentioned the dirt or uncleanliness. It is not so much that they are not conscious of it; rather they have adjusted to it. "Bad smell" was occasionally mentioned. One woman quietly cried when she thought of her children always being dirty, but "it's dirty" or "not decent" was mentioned mor&frequently by nonscavenger neighbors than by the scavengers themselves. The latter exhibited more concern about the harassment of the police than about the filth they encountereddaily. On the other hand, when asked what they liked about the work, the very frequent response was that they can "earn a little." In- come is sure, even if small. Earning for the day is left to their own industry. They do not have to wait to be called for employment but can, by themselves, generate a few pesos.

5.Scavenging does contribute significantly to the industrial process of certain industries. These industries are, in fact, dependent on the regular receipt of a certain percentage of recycled materials.

While people are generally aware that recycling does occur, they are not aware of the efficiency or volume involved. Paper in any form is made up of pulp fibers varying in length from one to three millimeters.Primary sources are bagasse, abaca, cotton, wood, and imported pulp. Secondary sources are recycled materials. Although percentages vary in different paper products, an estimated 60 percent of all paper produced in the Philippines today comes from secondary or recycled sources. The grey cardboard at the back of a note pad or in a textile cone is made up almost entirely of materials collected by scavengers. 18 Keyes: Manila Scavengers The total rated capacity of the 21 Philippine paper mills is 600,000tons a year.' Although the mills manufacture a hundred different paper and paperboard products, four mills produce "chipboards" utilizing scavenged material as the primary ingredient. These four mills manufactured 130 tons a day for which approximately 200 tons of recycled materials are required. These reach the factory through the network of bodegas and dealers' ware- houses described above. Mandfa6turers readily state that althigh they are aware of the dependence of the scavengers on their industry; this awareness does not enter into conscious company policy'and has no impact on decision making. Factories simply buy the raw materials from dealers. They do not get involved in what transpires beyond the factory gate. At the same time they admit that government anti- squatter and anti-sdavenger campaigns have had a temporary de- trimental effect on supply. In coiiclusion, the hypotheis appears valid. In a ntinwide, complex, and 'large-volume business, the sdavenger clearly plays a significant role, eventhough his share of the value he helps generate remains quite sm'a'll.'

Why the Scavenger is Poor

Probing the entire recyclingprocess, this part of the report will attempt to explain the parameters within which the scavenger works, showing why industry cannot or does not give him opportunity to earn more or to live more decently. The "occupation" of scavenging domes into existence as a by- product of national unemployment. People resort to scavenging because they ,have no ôth&r reliable source of income. Were it otherwise, v7ere employment opportunities open, industry would need no scavengers. Less degrading systems of recycling the wealth retrievable in waste materials are technologically available. But when unemployment is high and when men of limited education and skill find no alternative, they will resort to this marginal occupation as a sure means of livelihood for their families. It does constitute a last resort in the absence of any other immediately available employment opportunity. The Philippine Poor-I: Two Monographs 19 From one viewpoint, then, the alleviation of the scavenger's misery finds its solution on the macroeconomic level through concern for industrial and rural development, population control, and manpower training. Yet while government and the private sector nibble away at these major problems, the scavenger finds his already difficult situation made more precarious by three different factors: (1) restrictive government policy, (2) competition at the source, and (3) price structures within the system.

Restrictive government policy,

Government harassment of the poor, inadvertent or otherwise, contributes significantly to the desperate nature of the scavenger's situation. At the time the research was undertaken, successive waves of government beautification programs, usually in connéc- tion with the arrival of foreign dignitaries, had distinctly adverse effects on the scavenger. Anearlier ,ordinance proposed bythe City councilors seeking to control scavenging through its legaliza- tion was returned "without action",by the-Manila Mayor, because the proposal was said to be incompatible with national cleanup objectives oulined.' in Presidential Decree No. 13. Police action began early 1974. Scavenger carts were impounded and burned; bodegas were dismantled by the City Engineer's Office; and scavengers themselves were arrested, fined, and detained. The scarcity of carts forced families to share the few remaining ones, so that family earnings dropped even further below subsistence levels Left without other opportunities, scavengers continued to work at their trade despite the ban, but now with greater risk and lower earnings. These moves against the scavengers were hardly indeliberate. While the pressure on the scavengers continued, a high-ranking city official defended the policy in these words (see Appendix D): This Office [of the Mayor] deeply regrets that it cannot favorably consider your request [to suspend harassment] in behalf of the city's numerous scavengers without prejudicing the larger interest of the public. The main problems that these scavengers present are that their indispensable pushcarts pose

20 Keyes: Manila Scavengers formidable traffic hazards and that they litter the public streets, to say nothing of the eyesores they display to tourists. More-v over, we have received reports that these karetons are used as conveyors of stolen articles, including manhole covers in our streets and telephone and electric wires. While there can be no denying the fact that these poor people should be allowed an opportunity to improve their lot, such improvement should not be at the expense of others.

A second area of government harassment emerges from the fact that scavengers are usually also squatters. At the time of the research, government anti-squatter resettlement programs were being vigorously pursued and large numbers of urban squatters, scavengers among them, were being relocated in distant places outside of the metropolitan area. While some aspects of the government's program could be judged as humane, and while some individual government workers labor quite selflessly, one overall effect of relocation on all low- wage earners was the significant drop in family earnings after the enforced transfer. The relocation site was far removed-from places of employment so that the minimum wage earner now had to spend a greater part of his already inadequate salary on transporta- tion. Further, while proximity to the diversity of urban life offered a variety of secondary income opportunities for other members of the poor family, relocation to a remote site where everyone is poor has virtually extinguished these opportunities (cf. Hollnsteiner 1970). If life in the resettlement area turns out more' difficult for the minimum wage earner, it is impossible for the scavenger. The scavenger depends on the availability of carts and on a bodega to which he can sell the materials collected. For survival, he needs. a base in the city. When the anti-squatter drive dismantles not only his urban dwelling but also the bodega out of which he operates, he is simply left with no source of income whatsoever. The threat of eviction and relocation continues to hang like an ominous cloud over the Maligamgam community. Department of Social Welfare workers have already taken a preeviction census and the residents express a strong sense of apprehension about the The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 21 future. The government, for these people, represents an enemy at the gates, about to sack and destroy. Yet, none of these people are making plans. They seem to be hoping that, somehow, they will be able to survive if forced to move. A third area of government harassment is the persistence of the Iagay5 system. Scavengers pursuing an illegal occupation are easy prey for unscrupulous policemen. One bodegero reluctantly admitted that he gives P70 a week to various law enforcers for "protection." He is thus confused as to why, despite these "donations," he has not been spared in the recent campaign. Another mentioned that patrol car police occasionally stop to inspect his business permit which, of course,.does not exist. Mention is frequently made of unreceipted fines. New Society aspirations have undoubtedly been effective in lessening the corruption of government officials in some areas. But, it still does go on. Maligamgam's poor remain victims of extortion despite official government efforts to curb such practices. There is too much mention of these matters among the people to dismiss them as mere rumor.

Competition at the source

There is money in scrap material but the scavenger has very limited access to the real wealth available. In an economic situation where the multitude are poor, where family income must be stretched, and business competition is keen, very little valuable scrap material trickles down to the scavenger. Households in the Manila area generally do not-throw newspapers or bottles away, but sell them to add a few extra pesos to family income. Similarly, grocery stores consider the sale of the cardboard carton as part of their business profit; and office buildings generally contract for the sale of their waste materials to dealers. The scavenger gathers only whatever is left sometimes through carelessness, or deliberate kindness, but mostly because what he collects is considered to have so little value that it is simply discarded by householders. About 70 percent of what the scavenger collects are classified as "waste #2," the lowest grade of scrap for which he receives only 22 Keyes: Manila Scavengers P0.07 a kilo. His earning capacity would be significantly improved if more newspapers or bottles or cardboard cartons were,available to him. These, unfortunately, are siphoned off at a higher level by men more talented and better financed than the lowly scavenger. The scavenger also faces competition from the "garbage men" who are officially employed by the government's Department of Public Services. While collecting, garbage men also sort out paper, plastic, and metal, and delay their collecting to bring these items for direct sale to the bodega. Despite this practice, there does not seem to be any open hostility between scavengers and garbage men.

Price structures within the system

If our starting point is what the scavenger has actually collected, and we trace the content of his cart filled with waste materials through the network from bodegero to dealer and, lastly, to the factory, we can then study the mark-up at each level and the nature of each successive business in an attempt to determine whether prices are set at an exploitative level or not. Each stage will be presented in a case form, showing the opportunities and constraints of the successive business stages as well as the attitudes and aspirations of the people involved in these enterprises. The bodegero. Mang Jose Lumipag has operated his Maligam- gam bodega for 15 years now and has gradually built up its size. Until recently, he had over 31 carts, each one numbered and bear- ing his name. Several employees and anexpensive weighing scale make up the rest of his business establishment. • Mang Jose's bodega covers a comparatively large area in the in- tensively overcrowded Maligamgam squatter community, and he is surely financially more stable than the scavengers linked to him. Yet there is no ostensible sign of this stability. Mang Jose and his family live in the bodega itself. His half-naked children play with the scavengers' children and are just as dirty. His "home" has no appliances; there are minimal, if any, furniture; and both he and his wife dress in tattered clothes, just like everyone else. The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 23

Mang Jose's relation to the scavengers seems friendly and warm. He is looked on as their amo, or benevolent master. He is always willing to lend a few pesos without interest when people have no money to buy food. A tin can stands on a bench filled with utang slips, or I.O.U.'s, many of them rather old now. He is always quite courteous and even affectionate to the scavengers' children. He fills his pocket with coins to pay immediately for whatever they or their parents bring in. Since people depend on him for their livelihood, he continued to buy scrap even after the City Engineer's Office recently dismantled his bodega. Now the street itself is filled with materials he cannot refuse to buy from hungry scavengers. Mang Jose also seems to have warm and friendly relations with his dealers' truck drivers, who frequently pick up materials at his bodega. Mr. Velayo, the paper dealer, collects several truckloads a week. He partially finances Mang Jose's business through a no- interest, indefinite-term loan. They have known each other for many years. Other dealers also come regularly. Mr. Ricardo Ty buys his scrap metal and machine-crushes it before reselling it to local steel mills. Milk cans in good condition are sold to a bagoong (fermented fish sauce) maker in Bulacan. Other dealers buy plastic or bottles or even broken glass. Mang Jose has built up these contacts over the years and maintains cordial friendly relations with all. Mang Jose's own ambition is to become a dealérhimself like Mr. Velayq. He has seen his friend add a truck a year to his operation, and has noticed the air conditioner and stereo set in the dealer's office. However, making the shift represents a delicate step. He knows of a rebuilt 1954 model Dodge truck frame available for P4,500. With a loan of IP2,000 he had received from Mr. Velayo plus his own savings of P2,500, he can buy the truck; but he has no money to finance the construction of a body for it. He worries about what will happen, should Mr. Velayo find out that he is utilizing the loan to procure a truck and thereby become in- dependent. He also wonders whether one small truck would be adequate for him to'escape" going through the dealer. How much does Mang Jose earn? This is a difficult question to answer accurately. Mang Jose has learned over the years how to be 24 Keyes: Manila Scavengers vague and. evasive while continuing to be courteous. Then, too, so many variable and hidden expenses affect his business that he himself might not know precisely. Nevertheless, an estimate must be attempted. - Using the model of the typical scavenger's collection given earlier, we present in the next table Mang Jose's margin on an average single cartload of scrap.

Table 2. A bodega's profit margin on a single cartload of scrap

Type of waste Buying Selling Margin! Weight Total earning g material price/kilo price/kilo kilo per cartload

1. Waste #2 P0.07 P0.10 P0.03 46 kilos P1.38 2. Cans and metal 0.10 . 0.12 0.02 8 " 0.16 3. Kraftboard 0.46 0.55 0.09 5 " 0.36 4. Kraftpaper 0.16 0.20 0.04 2 ' 0.08 5. Milk cans 0.02* 0.025* 0.005* 24 units 0.12 6. Others - - - - 0.30 (est.) Total P2.40 *Per can.

Estimating 35 cartloads a day, Mang Jose's gross income would be P84 a day, or about P500 a week--a substantial amount considering that he has no expense for rent nor other normal business expenditures. A cross-check on the gross income estimate can be made by comparing the above figures with his relationship to the dealer: Mr. Velayo's truck comes twice a week; Mr. Ty's, once a week; and others, less frequently. We thus arrive at Mang Jose's weekly gross profit margin, shown in Table 3. 'From' this gross income he must deduct expenses. His two "employees" earn 'about P4.50 a day assisting in weighing and baling the materials collected. He must keep his carts in repair, pay fines, and absorb bad debts. These expenses are estimated to reduce his gross income by over half, leaving him the still adequate amount of about P200 a week of which, apparently, he spends very little.

The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 25

Table 3. A bodega's weekly gross profit margin

Type of waste material Margin/kilo Weight/week Total weekly earning

1. Waste #2 ?0.03 7000 kilos ?210.00 2. Kraftboard 0.09 750 " 67.50 3. Kraftpaper 0.04 350 " 14.00 4. Plastic 0.15 350 " 52.50 5. Cans and metal 0.02 3500 " 70.00 6. M ilk cans 0.005* 1200 units 6.00 7. Others - - - 40.00 (est.) Total ?460.00 *Per can.

These computations suggest that Mang Jose is a wealthier man than he appears to be, and that he could give better prices to scavengers who sell to him. But it is difficult to be sure about his "wealth." First, police "protection" takes a substantial part of his earnings. Further, the truck which he finally did purchase lies idle because he apparently has no more cash to complete its repair. The true picture of Mang Jose's margin of profit probably lies somewhere between the poverty that his lifestyle projects and the wealth that the gross income figures imply. Does Mang Jose exploit his scavenger suppliers? Could he help the scavengers morn? If Mang Jose were willing to surrender his apparent aspirations of escaping his present environment, and were he more willing to identify himself completely with the scavengers, he could, in the present system, pay the scavengers slightly more than he does now. A PO.01 increase per kilo would mean ?O.60 per cartload or an increase in scavenger earnings of about ten percent. Such an increase would reduce his own gross profit by 30 percent--a substantial decrease for him but not a very substantial increase for the scavenger. - The emphasis in the relationship between the bodegero and the scavenger should not, however, be considered in strictly monetary terms. Mang Jose plays a critical social role. For a scavenger community to be viable, it is essential that one member emerge 26 Keyes: Manila Scavengers who is a little more shrewd and imaginative than the rest. Mang Jose has built up an inventory of carts and developed contacts with dealers, while at the same time continuing to identify with his people. That he earns a little-more than the scavengers is less important than the community's possible collapse should he cease to play his unique econ6mic and social role. The dealer. When we move up th&economic ladder in the recycling industry from bodegero to dealer, we move into a significantly different environment. A dealer operates on a much larger scale. He owns trucks, has a larger number of employees, handles large quantities, and has invested more capital. Taking a single case as typical, let us study San Francisco Trading owned by Mr. Amado Velayo, Mang Jose's scrap paper dealer. Although Mr. Velayo is looked upon as one of the larger and more established scrap dealers in Manila, he has been in the business for only seven years. It all started when a friend, a small dealer, could not pay loan and Mr. Velayo accepted a secondhand truck as payment in lieu of cash. Seven years later, the business continues to flourish. Mr. Velayo now owns seven trucks and has built up a network of bodegas serving four or five Manila paper factories with scrap paper collected from over 30 bodegas around the city. Like most dealers, he personally runs the entire business himself. His small closet- like office above the floor area of his warehouse is constantly busy while he handles all transactions and answers the constantly ring- ing telephone. He spends some 80 hours a week there. The floor below is dirty and untidy. Bales of various types of waste paper and cardboard are scattered around in apparent- dis-array, or, in one section, piled high to the ceiling, apparently awaiting a better price at the factory. The paper.is of better quality here. A greater percentage of kraftboard as well as clean bales of white bond, sulphite, and other higher-priced scrap confirms that many of Mr. .Velayo's suppliers are printing presses and other commercial establishments, not just scavenger bodegas. The apparently disorderly and precarious nature of the business seem to allow scrap dealers immunity from labor laws. Despite a constant need for over 30 employees, none receive regular salary. Pakyaw or piecework rates for drivers and assistants are attractive, The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 27 ranging from P8 to P13 a day; but warehousemen can only earn the minimum wage. None of them are registered with the Social Security System (SSS) and there seems to be a complete absence of any employee benefits. The entire industry offers little job security. Older men are conspicuously absent from the warehouse floor and worker turnover is quite high. Marginal employment, then, in the scrap business is not only a characteristic of scavenger- collectors but also of dealer's "employees." Despite uncertainties, year by year Mr. Velayo has made a profit and has been able to expand continually. "In this business, we can never afford to buy new trucks or own property; it would be too expensive," he says. Of the seven trucks he owns, the first one cost him only P4,000; others have cost about P10,000. They are old and usually several are under repair at any given time. The trucks are purchased on credit. Mr. Velayo is now paying a monthly installment of P1,500 on the last three trucks purchased. Purchase of land, too, lies beyond his means. The warehouse is little more than a roof patched over what was once the front court- yard of a private home. One wonders how it stays up or why, over the years, the entire flimsy structure has not been destroyed by storm or fire. Firefighting equipment is nowhere to be seen. While adequate capital is not spent for rolling equipment or for fireproof storage facilities, the scrap business does 'need capital primarily to keep the loyalty of the bodegeros. Usually the dealer must partially finance the bodegero, helping him to build up a fleet of carts or giving him capital to pay cash directly to the scavengers. Cash advances of several hundred pesos are common; to more trusted bodegeros amounts exceeding P1,000 have been loaned. Mr. Velayo claims that his bad debts in this area reach as high as 30 percent, yet he is convinced that it was primarily through this assistance to bodegeros that he was able to build up his network of suppliers. Paradoxically, despite the chronically untidy surroundings and the problems of dealing with secondhand equipment in a dirty business, dealers evidently make good profits. An approximation of profits must be attempted. Lifestyle, as with the bodegero, is not an accurate indicator; and financial records are not reliable even if they were available. 28 Keyes: Manila Scavengers A large truck can carry as much as five tons of paper and can usually make two trips a day. Considering both breakdown time and the variety of truck sizes, it is estimated that Mr. Velayo's trucks carry 50 tons daily to the four or five factories that he services, or about 1,250 tons a month. The margins from dealer to factory are somewhat similar to those between bodega and dealer, but larger quantities and higher grades of scrap make profits more attractive, as the next table shows. - Table 4. A dealer's daily gross profit margin

Type of waste Buying Selling Margin! Daily Gross material price/kilo price/kilo kilo tonnage* daily earning

1. Waste #2 and chipboard #2 P0.11 P0.14 P0.03 30.0 P 900 2. Kraftboard 0.55 0.65 0.10 8.0 800 3. Chipboard #1 0.23 0.33 0.10 4.0 400 4. Kraftboard#2 0.16 0.24 0.08 2.5 200 5. White bond 1.75 2.20 0.45 1.5 675 6. Others - - - 4.0 325 Total 50.0 tons P3,300 *One metric ton is equivalent to 1,000 kilos.

Since the dealer would not provide the above figures, an estimate was made and judged to be reasonably accurate because it was compared to actual deliveries to the factory, where figures were available, as well as with figures provided by a typical sup- plier, a bodegero. The figures reveal a daily volume of 50 tons of various forms of scrap for which the average gross profit is P0.06 per kilo. The daily gross implies a monthly gross of aboutP82,000. The major expense items against this gross profit are the following: loan repayments; labor (about 35 employees); truck main- tenance and operation;- cash advances to the bodegeros; and bad debts. Mr. Velayo insists that he strictly refuses to pay any "/agay" money (cf. footnote, p. 55). Yet, his malpractices in labor and flagrant violations of building-code regulations tend to challenge Data are increasingly convincing that the Keynesian model is not working. Instead of trickling down, wealth is becoming more narrowly owned; the ratio of wealth distribution is worsening and the poor, absolutely and relatively, are becoming poorer. Still, economists tend to ignore the social and environmental realities that do not fit their theoretical models.

The 'occupation" of scavenging comes into existence as a by-product of national unemployment. People resort to scavenging because they have no other reliable source of income. IN

Although not totally unconscious of the unsanitary conditions associated with his work, the scavenger's perception of his occupation focuses on the positive economic benefits of what he does. The scavenger is a personification of the poverty that is endemic to the urban poor community in which he lives. The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 33 his claim. It also seems unlikely that while the "small fry" apparently pay for police protection the "bigger fish" are ignored. Nevertheless, these matters are difficult to substantiate. Mr. Velayo's working-capital requirements are quite high, not only because of his loans to bodegeros, but also because he, like the bodegeros, must pay immediately in cash for what he receives; whereas he, in turn, must await check payment for what he de- livers to the factory. Here, too, as with the bodegero, it is difficult to estimate accurately what percentage of the gross profit is his net income. The extrinsic evidence of rapid expansion over seven years tends to confirm that the business is, indeed, profitable. There are two other external measurements: 1. Mr. Velayo is satisfied with his business performance and has stayed in the business. A man of education (he was graduated with a degree in commerce), and with some initial capital, he chose to venture into the scrap business at a time when other merchandising opportunities were real alternatives. Despite the long hours and the untidy environment, he does not regret his choice. 2. One of Mr. Velayo's major competitors in the dealer business was formerly a plant manager of one of the paper mills that he supplies. This man left the stable and well-paying man- agerial position to become a scrap dealer, now selling to the factory that he once used to run. What of Mr. Velayo's relationship with the scavengers? Since he works through bodegeros who usually see him in his office and since he rarely accompanies his trucks, he has little direct contact with scavengers. He firmly looks on his operation as beneficial to the poor. He provides jobs. "Otherwise," he says, "they would not be employed." Could he pay them more? Probably he could. But, as with the bodegeros, a large cut in his own gross would have to be shared now with perhaps 400 scavengers, and there is no guarantee that the bodegeros would pass on the higher buying prices to the scavengers. - The factory. On the factory level, the recycling industry is a tidier, more organized, and rational business. Since the factories 34 Keyes: Manila Scavengers are incorporated there are public documents, conformity with government regulations, and professional management. We will consider a typical paper mill which uses recycled materials coming from scavengers: Universal Paper Mills, Inc. is one of the four Manila paper manufacturers depending heavily on recycled materials. The company operates in two locations, producing "boxboard" in one plant and "chipboard" in the other. The consumer is familiar with "boxboard" in the form of shoe or shirt boxes, or the boxes used for bakery products. "Chipboard" is a cheaper grey material used for a variety of commercial and industrial purposes. Textile cones, toilet paper cones, and note-pad backing would be some examples. In each location the company operates only one paper-making machine--a large behemoth, some 60 meters long. The machine continually devours preprocessed; saturated pulp which it laps up on a wide felt conveyor. The raw material passes through successive stages of drying and pressing until it is finally disgorged at the other end of the machine in the form of finished product. The machine operates continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company's chipboard factory produces over 400 tons a month for which over 500 tons of raw material are required. The breakdown of a typical month's production, taken from company records, is as follows:

Table 5. Monthly raw-material inputs for production of chipboard

Type of waste Volume Percent of Unit cost Total cost material (in metric tons) total (per kilo)

1. Kraftboard #2 91.04 17.7% P0.65 P 59,176

2. Chipboard #1 40.56 7.9 0.33 13,385

3. Chipboard #2 142.62 27.7 0.13 18,541 4. Waste #2 240.71 46.7 0.13 31,292 Total 514.93 100.0% P.122,394 Total chipboard production 412.15 The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 35

The production of boxboard has a significantly different com- bination of raw materials as can be seen in the next table. The table gives the breakdown of materials making up the gray "bottom liner." The white "top liner," for the most-part, is not made from scavenged materials.

Table 6. Monthly raw-material inputs for production of the "bottom liner" for box board

Type of waste Volume Percent of Unit cost Total Cost material (in metric tons) total (per kilo)

1. Kraftboard#1 17.0 5.6% P0.65 1-11,050 2. Chipboard #1 97.5 32.3 0.33 32,175 3. Chipboard #2 34.1 11.3 0.13 4,433 4. Waste #1 14.5 4.8 0.23 3,335 5. Waste #2 48.3 16.0 0.13 6,279 6. Kraftpaper 47.4 15.7 0.24 11,376 7. Brokes and trims* 43.1 14.3 - - Total 301.9 - 100.0% P68,648 Raw-material inputs - for the "top liner" 151.0 Total boxboard - production - 360.0

Rejects from the machine or trimmed-off materials which are fed back as raw material and, hence, do not involve any cost.

The figures reveal that the total volume of scavenged materials used is quite high. Chipboard #2 and waste #2, representing 70 percent of a scavenger's typical collection, account for 74.4 percent of the raw-material inputs for chipboard manufacture and 27.3 percent for box board. These materials are also used, in smaller percentages, in other paper products such as kraftpaper (brown bags) and kraftboard (corrugated boxes). Further, one plant with a greater concentration of expensive de-inking and pulp-cleaning equipment can use larger percentages of these lower grades of scrap. 36 Keyes: Manila Scavengers Although plant sizes differ, it is estimated that Universal's raw- material inputs of waste #2 and chipboard #2 represent one-fifth of the total volume used by Manila plants. Based on Universal's use of more than 450 metric tons per month, one can estimate a total Manila consumption of 2,250 metric tons per month, or 75 metric tons per day. On this economic activity one aspect of the scavenger's livelihood depends. Similar studies could trace the use and volumes involved of the metal and plastic collected. What of Universal's relationship to the scavengers? Could the factory exercise more social responsibility? Mr. Leonardo de la Cruz, plant manager at Universal, admitted quite frankly that this issue is rarely considered: "Our materials come from dealers whom we pay at the prevailing rates. We take care of our own workers and have a good program of wages and benefits. But we rarely get involved in problems beyond the factory gate." Running a manufacturing business implies acomplicated bal- ancing of a variety of essential functions in a constant effort to keep costs down and production and profits up. It would indeed be unusual for a company deliberately to attempt to raise its raw- material costs out of social considerations. Mr. de la Cruz sees it as incompatible with his responsibility to the company's stockholders. He doubts, too, that an attempt to do so in coordination with the other Manila factories would be possible. Universal's profits are not extraordinary. Established in 1954 by a small group of initial stockholders, its total property, plant, and equipment are carried at P9.3 million, and total assets at!14.7 million. In 1973, it claimed a net income of only P0.5 million on total sales of P12.6 million. While, on the, one hand, it is clear that profits are not exorbitant, it could also be claimed that an increase in the purchase price of lower grades of scrap would neither substantially affect "cost of goods solds," nor would it create a spiralling effect on other raw materials. Chapter 4 RECOMMENDATIONS

Social policy: The public and especially those who wield poli- tical and economic power need to become more keenly aware of the limited opportunities open to the poor and the hardships they must daily face. Accordingly, they must consider giving higher priority to the welfare of the poor in policy-making and administrative decisions. In effect, this requires a long-range conscious attempt to change society's attitudes towards the poor.

Recommendations regarding scavengers should be given on the practical level, for this is a practical problem. But unless significant change in attitudes is first effected, practical measures will be too easily rejected as unfeasible or in conflict with existing categories or presumptions. For example, there does not seem to be a completely logical explanation as to why the scavenger cannot be given the same esteem that society usually bestows on the farmer or fisherman. The former's occupation is judged repulsive and demeaning while the latter's is presumed to be dignified. Both make a living by gathering items of economicvalue, whether in the for- est or sea, or in the asphalt wilderness of the city. Both make a contribution to the economic life of the nation while receiving parsimoniously small rewards for their labor. Both are men of limited education, mobility, and opportunity. Both are often des- perately poor. Yet, while society can blind itself to the demeaning poverty of the farmer and simultaneously extol him as a national hero, the same society focuses only on the poverty of the scavenger and does not see him as a courageous figure battling extraordinary odds to stay alive. Thus, one is praised while the other is penalized. 38 Keyes: Manila Scavengers Scavengers are poor people--economically poor. Despite the hard and difficult work they do, they receive little economic re- ward. Further, they are harassed and insecure people. As squatters, they are constantly threatened with demolition and the subse- quent uncertainties of life in a resettlement area. As scavengers, in addition to the natural repugnance of their work, they daily risk fines and imprisonment. Either scavengers are criminals deserving the harassment to which they are constantly exposed, or there is something dras- tically wrong with the social attitudes and the economic laws that treat them so simply because they happen to be poor; This study suggests that the latter interpretation makes more sense than the former. The data indicate that scavengers choose their occupation out of economic desperation; it is an alternative to starvation. Not a single scavenger interviewed would prefer scavenging to any form of permanent work no matter how degrading or boring. When the nation is burdened with an unemployment level exceeding 12 percent, it would seem that the government would encourage those who have found even marginal employment. Ironically, public policy does not seem to be dictated out of concern for the poor; rather, it tends to cater to the interests of the well-to-do. The late President Ramon Magsaysay's aspiration that "those who have less in life should have more in law" is apparently not an accepted administrative principle of action--at least, not in the City of Manila. When there is an alternative between the human survival of the poor, on the one hand, and concern for beautification and orderliness on the other, one need only look around to see which policy prevails. The proposed compromise ordinance which sought to control scavenging by legalizing it--the ordinance, in itself, was not well worked out--was vetoed. That all scavengers must suffer because some steal manhole covers manifests a questionable logic. The principle evidently applies only to the poor, not to society in general. As to beautification and traffic obstruction, concern for these over the concern for those who are trying to eke out an existence in the city subtly manifests an outlook that presumes the city be longs only to the economically fortunate. The poor, apparently, are not really equal citizens with at least equal rights. The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 39

In a recently published paper "Cities the Poor Build" (1974), the Vietnamese schälar, Buu Hoan, explains that Southeast Asia cannot build its cities on the models of the West. Saigon, Bangkok, and Manila will be urban centers as large as Paris, London, or New York, but the resources to develop these cities are a "shoestring" in comparison to what is available in the West. "Southeast Asians, then, have to resign themselves to conditions of relative poverty and to plan their cities in these terms." Buu Hoan believes that administrative attempts to ape Western models can only be achieved ultimately through program's of suppression of the poor, of hiding them, of driving them out, or pre- tending they do not exist. Rather, Asian cities must be adminis- tered against a landscape of national poverty. Decisions on infrastructure, use of public lands, and budget allocations must reflect the awareness that government is building a city where poor men live. Policies should make it easier for the poor to live respectable, though modest, human lives, and truly to belong to their city. "The poor we have always with us." Plans that refuse to accept that this is especially true in Southeast Asia are likely to become oppressive. We often hear people say that "urban squatters should return to the provinces; they should not be allowed to come to Manila." This stance not only reflects the orientation mentioned earlier that the well-to-do "own" the city while the poor have no right to it; it also presumes a harshness of action . contrary to man's basic freedom of movement, a presumption with which this country has always been reluctant to interfere, even under martial-law conditions. Further, the attitude manifests rather limited knowledge of the make-up of the poor community in the city. In Maligam- gam, only 25 percent of the male household heads have had farm- ing or fishing experience. Of these, some are victims of landlord eviction and have nothing to go back to. Another 19.5 percent were born in Manila. Also, second generation migrants, many of whom are now in the labor force, are urban. They have no experience of rural life. The presumption that the life of the humble farmer is an open alternative for the city squatter and that he should be pressured to return to it is simply not valid for many. The drift of the argumentation above can be summarized briefly as follows: the starting-point of government urban policy must 40 Keyes: Manila Scavengers take into consideration the fact of widespread unemployment and conditions of desperate poverty. Concern for these matters must influence government action at every level and in every department; it cannot be an afterthought once the streets have been cleaned, the infrastructure built, and the tourists accommodated. Nor can it be shunted off to one department like Social Welfare, which can do little more than provide occasional palliatives in an attempt to cope with problems that are beyond its power to solve. The city must grow--with its poor as an intrinsic part of it. Plan- ning must bring to the level of conscious deliberation the impact that various "development" programs will have on the poor. If this attitudinal change can be effected, then we can return to a consideration of practical measures that the government might attempt.

2. Government policy: Until viable alternatives for economic opportunity can be made available, government policy towards the scavengers should generally be one of noninterference or tolera- tion, not suppression.

It is suggested, with absolute candor, that perhaps the wisest policy the government could now pursue in relationship to the scavengers is simplyto leave them alone. Since policies suppressing these people's almost heroic attempt to earn a living are pursued in isolation of any policy to create other meaningful employment for them, it would seem that the simplest procedure would be to allow them to continue using their initiative until the government, or society at large, is ready with some more humahe program to rovide them a livelihood. in the face of wide-scale unemployment, the government should be ready to support and encourage people who have found even marginal gainful employment. If this plicy of non interference is interpretedas demanding too much of the proponents of beautification and free flowing' ' traff ic, then a compromise could be easily arranged. The hours f scavenging 'could be limited; tourist areas could b'e excluded. But there is no need for blanket prohibition and suppression. Compromise and negotiation should be the rule. Unfortunately, this strategy implies that the two parties with rights and power negotiate to re-- 0 The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 41 solve differences. But the city government has not yet conceded that the poor have rights, especially when the interests of the more affluent are threatened. Certainly, they have no power. Let us now turn to the business community and to economic considerations.

3. Business policy: The paper industry should recognize that backward integration is necessary so as to rationalize the entire chain of activities in the system. They should be ready to accept the costs involved.

This study stated that prices for the materials collected by scavengers are not responsive to the ordinary pressures of supply and demand. While raw-material prices have spiralled in response to the oil crisis and world-wide shortages, the prices of "waste #2" have remained constant over several years. Paper manufacturers were asked if they would consider paying voluntary price increases for scavenged materials, considering that social implications are involved. The response was negative One reason was the practical one: that manufacturers would not agree among themselves inasmuch as they, generally, do not coordinate with one another on such matters. But a second reason given by a sincerely concerned manufacturer was that he could see little difference between deliberately raising his raw-material costs and giving alms out of the company's profits. And if alms were to be given, his first responsibility was to his employees or to the town in which the plant was located. The bodegero, the dealer, and the factory are like three separate responsibility or cost centers within a single firm, each one anxious to minimizecosts and maximize profits--as if responsive to a budget on which their performance was being measured. The attempt to keep within the budget implies a continuing effort to narrow the areas of responsibility, to absorb no more costs than were clearly their responsibility. In this industrial passing-the-buck there is little opening for industrial social responsibility. An oil crisis can emerge and paper-manufacturing costs can double over- night; somehow the company and the market can adjust and ab- 42 Keyes: Manila Scavengers sorb such changes. But a voluntary increase in prices is another story. General managers seem responsibility-bound to be able to report to their superiors that "I never spent a centavo that wasn't absolutely necessary." This study, then, accepts that within the framework of present economic thinking there is little hope for a real solution to the "scavenger problem." But hope does lie in the ability of those who wield power in the present system to gradually realize that they are working with a model that is defective and even dangerous in a broader social context. If they could accept this realization, they might be more willing to accept less-than-rigid adherence to the system's postulates. We live, economically speaking, in a Keynesian world which presumes that it is through growth, through ever increasing pro- ductive activity that increasing shares of wealth will eventually trickle down to the poor. It therefore follows that the business- man can claim that his relentless pursuit of profits and the creation of more and more wealth are, in the Iong.run, the most effi- cient means of achieving social justice. This orientation holds a position of prominence in corporate thinking today. Indeed, a recent article (Burck 1973) questions whether business has any responsibility beyond business itself: There might be serious questions of equity involved in asking corporate executives to tackle social problems with money be- longing to other people, i.e., the stockholders. or again: The only responsibility of businessmen or anyone else is to obey the laws of the land, no more, no less. If our society wants business to set up day-care centers for employees' children, for example, then it should pass a law to that effect so that the burden will be shared by all business enterprises. Corporate spending . . . for social activities . . . is indistin- guishable in its effects from simple inefficiency or outright em- bezzlement.

The bastion of Keynesian economics is, however, coming more and more under attack in the West by an orientation emerging initially out of environmentalist concern. Initially viewed by economists as sentimentalists and "gadflys," environmentalists have The Philippine Poor I: Two Monographs 43 grown in strength as the debate becomes more sophisticated, and as the evidence mounts indicating that the Keynesian model presumes limitless resources and an exploitable frontier, that it ig- nores environmental and social costs which can no longer be ignored as we more and more adopt the "spaceship earth" concept of a closed global system. Environmentalists have been joined by physicists, psychologists, and life scientists in their clamor that the economic model is defective; that it is destroying man, destroying the earth, and is not bringing higher levels of living to the poor. A renowned economist, Milton Friedman, recently admitted (Hen- derson 1973), "I believe that we economists in recent years have done vast harm--to society at large and our profession in parti- cular." Though such a discussion may seem far removed from concern for scavengers, and from practical suggestions as to how to handle the problem, actually it is at the heart of the matter. If an industrialist view of social responsibility implies little more than occasional almsgiving to worthy causes, we can find no solutions for the scavengers within the system--or for the poor as a whole, for that matter--even though they may constitute the maj- ority of metropolitan society. The plant manager can adjust somehow to the trebling of fuel costs on account of the oil crisis, know- ing that the board of directors will understand. On the other hand, the same manager must be able to justify, in terms of rate of return of investment, any venture into projects having social costs when such ventures can never be justified under this strict norm. If he attempted to undertake social costs, he would be judged as

inefficient and unprofessional. I - Yet, the ' data are increasingly convincing .that the Keynesian model is not working. Instead of trickling down, wealth is becoming more narrowly owned; the ratio of wealth distribution is worsening and the poor, absolutely and relatively, are becoming poorer. Still, economists tend to ignore the social and environmental realities that do not fit their theoretical models. Paper manufacturers--and all industrialists--become increasingly vulnerable in their practice of operating in a single link of a long, and now circular, chain of activities from acquisition of raw material to the sale, use, and disposal of the finished product. The "cost center" mentality has an inbuilt pressure to shunt off as 44 Keyes: Manila Scavengers many costs as possible to other departments in order to better improve the performance picture and profit margin. If bodegas are eyesores and firetraps, and if scavengers struggle at below subsistence earnings; it is ultimately because the economics of paper manufacturing makes it so. Social and environmental concerns, like the scavengers themselves, tend to be left outside the factory gate. Yet, in the system which tends to perpetuate the dehumanization of scavengers, paradoxically the greater responsibility, must fall on the manufacturing plant, because, at present, the manufacturer seems to operate more rationally and ethically than either the bodegero or dealer. The ultimate solution to the scavenger problem is through the backward integration of the paper industry, a backward integration that openly accepts social costs which cannot be justified in terms of return on investment; a backward integration that ra- tionalizes present bodega and dealer procedures and which, at the same time, rejects capital intensive "antiseptic" and automated solutions in a labor intensive environment. The research results suggest that manufacturers cannot approach the problems with a "what will it cost?" mentality, but rather with a realization that up to the present they have not been paying the costs; that by limiting their horizons to on link in a chain, they have allowed a pattern of dehumanizing exploitation to flourish. Bodegeros and dealers are not educated business leaders with a sensitivity to basic economic concerns. They are, for the most part, marginal entrepreneurs who know little more than that profit is the difference between sales and expenses. Hence, we can expect no solutions from them. It is on the corporate level where talented and, hopefully; enlightened leadership is more likely to be available that solutions must be worked out. Through enlightened leadership, supported by wise government policy, business must begin to accept the social costs of the industry within which they have been operating. APPENDICES APPENDIX A

An ordinance authorizing scavenging in the City of Manila, except on the tourist belt and commercial zones, and providing penalty for violation thereof

Be it ordained by the Municipal Board of the City of Manila, that: SECTION 1. Scavenging in the City of Manila is hereby author- ized except on the Tourist Belt and commercial zones, from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. Scavenging for purposes of this ordinance shall mean: obtaining papers, tin cans, bottles, and other materials from garbage receptacles and/or garbage heaps for business purposes. SEC. 2. Scavengers for the purpose of this ordinance shall be male persons, not less than 18 years of age, and equipped with pushcart painted luminous green. SEC. 3. Before an authority is given to scavengers mentioned in Sec. 2, they must first secure a Mayor's Permit, Police Clearance, and Health Certificate. SEC. 4. Violation of this ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty pesos (P20.00) nor more than one hundred pesos (P100.00) or by imprisonment of not less than one (1) month nor more than six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the Court, and the pushcarts or any contrivance used in the commission of the offense shall be forfeited in favor of the government. 46 Keyes: Manila Scavengers SEC. 5. This ordinance shall take effect upon its approval. Enacted by the Municipal Board of the City of Manila at its regular session today, December 18, 1973. Approved by His Honor, the Mayor, on

APPROVED: RAMON D. BAGATSING GEMILIANOC. LOPEZ, JR. Mayor Acting Vice-Mayor and City of Manila Presiding Officer, Municipal Board ATTESTED: ROMAN G. GARGANTIEL RODOLFO S. MARINO Secretary to the Mayor Secretary, Municipal Board

APPENDIX B Manila Metropolitan Police circular on the ordinance prohibiting scavenging

June 13, 1974

CIRCULAR NO. 71 Published hereunder, for information and guidance, is Ordinance No. 7510 prohibiting scavenging:

Ordinance No. 7510 -

An ordinance prohibiting scavenging and providing penalty for violation thereof.

Be it ordained by the Municipal Board of Manila, that: Appendix B 47 SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to scavenge garbage. For all intents and purposes of this ordinance, the term scavenging shall be construed to mean obtaining ! papers, tin cans, bottles, and other materials from garbage receptacles and/or garbage heaps except from the city garbage dump site. SEC. 2. Violation of this ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty (?50.00) pesos or imprisonment of not more than two (2) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and the pushcarts or any contrivance used in violating this ordinance shall be forfeited in favor of the government. SEC. 3. This ordinance shall take effect upon its approval. Enacted by the Municipal Board of Manila at its regular session today, May 16, 1974. Approved by His Honor, the Mayor, on June 3, 1974.

APPROVED (SGD.) RAMON D. BAGATSING Mayor City of Manila (SGD.) MARTIN B. ISIDRO Vice-Mayor and Presiding Officer Municipal Board

ATTESTED (SGD.) ROMAN G. GARGANTIEL Secretary to the Mayor (SGD.) HERMINIO B. NORIEGA Acting as Secretary Municipal Board JAMES G. BARBERS Colonel, MMP Deputy Chief of Police APPENDIX C

Letter of William J. Keyes, S.J., to Manila Mayor Ramon Bagatsi ng requesting reconsideration of the Ban on Scavenging

Loyola House of Studies Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Q.C., Philippines

February 19, 1974

The Honorable Mayor Ramon Bagatsing Office of the Mayor City of Manila

Dear Mr. Mayor,

It was several years ago, when I was Assistant Spiritual Director of several Cursillos at Casa de Clero, that we met. You used to serve breakfast for the candidates and, several times, after the others had finished we shared breakfast together and talked. As I write, I am anxious that this letter reach you; that it not be stopped and discarded in the outer office. I judge the matter both urgent and important. For the past several months I have had adequate contact with Manila's poorest--the scavengers. I feel I can speak with a degree of competence about them and their livelihood. They engage in their work even though it is also distasteful to them out of desperate expediency. They simply have found no alternative and would gladly welcome any other, more decent form of livelihood. Now, with responsibility falling directly on your office, scavenging has been outlawed in the city of Manila. The police have been fining or jailing the scavengers themselves and confiscating the kareton. I have, myself, seen scavengers turned away from the Appendix 49 local bodega because the bodegero has already had many of his carts impounded and is afraid to let out the few remaining lest they also be lost--and so the people are left with prospect of a day without any income whatsoever, without any means of buying the food. May I urgently request that you reconsider this ban. As unsight- ly as the presence of scavengers might be, the ban is literally forcing people into starvation, suppressing the only livelihood open to them. They simply cannot buy food. You must be made conscious that this is not what is going on. Must the allure of the foreign tourist's dollar be so compelling as to put higher priority on "cleanliness" than on the human survival of these unfortunate people? It seems to be a curious stance that the city pursues--to pretend that there is no poverty. Why not, instead, build pride and self- esteem on imaginative programs of assistance and concern for the poor--as has been done in Hongkong and Singapore. Your objective of catering to the tourist, could have been ac- complished by less drastic action. The ban on scavenging could have been limited to the Mabini and lntramuros areas, or limited to certain hours only. But a complete ban over the entire cityl This seems cruel and more than 1,000 families are actually begin- ning to starve as a result. I would gladly volunteer to assist you in a 'more humane solution to the problem of urban poverty if you would accept my services. But for the present, I only plead that you be aware of the situation and help alleviate the human suffering that your directive has imposed on the poor.

Sincerely yours,

(SGD.) WILLIAM J. KEYES, S.J. APPENDIX D

Reply of the Manila Mayor's Office to William J. Keyes, SA., denying latter's request

June 3, 1974

Fr. William J. Keyes, S.J. Loyola House of Studies Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Quezon City Dear Father Keyes: Reference is made to your letter of February 19, 1974, regarding scavenging in the City. This Office deeply regrets that it cannot favorably consider your request in behalf of the city's numerous scavengers without prejudicing the larger interest of the public. The main problems that these scavengers present are that their indispensable pushcarts pose formidable traffic hazards and that they litter the public streets, to say nothing of the eyesores they display to tourists. Moreover, we have received reports that these karetons are used as conveyors of stolen articles, including manhole covers in our streets and telephone and electric wires. While there can be no denying the fact that these poor people should be allowed dn opportunity to improve their lot, such improvement should not be at the expense of others. Surely there must be some other way. Very truly yours, By authority of the Mayor: (SGD.) ROMAN G. GARGANTIEL Secretary to the Mayor APPENDIX E

Record of scavenger arrests in the six Police Precincts in Manila December, 1973-July, 1974

Precinct 1 (northern part of Tondo)

December ...... 0 January ...... 5

February ...... 92

March...... 41

April...... 17

May-July ...... 0

Precinct 2** (San Nicolas, Binondo, and southern and south- eastern part of Tondo)

July...... 6

Precinct 3 (Sta. Cruz and Quiapo)

December ...... 3. January 1-February 3 ...... 54

February 4-March 3 ...... 66

March 4-31 ...... 40

April 1-May 5 ...... 52

May 6-June2 ...... 31

June3-30 ...... 19

July1-28 ...... 112 Keyes: Manila Scavengers Precinct 4 (Sampaloc and San Miguel) December ...... 0 January...... 3 February...... 22 March...... 6 April...... 4 May...... 17 June...... g July...... 23 Precinct 5 (Intramuros, Ermita, Malate, and western part of Paco) December ...... 5 January...... 6 February...... 17 March ...... 14 April...... 2 May...... June...... 1 July...... 4 Precinct 6 (Pandacan, Sta. Ana, and eastern part of Paco) December ...... 0 January...... 2 February...... March-July ...... 0

"There used to be only five police precincts in Manila. In April 1974, Precinct 1 (covering Tondo, San Nicolas, and Binondo) was divided into what are now Precinct 1 and Precinct 2. ""Precinct 2's record before April 1974 is included in that of Precinct 1. From April to June 1974, Precinct 2 did not yet conduct any anti-scavenging campaign. In July, a team called Scavenger and Mendicant Unit was created. APPENDIX F

News Item on the Quezon City garbage controversy

Garbage controversy stirs Q.C.; probe sought Bulletin Today, Sat., Oct 19, 1974 By C. Valmoria, Jr. (Bulletin Correspondent)

The Quezon City leadership, still reeling from the effects of the reported irregularities involving restaurant permits, was rocked anew yesterday by another controversy involving garbage collection. Mayor Norberto S. Amoranto called the city council to a special session yesterday afternoon to take up the problerri. It was reported that garbage collected in the city was "parcelled out" to some councilors who fight over it"becai:iseiven a small parcel can give 13,000 a month net." - "No wonder that incinerator will neier work," remarked a news- man. Following this report, the city council passed a resolution asking the DIpartment of Local Governments and Community Develop- ment and the Department of National Defense to conduct a formal investigation. Councilor Estanislao G. Aliriea, Jr., who authored the resolution, said there "could really be some truth about this" because an estimated 500 tons of garbage are being collected and disposed of by the office of city public services each day. "With this volume," Alinea averred, "I can say that some amount of money can really go around." 54 Keyes: Manila Scavengers

The councilor said that preliminary inquiries indicated that "there are bigtime operators working in the city's garbage dump site, who supervise the collection of tin cans, waste paper, and other items that can be sold for recycling by certain companies. "Who are these operators? Who allowed them to conduct bigtime scavenging operations in our dumpsite?" Alinea asked. Meanwhile, Major Carlos A. Tan, newly appointed city public service officer, informed the mayor that the incinerator could be made to run with an appropriation of P325,000. Tan said the original recommendation of P80,000 for the repair of the incinerator should be increased to include salaries and wages of technical personnel who will undertake the repair and operation of the plant. The incinerator personnel included in the current budget and plantilla, Tan said, are all clerical workers, except for four technical positions. "It is for this reason," he added, "that the creation of 23 more positions, which are the personnel requirements for the operation of one unit on an eight-hour three-shift operation, is being recom- mended." The OCPS chief said incinerator plant engineers are now studying the feasibility of installing accessory equipment, which will be less expensive than the crusher, to minimize clogging of garbage in the machine. This is themain problem oftheincinerator plant, he said.. Of the ?403,000 requested by the OCPS for operational expenses up to Dec 31, the city council,approved only P133,000 whichis good for one month's operation. The city council was still studying the original proposal on the ground that there is an excess of personnel in the OCPS. In another development, the Economic Development Founda- tion had offered to conduct a study on the incinerator plant. It was reported earlier that unless special equipment such as separators, crushers, pulpers, cutters, and other accessories are available,the incinerator cannot be made to operate. NOTES

1 The extraordinarily high percentage is not in harmony with the percentage of Ma- nila-born male household heads and deserves explanation. The fact that the author could interview only in English and Tagalog may have caused some Viyans to shy ay. But the major reason is that generally scavengers, being young men, are second generation migrants. Many are sons of migrants but are, themselves, Manila-born.

2People from whom the scavenger can regularly secure paper or other scrap material.

3 Data supplied by the Philippine Pulp and Paper Manufacturers' Association, Inc. (PULPAPEL), February 1974,

4See Appendix A for a true copy of the proposed ordinance. Appendix B, on the other hand, contains a true copy of Ordinance No. 7510 which prohibits scavenging. Ordinance No. 7510 was passed on June 13, 1974 and is an amended version of the earlier Ordinance No. 2781.

practice of petty extortion by policemen and other government officials, REFERENCES

Burck, Gilbert 1973 The hazards of corporate responsibility. Fortune 87(6): 114+ Buu,Hoan 1974 Cities the poor build. Paper presented at the Sunday Times U.N. Population Conference "The Exploding Cities," Oxford, April 1-6. Pp. 242-84. Henderson, Hazel 1973 Ecologists versus economists. Harvard Business Review 51(4): 28-30. Hollnsteiner, Mary R. 1973 The people versus urbano planner y administrador. In Develop- ment in the '70's. 5th annual seminar for student leaders. Manila: United States Information Service. Pp. 83-111.