The Gawad Kalinga Project: Re-creating the Subject of Poverty Nel Coloma-Moya A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN GEOGRAPHY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO NOVEMBER, 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62273-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62273-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada Abstract Gawad Kalinga is a project developed by a faith-based organization whose aim is to help the poor in the Philippines. This research project examines the relationship between the middle-class administrators of the Gawad Kalinga village and the poor beneficiaries for whom the housing project has been constructed. Agency, compliance and resistance are exhibited by the poor as they are transformed through class processes and moral injunction in their attempt to take part in the village. Transformative processes are presented as discourses of the poor and the middle-class administrators as they attempt to re-define themselves through narration. IV Acknowledgement First, I would like to thank the organization Challenges of the Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (ChATSEA), and David Wurfel for the financial awards that made this research project possible. There are many people to thank in relation to my research project. I am grateful to the Couples for Christ membership involved in Gawad Kalinga who helped me in many ways by making my research process efficient, productive and enjoyable. I must mention a few people especially Ricky Cuenca, Manette and Raymond Acero, and all the others, officers, chapter heads and administrators who I met during my fieldwork. My two supervisors Dr. Philip Kelly and Dr. Elizabeth Lunstrum deserve a heartfelt thanks for patiently putting up with my creative process, of "fits and starts" that eventually culminated in this thesis. Thank you also to Steve Flusty who provided advice regarding Catholic historical influences. I would also like to thank my research team, Matthew Moya and Mariel Ranees, who patiently stood by and listened gathering data and analyzing events with me late into the night during our fieldwork. The two people Vanna Schiralli and James Shaugnessy were the two professionals who provided both moral support and emotional support during the difficulties of continuing higher education. Yvonne Yim, friend and supporter deserves mention as the person who knew exactly what needed to be done and by what deadline. Lastly I would like to thank my family Emmanuel, Matthew, Nicolas and Samantha for letting me disrupt their lives in order to get on with mine. Thank you all. v Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction The Research Project: Gawad Kalinga 1 A Narrative 4 The "Village" as Metaphorical Space 6 The Organization of the Thesis 11 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework Introduction 15 Agency and Resistance 15 Discursive Formations 21 Constructing Subjectivities/Identities 28 Conclusion 38 Chapter Three: Methodology Introduction 39 A Feminist Orientation 39 The First Phase: Pre-fieldwork 42 The Second Phase: Fieldwork 50 The Third Phase: Post-fieldwork 57 Specificity and Distance 59 Conclusion 66 Chapter Four: Christianity, the Capitalist Class and the Charismatic Movement in the Philippines Introduction 69 The Historical Context 70 The Capitalist Class 79 The Charismatic Movement in the Philippines 86 Conclusion 89 Chapter Five: The Discourse of the Poor Introduction 91 Development Discourse 93 Religious Discourse of the Poor 104 The Filipino Spirit is Rising 109 A Discourse Analysis 114 Description of Text 115 Conclusion 122 VI Chapter Six: Mobile Class Subjects- The tale of Two GK Villages Introduction 124 Classed Identities: Who is Middle-Class? 125 Profiles of the Villagers 132 The GK Build: a space of engagement 133 Entering into a Middle-Class Space 134 Livelihood Projects in the GK village 139 Being Property-less as being vulnerable 143 Conclusion 156 Chapter Seven: Patriarchy and Moral Conduct in the Gawad Kalinga Village Introduction 160 Patriarchy and the Evangelizing Mission 161 Agency and Resistance: The Immoral Subject 173 Agency and Compliance: The Moral Subject 179 Conclusion 188 Chapter Eight: Conclusion Gawad Kalinga: A Testament of Faith 190 Primary Text 200 References 200 vii Chapter ^Introduction The Research Project: Gawad Kalinga The focus of this study is on a faith-based project called Gawad Kalinga (also known as GK), which, like other development projects, attempts to ameliorate poverty and material want among the Filipino poor. The study completed research on two GK sites in Camarines Sur and Quezon provinces where poverty rates are high. The study has tried to understand how rural poverty is constituted, managed and addressed within a moral evangelical framework by a local, faith-based, non-profit organization with strong ties to the Catholic Church. The thesis explores discursive production as a process of self- creation by the subjects who participated in the GK project, both as administrators and as beneficiaries of the housing project. Gawad Kalinga, a project of Couples for Christ (CFC), began as a youth intervention program in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, Metro Manila in 1993. The rehabilitation of youth gang members was successful only up to the point where they remained within a youth camp run by the CFC members. The youth were unable to sustain the changes once they returned home. Consequently, the concept of a housing project with the continuous 1 support of the CFC membership within the community was developed. The housing project was funded by ANCOP Foundation (USA) Inc. a non-profit organization based in California. The acronym stands for "Answering the Cry of the Poor." The initial project in Bagong Silang created 2,000 homes in 18 villages from US funding through Couples for Christ chapters and the volunteer work of locally based Filipinos. In 2003, "Gawad Kalinga 111" was launched with the ambitious goal of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 villages in 7 years. Within four years GK was able to build 22,000 homes in 1,400 villages. The ideal GK village presents a possibility for the subject of poverty to be redeemed. The focus of the discourse is the same 'poor' Filipino who, as a product of failed development projects may still have 'hope' instilled by faith in the religious programming and the support of the Catholic church and the evangelizing social structure of the Couples for Christ organization. The thrust of the organization is a governmentalizing mission to remake the subject of poverty into a law-abiding, respectable and productive subject. The initial aim of this research study was to uncover the practices of governmentality by Gawad Kalinga at the local village level which transforms the subject of poverty into an idealized model of respectability. However, the outcome of the project has become a 2 more interesting exploration of the subjects as they narrate and self-create their path to growth as a requirement of their acceptance into the housing project. What mechanisms have been implemented by GK to ensure moral compliance with established codes of behavior? What seems particularly interesting is how much impact a 'new house' in a well-organized village with amenities and livelihood projects can have on the poor? What processes of transformation take place as the subject of poverty learns the codes of conduct required to participate and stay in the program? This thesis explores two fundamental dimensions of the discursive construction of the subject, as a classed subject re-making itself, and as a moral subject discursively produced within the moral guidelines of the Gawad Kalinga project. The benefit of being given a house through the fundraising efforts of a faith-based organization presents the subject of poverty with the opportunity to decide how to fit in to the requirements of the program. I contend that various subjects, both administrators and beneficiaries alike, within the GK project narrate and self-create a subjectivity that through discourse receives purchase within the project. The administrators construct their subjectivity that becomes defined through their work within the GK village, as they interact and understand themselves in relation to the poor.