Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1992 Networks as Strategies of Survival in Urban Poor Communities: An Ethnographic Study in the Philippine Setting Jesusa M. Marco Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Marco, Jesusa M., "Networks as Strategies of Survival in Urban Poor Communities: An Ethnographic Study in the Philippine Setting" (1992). Dissertations. 3210. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3210 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1992 Jesusa M. Marco LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NETWORKS AS STRATEGIES OF SURVIVAL IN URBAN POOR COMMUNITIES: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY BY JESUSA M. MARCO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JANUARY 1992 Copyright, 1991, Jesusa M. Marco All Rights Reserved. A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S This study would not have been possible without the invaluable support of numerous people. I specially thank my disserta­ tion committee: Dr. Judith Wittner, Dr. Kathleen Mccourt, and Dr. Philip Nyden for their unselfish guidance, assistance, and confidence in me. I sincerely thank my family whose unfailing care and encouragement gave me the needed strength, and my father who I know is proud of this achievement. And I shall be forever grateful to the women and men of Apelo Cruz and Bagbag who allowed me to enter their world and get a more meaningful sense of their lives. I am privileged to write this in their behalf. ii VITA Born in Manila, Philippines, the author, Jesusa M. Marco is the daughter of Pilar Martin and the late Vicente T. Marco. She graduated elementary in 1967 and high school in 1971 from the College of the Holy Spirit, Manila (Philippines). Ms. Marco obtained her degree in Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Minor in Psychology) at Maryknoll College, Quezon city (Philippines) . She completed her Master of Arts in Social Sciences major in Sociology at De La Salle University, Manila, in 1985. She has been a full-time faculty in the Behavioral Sciences Dept. of De La Salle University since 1976. ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii VITA iii LIST OF TABLES vii CONTENTS OF APPENDICES viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION 1 Review of Literature 6 Philippine Urban Growth 7 History of the Development of Slum and Squatter Communities 9 Evolution of Urban Policy 15 The Institutional Set-up 21 Urban Poor Organization 25 Depleting Public Services and Urban Poverty 34 Social Relationships and Urban Poverty 36 Networks and Urban Survival 40 II. LASTING FIRST IMPRESSIONS 56 Barangay Apelo Cruz 56 Apelo Cruz's System of Basic Services 59 Scavenging: Apelo Cruz's Way of Life 65 Barangay Bagbag 70 Bagbag's System of Basic Services 73 "City of Man" 77 III. ORGANIZATIONS OF THE URBAN POOR 84 Community Organizations in Apelo and Bagbag 85 IV. COMMUNITIES OF WOMEN STALWARTS 101 The Women of Apelo 102 The Women of Bagbag 112 iv v. INFORMAL SOCIAL NETWORKS: APELO'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • 12 5 A Typical Support System 125 Economic Needs: Money and Subsistence 129 Care, Personal Favors, and Non-Cash Help 140 "Good" Neighbors 144 Small Variety Stores as "Good" Neighbors 150 The Informal Functions of Community Organizations 155 Informal Networks: A Potential or Threat to the Community 167 VI. The Many Faces of Informal Helping: The Case of Barangay Bagbag .................... 173 "Mixed" Alliances 173 Informal Neighboring 177 Borrowing 178 Bagbag as a Service Area 185 Food Connection 191 Moral Support 194 Neighborhood Organizations 196 VII. Politics of Needs and the Right to Services . 215 Apelo Cruz's Water Controversy 217 Water as a Household Agenda 219 Functions and Dysfunctions of Water 221 Water as a Community Agenda 227 Bagbag's "Flying Connections" 231 A Right to Own 233 The Political Will of the Majority 239 VIII. In Retrospect and Conclusion 245 Retrospect 245 Conclusion 248 V Peasant Principles of Urban Squatters 249 The Norm of Reciprocity 250 "Right to Subsistence" 252 Networks of Everyday Resistance 254 Women and Networks for Survival 257 Informal Networks 258 "Formal" Networks 262 Limitations and Implications 268 An Epilogue 275 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................... 282 APPENDIX A 291 APPENDIX B 307 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE Page 1. Metropolitan Areas in ASEAN Countries, their Per Capita Income, Urbanization Level, Absolute Population, and Per­ centage of Slum and Squatter Population 308 2. Levels and Tempo of Urbanization Census Years 1903 - 1980 ...................... 309 3. Population Estimates for Urban and Rural Residence by Census Years ............... 310 vii CONTENTS OF APPENDICES Page APPENDIX A Methodology .............................. 292 APPENDIX B Tables ................................... 308 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the Philippines, as in many developing countries, squatters constitute the bulk of the urban poor. "Squatting" is an urban phenomenon that emerged in the process of rapid urbanization. Urbanization in Third World cities has pro- gressed at unprecedented rates and favored urban growth at the expense of agriculture and rural development. 1 Southeast Asia's urban patterns are characterized by the concentration of its urban population in a few very large cities and by an absence of a system of secondary urban centers (McGee 1969). The rapid growth of Metropolitan Manila is largely a result of in-migration to this center of major industries, culture and education, with its well-developed transportation and commu­ nication systems, and its other social services like hospitals and clinics. One major effect of this influx of population was the growth of colonies and blighted pockets of squatter areas. Of all the urban centers which house these popula- tions in Southeast Asia, the largest number of squatters and slum dwellers are found in Metro Manila (refer to Table 1 in Appendix B). Squatting was triggered by many facto_rs, among 2 which were enforced migration of refugees because of fear, hunger, or rural depression, migrants' quest for subsistence in the burgeoning areas, and simple opportunism, that is, taking whatever chances there may be in the city and, through luck or hard work, may better one's present status in life. squatters suffered extremely harsh conditions, especially due to shortages in the basic requirements of food, shelter, and water. This is an ethnographic study of survival strategies of households in two urban squatter communities in Metropolitan Manila (Philippines). In this study, I examine how the thousands of Filipino people in these communities cope with their substandard conditions. In 1989, I studied two squatter communities in Metro Manila using field techniques, including informal and formal interviews with mostly women household heads, non-participant and participant observation, use of community facilities, and group meetings with my community residents to discuss and validate my findings (see Methodo­ logy, Appendix A). I studied the here and now conditions of squatters' lives to learn how they invent ways, legitimate and illegitimate, to improve their circumstances. In Chapter I, I explained my view of urban poverty as a consequence of "unbalanced" urbanization in Third Word coun­ tries like the Philippines. I summarize the history of the growth of squatter communities, the systematic evolution of urban policy and the creation of institutions to enforce the 3 policy until the present. This chapter will show how the urban poor resist the power of the state to limit and regulate their access to basic "goods" such as land and services like water, electricity, and heal th. As part of this process, they build relationships that are crucial in the viability of their communities. These networks are built and activated by com­ munity members whose activities on behalf of their family's survival are the foundation of family life in squatter com- munities. The women's invisibility in the literature sup- ports programs and policies for urban poor communities and other low-income settlements that take for granted their own needs and visions about the conditions of their existence. In Chapter II, I describe the background and setting of the two communities I studied. I discuss the structure of basic services that are so important to determining the quality of life in the two communities. I highlight concerns prominent in their everyday lives. In Apelo Cruz, these needs revolved around the problems of scavenging as a way of life. In Bag­ bag, the focus of squatters' concerns and their political actions was the government's "City of Man" project. Chapter III centers on the community organizations and groups that structured social action in the two communties. This chapter provides clear evidence of a network of socio­ political groups and organizations which have become active in the public debates over the distribution of goods and services and which have wider implications for the meaning of citizen- 4 ship and private property. I reveal the vital and indispensa­ ble role of women who were most organized and active in acqui­ ring and maintaining needs for their communities' survival. I focused on the active organizations and particularly those that came into play during my period of stay. chapter IV traces the everyday activities of women in squatter communities. For these women, achieving a good for the community was no different from work to improve the conditions by which they fulfilled their roles as wives and mothers. With inadequate housing and basic services, it is the women who suffer most as they take the primary responsibi­ lity of allocating limited basic resources to ensure the sur­ vival of their households.