Context of the Study Area

This section outlines the socio-economic and political urban environment in the Philippines and in Iloilo City. These conditions shape the kind of planning actions that civil society groups can undertake as they achieve their collective goals.

4.2.1 The Philippines: Socio- political and economic characteristics

The Philippines is an archipelago in Southeast Asia (see Figure 4.1) with a population of 94 million in 2010 (National Statistics Office [NSO], n.d.) dispersed across 7,107 islands. It has three main geographical divisions, namely: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao divisions; its capital is Manila (Figure 4.1). The Philippines’ archipelagic nature contributed “to the

64 formation of at least 156 languages” (Zorc, 1984 as cited in Thompson, 2003, p. 28) making it one of the most ethnolinguistically diverse nations in Asia. It has a long history of colonial rule, particularly under Spain, Japan and the USA, interspersed with visits from merchants and traders; all this has resulted in a multicultural blend of people.

Figure 4.1 The Philippines and its three geographic divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (Embassy of the Philippines, 2012).

65

Following Marcos’ authoritarian rule (1972-1981), democracy was restored to the

Philippines through the People Power Revolution in 1986, and a unitary form of government with a multi-tiered structure was created. The country is now a presidential republic with a bicameral legislature (24 Senate members and 250 members of the House of

Representatives). The country’s President and Vice-President are elected through direct

voting; they spend six years in office. The President is not eligible for re-election20, but the Vice-President can serve up to three consecutive terms (Article 7, Section 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution). The members of the House of Representatives and the bottom 12 Senate members are all elected every three years through direct voting in the national elections and are eligible to serve for up to three consecutive terms. The top 12 Senate members get to serve a full six years, after which national elections are held for their positions.

Below the central government is the three-level local government units (LGUs) hierarchy: provinces are divided into municipalities and component cities, which are further subdivided into barangays(or “villages”); these are the smallest political units. Each level of local government has councils as their own legislative bodies. Local executives (mayors and governors) and members of local legislatives are also elected by their respective constituents and get to serve the full six years (Republic Act [R.A.] 7160 of 1991).

In the context of this study, it is important to note that decentralization in the early 1990s gave local government units far greater responsibilities and resources. At the same time, civil society has been given more opportunities to participate in service provision and policy- decisions at all levels of the planning process. Many civil society groups are actively engaged in addressing issues of urban poverty. This new form of governance encourages more participatory forms of planning, and more cases of civil society-government partnerships.

20

The revised 1987 Constitution does not allow the country’s President to run for two successive elections in

order to prevent dictatorship. In the 1973 Constitution, the President had a six-year term and no limitation on re-election.

66

4.2.1.1 The urban21 economy

The Philippines is the most rapidly urbanizing country in East Asia. This growth is fueled by both in-migration from rural to urban areas and natural population growth (World Bank, 2009). The urban population has already passed the 50 per cent mark and is expected to rise to 75 per cent of the country’s population by 2030. The nation’s capital, Metro Manila, is the

11th most populous metropolitan area in the world (World Bank, 2009).

The growth of urban population from 32 per cent in 1970 to 38 per cent in 1980 and 47 per cent in 1990 (Philippine Commission on Population, 2003) implies that the urban economy has been the key driver of national economic growth (GHK International, 2009)22. In the past decade, both large and small cities have reported their highest economic growth rates, which have stimulated development in the surrounding areas.

Despite the high economic growth in urban areas, there are still significant problems associated with poverty. Though most definitions associate poverty with a lack of, or

deficiency in, the human necessities, there is no consensus as to what basic human needs are or how they can be identified (Wratten, 1995). The concept of poverty is complex and there is no consensus on its definition. The Philippines adopts the complementary economic and anthropological interpretations that were proposed by Wratten (1995) and Satterthwaite (1995 as cited in Satterthwaite, 2003, p. 74)23. The urban poor in the country are those people

21

In the Philippines, an urban area is defined as:

· In their entirety, all cities and municipalities which have a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square kilometre;

· Poblaciones or “central districts” of municipalities and cities which have a population density of at least 500 persons;

· Poblaciones or “central districts”, not included in 1 and 2 above, regardless of population size which have the following characteristics:

1. Street pattern, that is, network of streets in either parallel or right angle orientation;

2. At least six establishments, either commercial, manufacturing, recreational and/or personal services; and,

3. At least three of the following:

a. a town hall, church, or chapel with religious services at least once a month; b. a public place, park, or cemetery;

c. a market place or building where trading activities are carried out at least once a week; d. a public building like a school, hospital, puericulture, health centre, or library.

· Barangays, or villages, having at least 1,000 inhabitants, which meet the conditions set forth in 3 above and in which the occupation of the inhabitants is predominantly non-farming/fishing (Philippine Commission on Population, 2003).

22

Information taken from the technical consultants’ report for Asian Development Bank.

23

According to Wratten (1995) and Satterthwaite (1995 as cited in Satterthwaite, 2003, p. 74), conventional economic definitions use income or consumption as the main indicator.Alternative interpretations allow for local variation in the meaning of poverty, and expand the definition to include perceptions of non-material deprivation and social differentiation (Wratten,1995; Satterthwaite, 1995).

67 in urban and urbanisable areas who are without houses and whose income falls below the poverty threshold set by the government (Republic Act [R.A.] 7279 or the Urban

Development and Housing Act of 1992). It also refers to people who do not own housing facilities to include those who live in makeshift dwellings and do not have security of tenure (Article 3, R.A. 7279). In 2009, a Filipino family needed Php 7,01724 income per month to stay out of poverty: this is the amount needed for a five-member family household to meet their monthly basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter (National Statistics Coordinating Board [NSCB], 2011). In 2007, the urban poor in informal settlements were estimated at 550,77125 households (Cruz, 2010). Despite the high incidence of poverty in urban areas, the huge number of people living there may be due to urbanisation, better perceived

opportunities, and displacements in rural areas resulting in political instability and infrastructure projects.

24

Php 7,017 = NZD 204.22 using the currency converter . Retrieved at http://coinmill.com/PHP_calculator.html#PHP=7017 on 21 October 2011.

25

Data is part of the Spatial Statistics of Informal Settlers in the Philippines which is a component of the Housing Backlog Study commissioned by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). For this study, informal settlers are defined as “those households whose tenure status is ‘rent-free’

without consent of owner” (Cruz, 2010, p.1).

Figure 4.2 A Filipino family. It is common for a Filipino family to have at least three children with less than two years of age gap. (Photo and text: Author, 2009).

68

Urban poverty in the Philippines is also manifested in the proliferation of slums and informal settlements found in high-risk areas: e.g. riverbanks, railway tracks, and flood and landslide prone areas. These overcrowded settlements lack basic infrastructure services, secure tenure, social networks, and access to quality services such as health, education, and transportation. These informal settlements also lack access to employment and livelihood opportunities (Republic Act [RA] 7279; Llanto & Ballesteros, 2003).

These characteristics of urban poverty are not unique to the Philippines as they have also been found in other Third World countries. Variations may exist, such as the nature of the activities of urban poor, the types and severity of problems they experience, and assistance that is available to them (see UN-Habitat, 2008, 2009). National governments, the civil society sector, the private sector, and development aid organisations have programmes and projects that address urban poverty; these programmes are undertaken either as resistance to prevailing state practices or in partnership with the state.

Figure 4.3 Houses of the urban poor. The houses of the urban poor consist of materials abundant in the area. This photo shows shacks in Iloilo City made of bamboo and thatch; this is in contrast to Manila slums, where most houses are made of corrugated iron, cement blocks, and scrap materials (Photo and text: Author, 2011).

69 Like other cities in the Third World, urban poverty in Iloilo City has manifested in the

engagement of the poor in the “informal sector”. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines the informal sector as:

[consisting] of small-scale, self-employed activities (with or without hired workers), typically at a low level of organization and technology, with the primary objective of generating employment and incomes. The activities are usually conducted without proper recognition from the authorities, and escape the attention of the administrative machinery responsible for enforcing laws and regulations (ILO website, 2000).

The informal sector in many Asian cities accounts for 50 to 60 per cent of the workforce (International Labour Organisation [ILO], 2000).

In the Philippines, the definitions adopted by the country’s policy-making and coordinating

body on statistical matters (which is the NSCB) and the Social Reform and Poverty

Alleviation Act26 conform to the definition of ILO. Their definitions, however, deviate in the respect that some informal enterprises are registered with proper government agencies (Sibal, 2007).

The informal sector in the Philippines has the following characteristics (Sibal, 2007):

· composed of self-employed workers and unpaid family workers;

· mostly homed-based, mostly unregistered, hardly paying direct taxes, and uninsured;

· engaged in both legal and illegal (or non-legitimate) activities;

· majority work purely in the informal sector but some are also working for a limited period (on contractual arrangement) in the formal sector as wage workers,

sales agents, service providers, etc.;

· the condition of safety in the workplace is very uncertain; and,

· the main source of capital is their savings, and there is no form of loan assistance.

26

The Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act of 1997 (R.A. 8425) refers to workers in the informal sector

as “poor individuals who operate businesses that are very small in scale and are not registered with any national government agency, and to the workers in such enterprises who sell their services in exchange for

70 Figure 4.4 Sources of livelihood in the Philippines. Some urban poor get

their source of income from driving jeepneys, taxi cabs, or trisikads. A

trisikad is a popular mode of transportation which means tri (3 wheels) and sikad (to pedal) and is considered as a poor man’s version of a taxi

(Photo and text: Author, 2011).

Figure 4.5 Street vendors outside a university. Street vendors sell fruits and other foods to augment the meagre income of the household which is less than NZD $5 a day (Photo and text: Author, 2011).

71 The first Philippine survey of the informal sector reported that there are 10.5 million

operators in 200827 (NSO, 2009). These informal sector operators were either self-employed without any paid employees, or employers in family operated farms or businesses. The self- employed numbered about 9.1 million, while the employers numbered 1.3 million (NSO, 2009).

4.2.2 Iloilo City: Socio-political and economic characteristics

Iloilo City, with a small land area of 78.34 square kilometers (Fast facts: Iloilo City, 2011), is the regional centre in Western Visayas region28, southeast of Panay Island just across the Iloilo Strait (Figure 4.6). The city is one of the biggest urban centers in the country, with a population of 418,710 recorded in the nationwide census in 2007 (Fast facts: Iloilo City, 2011) distributed among six districts (City Proper, Lapaz, Jaro, Mandurriao, Molo, and Arevalo). In 2007, its growth rate of 1.9 per cent was just slightly lower than the Philippine’s

average growth of 2.04 per cent (NSO, 2010). The city’s relatively fast growth rate is attributed to its role as the administrative, financial, and educational centre of Western Visayas. The majority of the land area in Iloilo City (Figure 4.7) is used for residential purposes (yellow colour), while commercial areas (red colour) are found along major thoroughfares. Only a small percentage of the total land area is reserved for agricultural purposes (green colour). The socialised housing zones (yellow-orange colour circled in red), or areas of low-income housing units, are mostly located on the periphery or just outside the boundaries of the city. Their locations make access to employment and services difficult for the urban poor who stay in these areas.

27

The nationwide survey was conducted by the National Statistics Office with funding assistance provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

28

72 Figure 4.6 Location of Iloilo City in the Philippines and in Western Visayas region.

73 Figure 4.7 Zoning Map of Iloilo City. The

map shows Iloilo City’s six districts and its

current land uses (for the period 1998- 2011).

Iloilo City has a directly elected executive mayor, 12 councillors, and a lone legislature. Below the city government there are 180 barangays(or “villages”) distributed across the six

districts. Local officials are elected every three years by the constituents. Civil society participation is quite active based on the hundreds of civil society organisations found in Iloilo City. The city government recognises their significance in decision-making processes; thus, there is a requirement for civil society to be represented in development councils and committees.

The current city mayor has collaborated with civil society groups and other institutions such as international funding agencies, business sector, and local government units to increase the city's linkages with other agencies other than the national government. The city

government’s most notable partnerships have been in housing, solid waste management,

heritage conservation and festival programmes; all of these have gained international recognition for their success (Institute for Solidarity in Asia [ISA], 2009). It also has on- going partnerships with international agencies (e.g. Canadian Urban Institute [CUI] & Canadian International Development Agency [CIDA]) for its good governance programme. The significance of partnerships in the planning and development process has been initiated and supported by international agencies working in the city, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB), German Company for International Cooperation (GTZ, now GIZ) and Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA).

4.2.2.1The urban economy

A large percentage of Iloilo City’s urban economy is driven by the service sector, followed

by industry (e.g. food processing, wood products, construction, and fishing) and agriculture (Fast facts: Iloilo City, 2011). Although official statistics do not put the city on the list of the

country’s poorest areas, claims of reports from civil society groups indicate that a significant

percentage of the population is employed in the informal sector. At the local level, there is no official figure yet available on the number of people in the informal sector. The national statistics, however, show that, of the 10.5 million employed in the informal sector in 2008, 8.1 per cent of these are found in the Western Visayas region (NSCB, 2011). This means that the region has the third highest percentage of people in the informal sector after

CALABARZON29 (11.1 %) and Central Luzon (8.3 %) (NSCB, 2011).

29

CALABARZON is one of the regions in the Philippines and is composed of five provinces, namely: CAvite,

75 Many of those employed in the informal sector have land tenure problems. The large number of informal settlers prompted the current city mayor to create the Iloilo City Urban Poor Association Office (ICUPAO) in the early 2000s as the government agency that manages the concerns of the urban poor (Calubiran, 2007). The ICUPAO conducted a structural census in 2002, and found that the number of informal settlers in Iloilo City was more than 17,000 families (Calubiran, 2007), with an average of five members in each family. The informal settlers were mostly concentrated along the river banks and old railway routes. The number of informal settlers has since been reduced to a little over 7,000 families in 2011 (Homes

await Iloilo…, 2011). The decreasein the number of informal settlers is attributed by

ICUPAO to the city government’s relocation sites and the declaration of Presidential

Proclamation Areas in the city as resettlement areas. There are also households who were able to attain security of tenure through the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) run by the government (Calubiran, 2007). Recently, the city government has embarked on land banking as a strategy to address tenure security of the urban poor.

Given that Iloilo city has a population of almost half a million, the reported number of households found in informal settlements appears to be an under-presentation of the actual figure. Capturing a more realistic number of informal settlers in the city may have been hampered by the limited resources available to the government when conducting the census, and the lack of coordination with urban poor federations in the city. Recently, the city government has formed partnerships with some urban poor federations to improve its census of informal settlers in Iloilo City.

The reduction of urban poverty has been part of the activities and programmes of civil society organisations in the city. There are three organisations whose programmes are specifically focussed on the urban poor; these groups form my three case study groups. HPFP and GABRIELA are community-based organisations, which means their membership consists of the marginalised sectors of society. JASAC is a faith-based NGO that represents marginalised sectors.

Based on the descriptions given by the case study groups of their urban poor members, this segment of society is multi-dimensional. The groups have members or clients who are employed, but as low–level workers in government agencies and business establishments. Moreover, the majority of their members or clients share the following characteristics:

absence of land tenure, residence in high-risk areas, engagement in the “underground economy” (or informal activities), and insecure employment.