Squatter Settlements Remain Populous In Philippine Cities

19 October 2011

By Raymond Billy | ResonateNews.com

Nearly four decades after Philippine officials were alerted to the trend, informal settlements continue to make up a large segment of the country's cities. The settlements, more commonly known as squatter settlements, number 550,771 in the country's largest city, Manila, alone, according to 2007 data from the government's National Convention on Statistics. Squatting is the practice of taking up unpaid occupancy in a residence.

Tyler, Texas, resident Edwin Santos said Filipinos have been increasingly migrating to cities in search of economic opportunities not available in rural communities. But the bleak jobs situation they arrive to in urban areas makes finding affordable housing a challenging proposition.

“There's a point of desperation when they can't find agricultural work in villages. But when they move to the big city and still can't find a job, they end up finding a vacant place and staying there,” said Santos, a physical therapist who moved to the U.S. from Manila 20 years ago. He said shame prevents some Filipinos from returning to their family villages after failing to find urban employment.

“It's a point of embarrassment if people go to the city and can't find work because they don't want to go back home unsuccessful. So they go to places like Manila and just end up making the most of what they have,” Santos said.

An apparent lack of future employment prospects causes some Filipinos to adopt a fatalistic attitude. The phrase “bahala na” is widely used to express “whatever will be, will be.” It derives from the phrase “bathalan na,” which means “I'll leave it up to God and see what happens,” Santos said.

Extreme and unavoidable weather conditions play a role in the nonchalant outlook many Filipinos internalize as a coping mechanism. The country is exposed to 15 typhoons each year, on average, and 5 or 6 of them typically make landfall, according data from the CIA's World Factbook online. The country's archipelago composition — being made up of more than 7,100 islands — makes it more vulnerable to intense weather. Landslides are also a frequent occurrence. These conditions pose challenges to the nation's agriculture industry, which makes up 33 percent of its workforce but only 13 percent of GDP, according to the CIA Factbook, perpetuating the migration to cities.

But when job opportunities are found to be no better in cities, Santos said, many Filipino squatters think it's presumptuous to aspire to more in life.

“There is a true and raw humility — remarkable humility. But that humility translates into 'I don't deserve more,'” Santos said. “The idea of wanting more is not great.”

Instead, Filipinos not only consign themselves to leftover housing, but also leftover food. Poor Filipinos flock to city restaurants in search of even remotely edible food. They often rummage through fast-food restaurant dumpsters in search of “pagpag,” the term used for picked-over items.

Michael Quilas, a youth minister at Gateway Christian Baptist Church in the Philippines city of Calamba, said the number of children his ministry feeds underscores the lack of access some Filipino city-dwellers have to quality food.

“We go into the squatter neighborhoods and see so many kids who are anxious for our visits. They get wide-eyed when we bring the food,” said Quilas, 19, who is in Tyler to complete a degree from Texas Baptist Theological Seminary. He estimates that the church's Feed My Hungry Children program feeds 300 children every week. He said the program, which he founded at the beginning of this year, is intended not only to nourish children physically, but also spiritually.

“For the first three months of the program, there didn't seem to be much coming from it from a spiritual standpoint. But as we went on, we started to see more children coming to the lord and more lives transformed,” said Quilas, who is in Tyler until the end of October.

That kind of “transformation” might be necessary to change the mindset Santos described as characteristic of many Filipinos.

“Sometimes, they don't realize the conditions they're living in are less than human,” Santos said. “Sometimes it's like they are living in a psychological box and it's hard for them to break out of that box.”