Informal Settlements in Metro Manila

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN METRO MANILA

(AN OVERVIEW)REBECCA VANESSA D.L. RELLOSA

PLAN 240

DR. MA. SHEILA G. NAPALANG

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Informal Settlements and Slums Theories on the formation of Informal

Settlements Metro Manila: A brief description Squatter in the Vernacular Magnitude of Informal Settlements in

Metro Manila Historical references of squatting in the

Philippines

Informal settlements and slums

“Slum” has a negative connotation, implies evil, strange, to be shunned and avoided. Derived from the word “slumber”, slums were once thought by the majority to be unknown back streets or alleys, wrongly presumed to be sleeping and quiet.

Described as a street, alley or court, situated in a crowded district of a town or city inhabited by people of low class or by the very poor, a number of these streets or court forming a thick populated neighbourhood or district of a squalid or wretched character.

Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help. New York: The Free Press.


‘Squatting’ refers simply to the relationship between people and houses on land. A squatter is a person who has taken over land, a house or a building and occupies it without lawful authority to do so.

Squatter infiltration – a slow, almost individual spillage into land – is common throughout the Third World. It can create tiny settlements or small towns.

Infiltration ignores official land allocation or transfer systems, be they customary, market or bureaucratic. The land, if apparently unoccupied or unused, is seen as a resource, a free good available for use by those who need it.

McAuslan, Patrick. 1985. Urban Land and Shelter for the Poor. Nottingham: Russell Press.


An ever present phenomenon of the rapidly developing cities of Africa, South America, and Asia, particularly India and Pakistan is the extensive communities of squatters and shanty town dwellers that have sprung up in and around peripheral areas of cities.

Peripheral shantytowns spring up on land that is not being used for one reason or another.


Informal settlements and slums The land is often unused because it is

undesirable or unsuitable for permanent buildings.

It may consist of swamps as in certain districts of Bangkok, steep hillsides as in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, low ground subject to flooding as in the outskirts of Baghdad or refuse dumps.

Waste areas of these types may be found near the city center as well as on the outskirts. In other cases the land is too arid for cultivation and outside the scope of the city water system.

Many shantytowns also occupy land that is held vacant by urban investors in anticipation of future city growth. Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development:

Experiments in Self-Help. New York: The Free Press.


Types of Squatters: by Charles Abrams, Man’s Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World The owner squatter The squatter tenant The squatter holdover The squatter landlord The speculator squatter The semi-squatter The floating squatter


Informal settlements and slumsJohn R. Seeley in his book Redevelopment:

Some Human gains and Losses, divided slum dwellers into four types: The permanent opportunists The permanent necessitarians The temporary necessitarians The temporary opportunists


Informal settlements and slumsCharles J. Stokes in his book Land Economics

mentions in the section “A Theory of Slums” uses two main variables to describe types of slums. 1st, the attitude of the slum dweller toward

social mobility through assimilation or acculturation in the social and economic life of the community

2nd, the measure of socioeconomic handicaps and barriers to such movement

Each of these two variables provides two general classifications “slums of hope” and “slums of despair”Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development:


Informal settlements and slumsCharles J. Stokes in his book Land Economics mentions in

the section “A Theory of Slums” uses two main variables to describe types of slums. Slums of hope- characterized by the attitudes of

residents, whether or not they expect to improve their situations and whether or not there are opportunities for advancing out of the slums. Have generally the homes of recent immigrants to the community; people intend to better themselves

Slums of despair – populated by groups of longer residence;

Escalator and non-escalator classes – slums of hope are more likely to contain escalator classes groups of people who can be expected to move up through the class structure, whereas non-escalator classes, denied in some ways the privilege of escalation are more characteristic of slums of despair Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development:



‘Third World Squatting’ is what is referred to as illegally building on land one does not own of a house, made usually with temporary materials, but is not exclusive to Third World countries.

Western squatting are usually manifested by taking over existing buildings (derelict houses, blocks of offices or flats) and converting them to living accommodation.



Organized squatting- found in many Latin American countries, in India and in some Asian countries and in some Western European cities. Individual households may settle on land they regard as unoccupied with or without the permission of someone they think has the authority to give them permission.

Orthodox legal transaction, the squatter ‘buying’ a piece of land from a seller who may own the land but has no official approval for subdividing the land into housing plots, or who in fact has no authority either to acquire the land in the first place or to sell it to anyone.


Theories on the formation of informal settlements

1. Changes in land-use patterns Slum develops within the zone

surrounding the CBD. Early on this area is the home of the upper classes. With the expansion of commercial and industrial ventures, the neighbourhood becomes infiltrated with industrial, storage, and wholesale operations, and the more well-to-do move farther out from the city center. Low income workers including recently arrived poor regional ethnic and racial groups then move in and become exclusive inhabitants of these areas. The CBD develops to be an area of high land value but cheap house rents.



1. Changes in land-use patterns Modified theory of city growth: industrial areas

follow river valleys, water courses, and railroad lines out from the center, and working men’s houses cluster along them, with factories tending to locate even at the outer fringes of the city. The best housing then does not fringe the entire city but only parts of it. The main industrial areas of the future may well be located on the outskirts of the cities in new industrial towns and suburbs, as they are already beginning to be.



1. Changes in land-use patterns In such cities, formerly

common in Europe and still common in the developing countries of Asia and other parts of the world, the central areas are generally inhabited by the elite, with the slums located on the peripheries. In some instances, they are located closer to the cities on unoccupied or undesirable land.

SECTOR MODEL



2. Housing Shortages and Maintenance The continuing existence of slums has also been

explained by the fact that “their inhabitants cannot afford good housing and because private enterprise will not supply it at prices they can afford”.

The role of urban renewal projects in creating new slums in areas where old slums had been eliminated. Slum clearance reduces the number of dwellings available to low-income families and that, as a result, they cannot bargain with landlords of the prospective dwellings to obtain repairs and improvements as conditions of rental. As slum clearance continues, tenants in low-rent non-slum housing will have a harder time convincing landlords to spend funds for maintenance.



3. Myths ( from Bangkok scenario) Slums are simply the result of in-migration

from rural areas Most slum dwellers are in-migrants Slums are exploding To solve the problem of slums is to

accelerate rural development

Pornchokchai, Sopon. 1992.Bangkok Slums Review and Recommendations. Bangkok: School of Urban Community Research and Actions.


4. Rapid rural-to-urban migration. People continue to leave rural areas and move to urban centers to escape adverse rural conditions. Factors that push people out of the countryside (push factors) include environmental degradation of agricultural lands; favoring of export-oriented agricultural development models over against subsistence farming; poor market infrastructures; lack of sources of credit for small-scale farmers; limited off-farm employment; political unrest, civil wars and natural disasters which have displaced tens of millions of people in the past decades

United Nations Center for Human Settlement (U.N. Habitat), The Challenge of Slums – Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2003), xxv.


4. Rapid rural-to-urban migration. At the same time, many urban areas continue to act like magnets for people from the countryside (pull factors), because they seem to offer greater employment opportunities and potential for higher incomes; modern comforts and technological convenience are found there; social services are more readily available; the water supply is better and security is greater for those trying to escape the violence of the countryside.



5. Poor urban governance and planning. In many cities, rapid population growth, coupled with an enormous population, have overwhelmed the capacity of municipal authorities to respond. Treated as transients from rural areas that have strayed temporarily into town, many authorities do not recognize slum dwellers as legal urban citizens and are reticent about meeting their needs.



6. Global economic forces. The shift in the global economy to market liberalization, deregulation and privatization of services has resulted in increased economic volatility and growing levels of inequalities in wealth and resource distribution both between and within cities. The neoliberal export-oriented growth models have created too few formal sector jobs to absorb the millions of new job entrants. “The collapse of formal urban employment in the developing world and the rise of the informal sector are seen as a direct function of liberalization.”



6. Global economic forces. While market-based economic policies have brought some measure of economic growth, persistent inequalities inhibit most of the poor from participating in the growth that did occur. Structural adjustment policies also required widespread disengagement of the state from the urban and rural scene, leading to the collapse of low-income housing programs and rural poverty alleviation and agricultural development programs that previously benefited a segment of the poor. This situation has led to the rapid spatial expansion of irregular settlements.

Hardoy, J.E. and D Satterthwaite, Squatter Citizens: Life in the Urban Third World, (London: Earthscan, 1989).


7. Corruption. Slums continue to mushroom due to rampant corruption. The poor pay a high price for corruption as the problems of unaccountable, unresponsive governance institutions remain unaddressed. In some countries over 30 percent of public funds are embezzled. This deprives nations and their cities of capital for much needed services, including infrastructure improvements and community development projects. High and rising rates of corruption in government and business also harm economic growth, stifling private initiative and enterprise. They constitute a major obstacle to reducing urban poverty, inequality and infant mortality.World Bank, "$1,000,000,000,000 and counting. The Costs of

Corruption", April 8, 2004http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20190187~men

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20190187~men

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20190187~men


8. Lack of community organization. Another major reason for poverty and inadequate services in slums is the absence of community organization and political power of their residents.“Social cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable,” says the World Bank.

Yet, unlike rural communities that have their layers of customs and traditions, urban slum environments often lack cohesion. They are much more in flux, chaotic, and heterogeneous. This makes it very difficult to get slum dwellers to work together for the common good. Amis, P. and S. Kumar, “Urban Economic Growth, infrastructure and poverty in India: Lessons from

Visakhapatnam,” Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2000.

World Bank Web site, What is Social Capital?, available online at www.worldbank.org/pverty/scaptial/whatsc.htm

http://www.worldbank.org/pverty/scaptial/whatsc.htm

Metro Manila: a brief description

Population: 9.4 million

Land Area 636 square

kilometers Density

260 pax/ sq.km. Composition

12 cities, 5 municipalities

Squatter in the Vernacular Iskwater

Tagalog version of squatter referring to a physically disorganized collection of shelters made of light and often visually unappealing materials where poor people reside

Estero Narrower than sewers and

associated with bad smell Eskinita

Refers to alleys that hold only one person at a time

Looban Meaning inner areas where houses

are built so close to each other and often in a manner not visible to the general view of the city

Dagat-dagatan For areas that are frequently flooded

Ragragio, Junio M. The case of Metro Manila, Philippines. UN-Habitat (2003) Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies', pp195-228.

Squatter in the Vernacular

Magnitude of Informal Settlers in Metro Manila

Slums can be found in 526 communities, located in all the cities and municipalities of Metro Manila.

They account for some 2.54 million people living in the most depressed areas of the metropolis.

They are usually located along rivers and creeks, in garbage dumps, along railroad tracks, under bridges, and beside factories and other industrial establishments.Ragragio, Junio M. The case of Metro Manila, Philippines. UN-Habitat

(2003) Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies', pp195-228.


Slums located next to mansions in affluent residential areas are not uncommon.

The settlement pattern of the urban poor is generally dispersed, with houses located wherever there is space and opportunity.

Ragragio, Junio M. The case of Metro Manila, Philippines. UN-Habitat (2003) Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies', pp195-228.

Historical references of squatting in the Philippines

1900 – 1920 Spain’s cession of the Philippines to the US created a

need for a new structure and system of land-ownership with respect to existing property rights

Passage of the Land Registration Act No. 496 in Nov. 1902 calling for the issuance of Torrens titles covering public and private lands. These were to provide an absolute proof of ownership, but the law made the titling system “voluntary”.

Small peasants were too ill-informed to benefit from the program. Virtually all the titles granted by the Court Land Registration up to 1910 were for large holdings and these were limited because of tax implications to the landowners.

Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and Settlement Issues.


1900 – 1920 Enactment in October 1903 of the Public

Lands Act (CA 141) designed to allow the landless and the land-poor peasantry to acquire 16 hectares of public land by establishing a homestead and cultivating it for five consecutive years with a payment of a nominal fee.

Response to the program minimal as Filipinos have no tradition of living in isolated homestead farms but rather lived in barrios or village neighborhoods.



1921 – 1950 Government initiatives have benefited mostly

the middle-class because of the requirement of a stable job for eligibility to housing

Only was it during the 1940s did the Government shifted to a more socially-oriented program

State intervention and assistance in behalf of workers in the slum area were experimental in nature



1951 - 1960 Restructuring of the land agency. Squatters

started settling on swamplands and esteros, on idle government land, on unused streets, railroad lines and disputed private lands at pace with city’s growth.

A very small portion of the low-income group availed of the loans since the rules governing the program was seen to have favored only the middle-income groups and even the upper classes.



1961 - 1970 Land in the city was getting to be artificially

scarce due to the skewed land-ownership structure and the increasing migration to the cities due to the perceived greater livelihood opportunities. Many of these were low-income earners.

Passage of the Tenement Law in 1962 making possible the building of five tenement buildings for 2, 300 families; national Social Housing Law which sought to benefit the low-income families resettled into government housing areas



1961 - 1970 There was a rapid and accelerated proliferation of

informal and blighted communities mostly on unused government properties and close to highly commercialized and industrialized areas in Metro Manila. It was estimated to be 370, 000 in 1964 to 1.1 million in 1968

The Sapang Palay resettlement area in San Juan del Monte, Bulacan and the General Mariano Alvarez Resettlement Site in Carmona, Cavite and San Pedro Laguna were established in 1961. They collectively accomodated about 27, 000 families in approximately 1, 200 hectares of land away from the cityOana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to

Housing, Land and Settlement Issues.


1961 - 1970 Based on studies only about 20% families

relocated stayed permanently in the resettlement areas. Most of them returned back to the city due to lack of facilities, sustainable source of income and the general quality of life



1971 - 1980 The largest single concentration of squatter or

illegal settlement at 27, 600 families in Manila, the Tondo Foreshore Arm was causing social unrest and physical blight and had been targeted by the government for development.

PD 814 was promulgated in October 1975 to support RA 1597 governing land use in the Tondo Foreshore Area. The law prescribes the land tenure system for the Tondo Foreshore and Dagat-dagatan Urban Development Project



1971 - 1980 The Government and people’s organization

with support from the World Bank gradually hammered out the development plan implying maximum retention of squatter households with relocation for the overspill of about 9, 000 families to nearby Dagat-dagatan.



1971 – 1990 The monopoly of land-ownership by a few, as

well as the absence of an effective regulatory system, had spawned disastrous land speculation and had cause irrational patterns of land development resulting in the emergence of blighted areas, slums and squatters’ colonies or illegal settlements

Illegal settlements being formalized and developed through the Urban Land reform Act and related laws


END OF REPORTThank You!

Informal Settlements in Metro Manila

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