Slums of Manila (6 part Al Jazeera documentary).

[chris49]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 8:59 AM, Sander Martin said:

PS i wasnt attacking Catholic Church. I know there are different religions here, but Catholic is by far the biggest player with 85%. They should be the leading force with goverment to fight againts poverty.

I said this when I first arrived almost 11 years ago.

However after living here, observing the society first hand.  Having a relationship at one time with a squatter girl. My views have changed somewhat. This girl had been the 3rd minor wife of 4 of a taxi driver. She said she's the "main wife" but evidence did not support her claim. The taxi driver had kids with all 4 and possibly other children.

Recently I met a woman, the owner of a small restuarant I go to, 12 kids with 5 different partners....one legal marriage.

I previously met a woman, one of 20 kids of a government official originally from Mindanao where the events took place. She was one of 6 kids of her own mother but only met her real father a few times in childhood. He had multiple wives, but she could not provide details.

If I do agree that the church let down it's role in family planning, I could also blame the government dating back to Marcos and the pre Marcos era. The government controlled the church and vice versa, a historically speaking, like the British Royal Family, the men of power all had mistresses, concubines and illegitimate kids, some who rose to high positions.

[chris49]

I will ask the Moderators why the above post appears when I merely pushed the quote button on Sander's topic. This post already appears on Page 2.

[chris49]

Now Sander.

Surely you must do some research before posting your prior answer.

The Government has relocation programs. Under current law (btw most of the lands are privately owned), the squatters must be given 6 months prior notice before relocation. And they are given transportation by truck with their belongings, even the housing materials if they will break down the structure. Common relocation has been to near to Metro provinces, Rizal, Bulacan, Batangas, Pampanga.  Cavite another province already has as many squatters as Manila QC. After protest these people are relocated, there is even rudimentary concrete block housing in place. However these people are commonly casual laborers, tricycle or jeepney drivers, anything on the lower level. They will proceed then to leave the new housing and relocate to other squatter areas in Manila/QC.

And the Philippines is not like the USA where the Indians could hunt and fish to their hearts content until the white man arrived. Fishing in someone else's stream is not well received here.

You take a highly complex social/cultural problem and make it sound so simple. Which it is not.

[Sander Martin]

3 hours ago, chris49 said:

Now Sander.

Surely you must do some research before posting your prior answer.

The Government has relocation programs. Under current law (btw most of the lands are privately owned), the squatters must be given 6 months prior notice before relocation. And they are given transportation by truck with their belongings, even the housing materials if they will break down the structure. Common relocation has been to near to Metro provinces, Rizal, Bulacan, Batangas, Pampanga.  Cavite another province already has as many squatters as Manila QC. After protest these people are relocated, there is even rudimentary concrete block housing in place. However these people are commonly casual laborers, tricycle or jeepney drivers, anything on the lower level. They will proceed then to leave the new housing and relocate to other squatter areas in Manila/QC.

And the Philippines is not like the USA where the Indians could hunt and fish to their hearts content until the white man arrived. Fishing in someone else's stream is not well received here.

You take a highly complex social/cultural problem and make it sound so simple. Which it is not.

Thanks for the reply Chris, i didn't know that. Fishing in rivers and streams maybe yes, but theres plenty of room in the sea?

I googled and read abit about the relocation programs. They are flawed from the start. Moving people in big groups into areas that already have huge problems. No wonder these people just pack up and move back. Their idea of relocation just seems to be a way to get ride of the people in the way of development, instead of doing a study where these people could be useful. They wouldn't have problems with people moving back if the place they moved the people could support themselves. The relocation shouldent be into the bordering provinces of Manila, where there are the same problems as in Manila already.

The relocations at the moment seems to be : we will send them anywhere else but here, because if they are not here, they are not our problem. They aren't solving the problem that way and the problem will most likely come back.

Theres plenty of cheap work force, but barely any manufacturing in Philippines. It doesn't look like the Philippines government is doing much to bring big businesses in. Sure its mostly not high paying jobs in Philippines standards, but its alot better then a life of scavenging. Silly Filipino pride of not wanting foreign owned business?

Edited June 6, 2016 by Sander Martin

[robert k]

The thing about relocated people returning to a major city, the cities are where the loose money will be found. I know farm families who have a hard time paying their electric bill because cash money is hard to come by, the father's stroke medicine and the mothers heart medicine, although they work the farm every day, takes up all the cash money. Their savings is a few 50kg sacks of rice. Son works part time at the Petron station to save enough money to buy their second hand motorcycle. Daughter works in Manila as girl Friday, bookkeeper, housemaid, secretary for a medical doctor couple and sends money home often. I guess the point is, the actual money comes from a major city and if it weren't for that, the medicine that keeps mom and dad alive would probably not be bought. There is food out in the provinces but there is the old saying that man does not live by bread alone, or rice.

[David B]

My Filipina wife and I just watched this series upon seeing this topic.  Having read through this entire thread, it seems that several of the contributors have not watched it.  Since the title and subject of this discussion is about this documentary series, I think it should be a critical discussion about it.  Much discussion seems to be without knowledge of it, and is merely opinion about the subject matter.  Having said that:

Family planning is being implemented within the slums, albeit inadequate and not up to the challenge, but it's a start.  The slums are populated by squatters, knowing they have no claim or right to be there.  As this potentially valuable real estate is projected for development, they are forced out.  The local politicians pay lip service to their plight but have no interest, intent or ability to help them once the votes are purchased.

The series focused on a few inhabitants.  Some representative of the population and some notable exceptions.  What wasn't mentioned or covered is squatter-on-squatter crime, except for petty theft.  Given that, how much rape really occurs?  It wasn't covered there.  Other than the normal amounts of fighting, violence between them wasn't covered.  Drug use wasn't covered.  One recurring theme is that these people have hope.  What else could they have? There is nothing else but hope in their condition except for love of family.

Child-bearing excesses are common among people who look to children to help provide for the family, and for the parents in their old age.  Traditionally, large families were almost a necessity among farming cultures.  The urban poor also have a tradition of mass reproduction, due partly to ignorance and poverty.  It seemed that those with a skill or talent do have some opportunity for advancement.  Like anywhere else in the world, each life was directly and negatively impacted by setbacks beyond their control, eg. typhoons, medical issues, encroachment, etc.

This post is not a comprehensive review but merely a first response to what I've read so far and what I think this topic might discuss.