Written by Sheril A. Bustaman
Photographs by Joyce Ng and Jonathan Lim
Iloilo is a vibrant thriving city that is developing at its own pace. Hidden within the developing city however are squatter areas and project sites populated by the urban poor. On the sixth day of our journey, the travellers split into three different groups to visit the places where the urban poor lived and worked. This article is about two such areas: North Baluarte and the Sooc Project Site.
North Baluarte
North Baluarte is an urban poor squatter’s area neighboring a fishing port. The 100,000 square feet of land on which the squatters reside was formerly the coastline and is government owned, making the residents in the community informal settlers. This means that if the government reclaims the land, the residents will have to move. There are about 1,200 houses in which approximately 5,000 men, women and children reside. An average family in this community would consist of the parents, and six children.
The fishing port serves as the main source of livelihood where work opportunities such as hauling and fish vending exist for the men. Alternatively, men are also tricycle drivers and construction workers. The women of the squatter community mostly run carinderias (food vending stores) and sari-sari (convenience) stores. Women here do not feel that going overseas to be domestic helpers solves their poverty problem or helps their family as they spend almost two years overseas just paying their travelling fee. Children as young as nine years old also work at the fishing port in groups doing odd jobs such as fish cleaning from 10pm to 4am. Common daily expenses in this community include buying cooked food from the carinderias, school fees for the children and sometimes gambling. Most children in this community do not finish high school and some only graduate elementary school.
Due to the design of the squatter area with all the houses cramped next to each other and the wooden material of which the house is built, the community faces a lot of hazards such as fires and big waves from the sea. In 2007, 212 houses were burnt down due to a fire. The local government provided a little financial assistance to the community, and Monsignor Oso from the Archdiocese of Jaro helped rebuild some of the houses by providing building material, money and also food for the fire victims. The group of travellers that went to North Baluarte had the privilege of talking to some people from the community about their livelihood and the problems they face living in the squatter’s area – Manong Bebot & his wife Manang Nilda, Manang Genalyn and Manang Santarita.
Manong Bebot & Manang Nilda
Manong Bebot is a 49 year old fish vendor and also the current president of the Kaisog (the people’s association in the community) part-time. His daily routine is simple, consisting of resting in the morning, and going to the fishing port in the late afternoon to buy fish from the fishermen and sell them to the local people of Iloilo. In order to purchase the fish, Manong Bebot has to borrow a fairly significant sum of money from the local money lenders and return a certain amount on a daily basis. The loan also comes with the burden of a 15% interest rate that is tallied into the amount that is paid daily. Manong Bebot says he pays PHP 150 to the money lenders every day. In the event that Manong Bebot is sick or unable to pay the day’s sum, the interest of his loan will increase. If a period of time goes by without payment, the money lenders will either grant an extension to the loan or use force to claim payment, depending on the situation that caused the delay. Manong Bebot’s earnings for a day at the fishing port however is also approximately about PHP 150 a day, which means at the end of it, he takes back almost nothing. Thankfully, there is Manang Nilda to help out.
Manang Nilda is Manong Bebot’s wife. She is 47 years old and used to live in a different rural area. She moved to North Baluarte to work at a prawn processing plant 20 years ago (that was closed down several years after) and then married Manong Bebot. She now owns a sari-sari store in the community, which she tends to every day, that she bought with her savings from her earnings from the prawn processing plant. She also takes care of her neighbor’s children when the parents are out working. Manang Nilda’s earnings of PHP 70 a day helps to sustain her family which consists of just her and Manong Bebot. Her biggest problem with living in the community is competition from other women’s sari-sari stores.
Manong Bebot and Manang Nilda have never wanted children because they felt they could not afford to bring them up properly. When asked about their political ideals, Manang Bebot mentioned that the community does not participate in elections or political activities, and that the few who do usually are driven by money or promises of benefits for themselves or their community. He stated that the community was a neutral one, and used their votes to vote for whichever candidate had the manifesto that most benefited their community. He also said he found the non-profit organizations in Iloilo very helpful, but the programs were usually temporary and the financial assistance rare and scarce. Both Manong Bebot and Manang Nilda enjoy the Dinagyang festival as they find it very entertaining. As a conclusion, Manong Bebot and Manang Nilda shared their dream with the travellers, which is just to eat three times a day, have a stable job and also to own the home they live in.
Taken in front of the sari-sari store.
Manang Genalyn
Manang Genalyn is an elementary school graduate from Negros who came to work as a household keeper for a rich family in Iloilo before she met her partner and moved to the North Baluarte area. Her partner, Rodrigo Sr. sells religious icons and travels from town to town to make his sales. Sometimes when he has to go to a town that’s far away, he would only return on weekends, leaving Manang Genalyn with their three children – Kurt (8 years old), Gandy (7 years old) and Rodrigo Jr. (4 years old) – at home alone. Manang Genalyn is now a housewife as her partner forbids her from working, but fortunately, Manang Genalyn is happy to be home taking care of her children. Manang Genalyn said she does not have many problems, just domestic ones like where to buy food for the day. Rodrigo Sr’s income is generated through commission from the religious icons, and the average he brings home is PHP 200 , which is enough for his family to eat 3 meals a day. However she mentioned that to get through a month, the family usually needs around PHP 2,500, and there are times when Rodrigo Sr. is unable to generate that much income in a month.
Manang Genalyn with her youngest child, Rodrigo Jr.
Manang Genalyn mentioned that despite the community being rather open and close-knit, stealing is still rampant, which is why she locks her door whenever she goes out. Her house is slowly being developed with the addition of more rooms, and over the past year, her house has been developed by Rodrigo Sr. Manang Genalyn told the travellers that she is very content being at home with her children as she doesn’t trust anyone else to raise her children for her. Her aspirations and dreams are all for her children having a better life than she did and taking care of her in the future. She mentioned that Filipinos bear children as hopes for the future hence all her aspirations are for her children. She concluded by telling the travellers of Kurt's & Gandy’s dreams to become policemen and enforcers of the law.
The travellers after talking to Manang Genalyn
Manang Santarita
Manang Santarita is a 26 year old housewife with three children – Ashlee (eight years old), Christine Blez (3) and Gregorio Jr. (2). She is Manang Genalyn’s cousin and is also from Negros. Unlike Manang Genalyn, Manang Santarita came to Iloilo when she was 18 years old just to process some papers but fell accidentally in love with her current husband and love of her life, Manong Gregorio Sr.. He is 35 years old and is a carrier at the fishing port. They met at the fishing port and have been married eight years and four months. Their oldest child Ashlee is in Grade 3 of public elementary school.
Manang Santarita with her youngest, Gregorio Jr.
Manang Santarita’s house was one of the houses that burned down during the 2007 fire. At the time, their house was just being built, and it took a year with interference from big waves to rebuild her house. Initially her house consisted of a single room and a roof, but they have managed to build it up to the house it is today. She mentioned that one of the biggest problems in this community are the fires that happen due to the narrow spacing between house as mentioned before.
Manang Santarita expressed her desire to go back to work to the travellers but mentioned that Manang Gregorio Sr. wants her to stay home and take care of the children. She said it is very common for women in this community to stay home and just care for their children or their neighbors’ children. In her free time, Manang Santarita likes to make yema, a Filipino snack consisting of condensed milk with sugar and egg yolk. She also mingles with her neighbors and visits her cousin. Manang Santarita has high hopes for her children, and wants them to graduate from high school and university.
Manang Santarita with the travellers
Sooc Project 5 Site
The Sooc Project 5 Site is a government relocation site for people who have been ejected from their barangays (villages) due to development in the city. There are 280 families currently living there temporarily, and they are all from different barangays previously. Despite their differences, all the families get along. The travellers met with a woman who had to move from her barangay in Dungonc, land that was bought over by a big co-operation to be turned into the Westwood sub-division. 26 families were relocated when this happened.
Romena and Edgar Savilia have been married for 13 years, and have two children, Rena Rosa (12 years old) and Edgar Jr (1 ½ years old). Edgar Sr. is a jeepney driver that drives the Jaro-Manduriao-Iloilo City Proper route from 6am to 9pm every day except Thursdays. Romena used to work, delivering medical equipment in Jaro even after giving birth to Rena, but due to her second child being a premature and sickly baby, she has decided to stay home and be a full time mother. Rena is in the 6th Grade in a public school. She goes to school with her friends and comes back at 5 pm every day.
Romena tells the travellers that when she was staying in Dungonc, the land was good for agriculture, and so the villagers could plant vegetables for themselves and even sell them for money. But after relocation here in 2004, that source of income was cut off because the soil is unsuitable. Families that live in this project site have to do alternative labour such as construction work for men, and laundry service for women. The women go to big houses in the city and wash laundry on Wednesdays and Saturdays for PHP 300 per house each time.
The biggest problem that the residents of Project 5 face is the flooding and lack of clean water supply. There is no purified water in the project, which means that the water is unsafe to drink. Romena claims that no organization helps people in the projects because it is under the government. She also stated that the government collects rent from them every month despite their promise of the relocation site being free. Despite her living situation, Romena has hopes that she will have her house fixed up. and that her children will also finish school.
In conclusion, despite lacking basic needs such as clean water, the urban poor only hope for the most basic things in life, such as regular meals and schooling for their children. All of the women expressed hope that their children will have a better future, and will take care of them when they are old.
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As Sheril begins her second year in Communications & International Studies at Monash, she will also strive to curb her constant appetite for food and focus more on her appetite for life.
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