Masskara: Masking the Many Faces of Urban Poverty

Martha, October 21, 2008

It was ironic that our Bacolod urban poor integration fell on the final weekend of the Bacolod Masskara festival; ‘Masskara’ meaning ‘many faces’ referring to the positive outlook of the Bacolod residents, smiling in the face of adversity; the festival where revellers don smiling masks and dance in the streets, ignoring the cares and the woes of daily life; a festival whose budget exceeds P 5 million while thousands face demolition and homelessness.

During these past few days I witnessed how the city of Bacolod throws a grand festival to distract the attention of tourists and locals alike from the true plight of the majority of residents of Bacolod. The 41 of 61 Barangays that live in poverty; the residents of the approximately 40,000 homes targeted for demolition by the year 2010. The thousands of youth whose lives are a daily struggle for survival, without education, without livelihood, without a place in society.

Struggles for Land and Housing

Many urban slum residents fled to Bacolod from the countryside due to O’plan Thunderbolt, the counterinsurgency operations that cleared the countryside of the ‘water’ (the people) to force out the ‘fish’ (the New People’s Army or NPA). While O’plan Thunderbolt was not successful in squashing the NPA, it was successful in forcing thousands of farmers away from their lands and into the squalor of urban poverty, with no option but to squat public lands in an attempt to survive. While the farmers were displaced from their lands, mining corporations moved in and claimed the land for extraction of minerals, including copper and gold. The end result? The poor are displaced and the corporations are lining their pockets from the misery of the people.

To add insult to injury, the very project that will see many homes demolished is a P 52 million international sea port in Bacolod funded by GMA to facilitate the export of raw mineral resources and agricultural products from the plunder of the countryside. The remainder of the homes to be demolished are making way for real estate and tourist resort expansion. It seems particularly unjust that the Bacolod 2010 Comprehensive Land Use Development Plan has earmarked thousands of squatter homes for demolition with no feasible relocation plan for those who will lose their homes.

The Myth of Relocation

It is law in the Philippines that in order to gain a writ of demolition for squatters, whether on public or private lands, the government must provide a site for relocation. Yet, it is explained to me that many judges are corrupt, friendly with the land owners, or simply are not up to date about the law, and so demolition orders are given without adequate relocation plans.

In the case of some squatter communities, particularly those on the future port site, their relocation lands are inland, far from the seashore and the source of their livelihood in fishing or in working the ports. In the case of other squatter communities, the plan of the landlord is to abandon development and garner a profit selling the land to the tenants through the government-mediated ‘Community Mortgage Program’ or CMP. The CMP is not a feasible plan for the urban poor, who struggle just to cover the basics of food, clothes, and transportation to work; if enough remains it goes to the education of their children. If someone gets sick, it is a major financial crisis that puts the family on the brink of starvation, and often the sick die from lack of health care. These families simply cannot afford to pay a 25-year mortgage for housing.

The condition of the slums is appalling, with few government services for the poor: no potable water, no sanitation, no waste disposal, open pit latrines flowing into the ocean where children bathe and play, sewage running in the ditches, garbage littering the ground, stagnant water providing dengue-carrying mosquitoes ample breeding ground. In many communities, residents have struggled and won some services, such as a public school for elementary students, and wells to provide clean water for washing and bathing (but not safe for drinking since the wells are below sea level). But these few services come as the result of a consolidated effort of the local squatter organizations.

How to Earn a Living?

The residents of the urban poor communities struggle daily to earn an income for their families. Vending, driving tricycles or jeepneys, working on the ports as haulers or day labourers, fishing and collecting shellfish, washing clothes in middle class suburbs, working construction, running small sari sari stores, and even working for the government in low level positions. Every family member must work to contribute, even the children, who help prepare the shellfish for market, wash clothes, assist in sari sari stores, and a myriad of jobs for the income of the family.

Without access to social services and government health insurance there is simple not enough to go around; what is earned is not enough to make ends meet. Many youth turn to prostitution and the drug trade to survive – a product of economic exclusion and a sad testimony of injustice.

In Sickness until Death

The natural outcome of such living and working conditions is ill-health, a physical, a financial, and an emotional crisis for entire families.

Many suffer and some die from malnutrition and perpetual hunger, ulcers, skin infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections including tuberculosis, hepatitis A and B, undiagnosed and untreated diabetes and hypertension, liver cirrhosis, and kidney failure – just to name a few.

I heard many stories of families who struggled and saved to gain title for their small plot of land and their meagre house, and then a family member fell ill with the result of all savings lost, and all family members working to pay health care debts.

The ultimate price of urban poverty is the life of the poor.

Urban Uprising

While the picture I painted in this blog entry is one of a loss of hope, the strength, vitality and resolve of the urban poor is astounding. I took such great inspiration and drew many lessons from the many Bacolod affiliate member organizations of Kadamay, the national umbrella organization of the urban poor.

Do not think that the urban poor are meek victims of capitalism and imperialism; do not be fooled by their poverty, for it is a spark against the tinderbox of injustice! Eventually the smouldering social volcano that is Negros will erupt.

I am invigorated by the organizing that I witnessed in these past few days. Now I am almost ready to go home to Canada and take up my work with the Alliance for People’s Health and the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice.

One last stop for us: the urban poor in Manila and the situation for urban poor home deliveries.

Stay posted for upcoming entries on the organizing lessons I have learned and the struggles for reproductive health in the Philippines!