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Community Development in the Philippine Context

As we observed on our visit to the areas surrounding Timog Avenue, development as a result of Globalisation is highly ineffective in the reduction of poverty. Timog Avenue itself is a seemingly thriving business/entertainment district. Tall office buildings, restaurants and bars are smattered amongst a sea of well-dressed businessmen and working class citizens. However, this setting serves as an illusory oasis of wealth and good development in a country that promotes Globalisation at the forefront of its economic policies.

It takes only a short walk, just one block away, to see a blatant situation of abject poverty. Crowded slum housing that packs it’s residents like sardines in a tin. Men, women and children standing idly by, perhaps still waiting for the benefits of development which they can see towering over their shanties.

It is from this example that we can see that the term ‘development’ is subjective to the point of absolute ambiguity. Development in the Philippine context means an increase of wealth for the 1% richest and a widening gap for the 75% of Filipinos under the poverty line. Current estimates project that by the year 2050, an astounding 50% of residents in Metro Manila will be living in slums.

The Globalisation movement, that is, the deregulation of the economy on the global market, has never and will never consider the needs of the poorest in society. Whatever the per cent increase in the nations’ GDP, the supposed ‘trickle down’ effect of wealth distribution will be ineffective in reducing poverty.

Poor Filipinos, like the ones we saw around Timog Ave., lie outside of the formal economic sector, yet it is the ultimate irony that they serve as the backbone to the service industry that keeps the Philippine economy afloat. They work as street vendors, drivers, kasambahay (maids), sex-workers and countless other exploitative jobs that serve the bourgeoisie. It is exploitative in the sense that they have no worker’s rights and are paid a pittance because they are classed as ‘informal workers’.

The Philippine Government serves as a corrupt and elitist institution that does all but nothing to address the poverty situation of millions of Filipinos. The absence of a comprehensive welfare sector and minimal investment into people-centred development programs leaves an enormous gap that is currently filled by NGOs, Church and other people’s organisations. Until the time in which the Government is held accountable to transparent modes of governance, it will be an uphill battle for the multitudes of poor to achieve basic human rights. 

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#colonialreligion #Godislove #MMPride2014 

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Luna’s Community Development Framework

Community Education (CE):

Community education is concerned with the enhancement of the people’s potentials and capability. “Education is a potent force for social transformation in terms of upliftment of people’s welfare and working towards forming alternative structures and power relations” (Tungpalan, 1991: 2). People have inherent potentials that can be developed towards individual and community transformation.

Community Organizing (CO):

CO is a method which refers to the activities aimed at the grouping of people to struggle for their common needs and aspirations in a given locality. CO processes involve the following activities, which may overlap and be repeated at a new level during the process of organizing: integration with the community, social investigation, problem/issue spotting, ground work, meeting, role play, mobilization, evaluation, reflection and setting up of the organization” (TWSC, 1990; 5-6).

Community Resource and Disaster Risk Management (CRDRM):

Community resource management (CRM) includes the acquisition, generation, production, development and conservation, protection, rehabilitation of community resources and the redistribution of benefits from the collective management of these resources. Community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) involves the assessment of risks and vulnerabilities, and the development of people’s capacities to enable them to come out with plans and responses to mitigate disaster impacts, and to effectively respond to disaster events.

— https://www.ucl.ac.uk/abuhc/resources/working_papers/working_papers_folder/wp24

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Cultural Dependence - Characterised by delusion of the local population by the massive presence of the culture of the advanced capitalist nations leading to cultural "inferiority complex." - The local culture is downgraded through the use of foreign evaluative standards.

Oscar P. Ferrer - Tools of Analysis and Analytical Framework

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Vigan Town Fiesta #UNESCO7WonderCities

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Gaytriarchy

When the president of the CSWCD College asked me to speak at the UP Pride March I could not help but be taken a-back. I am not a member of the Community Development student group and I have did not spread the word that I am a LGBTIQ+ activist or advocate.

What do I as a white, cisgendered gay-male identifying Australian have to say on LGBTIQ+ issues in the Philippines?

 The answer is, not much.

 I am not going to assume that the same issues facing the Queer Australian community are the same in this context, because that would be wrong. Therefore, I do not think that I have the credentials to say anything really.

Too many times have people in my shoes (Gay –Male) spoken with credence over the entire Queer community, silencing the voices and issues of other, more oppressed members.

 Yes, I am talking about the Gaytriarchy and Homonormativity. I am sure I could follow in the footsteps of other Queer persons of privilege and amplify my opinions about the entire community but I am here to say that this is what has and is doing a great deal of damage to the Queer movement.

The truth is that Gay males largely control funding for LGBTIQ+ organisations, both here in the Philippines and globally. And why on earth would we want to share our money and power with our fellow Queers?

Gay males, too many times have held the microphone and spoken about what is best for the progress of LGBTIQ+ rights. The world doesn’t need to hear this anymore.

 I want my Transgender friends to speak on their ideas on gender and fucking with non-normative bodies. I want Queers with disabilities to come forward and share their largely ignored and often harrowing experiences of living each day under enormously visible discrimination.

 This is what I need to hear in order to grow my mind and make me a better person. As a person of great privilege I must constantly seek to listen to the voices of the oppressed and adapt the way I conduct myself everyday. Only when people try to understand each other can we really start to make progress, and as those who have experienced oppression, it should start with us.

 So instead of speaking at the Pride March, an extremely important event at a University that promotes equality, I will listen and observe. Hopefully this way I can contribute something that forwards the progress of ALL Queers. 

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My Buddy J.Paul Leaving for Saudi. #OFW

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OFW

Yesterday I said hello to a friend I haven’t seen in 3 years.

 This morning I said goodbye again, but this time with a tangible sense of melancholia. I quickly caught myself because I know this is a sadness that I have not earned. In ten hours time he will land in Saudi Arabia and resume another two-year contract as a worker in a bakeshop. I will remain comfortably here in Manila with my studies.

 The fact is that he is one of millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) that leave home in search of work that pays enough for the survival of their families. The Philippine Government heralds them as ‘heroes’ and saviours of the Philippine economy, but I doubt my friend possessed any feeling of heroism when he left his mother and father in a small and unfurnished Manila town house.

 One overarching question comes to my mind, why? Why him and not me? Why Filipinos and not Australians? Is it really my friend’s fate to toil twelve hours a day in a foreign land? One day off per month, earning a menial wage. It hurts me almost as if they are my own family, my brothers and sisters being torn apart.

 Right now I don’t feel like examining global economic paradigms and systems of inequality. I don’t feel like intellectualising the issue through the scope of migration studies. On the most basic human level it just plain hurts. Thinking about how I would be in that situation is a heavy thought that is too much to contemplate. All I could do was drink with them and send my best regards, assuring them that I will visit again in the future.

 I briefly discussed with my friend about the work of Migrante International, the biggest existing organisation that works to achieve rights and justice for OFWs. I wish with all my heart that he is protected and can return home to his family again in two years.

 Thanks for everything you shared with me buddy.

 http://migranteinternational.org/about/ 

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The treatment reserved for the poor, the way in which pity and condemnation are mixed, is a matter for society at large rather than for the poor themselves.

Alan Thomas - Poverty and the end of Development

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Gender and Development Advocates (GANDA) Filipinas* is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and nongovernment organization advocating genuine gender equality for all Filipinos. It is led by transgender women in the Philippines. GANDA Filipinas believes that gender is at the heart and center of issues of development including access to education, economic justice, environmental justice, and sexuality and reproductive health rights—areas where transgender voices are usually left out and neglected. GANDA Filipinas upholds the view that transgender rights are human rights.

*Ganda is the Filipino word for “beauty” or “beautiful.” It is a generic term of endearment Filipinos use to warmly call transgender women. Filipinas is the Hispanicized name of the Philippines used by the organization to call attention to the historical fact that people who could be interpreted as transgender in the modern sense already existed even during pre-colonial times.

*** I was privileged to meet the girls at the 2nd year anniversary of the organisation on Sunday August 24. I was privy to all the happenings in the Philippine arena of transgender advocacy, an area that is in need of attention, not just here but globally. I am so blessed to call these girls my friends and am constantly being educated in many colours of the Queer rainbow. After being welcomed with Pancit and Karaoke, i truly felt like an honorary member, especially with the sincere offering of assistance to enter local Gay pageants as ‘Miss Australia’…. we will see… Maraming Salamat my beautiful girls! MORE POWER TO ALL***

 www.facebook.com/gandafilipinas

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The Beautiful 'Ganda' Girls

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Houses on Manila Bay

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1 Billion Rising 2013 - Pinoy people rising to end violence against women and girls

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Paranaque Fisherman's Bangka

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STFAP + STS Reflective Piece

  It is clear to see that the traditional U.P. notion of ‘mga Iskolar ng  Bayan’ (Scholars of the People) has been greatly encumbered by the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) and now by the Socialized Tuition Scheme (STS). It is argued that in becoming a successfully internationalized institution, U.P. is foregoing the very foundational values, which made it distinct and truly essential in the Filipino context. The rising tuition fees and the ‘internationally suited’ changes to the academic calendar appear to be out of line with Republican act 9500 which mandates the Philippine Government to “promote, foster, nurture and protect the right of all citizens to accessible quality education” and relate university activities to “the needs of the Filipino people”.

  I agree to a certain extent that calendar changes and a move towards greater Commercialisation in the name of the ASEAN Economic Community is a mask to cover the neoliberal aims of big corporations and the US in particular. In the long term, these reforms in education will serve to benefit the economic interests of dominant global corporations. There is a potential danger of ‘Economic not Academic growth’.

Furthermore, I don’t believe that there has been sufficient research done to validate the change in academic calendar. The goal of attracting more international students is overshadowed by the negative aspects, such as hotter weather during study and mal-alignment with local school calendars. It will be interesting to observe if there is any growth at all in the enrollments of international students in the coming years.

  The justification by U.P. is that the STFAP and STS programs allow all students to access education regardless of their financial position. This justification has been challenged as tuition costs per unit have increased from $0.90 in 1989 to $33.83 at present. It is reported that more students now than ever are unable to pay fees and are applying for student loans.

  It is no secret that UP wishes to increase profit margins. The Master Development plan involves “generating resources to support UP’s primary functions of research and creative work, education and public service.” According to online sources: “This framework will encompass physical growth and change in the University’s campuses and properties over the next 15 years; land allocation strategies and guidelines for all developable UP properties; and the formulation of building design and landscape policies and guidelines that address energy and environmental concerns.”

  In comparison with tuition fees in Australia, the system is very different. Tuition fees in an Undergraduate Course are approximately $750AUD (30,000PHP) per subject. For a 3-year Community Development degree and 24 completed subjects, total tuition is approximately $18,120AUD (724,800PHP). The main difference is that Australian Citizens are eligible for Government supported places, where tuition fees are transferred into a student debt. Currently there is an offer of 10% discount on fees if at least $500AUD (20,000PHP) is payed up front every semester. The debt is then repaid through the taxation system when a person reaches the compulsory repayment thresh-hold, which is currently

$53,345 (2,133,800PHP). The University sector is large and profitable and is run much like a business. Although it has been commercialised to a certain extent, government supported loans allow any citizen to study if they choose to.

  The reforms to the Philippine education system have been met with harsh criticisms from many student groups. Although I agree with many of these criticisms, I think that it is important to be aware of other systems globally and to be able to meet reform with practical suggestions rather than blunt rejection. The impetus must still be put on the Philippine Government and any attempt to privatise education, as the de-regulation of tuition fees will ultimately lead to fee increases and an education system that only serves the rich.