Barangay Tugbongan

12-20-10

We just returned from Cebu Island where we investigated a potential water project. This community was different in that it was an urban area. We will not do a water project there mainly because the people have access to the city water system. They do have to pay for it, and perhaps that is the problem. Never the less it was an interesting trip, and gave us insight into the challenges faced by many urban communities. I understand why rich communities build walls, and form compounds with guarded gates. Idealistically (with my western middle class culture) I don’t think it is “right “but I do see the point of it. The population of the barangay we visited was over 5,000. There were 3,400 registered voters and over 2,000 others, referred to as “squatters” who are only estimated. As I could see there were broadly three categories of people living in this Barangay. First and smallest group were the economically successful folks, who had money and most likely commuted outside of the community for work. They had running water, indoor plumbing, and trash pickup just like in the states. The majority of the people in the middle were fishermen or unskilled labors working in and out of the barangay. If they didn’t have water piped into their houses they had a community pump that they paid for it monthly or as they used it. These folks usually have a water sealed squat toilet. You dump a scooper of water from a bucket to flush it and the waste goes into a septic tank like thing. If not the water seal toilet then an old fashioned outhouse. Finally there were the squatters; these are poor semi-transient people who build their homes on vacant land. This particular barangay is along a tidal plain that is mud when the tide is out, but has access to the ocean when the tide is in. The squatters have built their huts in this area so they are close to a food source (ocean). Their houses look like forts kids make with scraps of this and that, all crammed together like eggs in a carton. These poor people live in conditions that are unhealthy, unsanitary and unsafe. There are no toilets so the human waste goes under their homes into the mud, as does all the refuse that comes with thousands of people crammed together in a small space. There is a hose from which they can purchase water. The cost is about 2 cents a small bucket. That is a lot when you have nothing so if bathing and washing of clothes take place it’s when the tide comes in. However with all the waste that tidal flow is polluted. The squatter’s camp is full of little children and dogs that followed us with curious faces. The dogs were skinny and covered with sores. The kids were dirty but cute. One poor boy had big sores all over his head. They were mostly scabbed over, but they looked like what I saw on the dogs. I was told the squatter kids don’t generally go to school, or access the barangay health center which is financed by the government. When I asked the barangay health worker why, her general feeling was that the parents are ignorant of the benefits, didn’t care, or didn’t trust the government. A community worker told me that the squatters are lazy and don’t want to work. To prove her point when we walked through the area she pointed out all the people sitting around playing cards and gambling. When we talked to the barangay captain (like our mayor) she was conflicted about the squatter issue. She felt compassion for these poor folks, but also realized they were having a negative impact on the community. In addition to the ecological damage and pollution she reported increased robberies, vandalism, drugs and alcoholism. They recently instigated a volunteer barangay security detail where men walk the barangay in shifts all night long. In the richer areas residents are banning together to set up check points and hire security guards. Some have increased the height of their walls and topped them with barbed wire. They are like prisoners in their fancy houses.