* REPORT : 94

The Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines

Tinder: Poverty and Urbanization

Like other countries where a large percentage of the population is poor, the presence of families living in makeshift structures that pass for houses is one of the most visible signs of poverty in the Philippines.  These slum settlements are characterized as having rapidly increasing populations; limited access to social and basic services; no legal tenure to land and housing; and increasingly, live in precarious or high-risk areas such as around dumpsites, along shorelines, under bridges, or alongside railways. 

These communities represent the “invisible” city, hidden behind gaily painted walls and more often than not, omitted from official maps and documents.  Thus denied, they are excluded from participating in governance structures, further restricting their already limited access to resources.  This situation becomes ingrained when government actions rarely segregate poverty in general and poverty in the slums, resulting in urban development policies and investment that do not reflect nor explicitly include slum areas.  Consequently, as the country increasingly adopts open market economics and cities strive to be more globally competitive, the poor become pushed to the fringes of society in more ways than one.

Yet people continue to arrive in the cities.  They are faced with several issues that become diametrically compounded as their numbers increase, including high unemployment; generally low incomes; the incapacity of the poor in general to access education, health and medical services, electricity, and water; and securing legal land and housing.

Ever since the post-war years, there has been a marked increase in the movement of people and families to the urban centers, driven by the idea that there was more work in the cities.  This has resulted in the Philippines having one of the highest rates of urbanization in the Third World.  Of the total Philippine population – 76 million as of May 2000 – it is estimated that 52 percent live in urban areas.  Of these, roughly 40 percent live in slum communities.

Located in one of the most populated cities in Metro Manila, Payatas lies in the northeastern part of Quezon City.  With a land area of approximately 2,800 hectares, it had a population of less than 20,000 in the early 1980s.  Being mostly vacant, part of it was gradually being utilized as a dumpsite for the city’s garbage.  In 1988, it was designated by the local government as the city’s relocation site for the growing number of urban poor families, mostly migrants from the various provinces of the Philippines.  Subsequent to the city pronouncement, families from slum areas around the city started to arrive; and by the early 1990s, it had an unofficial population count of more than 50,000 people, most of who were living in makeshift shelters around the rising dumpsite that became their primary source of livelihood. 

This was the situation in Payatas when Fr. Norberto Carcellar was assigned there in 1991.  Already a burgeoning community that was still increasing in size and numbers, poor families were being increasingly confronted with multi-faceted issues including high infant mortality rates, malnutrition and lack of education among children, very limited access to basic services such as potable water, risks caused by the growing dumpsite, and the lack of the financial means to address these.

The envisioned solution finds its roots in the community-based development program of the Vincentian Missionaries Social Development Foundation after the latter began its mission in Payatas in 1991.  Beginning with a wastepicker development program and a Grameen bank type of microfinance facility set up in 1993, the interventions of VMSDFI evolved through years of continuous learning and experimentation.

The idea of a savings program run by the community was impelled by the search for a scheme that could be scaled up while remaining sustainable.  While the existing microfinance facility experienced high repayment rates, the scheme was heavily dependent on administrative staff that performed all the functions related to the program which included screening, organizing, monitoring, and collecting.  This placed the delivery system in a no-win situation where any increase in the program’s reach would necessarily entail a higher cost, in the form of additional staff members.  Thus, it enlisted only 350 women members in two years and savings mobilized was very low.

Sparking a Movement

This was the dilemma faced by the program when Fr. Carcellar became gradually acquainted with the community savings initiatives in other countries.  In one of his occasional visits to Misereor in Germany, he received documentation about Misereor-supported savings programs in South Africa and India. They also encouraged him to visit South Africa and witness how communities there implemented their savings scheme. It struck Fr. Carcellar that a savings program could be the unifying force that could weave together VMSDFI’s various community programs in Payatas. By this time, the VMSDFI was implementing a child development and nutrition program, waste-pickers’ promotion, disabled persons rehabilitation, elderly care, and young scavengers’ welfare promotion.

A training course in 1995 further concretized the emergent program that was the fruit of this rethinking process.  Organized in India by the England-based Durham University, it centered on the role of self-help groups as implementing agencies for microfinance facilities.  It placed particular emphasis on how these groups could provide both the delivery and control mechanisms.  This would be done through processes that would be understandable to volunteers who worked with the program.  What developed were policies, receipt and loan forms, passbooks, and collectors’ notebooks that continue to be used to this day. The course also gave a preview of how microfinance self-help groups grow and mature through time and what the corresponding issues would be.

Bursting into Flame: Next Moves

In June 1995, Fr. Carcellar and several community volunteers began experimenting with this new idea of community-based and operated savings program.  Having obtained the cooperation from the first groups of savers in the parish, Fr. Carcellar himself would sit in his parish office, accepting savings from parishioners.  From time to time, volunteers also sat in the office and learned the basics of bookkeeping from hands-on practice.  At other times, they organized savings groups and taught the rudiments of the new scheme.  Spending more time in the community, they also became the contact points for other interested people. Soon, numerous groups of savers would come to the parish asking for orientation to the program. In a matter of one year, the savings program listed 2,000 depositors, and in two years and a half, a total of 5,300 depositors belonging to around 540 savings groups in Payatas alone; including jeepney drivers, market vendors, tricycle drivers, school children, mothers saving for infants, and the elderly.

The years between 1995 and 1998 can be described as the period of consolidation and expansion. As news of the savings program spread rapidly beyond Payatas, residents of poor communities in Mandaue City, Bicol, General Santos City, Iloilo and Muntinlupa City started coming to Payatas to learn about the program. Community exchanges became the means of transferring technology to new urban poor groups.

In 1996, VMSDFI’s networking began to extend beyond the borders of the country. Misereor linked VMSDFI with the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) and an initial visit was made to the ACHR in Bangkok, Thailand.  These visits allowed the VMSDFI to become acquainted with regional and international networks that, in due time, would become its partners. These networks included the ACHR, Slum Dwellers International (SDI) based in South Africa, and the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) based in India.  Shortly after, the Philippine savings groups became a member of the Slum Dwellers International, whose membership also includes savings groups in South Africa, Namibia, India, Thailand, Nepal, and Cambodia.

The first international exchange took place in February 1997.  Community leaders from savings groups in Payatas and Mandaue City went to Mumbai, India, to witness the savings activities. They were impressed with how savings of the poorest people were successfully mobilized and recorded even by illiterate women. The solidarity of the Indian groups also served as inspiration to the Philippine exposurists who came home with renewed energy to promote savings and encourage greater cohesion among their members.

In mid-1997, two key personalities within the Slum Dwellers International, Jockin Arputham and Joel Bolnick, visited the Philippines to give support and direction to VMSDFI and to the Philippine savings groups as a member of the SDI.

They encouraged the VMSDFI and its members to link savings to community needs, namely (a) to forge a greater link between the savings activities to poverty and community issues, land being a major concern for the residents of Payatas and other member communities and (b) to intensify its expansion beyond Payatas into other slums and cities where savings and loans, as a process of bringing people together, were to be encouraged.  They also recommended additional visits of the Philippine groups to India and South Africa.

From here onwards, VMSDFI began responding more strongly to the need for land tenure security. These included capacity building for community volunteers through formal trainings in para-legal, para-engineering, and financial management.  This provided them with the technical capability to manage community finances, understand land titles, research land status, and go through the legal processes that were necessary to legalize their land tenure initiatives.  The para-engineering training provided them with the tools to understand maps and house designs, allowing them to design their own house models with costs that were within their capacity to pay.

Community representatives also continued to learn from their experience in international exchanges.  After returning from trips to India and Africa, they initiated the beginnings of what was to become a city-wide savings facility for land and housing.  The Philippine group was also challenged to form their own federation and to engage government constructively and collaboratively.  Another idea that came together for them was how to better organize the savings groups in order to facilitate the savings for land and housing. 

Thus, 1998 saw the continued expansion of the savings program. Community exchanges intensified within the country, with groups visiting each other to learn about not only the operations of the savings scheme but also the technical and legal complexities of dealing with land and shelter issues.

In September 1998, the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines (HPFP) was officially consolidated and launched, formalizing a national network of urban poor communities that had already been in action for two years.  Since then, the lively process of community exchanges has continued to grow at different levels.  National meetings among leaders and community representatives have became a venue for exchanges of technical know-how, sharing of experiences, and learning of innovative ideas.  After discussions with VMSDFI, the federation came up with a decision to concentrate their efforts on communities living in danger zones such as along rail tracks, shorelines, or riverbanks; under bridges; around dumpsites; and those under threat of eviction.

The true test of how savings brought the community together happened in July 2000 with the trashslide in Payatas that, according to the government’s tally, killed more than 200 people.  On that fateful morning, the news of the tragedy spread like wildfire in the community.  Among the first groups to arrive were volunteers from the savings-based community paramedics program.  Other savings members also came to help comfort bereaved families as they waited for news about relatives and friends who were missing.  In the days that followed, savings amounts were utilized to provide food for affected families.

It was feared that the tragedy would have a negative impact on the savings program.  However, according to the research conducted by the Institute for Church and Social Issues (ICSI) of the Ateneo de Manila University, savings amounts rose to record levels as the community realized the value of the program.  There also happened a new round of expansion as new savings groups were organized.

The years between 2000 and 2005 saw the gradual handing over of program operations and management from the VMSDFI to the HPFP.  As the latter gained more experience and matured as an institution that promoted and implemented community-led initiatives, it took on more responsibility in deciding courses of action for existing projects, formulate policies, and implement programs.  For its part, the VMSDFI relegated itself to providing directional and technical support to the HPFP, including fund sourcing.

This period also showcased how an organized group of poor communities could constructively engage government in attaining slum upgrading.  It demonstrated that community initiatives sparked not merely interest, but support from those in national and local governance structures.  Because of this, HPFP involvement was requested in national government infrastructure projects such as the relocation program for the North and South Railway Projects; and a partner in the Iloilo City Flood Control Project.  In other areas such as Davao City and Digos City, the federation is part of advisory bodies that deal with relocation.

This maturity in the federation did not escape the attention of its international partners.  Whereas previously invited to attend international exchanges as participants, they were increasingly being asked to suggest courses of action based on their experience.  In 2004, the HPFP was requested by its international network to take on a more leading role in promoting savings in Southeast Asia.  Soon, community leaders were traveling to East Timor, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and Mongolia to share their technical expertise in organizing communities through savings.

Feeding the Fire: A Movement Called the HPFP

From the very beginning, the people themselves have figured prominently in this movement.  Their contribution and desire for involvement, beginning from the very first volunteers in the savings scheme, has been the driving force behind all the efforts to find solutions.  Since then, the HPFP has continued to evolve as an institution able to formulate its own code of policies, management structures and financial systems; manage and implement projects; and engage government and the private sector.  It is present in 18 cities and 15 municipalities all over the Philippines, comprising more than 150 community associations.

What all these efforts have done was to open spaces for poor communities to decide for themselves and formulate solutions to their problems.  Beyond being able to provide the necessary services to address their needs, these community initiatives have been an effective vehicle for those in the margins to regain their dignity and develop confidence in their capabilities.

The savings program has matured into a community integration process that has allowed urban poor communities to mobilize approximately US $3.5 million in pooled resources for subsistence and the development of their respective communities.  Called the Urban Poor Development Fund (UPDF), structures and policies are currently being formulated on how this could be utilized as the community’s counterpart in negotiating with government and the private sector in the community-led shelter finance facility that is being envisioned.

As they foreground community-led processes and initiatives, they break the pervasive negative depiction of the poor as problems to the development of society, on one hand; and on the other, mobilize resources that provide the means to support family expenditures.  Engaging government and the private sector has given them inroads into previously inaccessible structures of governance and corporate institutions.

One of the factors that has made all these possible has been a formation program catering to the current set of community volunteers, those who have expressed interest in participating more actively, and those who the community feels have the potential for leadership.  Workshops and training on legal matters, engineering and architecture, financial management, leadership, and organizational development provide a structured environment for learning.  On the other hand, the horizontal community exchanges in local, national, and international levels serve as unstructured educational experiences.

Also significant to the formation of leaders and other helpers has been the institutionalization of regular meetings, feedback systems, reflection sessions, and monitoring mechanisms.  These have engendered a mentality of mentoring and continuous learning where both old and neophyte volunteers benefits from the group’s collective experiences.

Volunteers from new member communities are also invited to participate through hands-on activities in program implementation with established programs.  This has served to increase the learning curve, allowing newly organized communities to benefit from the experience of more established communities. 

Financing

These activities have been made possible through the financial support of church-based agencies such as Misereor in Germany and Cordaid in the Netherlands.  Other support has been through multi-lateral institutions such as the World Bank/Cities Alliance and the Asian Development Bank. 

Fanning the Flames: A Multi-stakeholder Environment

Ironically, links with other like-minded organizations and institutions began with international groups such as ACHR, SDI, and NSDF.  Very early on, these organizations provided the encouragement and suggested directions to the fledgling savings organization that was to become the HPFP.

Since then, the VMSDFI and the HPFP have been able to establish significant relationships with multi-lateral institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.  Through the SDI network, meaningful links have also been forged with UN-HABITAT and the United Nations Development Program.

Nationally, the HPFP has forged significant working relationships with national shelter agencies such as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the National Housing Authority (NHA), and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).  These links have been advantageous for the HPFP as it has provided the inroads to put forward innovative ideas that facilitate the legalization of land tenure for communities in the fringes.  It has also been an avenue where issues such as evictions, demolitions, and relocations can be substantially discussed and courses of action are agreed upon.  Eventually, it is hoped that these engagements will allow them not only to influence policy changes but open spaces for quality participation in the formation of pro-poor housing regulation.

Within their respective cities and barangays, urban poor communities have established links with local governments that has translated into their representation in local development councils that act as advisory bodies to the formulation of local policies and development plans.  These relationships have matured to a level where city formations of the urban poor have been able to sponsor more responsive housing legislation and regulations.

Another level of partnership that has been developed has been with academic institutions such as the ICSI, the University of the Philippines in Mindanao, and the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City who have expressed willingness to assist the federation particularly in collating and analyzing enumeration data.  In subsequent discussions, these became technical assistance opportunities for federation volunteers who were gradually taught the various stages and technical requirements of collating and interpreting enumerations results.

Burning Bright: The Present and How Systems Have Changed

Today, various dimensions – both social and physical – that contribute to the attainment of secure tenure for urban poor communities continue to be pushed forward by member communities of the HPFP.  Particularly focused on high risk settlements, these diverse facets of upgrading demonstrate and prove the viability of community-led slum upgrading frameworks while capacitating communities to take on more significant roles in the development of their respective cities.  While significant attention is devoted to large-scale resettlement attendant to impending infrastructure projects and business venture developments, the massive dislocation caused by calamities and disasters have also been, subsequently, made part of HPFP interventions.  These concrete results can be classified into the following:

1. Advanced community-led processes on city-wide basis in response to the demands of “scale” and a widening membership base.  This multi-faceted response – ranging from community resource mobilization to land acquisition to the delivery of social services to vulnerable groups in the slums – is a departure from “micro-ized” view of development to a multi-stakeholder environment that addresses secure tenure through city-scale perspectives.

Within this new perspective, the mobilization of community financial resources has been witnessed through the increase of member communities implementing diverse savings products through community-level management and the marked increase in the numbers of savings members.  This process is supported by a deliberate drive for transparency and accountability for those in leadership roles.  Together with the implementation of micro-lending schemes, these savings products were accorded varying degrees of importance by local communities, with many concentrating on savings for land acquisition.  Be that as it may, the evolution of these financial models and local institutional capacities to manage revolving funds for micro-enterprise development of “non-bankable” and at-risk segments in society such as the urban poor paved the path for increasing the financial asset base while increasing opportunities to support family and community expenditures.

Beyond the obvious financial considerations, however, is the build-up in social capital and leverage capacity that the promotion of savings has given to the different slum communities.  The “coming together”  with government and private sector institutions has also afforded communities the space to discuss and decide on solutions to their problems; thus empowering the urban poor to take on a significant role in urban development.

The delivery of social services to vulnerable groups in the slums, i.e., the disabled, the elderly, and the children, are deliberate attempts of the federation to address the needs of slum dwellers whose lives are made more difficult by their mental or physical conditions.  The HPFP, by including these vulnerable groups in addressing tenure issues and linking them with appropriate institutions, has bolstered and expanded the reach of government initiated programs while ensuring that slum living does not become a barrier in accessing the necessary safety nets for those in these groups.

Localizing these processes at the level of particular cities where the federation is present allows the various savings windows and service delivery programs to be more responsive to the needs unique to each of the communities while increasing ownership of the various community-based processes and interventions being implemented.  The introduction of city-scale perspectives, multi-stakeholder involvement, and the gradual institutionalization of these efforts further consolidates the management and geographical expansion of the federation’s membership base.

1. Created a database on slum dwelling and influenced city processes.  Generating the database on slum dwelling highlights the initiative and the desire of the urban poor to gain a deeper understanding of their situation as well as providing them with accurate information on the number of slum dwellers and their living conditions in the cities.  In all the urban centers, the federation has used data from community-initiated enumeration exercises to provide an entry point in their engagement with local government.  Partnering with local academic institutions and technical organizations, survey data has further informed community plans of other possible options for development. 

This has effectively moved the arena from mere data collection to a political one that underscores the right of the urban poor to representation and inclusion in city planning and development processes.  Across varying political environments, the HPFP has single-mindedly concentrated its efforts on communities living in danger zones and strengthening ties with the different urban poor formations in the cities while actively seeking to forge more substantial links with like-minded agencies and institutions.

1. Built productive partnerships.  Engaging government utilizing existing legal frameworks such as the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 and community-generated data on slum dwelling, communities have been able to make significant inroads towards forging links with local government, in most cases, and with housing agencies at local, regional, and national levels.  Locally, this has translated to community participation in special consultative bodies such as the Local Housing Board (LHB); project-instituted inter-agency committees (IACs); various housing- or relocation-related technical working groups (TWGs); and development councils at the level of the barangay or the city where the importance and viability of community-led processes is further impressed on other members.  Communities have also participated substantially in the creation of draft City Action Plans, contributing in the formulation of comprehensive land use plans by centrally locating the urban poor agenda in the proceedings and ensuring its reflection in activity outputs.

Federation involvement has been requested by no less than the Vice President of the Philippines – who also heads the HUDCC – in all the stages of massive displacement caused by infrastructure projects.  The HPFP action has ranged from pre-relocation social preparation to post relocation support through community consolidation and facilitation of livelihood support. 

As part of a wider urban poor movement campaigning for secure tenure, links with other urban poor formations have also been established at the city and national levels.  The city-level coalition building processes, at times made difficult by the ideologically-guided agenda of counterpart federations and networks, have been especially fruitful in promoting the federation’s drive for city-scale perspectives to slum upgrading.  In these encounters with other institutions from civil society, the federation maintained its political impartiality by remaining agenda-focused.

International partnerships with the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR) and the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) were also bolstered through the active participation in regional and global activities by key volunteers from the various regional formations of the HPFP.

International exchanges have become a bargaining and promotional tool where visiting representatives and their local counterparts would be present in a partner city to show solidarity and numbers during major events. This has been especially useful when engaging the cooperation of government.  One of the most notable examples was the launching of the UN-HABITAT campaign for secure tenure which was done in Davao City in October 2002.  It was attended by a delegation from UN-HABITAT led by the executive director, Ms. Anna Tibaijuka; representatives from SDI member countries; national and local government officials, including 3 mayors; and close to 14,000 participants and representatives from communities throughout the Philippines.

1. Advocated responsive policies.  The advocacy for responsive policies at the level of the city is founded on engaging local government units to fulfill its mandate and commitment to provide socialized housing based on the UDHA, the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991, and the Comprehensive and Integrated Shelter Finance Act (CISFA) of 1994.  Taken together, these legal bases provide a workable space that communities claim in the spirit of quality participation in governance structures.

Another federation thrust in this advocacy is the institutionalization of resettlement frameworks.  This is compelled by the notable absence in most local governments of implementing guidelines for tenure-related issues such as evictions, demolitions, and socialized housing – despite the presence of the pro-poor laws such as the Urban Development and Housing Act.  Drafts for these City Action Plans have been formulated and presented.  There is, however, a need for intensive follow-though action to ensure that cities support through legislation and implement these plans.

1. Designed innovative strategies.  With the point of mainstreaming community-led processes in city-level development efforts, two of the strategies being refined are piloting community-led development projects to inform the formulation and design of slum upgrading frameworks; and designing and institutionalizing the community’s counterpart in the formulation of a city-level fund.

Centered on formulating collaborative resettlement processes, the pilot testing of several community-led upgrading projects are being spearheaded by the HPFP.  While institutional buy-in from government agencies and much of the private sector may still be just on the horizon, the federation continues to explore possibilities for setting pro-poor precedents to the development of slums.  The additional modifications on this strategy has been the challenge to further refine the definition of city-level development as it pertains to the participation of the poor in matters that affect them.

Concretizing the community’s stake in the formulation of a city-level shelter finance facility, the Urban Poor Development Fund (UPDF) has been operative in several cities even as its definitive structures and mechanisms were evolving.  As a program, it can boast of several communities that have been able to secure land through the pooling of community financial resources.  Steps are currently underway to design and implement administrative, financial, legal, and technical mechanisms to further strengthen the UPDF as an institution.  Simultaneous to this was the massive promotion of the scheme to the various member communities.  Not only has this triggered an increase in mobilized savings, but the UPDF has seemingly reinforced the communal nature of the HPFP.

1. Built alliances of learning communities.  The focus on documentation has produced a comprehensive narrative of the various processes being undertaken by member communities of the federation.  Its importance lies beyond the mere accounting of the federation’s experience to providing a comprehensive reference to the necessary processes that inculcate to communities the three fundamental characteristics of the HPFP, namely: community-led processes; savings, not only as a financial tool, but as a way of bringing people together; and critical engagement with government.

Another important output has been the manual of community-level financial operations which safeguards the people’s hard earned monetary resources by promoting transparency and accountability in all transactions.

Conclusion

From a simple savings and loan program in Payatas, the work of the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines (HPFP) has evolved into mobilizing urban informal settlers and slum dwellers around shelter and land tenure issues. A critical component of this mobilization work had been that of creating the space for people and communities to construct their own social institutions wherein people define the means to mobilize their resources and to allocate them to meet identified needs. Out of this space emerged capacities and mechanisms that allowed them the means and the confidence not only to engage in community-based processes but also subsequently to participate in city-level platforms.

As its work grows, the HPFP has found ready partners and collaborators among various institutional stakeholders; namely, professionals, academicians, local governments, national agencies, international organizations, and multi-lateral institutions.  Gradually, a broader system of support is evolving out of its continuous engagement – a social system created out of networks of communities implementing strategies to manage community resources, defining terms of engagement with the private and public sectors, and participating in the growth process of their cities. Through the work of HPFP, one sees the possibilities of mobilizing informal settlers, not just as symbols of the social cost of development, but as active partners demonstrating how cities can work for them.