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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background Of The Study

Poverty is one of the many social problems that have been long

entrenched in the society, especially in the Third World countries. One of the

most prevalent manifestations of it is the housing crisis.

It has been known that employment, income generation and access to

housing are highly interrelated. (Adebayo and Adebayo, 2000)

Underdeveloped states are too meager or unstable to permit commitment of

scarce resource to housing since most of the expenditures are allocated on

other areas of concerns like agriculture, health, education and infrastructure.

To an extent, these basic human necessities and income generating activities

are perceived to be more pressing than that of housing development that is

why they are prioritized instead. (TWURD, 1993)

There are initial efforts to address housing needs, however, the

combined factors of rapid population growth and migration to urban centers

have magnified the challenges faced by city and national governments. (Ibid;

Bestani and Klein, 2004; Sayos et. al, 1998; Kohli, 1997; Self, 1964)


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At the very least, poverty is likely to produce increased human

migration from rural areas to urban centers since the locus of economic

development has been concentrated here. Abundance of job opportunities

has continued to attract rural settlers to migrate in the cities for better living

condition making these urban centers overpopulated and congested. (Ibid;

Ibid; Self, 1964)

Along with the growing population is the rising cost of housing,

particularly that of land and construction costs, as well as rent charges. Under

this situation, the informal settlers, primarily those from the provinces who

moved into the city due to extreme poverty in the rural areas, are left with no

choices but to squat since they have scarce means to get decent units.

(Sayos et. al. 1998) Generally, squatters or informal settlers are those people

occupying government land and structures, those residing in reclamation

areas and danger sites; those affected by the roads widening projects of the

government, and those who are squatting in privately owned lands. (TWURD,

1993; Ibid)

Contrary to how it has been perceived as less vital relative to the other

basic needs, housing problem has practically been the root of other serious

social setbacks like poor health and sanitation in overcrowded residential and

squatters areas, increasing inter-group friction and urban crimes.

Nonetheless, despite of its seemingly lesser gravity as a social problem,

housing crisis should then be prioritized as well.

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As this problem presently affects different countries, it has been more

pronounced in Asia and the Pacific. According to available housing measure,

the housing markets in Asia are under more pressure than anywhere else in

the world (Bestani & Klein, 2004). For years, there has been a profound

insufficient availability of infrastructure services such as water, power,

sewage treatment, etc. And despite this situation, little attention has been

devoted to this problem. The fund that has been devoted both to improving

the enabling environment for housing and to the direct provision of housing is

very inadequate (Ibid.).

In the Philippines, the problem has been more evident. Urban growth

in the country has averaged about 4 percent over the last two decades and is

expected to decline only marginally, adding 2.5 million households by the

year 2000 (TWURD, 1993). However, this aforesaid growth has not been

evenly distributed across all cities and has only been rampant in various

urban centers predominantly the Metro Manila area whose primacy is a

phenomenon analogous to other cities in the Southeast Asia.

In Metro Manila, more than a half of the poor sector lives in

shantytowns, beside the railways, under the bridges or near the rubbish.

Families work as scavengers and raise their children in an unhealthy and

dangerous place. This deplorable living condition of the poor has been

aggravated by a number of demolitions and city reconstructions in lieu of

continuous development.

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These increasing demands in housing relative to the poverty that has

constantly constrained the people adds more pressure to the already limited

financial resources of local and national governments. The government has

grappled with such problems coming up with several housing provisions,

assistance and innovative programs for their poor beneficiaries, but then has

always been inhibited by factors such as inadequate funding, lack of

institutional linkages and weak political will that ensures sustainability. (Sayos

et. al. 1998)

The civil society has also been involved in housing development as

they go on supplementing the government actions and sometimes even

offering alternative solutions. (TWURD, 1993; Self, 1964)

The Urban Poor Institute for Community Building Inc. (UPICOB) is one

of the active NGOs involve in housing. It is a non-stock, non-profit and non-

governmental organization that facilitates the holistic process of peoples

struggles for empowerment through formation, education, community building

and socio-politico-economic development. It was established last August 30,

1991, duly registered by Security and Exchange Commission, duly accredited

by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of

Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Social

Welfare and Development (DSWD).

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There are two peoples organization (POs) that were organized by

UPICOB in its housing activities: the SBHOA and UBMPC. The Sitio

Balikatan-Homeowners Association (SBHOA) is a partner peoples

organization of UPICOB on housing construction. It comprises of people living

along the railroads of Metro Manila (from Caloocan to Taguig), and is

composed of members who are the heads of the family. The other PO, the

UPICOB-Balikatan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (UBMPC) is a livelihood

cooperative whose members are the families of the members of SBHOA.

Together, they work in building houses and livelihood for the community.

B. Statement of the Problem

The study primarily ventured deeper on the issue of poverty as it takes

the NGO-PO coalition in the context of housing crisis. As it attempts to

address the main concern of the study, that which are the shortfalls,

inadequacies and indefiniteness of the current solutions done by different

sectors to resolve or perhaps even alleviate the current situation, it analyzed

the response of a particular non-governmental organization and its partner

peoples organizations towards housing crisis.

The main problem of the study is that: Is the strategy of UPICOB-

SBHOA-UBMPC a sustainable solution to the housing problem in the

selected communities in Metro Manila?

In lieu with this, the study answered the following particular questions:

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1. What is the current status of the housing crisis in Metro Manila?

2. What is the strategy employed by the UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC in

responding to the problem?

3. Is the housing strategy sustainable in terms of:

a. Institutional arrangements?

b. Technical?

c. Financial?

C. Theoretical Framework

NGO Theory of Poverty

David Kortens (1990) NGO theory of poverty is derived from his work

on the NGO development strategies, wherein he labeled the three modes of

action that NGOs undertake for addressing development problems overtime.

The development strategies that he identified are as follows: (1) generation

one, relief and welfare; (2) generation two, small-scale, self-reliant local

development; and (3) generation three, sustainable systems development.

The theory basically shows the direction that NGOs take in addressing

development issues. It explains how and why they shift from one strategy to

another in the course of achieving their goals.

According to the theory, the shift in strategy among NGOs is primarily

brought about by the realization of the problems underlying causes (Korten

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1990). Normally, NGOs that are concerned with poverty alleviation begin as

relief and welfare organizations or generation one strategy (See Figure 1).

They respond to the problem in the most direct and immediate way by

providing food, clothing, housing, and health as required (Korten, 1990).

These organizations view the entire problem just as how it appears to them,

without delving deeper into it. For instance, they view poverty merely as the

inability of the poor people to meet their basic needs. And from there they will

respond to it by providing them with what they could not afford.

In the midst of carrying out their actions in addressing the problem,

some NGOs come to a certain point of questioning the underlying causes

(Korten, 1990). It is like asking Why are the people poor? From here, they

will begin to shift in their strategy. Looking upstream, these NGOs will

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FIGURE 1

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Source: (Tobing, 1989)

NGO

the individual or family

service delivery activitythe NGO works operationally asthe single actorexpertise: logistics

Generation one: Relief and Welfare

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begin searching for the source or cause of the problem and will end up

realizing that the problem is local inertia, a sort of self imposed or self

correctable powerlessness resulting from lack of organization, political

consciousness, belief in self, credit and basic skills (Korten, 1990). And so

they will begin to intervene in the community, not by providing immediate

needs that will only be as good as temporary solutions, but will actually

intervene with community development programs (generation two strategy).

Herewith they will begin to organize the community and enable them to

overcome their powerlessness, and be capable of alleviating the solutions

themselves. At this point, the community becomes the NGOs partner in

achieving their developmental goal (See Figure 2).

The shift in strategy to generation three known as the sustainable

systems development is brought about by further upstream, which leads to

the realization that in large measure the evident powerlessness of the villager

is not self-imposed; rather it is externally-imposed and sustained by policies

and programs, often originating from the state and funded by foreign

agencies, that deprive the poor of access to productive resources and

maintain them in a state of dependency (Korten, 1990). With this, NGOs will

then adjust their approach accordingly and set about to advocate for changes

in critical policies: macropolicy and micropolicy reforms. The macropolicy

reforms (see Figure 3.1) are accomplished through preemptive central actions

(Korten, 1990). More so, they will begin to work with the government, or at

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FIGURE 2



NGO

Generation two: Small-scale self-reliant local development

COs CD activities through localprojects

Actors: NGO and POsNGOs expertise: projectmanagement and communityorganizing

PO

PO PO

target groups: peoples organization (POs) in the village/s

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FIGURE 3.1


Generation three: Sustainable systems development


Catalyst for macropolicy reform

different action agencieswhich constitute the systemfor a particular sector indevelopment activity

NGO

cooperates with other NGOand different entities

catalysts

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least with other sectors related, perhaps the private entities and foreign

agencies, by forming partnerships and coalitions aimed at reorienting their

programs towards the attainment of their goals. On the other hand,

micropolicy reforms (see Figure 3.2) entail a social learning process (Korten,

1986) as highly complex and difficult institutional changes are sometimes

required for its accomplishment. And as part of micropolicy reforms, NGOs

play the role of development catalyst in facilitating the development projects

of the government.

The theory clearly projects the course of action among NGOs, and

explains the reason for the changes and shifts in their developmental

strategies. In relation to the study, which aims to determine how a particular

NGO-PO, that which is UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC, addresses to the problem

of housing in the selected communities in Metro Manila, the theory explained

what type of strategy they adapted and why they responded the way they did.

This is primarily in line with the purpose of the study, which is to analyze the

response of the UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC towards housing crisis.

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FIGURE 3.2


Generation three: Sustainable systems development


NGO

Catalyst for micropolicy reform

COscatalyst

action

agency

development projectof government

project beneficiaries groups

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Sustainable Housing Development

In analyzing the sustainability of the housing strategy of UPICOB-

SBHOA-UBMPC, the research made use of another theory, the Sustainable

Housing Development by Lombard and Wyk (2001) from their research

entitled The Housing Development NGOs Offering Housing Education and

Training Programmes in South Africa.

Sustainable Housing Development identifies four pillars (See Figure 4)

necessary for sustainable housing development (Lombard and Wyk, 2001).

The first pillar of housing development is the establishment of

permanent physical residential structures with secure tenure and allthe other physical elements.

The second pillar of housing development is the building of the

capacity of the participating community at all levels (mentally,socially and technically) to such a level that they are empowered toparticipate in their own development.

The third pillar is to make communities sustainable through the

housing development process, is the establishment or strengtheningof local community institutions or organizations to such a level that

they can maintain developments as well as orchestrate and conductfuture developments within the community.

The fourth pillar states that for the community to become

economically self-sustaining, opportunities need to be created wherethe community can utilize their inherent and newly developedcapacity for local economic development.

This theory has been used to analyze whether the technical

capacity of the strategy of UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC is sustainable or

not.

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FIGURE 4


Sustainable Housing Development Approach

SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

FIRSTPILLAR

SECONDPILLAR

THIRDPILLAR

FOURTHPILLAR

Theestablish-ment ofpermanen

t physicalresidentialstructures

withsecuretenureand all theotherphysicalelements

Thebuildingofcapacity

of thepartici-patingcommu-nity at alllevels(so-cially,mentallyand tech-nically).

Theestablish-ment orstrengthe

n-ing oflocalcom-munityinstitutions ororgani-zations

Opportuni-ties needto becreated

where thecommuni-ty canutilizetheirdeveloped capacity

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Resource Dependence Theory (RDT)

There is another theory that the study employed as a supporting

framework to the first two conjectures given. This is the Resource

Dependence Theory (RDT) by Jeffrey Pfeffler and Gerald Salancik in their

work The External Control of Organizations (1978).

RDT begins with the assumption that no organization is able to

generate all the various resources that it needs (Pfeffler and Salancik, 1978).

Thus, it is impossible that all activities can be performed within the

organization to make it self-sustaining. Organizations must be dependent on

the environment for resources.

Basically, there is a scarcity of resources in the environment essential

for an organizational survival. This makes resource acquisition more of an

uncertainty for any organization. Thus, organizations are assumed to work

towards the goal of maximizing their power, and this not at all possible they

will not create internal and external coalitions with other organizations due to

the aforementioned lack of resources in the environment.

Organizations then will seek to establish relationships with others in

order to obtain the needed resources (Ibid). As their dependence on other

organizations increase, they tend to minimize it by acquiring control over their

own resources so as to make others dependent on them as well.

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In much simpler terms, resource-dependence model takes into

consideration the ways in which organizations interact with others in the

environment in order to get their needed resources, which they themselves

lack. This means that resource dependence model can be though of as an

inter-organizational resource dependence model since resources are deemed

to come from other organization as well (Pfeffler and Salancik, 1978). Thus, it

is impossible for an organization to stand on its own, entirely isolated from the

rest in the environment since there are needs that it cannot produce on its

own without cooperating with others.

This theory has been used in analyzing the sustainability of the

financial aspect and institutional arrangement of the Balikatan Self-Help

Housing Project of UPICOB and its partner POs, the SBHOA and the

UBMPC.

D. Conceptual Framework

In the attempt to respond to the housing problem in the country,

specifically the selected communities in the Metro Manila area, the Urban

Poor Institute for Community Building (UPICOB) organized two partner

peoples organization, the Sitio Balikatan Home Owners Association (SBHOA)

and the UPICOB-Balikatan Multipurpose Cooperative (UBMPC). These three

organizations work and cooperate with each other and ventures into housing

development called the Balikatan Self-Help Housing Project (See Figure 5).

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In this study, the housing strategy of the said NGO and its partner POs

was analyzed whether it is a sustainable solution to the housing problem of

the selected communities in Metro Manila. In doing so, the current housing

situation in the Metro Manila was presented, and then the response of

UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC was laid down and analyzed. The last part

assessed the housing strategy whether it is sustainable or not based on the

given indicators in the study.

To further elaborate on the first part, the root causes of the problem

were analyzed here using the quantitative data from government researches

and projections. The factors considered here were the Philippine population,

population count per region, and the population of Metro Manila together with

that of the cities comprising it. Land area was also taken into consideration

since the population density is vital in determining whether Metro Manila is

already jammed and overcrowded. Income brackets of Metro Manila

households were also considered since this is significant in understanding

why there has been housing problem in the aforesaid urban center. Most

importantly, the projected housing need and backlog in Metro Manila was

presented as well as the total number of depressed households relative to the

totality of the families in the area. These data were taken into consideration in

lieu with the goal of presenting the current housing condition in the Metro

Manila area.

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Upon knowing the condition or the problem that exists, the study

presented in details the response of UPICOB-SBHOA-UBMPC. First, the

organizational background was laid down. Then their different programs as

well as the approaches employed in addressing the housing problem were

presented. Given the kind of programs and the approach they used, the

strategy of the NGO and its partner POs was determined. This has been done

using the following strategy indicators: actors, activities and expertise.

The last part analyzed the sustainability of the housing strategy using

the sustainability indicators institutional arrangements, financial aspect and

technical capacity. This is to assess whether the said strategy employed is

sustainable solution to the problem.

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FIGURE 5

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Housing Problems in Metro Manila

current housing situation, responses of thegovernment

UBMPC(PO)

SBHOA(PO)

UPICOB(NGO)

Balikatan Self-HelpHousing Project

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E. Objectives of the Study

The prime objective of the study was to assess how the UPICOB and

its partner POs, the SBHOA and UBMPC respond to the housing problem in

selected communities in Metro Manila.

The specific objectives on the other hand are the following:

1. To illustrate the current status of the housing crisis in Metro Manila and

at the same time the different sectors involved in it;

2. To determine how were the UPICOB and its partner POs, the SBHOA

and UBMPC responded to the housing problem;

3. To analyze whether the housing strategy used by UPICOB-SBHOA-

UBMPC in addressing the problem is a sustainable solution.

F. Significance of the Study

This study tends to contribute a more in depth knowledge and

information on housing crisis, and how different sectors like the government,

the private entities, and the civil society respond to it. This is to fill in the gap

found in the literatures and studies both on NGO-PO relations and housing

crisis and development.

The need for shelter is a primary need of every individual, and so

housing is a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and a complex

issue that should be subjected to further studies. Despite the countless

housing projects and programs of the National Government in their serious

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attempts to solve this aggravating crisis, the situation continues to

degenerate.

It is undeniable to a certain extent that this kind of problem is hard to

attend to since housing is not a single entity; it is for a fact a heterogeneous

item. (HUDCC, 2006) Thus, entering into such a venture is definitely costly.

Perhaps these are the reasons that made it difficult for housing crisis to be

solved.

The difficulty however should not discourage the national government,

the local government units, private firms and most especially, the civil society

to be disillusioned. Rather, this problem should be confronted and studied

thoroughly. There should be a constant search for better strategies in house

building, in financing these projects in order to alleviate it from its worsening

status.

In the bulk of literature regarding housing, it is always the government

that is being taken in the studies. Thus, there is a pressing need to conduct

more researches that will also take the civil society, who has already taken

the cudgels in this undertaking. Most specially the non-governmental

organizations, there are very few researches on housing that were done in

the NGO perspective since studies about NGOs usually focus on agriculture,

education and health. (Etemadi, 2000; Mitlin, 2001; Agoncillo, 1996; Barredo,

2001; Patriarca, 1992; Subhan, 2004; Tobing, 1989)

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This suggests the need to conduct a study regarding housing which

will be taken on a different angle, that which is on the standpoint of these non-

governmental organizations.

The study basically analyzed how these NGO-POs relations

responded to the housing crisis in Metro Manila. Further, this study is

significant for the following reasons:

1. The study will contribute to the development of the UPICOB and its

partner POs relations in their plight to address the problem of housing

in Metro Manila;

2. This will help the organization itself, in this case the UPICOB, to

improve their internal structure, so as to be better agents of change in

the society;

3. The findings of the study will furnish a partial source of strategic

schemes in responding to the housing crisis that will either supplement

to the current solutions being done, or can be an efficient alternative;

4. The case study will serve as a guide and basis for other NGO-POs

involve in housing development in improving their strategies; and

5. The study will also benefit future researchers delving on NGO-POs and

housing crisis as well as other researchers of related fields.

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G. Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study is intended to determine how NGO-PO responded to the

housing problems in Metro Manila. Thus, the study focused only on housing

crisis as an aspect of the more general concept of poverty. Housing is a

serious urban problem that often branch out to many other setbacks. Thus,

this should be of prime concern among the policy makers, local officials and

researchers as well. As this problem needs immediate solution, it nonetheless

requires a good study and analysis to back up every action. There should be

a constant search for innovative solutions to this crisis, as conventional ones

are deemed to be lacking in effect.

One more thing, this research is one case study of an NGO-PO

coalition, comprising of one NGO and two POs. This single case was

purposely preferred so as to be able to study the organization better with all

its specificities. This allowed the research to delve deeper into the coalition,

the strategy, and study it more accurately.

The study only focused on selected communities in Metro Manila area

those that are covered by the UPICOB: Manila, Caloocan, Payatas and

Taguig. These are the places that the network of the UPICOB was able

reach, and where they were able to build communities. Also, these are the

cities where their beneficiaries came from. Thus, the members of the POs

were basically from these locations.

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The time frame of the study was from 1991 up to the present because

this is time when the UPICOB was actually established and began its

operation as an Urban Poor organization concerned on poverty alleviation.

Despite the fact that it was only in 2004 when they formally ventured into

housing, the different programs and trainings they have sponsored and

conducted became stepping-stones to their housing project. More so, they

have foreseen the idea of such endeavor as early as when they had just

started, though the formal concept came about later when the problem

became more pronounced in their chapters through the threats of demolitions

and railroad reconstructions.

This study is one of the few attempts in conducting research on NGO-

PO response to housing crisis. And with this, the study admits to have a

number of inadequacies in its theoretical and methodological framework.

And being limited to only one case suggests the very limitation of the

entire research in terms of deriving a conclusion and generalization.

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