My Neighbor Behind The Wall, Dyna

by Justine C. Tajonera Documenting Inequality and The

Urban Poor Along My Street An Assignment for How To Change The World, a course offered

by Wesleyan University via Coursera.org. July 7, 2014

Welcome to My Neighborhood

I live in a condominium-hotel along Escriva Drive, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. It is a business district. Just across my building is the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and on the right side of NEDA is the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) and the Communication and Research Center (CRC). Not far from this street is the Philippine Stock Exchange.

We have a mysterious wall What’s

behind this wall?

Along our street full of hotels, business buildings and commercial establishments there is a strange painted wall. Its cement façade is colored a bright yellow and dark green. When you see a wall like this in Metro Manila, it is usually to hide something.

The squatter’s area behind the wall

What the wall is actually hiding is a squatter’s area. This squatter’s area is occupied by informal settlers who also serve the neighborhood as local government workers (ex. maintenance crew), bellhops and janitors of the nearby hotels, domestic workers, etc.

Aerial view of squatter’s area.

The slum area in the heart of Ortigas Center

The entrance to the squatter’s area is a narrow street lined with a small sari-sari (“variety”) store and eatery. The tenements here are three stories high.

Entrance to squatter’s area along Gen. Malvar St., Bgy. San Antonio

Informal entrance from Escriva Drive, a literal “hole in the wall” where people climb out of the tarpaulin and land

on Escriva Drive.

The slum area in the heart of Ortigas Center

We visited this area looking for my daughter’s classmate from the Barangay San Antonio Day Care (a free local government service for residents of Barangay San Antonio).

We noticed cramped quarters, drying laundry hanging from windows, informal pipes lining the walls and streets. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people housed here.

Informal entrance from Escriva Drive, a literal

“hole in the wall”

Informal pipes crisscross the narrow streets. Might

be water, might be sewage.

Meeting my neighbor, Dyna

We found my daughter’s classmate, F, and her mother, Dyna. Dyna has four other children.. She, along with her husband who is employed as part of the barangay’s maintenance crew, and their five children (and stray dog) live in a small area, no bigger than my kitchen.

My daughter, C (left), with Dyna’s daughter, F (right). My neighbor, Dyna.

Is this inequality justified? In my opinion, no it’s not. Informal urban settlers come from the countryside (source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/38217/agrarian-reform-failure-has-led-to-squatter-problem-in-cities-says-urban-poor-group). If they had better economic options, they wouldn’t crowd the cities. All of these urban poor have roles in our city.

It’s the city that isn’t prepared for the influx. In an ideal world, no one would have to live in such conditions. But the reality is: they have better economic opportunities in the cities than they do in the rural areas.

Dyna’s sons who take care of a stray dog.

What can I do? •  There are many constraints to clean water,

sanitation and hygiene (J-PAL): –  the legality of their property –  the priorities of the institutions that are tasked

to serve them

•  As an ordinary citizen, I need to get to know local government to see what their plans are for serving and addressing this sector.

•  Contribute to programs like Gawad Kalinga, that serves our urban poor: source of the background image and Gawad Kalinga model http://gk1world.com/our-model

•  I will continue to participate in the community (for example, through sending my child to the local day care) to know more about my neighbors’ needs and how they can be met. As it says in the Gawad Kalinga program, poverty is not about a lack of money as much as it is about the loss of human dignity. My goal is commune with them as part of my community.

Source: Gawad Kalinga website, http://gk1world.com/our-model