Preview

Squatting in the Philippines

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
662 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Squatting in the Philippines
SQUATTER AREAS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Have you visited the Philippines? Have you been to its capital, which is Manila? The country I came from is known for its rich history and vibrant culture. Tourist just can’t get enough of its people’s hospitality, the tropical climate it possess, white sand beaches washed by clear blue waters of the sea, lustrous forest, vast stretches of green fields planted with rice, colorful jeepneys and a wide variety of sumptuous food. But not everyone knows that it is also plagued with squatter areas even in fully developed cities like Manila. First, let us define what squatting is. According to Wikipedia, “Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use.” Here in the United States, I really don’t see a lot of people squatting; I’ve seen homeless people, but they can go to shelters that the local or the federal government provides. But not in the Philippines; the government there doesn’t offer shelters that you can go to when you don’t have a place to spend the night over. I guess they don’t have enough funds to build them, which forces people to squat. Squatting is a huge social and economic problem in the Philippines. It has been one of the most perennial problems the government has been facing. Many high-ranking officials have tried to solve it, but the number of people that are squatting just keeps on growing. There are many reasons why people squat, but all these reasons lead to one big problem, which is POVERTY. Many Filipinos are unemployed, and a big number of them lack education. People don’t have the means to pay for a house or to rent a decent place that’s why they just stay wherever it is they think is convenient for them. In developed cities like Manila, you’d see hundreds of families staying in tiny, flimsy, improvised dwellings constructed of discarded materials, without proper

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and commodity prices, addressing poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. The proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly in the past four decades, and poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts.…

    • 1995 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    El Salvador, a small country in Central America, has had a huge historical housing deficit that started to improve in the late 1990s. However, the earthquakes in early 2001 shook not only the country, but also the country’s economic and social foundations thus rendering the need for new housing policies. This is the backdrop of the housing shortage in El Salvador today. Due to many factors, the country that was once stable in adequate housing now is facing an issue with lack of shelter for millions of citizens.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    High quality homes aren’t enough for everyone to live in a high standard, for this reason spatial inequality exists. The people that have money have a greater chance of getting a big, nice home rather than those who don’t have money. In the interview Neighborhood Visit 1 Chapter 9, tells us that there’s only 18 square feet per person of green space in the federal district of Iztapalapa and Magdalena Contreras. This isn’t much space if people keep coming to urban cities such as Mexico City. This connects back to homes because the less space available the less amount of houses build for people to live in. People live in block homes with tar covered roofs that have a lack of water and electricity. People living in Mexico City need an equal amount of green space because the rich people might have huge homes that take a lot of space while other people are living on the street struggling just to have a roof over their heads.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Transitional Housing

    • 4363 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Because we all know that, as a member of the preparatory group of the Commission on Poverty, in the past month to visit a lot of friends currently living in some of the board room,  room, also see their living conditions, I (Preparatory Commission on Poverty discussion of the group), some scholars, experts, they all feel the course, the construction of public housing is good, However, the construction of public housing need, you also often said, we come up with a lot of you say this is a "distant water "distant water may not be able to immediately increase the supply. If you have a ready-made buildings, government policies…

    • 4363 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Brazil's Injustices

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Surrounding the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are small towns with houses made out of thin plywood, plastic, cardboard, and very thin sheet metals. These small towns that surround urban areas have the word “shantytowns” or favelas popularly associated with them. These towns are mostly populated with the Brazilian population of African origin. The people that occupy these areas were drawn to the areas due to rural drought as well as local government corruption. These towns as well as the urban areas that are surrounded by them are commonly associated with violent crime.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Oxfam Aging Paper

    • 4594 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Housing for the wealthier middle classes rises above the insecure housing of a slum community in Lucknow, India. Photo: Tom…

    • 4594 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    With safe and adequate shelter space unavailable, many people are forced to sleep or camp – for the purpose of establishing a temporary place to live – in public places out of survival. Cities such as Los Angeles, however, have adopted unconstitutional laws that mandate, “No person shall sit, lie or sleep in or upon any street, sidewalk or other public way” (City of Los Angeles 2016: Sec. 41.18). Such laws not only violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution– under which the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness who sleep in public when they have no available alternative constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment and which the application of such laws “improperly restrict innocent behavior,” respectively – but also the right to security of person as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and signed by the international community within the United Nations (Criminalization of Homelessness Legal Strategy Guide: 2; United Nations General Assembly 1948: Article 3). The disparities between need and emergency aid for those experiencing homelessness means that on any given night hundreds of thousands have…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Davao City, the increasing number of informal settlers can be attributed to the rapid urbanization in the city. As a result of the rapid and extraordinary growth, the shelter problems of the poor have increased in scale and in severity.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Favelas Essay

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Poverty has been around for many centuries, all around the world. Some of the societies governments aren’t doing a thing to fix these shanty towns and favelas. They try to keep them isolated from the more wealthy parts of the city. Whether it means putting up fences or just keeping them in a distance from the others. These people are being treated like animals, forced to live in flooded areas on top of one another. The favelas in Rio De Janeiro are very similar to the shanty towns in Jakarta, Indonesia.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nigerian Culture Today

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages

    One factor of globalization- urbanization- has greatly impacted the lives of Nigerians. The transition from rural areas to urban dwellings has definitely transformed the dynamics of African family life. Decades ago, the Nigerian people lived in small villages, consisting of hand-made huts (Baldwin). Wherever they needed a home, they simply built one. In the cities, where now 30-40% of Nigeria’s population resides, however, housing has become a problem (ERSO). There aren 't many available places to live, and people are now living anywhere they possibly can – in fields, in abandoned lots, and on the streets. The demand for housing is high – around 60% of Nigerians are living under-housed or without housing. Residential ownership in Nigeria has dropped to less than 25%, compared to 75%, internationally (ERSO).…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A squatter settlement is an area of residence, the settlements are generally illegal because people have not got authority to build or legal ownership of land. In squatter settlements homes are generally built out of scraps (for example scrap metal and discard wood). These settlements are usually found around railway lines, waste tips and on rivers. People who live in squatter settlements work very hard just to survive, and to provide for their families. Residents of squatter settlements usually work in the informal economy and therefore earn a very small amount for long hours, and therefore many live in poverty, lacking many essential resources.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poverty is a pressing issue here in the Philippines. There are so many people who live below the poverty line, and there is a huge discrepancy when it comes to wealth distribution in the Philippines. Only a few actually are the ones who are truly rich at the expense of the majority of the population. There are many reasons why this is so: Our elected officers are also the ones who own most of the land, so it creates…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Poverty in the Philippines

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Poverty and inequality have been recurrent challenges in the Philippines and have again come to the fore in the wake of the current global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and commodity prices experienced in 2008. he proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined very slowly and unevenly in the past four decades, and poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, hailand, and Viet Nam. he growth of the economy has been characterized by boom and bust cycles and current episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on poverty reduction. Other reasons for the relatively moderate poverty decline include the high rate of inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors; and unmanaged population growth.his study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the causes of poverty in the Philippines and give recommendations for accelerating poverty reduction through sustained and more inclusive growth. he study will provide an overview of the current status of government responses, strategies, and achievements and will identify and prioritize future needs and interventions. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) accomplishments to date will also be assessed. It will examine implications of the current financial crisis on poverty and recommend ways to move forward. he study is based on analytical work using current literature and the latest available data, including the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).…

    • 1252 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Poverty, hunger prevent Filipino kids from getting basic education JAM SISANTE, GMANews.TVAugust 4, 2008 1:09pm…

    • 5767 Words
    • 165 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Data Point 3

    • 1531 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Using figure 4, it would appear that densely built shacks – which also appear poor quality - are evidence of shanty town development. Because this area appears so tightly built together (and therefore isolated from the rest of the city), as shown in the bottom of the photograph, it will likely have contributed issues such as poor sanitation – whilst also suffered from lack of resources (given its lack of integration with the rest of the city). Whilst there is evidence of poorly-built housing (indicated by the metal roofing of most of the shacks), it would also seem that there has been some effort of redevelopment. Indicated by the high rise flats in the background, introducing the formation of housing by building them aloft each other should reduce the proportion of people densely populated in one area whilst allowing further space for the construction of infrastructure – potentially to integrate the slum community with the rest of the city in a more modern space that provides them with a better quality of living. That said, this scheme will likely house less than that of all populated in the slums. More importantly as well, it would seem that the scheme hasn’t at all been successful given the majority of high rise flats look decrepit – probably due to poor maintenance. In order to improve this landscape, new housing schemes could potentially be more successful than that of the high rise flat formation. Provided that authorities manage within land constraints (which there likely is in this LEDC), the city could aim to relocate families living in slums with minimal social disruption. A likely better solution that single-family homes, a project could be implemented to create small row houses (of which would be better-quality and provide residents with the necessary amenities). These could then be advertised to squatters for sale and rent…

    • 1531 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays