INFORMAL

SETTLEMENTS IN
METRO MANILA
(AN OVERVIEW)
REBECCA VANESSA D.L. RELLOSA
PLAN 240

DR. MA. SHEILA G. NAPALANG

 PRESENTATION OUTLINE
 Informal Settlements and Slums
 Theories on the formation of Informal
Settlements
 Metro Manila: A brief description
 Squatter in the Vernacular
 Magnitude of Informal Settlements in
Metro Manila
 Historical references of squatting in the
Philippines
Informal settlements and slums
 “Slum” has a negative connotation, implies
evil, strange, to be shunned and avoided.
Derived from the word “slumber”, slums
were once thought by the majority to be
unknown back streets or alleys, wrongly
presumed to be sleeping and quiet.
 Described as a street, alley or court, situated

in a crowded district of a town or city

inhabited by people of low class or by the
very poor, a number of these streets or
court forming a thick populated
neighbourhood or district of a squalid or
wretched character.
Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 ‘Squatting’ refers simply to the relationship
between people and houses on land. A
squatter is a person who has taken over
land, a house or a building and occupies it
without lawful authority to do so.
 Squatter infiltration – a slow, almost individual
spillage into land – is common throughout the
Third World. It can create tiny settlements or
small towns.
 Infiltration ignores official land allocation or

transfer systems, be they customary, market or

bureaucratic. The land, if apparently unoccupied
or unused, is seen as a resource, a free good
available
McAuslan, Patrick. for
1985. Urban use
Land by those
and Shelter who
for the Poor. needRussell
Nottingham: it. Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 An ever present phenomenon of the rapidly
developing cities of Africa, South America,
and Asia, particularly India and Pakistan is
the extensive communities of squatters and
shanty town dwellers that have sprung up
in and around peripheral areas of cities.


 Peripheral shantytowns spring up on land that

is not being used for one reason or another.


Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.

New York: The Free Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 The land is often unused because it is
undesirable or unsuitable for permanent
buildings.
 It may consist of swamps as in certain districts

of Bangkok, steep hillsides as in the favelas

of Rio de Janeiro, low ground subject to
flooding as in the outskirts of Baghdad or
refuse dumps.
 Waste areas of these types may be found near

the city center as well as on the outskirts. In

other cases the land is too arid for
cultivation and outside the scope of the city
water system.
 Many
Clinard, shantytowns
Marshall B. also
1970. Slums and Community occupy
Development: landinthat
Experiments Self-Help.is
New York: The Free Press.
held vacant by urban investors in
Informal settlements and slums
Types of Squatters: by Charles Abrams,


Man’s Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing

World
 The owner squatter
 The squatter tenant
 The squatter holdover
 The squatter landlord
 The speculator squatter
 The semi-squatter
 The floating squatter



Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 John R. Seeley in his book Redevelopment:
Some Human gains and Losses, divided slum
dwellers into four types:
 The permanent opportunists
 The permanent necessitarians
 The temporary necessitarians
 The temporary opportunists


Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.

New York: The Free Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 Charles J. Stokes in his book Land
Economics mentions in the section “A
Theory of Slums” uses two main
variables to describe types of slums.
 1st , the attitude of the slum
dweller toward social mobility
through assimilation or
acculturation in the social and
economic life of the community
 2nd , the measure of socioeconomic
handicaps and barriers to such
movement
 Each of these two variables
provides two general
Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
Informal settlements and slums
 Charles J. Stokes in his book Land Economics
mentions in the section “A Theory of Slums” uses
two main variables to describe types of slums.
 Slums of hope- characterized by the
attitudes of residents, whether or not they
expect to improve their situations and
whether or not there are opportunities for
advancing out of the slums. Have
generally the homes of recent immigrants
to the community; people intend to better
themselves
 Slums of despair – populated by groups of
longer residence;
 Escalator and non-escalator classes – slums
of hope are more likely to contain
escalator classes groups of people who
can be expected to move up through the
class structure, whereas non-escalator
classes,
Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. deniedDevelopment:
Slums and Community in someExperiments
ways in the
Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
privilege of escalation are more
Informal settlements and slums
 ‘Third World Squatting’ is what is referred
to as illegally building on land one does not
own of a house, made usually with
temporary materials, but is not exclusive to
Third World countries.
 Western squatting are usually manifested

by taking over existing buildings (derelict

houses, blocks of offices or flats) and
converting them to living accommodation.


McAuslan, Patrick. 1985. Urban Land and Shelter for the Poor. Nottingham: Russell Press.
Informal settlements and slums
q Organized squatting- found in many Latin
American countries, in India and in some
Asian countries and in some Western
European cities. Individual households
may settle on land they regard as
unoccupied with or without the
permission of someone they think
has the authority to give them
permission.
q Orthodox legal transaction, the squatter
‘buying’ a piece of land from a seller who
may own the land but has no official
approval for subdividing the land into
housing plots, or who in fact has no
authority either to acquire the land in the
McAuslan, Patrick. 1985. Urban Land and Shelter for the Poor. Nottingham: Russell Press.
first place or to sell it to anyone.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
1. Changes in land-use patterns


 Slum develops within the zone

surrounding the CBD. Early on this area
is the home of the upper classes. With the
expansion of commercial and industrial
ventures, the neighbourhood becomes
infiltrated with industrial, storage, and
wholesale operations, and the more well-
to-do move farther out from the city
center. Low income workers including
recently arrived poor regional ethnic and
racial groups then move in and become
exclusive inhabitants of these areas. The
Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
CBD
New York: The Free Press.develops to be an area of high land
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
1. Changes in land-use patterns


 Modified theory of city growth: industrial

areas follow river valleys, water courses,
and railroad lines out from the center,
and working men’s houses cluster along
them, with factories tending to locate
even at the outer fringes of the city. The
best housing then does not fringe the
entire city but only parts of it. The main
industrial areas of the future may well be
located on the outskirts of the cities in
new industrial towns and suburbs, as they
are already beginning to be.
Clinard, Marshall B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
1. Changes in land-


use patterns
 In such cities,
formerly
common in
Europe and still
common in the
developing
countries of
Asia and other
parts of the
world, the
central areas
are generally
inhabited by the SECTOR
elite, with the MODEL
slums located
on the
Clinard, Marshall

B. 1970. Slums and Community Development: Experiments in Self-Help.
New York:peripheries.
The Free Press. In
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
2. Housing Shortages and Maintenance


 The continuing existence of slums has also

been explained by the fact that “their
inhabitants cannot afford good housing and
because private enterprise will not supply it
at prices they can afford”.
 The role of urban renewal projects in creating
new slums in areas where old slums had been
eliminated. Slum clearance reduces the
number of dwellings available to low-income
families and that, as a result, they cannot
bargain with landlords of the prospective
dwellings to obtain repairs and improvements
as conditions of rental. As slum clearance
continues, tenants in low-rent non-slum
housing
Clinard, Marshall will
B. 1970. Slums have aDevelopment:
and Community harder Experiments
time convincing
in Self-Help.
New York: The Free Press.
landlords to spend funds for maintenance.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
3. Myths ( from Bangkok scenario)


 Slums are simply the result of in-

migration from rural areas
 Most slum dwellers are in-migrants
 Slums are exploding
 To solve the problem of slums is to
accelerate rural development


Pornchokchai, Sopon. 1992.Bangkok Slums Review and Recommendations. Bangkok: School of

Urban Community Research and Actions.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
4. Rapid rural-to-urban migration. People


continue to leave rural areas and move to

urban centers to escape adverse rural conditions.
Factors that push people out of the countryside
(push factors) include environmental degradation
of agricultural lands; favoring of export-oriented
agricultural development models over against
subsistence farming; poor market infrastructures;
lack of sources of credit for small-scale farmers;
limited off-farm employment; political unrest, civil
wars and natural disasters which have displaced
tens of millions of people in the past decades
United Nations Center for Human Settlement (U.N. Habitat), The Challenge of Slums – Global
Report on Human Settlements 2003, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2003), xxv.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
4. Rapid rural-to-urban migration.  At the same


time, many urban areas continue to act like

magnets for people from the countryside (pull
factors), because they seem to offer greater
employment opportunities and potential for
higher incomes; modern comforts and
technological convenience are found there; social
services are more readily available; the water
supply is better and security is greater for those
trying to escape the violence of the countryside.

United Nations Center for Human Settlement (U.N. Habitat), The Challenge of Slums – Global
Report on Human Settlements 2003, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2003), xxv.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
5. Poor urban governance and planning. In


many cities, rapid population growth, coupled

with an enormous population, have overwhelmed
the capacity of municipal authorities to respond.
Treated as transients from rural areas that have
strayed temporarily into town, many authorities
do not recognize slum dwellers as legal urban
citizens and are reticent about meeting their
needs. 

United Nations Center for Human Settlement (U.N. Habitat), The Challenge of Slums – Global
Report on Human Settlements 2003, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2003), xxv.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
6. Global economic forces. The shift in the global


economy to market liberalization, deregulation

and privatization of services has resulted in
increased economic volatility and growing levels
of inequalities in wealth and resource distribution
both between and within cities. The neoliberal
export-oriented growth models have created too
few formal sector jobs to absorb the millions of
new job entrants. “The collapse of formal urban
employment in the developing world and the rise
of the informal sector are seen as a direct
function of liberalization.”
United Nations Center for Human Settlement (U.N. Habitat), The Challenge of Slums – Global
Report on Human Settlements 2003, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2003), xxv.
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
6. Global economic forces.  While market-based


economic policies have brought some measure of

economic growth, persistent inequalities inhibit
most of the poor from participating in the growth
that did occur. Structural adjustment policies also
required widespread disengagement of the state
from the urban and rural scene, leading to the
collapse of low-income housing programs and
rural poverty alleviation and agricultural
development programs that previously benefited
a segment of the poor. This situation has led to
the rapid spatial expansion of irregular
settlements.
Hardoy, J.E. and D Satterthwaite, Squatter Citizens: Life in the Urban Third World, (London:
Earthscan, 1989).
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
7. Corruption. Slums continue to mushroom due


to rampant corruption.  The poor pay a high price

for corruption as the problems of unaccountable,
unresponsive governance institutions remain
unaddressed. In some countries over 30 percent
of public funds are embezzled. This deprives
nations and their cities of capital for much
needed services, including infrastructure
improvements and community development
projects. High and rising rates of corruption in
government and business also harm economic
growth, stifling private initiative and enterprise.
They constitute a major obstacle to reducing
urban poverty, inequality and infant mortality.
World Bank, "$1,000,000,000,000 and counting. The Costs of Corruption", April 8, 2004
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20190187~men
 Theories on the formation of
informal settlements
8. Lack of community organization. Another


major reason for poverty and inadequate services

in slums is the absence of community
organization and political power of their
residents.“Social cohesion is critical for societies
to prosper economically and for development to
be sustainable,” says the World Bank.
Yet, unlike rural communities that have their layers

of customs and traditions, urban slum

environments often lack cohesion. They are much
more in flux, chaotic, and heterogeneous. This
makes it very difficult to get slum dwellers to
work
Amis, P. and S. together for
Kumar, “Urban Economic the
Growth, common
infrastructure and poverty in good.
 
India: Lessons from
Visakhapatnam,” Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2000.

World Bank Web site, What is Social Capital?, available online at www.worldbank.org/pverty/scaptial/whatsc.htm
Metro Manila : a brief
description
 Population:
 9.4 million
 Land Area
 636 square
kilometers
 Density
 260 pax/ sq.km.
 Composition
 12 cities, 5
municipalities
 Squatter in the Vernacular
 Iskwater
 Tagalog version of squatter
referring to a physically
disorganized collection of
shelters made of light and
often visually unappealing
materials where poor
people reside
 Estero
 Narrower than sewers and
associated with bad smell
 Eskinita
 Refers to alleys that hold
only one person at a time
 Looban
 Meaning inner areas where
houses are built so close to
each other and often in a
manner not visible to the
general
Ragragio, Junio M. The case view
of Metro Manila, of theUN-Habitat
Philippines. city
(2003)
Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of
Dagat-dagatan
Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies', pp195-
228.  For areas that are frequently
Squatter in the Vernacular
Magnitude of Informal Settlers
in Metro Manila
 Slums can be found in 526 communities,
located in all the cities and
municipalities of Metro Manila.
 They account for some 2.54 million

people living in the most depressed

areas of the metropolis.
 They are usually located along rivers and

creeks, in garbage dumps, along

railroad tracks, under bridges, and
beside factories and other industrial
establishments.
Ragragio, Junio M. The case of Metro Manila, Philippines. UN-Habitat (2003) Global Report on
Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of
City Case Studies', pp195-228.
Magnitude of Informal Settlers
in Metro Manila
 Slums located
next to
mansions in
affluent
residential
areas are not
uncommon.
 The settlement
pattern of the
urban poor is
generally
dispersed,
with houses Ragragio, Junio M. The case of Metro Manila, Philippines. UN-Habitat
located (2003) Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, The Challenge of
Slums, Earthscan, London; Part IV: 'Summary of City Case Studies',
wherever pp195-228.
Magnitude of Informal Settlers
in Metro Manila
Magnitude of Informal Settlers
in Metro Manila
Magnitude of Informal Settlers
in Metro Manila
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1900 – 1920
 Spain’s cession of the Philippines to the US
created a need for a new structure and
system of land-ownership with respect to
existing property rights
 Passage of the Land Registration Act No. 496 in
Nov. 1902 calling for the issuance of Torrens
titles covering public and private lands. These
were to provide an absolute proof of
ownership, but the law made the titling
system “voluntary”.
 Small peasants were too ill-informed to benefit
from the program. Virtually all the titles
granted by the Court Land Registration up to
1910 were for large holdings and these were
limited
Oana, Joel R. 2000.
Settlement Issues.
because
A Chronological Matrix of of tax
Philippine implications
Responses to
to Housing, Land the
and

landowners.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1900 – 1920
 Enactment in October 1903 of the Public
Lands Act (CA 141) designed to allow the
landless and the land-poor peasantry to
acquire 16 hectares of public land by
establishing a homestead and cultivating
it for five consecutive years with a
payment of a nominal fee.
 Response to the program minimal as
Filipinos have no tradition of living in
isolated homestead farms but rather lived
in barrios or village neighborhoods.
Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1921 – 1950
 Government initiatives have benefited
mostly the middle-class because of the
requirement of a stable job for eligibility
to housing
 Only was it during the 1940s did the
Government shifted to a more socially-
oriented program
 State intervention and assistance in behalf
of workers in the slum area were
experimental in nature

Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1951 - 1960
 Restructuring of the land agency. Squatters
started settling on swamplands and
esteros, on idle government land, on
unused streets, railroad lines and
disputed private lands at pace with city’s
growth.
 A very small portion of the low-income
group availed of the loans since the rules
governing the program was seen to have
favored only the middle-income groups
and even the upper classes.
Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1961 - 1970
 Land in the city was getting to be artificially
scarce due to the skewed land-ownership
structure and the increasing migration to
the cities due to the perceived greater
livelihood opportunities. Many of these
were low-income earners.
 Passage of the Tenement Law in 1962
making possible the building of five
tenement buildings for 2, 300 families;
national Social Housing Law which sought
to benefit the low-income families
resettled
Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronologicalinto government
Matrix of Philippine Responses tohousing areas
Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1961 - 1970
 There was a rapid and accelerated
proliferation of informal and blighted
communities mostly on unused
government properties and close to
highly commercialized and industrialized
areas in Metro Manila. It was estimated to
be 370, 000 in 1964 to 1.1 million in 1968
 The Sapang Palay resettlement area in San
Juan del Monte, Bulacanand the General
Mariano Alvarez Resettlement Site in
Carmona, Cavite and San Pedro Laguna
were established in 1961. They
collectively accomodated about 27, 000
families in approximately 1, 200 hectares
Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1961 - 1970
 Based on studies only about 20% families
relocated stayed permanently in the
resettlement areas. Most of them
returned back to the city due to lack of
facilities, sustainable source of income
and the general quality of life

Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1971 - 1980
 The largest single concentration of squatter
or illegal settlement at 27, 600 families in
Manila, the Tondo Foreshore Arm was
causing social unrest and physical blight
and had been targeted by the
government for development.
 PD 814 was promulgated in October 1975
to support RA 1597 governing land use in
the Tondo Foreshore Area. The law
prescribes the land tenure system for the
Tondo Foreshore and Dagat-dagatan
Urban
Oana, Joel R. 2000. Development
A Chronological Project
Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1971 - 1980
 The Government and people’s organization
with support from the World Bank
gradually hammered out the development
plan implying maximum retention of
squatter households with relocation for
the overspill of about 9, 000 families to
nearby Dagat-dagatan.


Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
 Historical references of
squatting in the Philippines
 1971 – 1990
 The monopoly of land-ownership by a few,
as well as the absence of an effective
regulatory system, had spawned
disastrous land speculation and had
cause irrational patterns of land
development resulting in the emergence
of blighted areas, slums and squatters’
colonies or illegal settlements
 Illegal settlements being formalized and
developed through the Urban Land reform
Act and related laws
Oana, Joel R. 2000. A Chronological Matrix of Philippine Responses to Housing, Land and
Settlement Issues.
END OF REPORT
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