Philippine Journal

of Social Development
Volume 12 2019

RE-IMAGINING SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT,
RE-CLAIMING PEOPLE’S
DEVELOPMENT

College of Social Work and

Community Development
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
Philippine Journal
of Social Development
Volume 12 2019

RE-IMAGINING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT,

RE-CLAIMING PEOPLE’S DEVELOPMENT
The Philippine Journal of Social Development is a peer-reviewed journal
published by the College of Social Work and Community Development,
University of the Phippines, Diliman. The views and opinions expressed in
this journal are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of
the College of Social Work and Community Development.

Philippine Copyright @ 2019

University of the Philippines, Diliman

ISSN 2094-523X

All Rights reserved.

No part of this journal may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without the written permission of the
copyright owner and the publisher.

Issue Editors
Ma. Theresa V. Tungpalan, Ph.D.
Rowena A. Laguilles-Timog, DSD

Editorial Board
Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, M.D., Ph.D.
Jonh Erwin S. Bañez
Ma. Linnea V. Tanchuling

Managing Editor
Valerainne R. Lopez

Technical Editor
Melissa Y. Moran

Published by
College of Social Work and Community Development
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
 Table of Contents

Preface 1
Part 1
Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development
in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity 5
Angelito B. Meneses, DSD
Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers
to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities 23
Mark Anthony D. Abenir, DSD
Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation:
Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing 46
Excelsa C. Tongson, DSD
Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for
Health and Development 71
Meredith del Pilar-Labarda, M.D., DSD
Framing Research in Social Development Thinking and Practice:
The DSD Experience 94
Teresita Villamor-Barrameda, DSD
Part 2
Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)
in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda 115
Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo, Ph.D.
Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:
Brokering for development or stifling dissent? 137
Redento B. Recio, Ph.D.
Community Education and Learning Tourism Destinations:
Case of Maribojoc, Bohol 155
Aleli B. Bawagan, Ph.D.
Miguela M. Mena, Ph.D.
Richard Philip A. Gonzalo
Victor G. Obedicen
Dissaggregated Data: Making sure that excluded peoples are included
(The experience of the Las Piñas Persons with Disability Federation, Inc.
in participatory data profiling) 175
Paul Edward N. Muego
Interrogating Human Rights:
A Personal Journey in Drafting the Right to International Solidarity 197
Virginia B. Dandan, DSD
Authors' Profile 212

 Preface

Preface

As part of the celebration of the 10th year of the UP-CSWCD

Doctor of Social Development (DSD) Program, this 12th volume of PJSD
brings together selected papers that interrogate current discourses in
social development.

The papers are divided into two sections. The first section
examines current social development themes generated from completed
DSD dissertations. The second section puts together complementary
concepts that explore new ways of looking at development practice.

The DSD curriculum is anchored to praxis-oriented learning.

This is evident in the papers presented in section one where the authors
engaged in grounded theorizing that reflected their own development
practice. Angelito B. Meneses surfaced the meaning of Kahampatan as
the Ayta’s concept of development and proposed the use of indigenous
research methods. The plight of the children left-behind by OFWs was
examined by Mark Anthony D. Abenir using the capabilities framework
espoused by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and informed by his
own experience as an Anak OFW. The phenomenon of the ‘sandwich
generation’ among urban poor women was interrogated by Excelsa C.
Tongson by drawing from feminist standpoint epistemology and Kabeer’s
Social Relations Approach. Meredith del Pilar-Labarda proposed the
concept of transformative leadership and governance in pursuing health
and development goals focusing on the experience of Region 8. The
studies done by Abenir, Tongson and Labarda utilized mixed research
methods, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods to
surface greater understanding of reality. According to Teresita Villamor-
Barrameda, two major trends characterize the 13 DSD dissertations
she reviewed: (1) privileging the voices and perspectives of the poor
and marginalized groups in examining development concepts, and (2)
knowledge and meaning-making through grounded theorizing and
guided by community organizing-community development (CO-CD)
and feminist perspectives.

The second section features articles that re-imagine how

social development can be approached, by analyzing, expanding or
transforming current social development concepts and practices. It
begins with Rosalinda P. Ofreneo’s examination of the potential of Social
and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in achieving women’s empowerment,
which she does by looking at existing SSE initiatives that are geared
towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The next three

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

articles, in interrogating social development, more closely delved into

community experiences that provided opportunities to reconsider
familiar social development issues and perspectives in new ways. Aleli
B. Bawagan, Miguela M. Mena, Richard Philip A. Gonzalo and Victor
G. Obedicen presented Maribojoc, Bohol’s experience as a Learning
Tourism Destination, emphasizing the active role of local communities
in achieving sustainability in tourism management. Redento B. Recio
provided a close look at Grassroots Democratic Entanglements in a case
study of Baclaran hawkers, which magnified the complexities of various
actors’ engagements in the urban informal economy. Paul Edward N.
Muego shared the experiences of a local organization in Las Piñas with
disability-inclusive and participatory data profiling, making the case not
only for visibility and representation but direct involvement and even
leadership of communities in development processes as crucial to a truly
inclusive development. For the final article, Virginia B. Dandan shared
her insights, as a former United Nations Independent Expert who was
tasked to prepare the Draft Declaration on the Right to International
Solidarity, on the significance of a balanced appreciation of the Human
Rights framework from the more negative, violations-focused approach
to one that is rooted in its positive, instrumental value.

The last ten years witnessed how the DSD Program searched for
its own niche in the development arena. As the DSD Program moves
forward, more complex development issues will remain or re-surface,
and new ways of thinking and doing ‘social development’ will emerge.
By re-imagining social development, we hope to be part of the collective
pursuit of re-claiming people’s development.

Ma. Theresa V. Tungpalan, Ph.D.

Rowena A. Laguilles-Timog, DSD
Issue Editors

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Kahampatan:
Ayta’s concept of development in the context of
Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Angelito B. Meneses, DSD

This paper describes the Ayta’s notions and experiences of development within their
own culture and identity which is encapsulated in their term ‘kahampatan.’ It is
evident that long before the introduction of the dominant development paradigms
into the Ayta communities in the Province of Zambales, these Ayta groups already
had their perspectives about development and well-being. ‘Kahampatan’ is the
Ayta’s account of self-determined development that shares commonality with other
indigenous notions of living well such as buen vivir, sumac kawsay and laman laka.
The study used qualitative research methods with an indigenous research approach
and orientation. Data were generated from semi-structured interviews, fieldwork-
immersion and participant observation. ‘Kahampatan’ is depicted as an appropriate
attitude and act ion towards relating positively with others and the realization of the
goodness of life for everyone. ‘Kahampatan’ as a framework for development in the
context of identity and culture emphasizes four elements of a good life or living well —
a right relationship with Apo Namalyari or the Creator, a right relationship with the
self, a right relationship with others and a right relationship with nature.

Keywords: Ayta of Zambales, IP identity and culture, kahampatan, self-

determined development

Cultural constructs of development

Indigenous development paradigms have started to gain due

recognition and positive inclusion into the development practice. These
cultural constructs of development of indigenous peoples are expressed and
signified in their own language. Cunningham (2010) mentioned examples
of these, such as laman laka which reflects the development concept of
the Miskitu people of Nicaragua, sumak kawsay in the Qhichwa language,
sumaqamaria in Aymara, sumac nandereco in Guarani and Buen Vivir in
Spanish (p.89). According to Cunningham (2010), these worldviews of
development mean living well and do not merely refer to per capita income
or economic growth.
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

The descriptions of indigenous development provide a development

framework that focuses on harmony and positive relationship among human
beings as well as with the social and physical environment. For instance, buen
vivir presumes both common cultural mores and harmony between human
beings and Mother Earth. It is anchored on values that "stand for culture, life,
living together, complementarity, not just among people but between us and
nature, and protection of the commonweal for the benefit of communities
and nations as a whole" (Cunningham, 2010, p.89). Likewise, as Corpus
(2010) explained, “Buen Vivir strives for the revitalization of all forms of
life and living in the community, in which all members look out for all...
the most important thing is not only the human, nor is it money. It is life.”
(p.94-95) Thus, buen vivir is a concept of a good life that is beyond growth and
development.

A concept similar to buen vivir is that of sumak kawsay. Sumak kawsay is

fundamentally different from the Western mindset where humans are seen as
separate from nature, where nature is viewed as something to be controlled,
as an object of domination and a source of wealth. Sumak kawsay involves
living in harmony with the cycles of Mother Earth (Dillon, 2010). In the
concept of sumak kawsay, community and communal living spaces embody
the ethical norms and practices of reciprocity, collective property, living in
communion with nature, social responsibility and consensus.

The diversity of the concepts and practices of a self-determined

development or a development with identity and culture among the
indigenous groups in the Philippines has started to be recognized and
advanced. For instance, terms like panagdur-as, nasayaat a panagbiag (Tadeo,
2013), and naimbag a biag connote the meaning of development among the
Ilocano. The Yakan representation of flourishing, as noted by Will (2015),
is called kaelleuman hap. It depicts the modern concept of development as
incongruent with the Yakan ideals of a good life which, as the study revealed,
are

…the ability to have faith in Allah, to love and help one

another, to respect one another, to have peace in community,
to be educated, to work, to have shelter, to have good health,
to take part in governance, and to travel. (Will, 2015:228)

Bennagen & Fernan (1996) illustrated this worldview by quoting the
participants in a conference on ancestral domain of the peoples of Northern

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Mindanao held in 1995:

Without this ancestral land, we will not exist…without the

forest, mountains, rivers, and farms, we cannot continue
to practice our culture. We, the indigenous peoples, are
the true and rightful owners of our Ancestral Domain
which we have inherited from our ancestors; and it will be
the inheritance of our generations to come. Thus, it is our
responsibility to develop, defend, and struggle for it by any
means. (Bennagen & Fernan, 1996:143)

According to Awed (2010), these beliefs have shaped the Tbolis’

view and relationship with the land and other resources, and the ways in
which they conserve and protect these for their flourishing.

The Sama-Bajaus’ cultural concept of development is kasungan. It

was described in the study conducted by Milambilin (2018) as:

…achievement of basic human needs such as food,

water and shelter essential in achieving wellness or good
health, education for children, expression of one’s cultures
through maintaining different practices. Kasungan is
an intertwining concept of happiness for Sama-Bajau,
amidst challenges in pursuing their kasungan they express
kaligayahan in their everyday life which signifies resiliency.
(Milambilin, 2018:119)

Such notions of development with identity and culture are also

embedded in the history and experiences of the Ayta groups of Pinatubo.
The Magbukun Ayta describe their relationship with the environment,
with other people and with each other as integrated oneness with nature
and a collective worldview of livelihood, culture, tradition and practices.
The protection and conservation of nature are their major concern, as they
are directly dependent on the bounty and state of nature (Salonga, et.al.,
2010).

The Mag-ansti Ayta in Bamban, Tarlac call their concept of well-

being katsighawan. Katsighawan is described as a peaceful, abundant, healthy
and happy life (Meneses, 2003). Alipao (2019) made a similar depiction of
kasighawan as a social concept of the Aytas’ vision of an ancestral domain
and communities in which order and abundance are present. This vision
includes lasting peace, social justice, healthy peoples and communities, a
risk-free environment, and integration of creation. The Zambal Ayta in Sitio
Banawen, San Felipe, Zambales articulated their notion of development as

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 Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

kainomayan. This simply means an abundance of creation where resources are

bountiful, thus enabling everyone to live in harmony with nature (Meneses,
2011).

Research Objectives

This study anchored its purpose on Article 3 of the United Nations

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or UNDRIP, in which it is
stated that indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of that right, they freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development (Article 3, UNDRIP). The
Declaration was also inspired by the questions raised by representatives of
indigenous peoples in international forums, such as the International Expert
Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples: Development with Culture and
Identity: Articles 3 and 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, held on January 12 to 14, 2010 in New York. This
meeting was an articulation of indigenous peoples’ concept of development
that embraces a holistic approach which includes their aspirations, respect
and protection of their diversity and uniqueness. It was also a reiteration
of indigenous peoples’ desire to become agents of their own development
and have the foresight to promote a development paradigm that is self-
determining.

In response, this study was conducted to explore the Aytas’ worldview

and experience of development with identity and culture, and to eventually
bring these notions to the fore of development discourse. The narratives
of kahampatan were thematically analyzed to inform the formulation of a
kahampatan framework for development with identity and culture. This
conceptual framework is intended to promote the inclusion of indigenous
development paradigms.

Significance of the Study

A study about the notion of development by the Ayta and for the Ayta
is significant at a time of re-imagining and re-claiming people’s development.
The findings from this study aim to contribute to the growing array of
literature about indigenous knowledges for learning institutions to utilize
for discussion and research purposes. The study may also inform curriculum
and instruction in development studies through the inclusion of indigenous
articulations of self-determined development.

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Aside from contributing to knowledge building, the findings may

also provide government agencies with a working framework for setting
a development agenda for the Ayta. The conceptual framework may
be used as an input to policies that are intended to provide welfare and
development services to improve the quality of life of the Ayta population.
Among the policies that can be implemented are culturally rooted
education, healthcare, social welfare services and the protection through
legislation of their ancestral domain and the environment serving as their
primary source and resource of livelihood and spirituality. This study seeks
attention from the government to recognize the alternative development
paradigm of the Ayta in the pursuit of the good life.

The insights that may be drawn from this study could provide
new ways to approach development and welfare discourses and responses
concerning indigenous peoples in general and Ayta groups in particular.
These may offer “entervention” strategies to complement current
intervention methods in assisting IP communities to improve their quality
of life The concept of entervention is a more oblique approach to realizing
the goals of development among indigenous people that puts emphasis on
the continuing capability building, empowerment and self-reliance of the
people.

Research Methodology

The selection of methods and approaches in this study was based

on the context of indigenous research. According to Porsanger (2010),
indigenous research — as it differs from research on, with and about
indigenous peoples — means research done by scholars who develop
indigenous theorizing, identify and use indigenous concepts, and build
their projects on an indigenous research paradigm (Posanger, 2010).

This research made use of several approaches in conducting

indigenous research to ensure the centering of the indigenous peoples’
worldviews. The first research approach was fieldwork-immersion,.
Yin (2012) noted that working in the field requires establishing and
maintaining genuine relationships with other people and being able to
converse comfortably with them. The “fieldwork first” approach was done
for the purpose of defining the research problems, as the researcher began
immersion with the Ayta of Sitio Alibang in 2012. During the fieldwork-
immersion, relevant bits of information gathered from informal exchanges
with the community members were recorded in the researcher’s field notes,
sketches and drawings, as well as in a digital voice recorder.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

The second approach was qualitative interviews. Qualitative

interviews are conversations in which a researcher gently guides a
conversational partner in an extended discussion. The researcher elicits
depth and details about the research topic by following up on answers
given by the interviewee during the discussion. In the qualitative interview
approach, the researcher learns from the people, rather than merely
studying them. Thus, the researcher follows the hints provided by Yin
(2012) for doing qualitative interviewing, such as: 1) speaking in modest
amount , 2) being non-directive, 3) staying neutral, 4) maintaining rapport,
5) using an interview protocol, and 6) analyzing when interviewing
(Yin, 2012). In qualitative interviews, each conversation is unique, as the
researcher matches the questions to what each interviewee knows and is
willing to share (Rubin and Rubin, 2005). All interviews for this study were
conducted in the form of kuwentuhan during cooking and mealtime, at
home over a cup of coffee, or in the interviewees’ gasak doing agricultural
activities. There was no timeframe set for these interviews as each one was
treated as a conversation.

The third approach was the Focus Group Discussion. The subject
groups were divided into two generations, the older composed of adult
kalalakihan and kababaihan, and the younger composed of kabataan or youth.
The participants were asked to describe their community profile with the use
of mapping techniques. The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tool was
used as a more culture-sensitive means to enlist participation among the
Ayta. PRA is described as a growing body of methods to enable local people
to share, enhance and analyze their knowledge of life and the conditions to
plan, act, monitor and evaluate (Kumar, 2002). The use of the PRA tools is
meant to facilitate guided interaction (Calub, 2004) between the indigenous
people and the researcher, requiring a change in attitudes and behaviors
between and among the participants. The essence of PRA is change and
reversal of role, behavior, relationship and learning. Here, outsiders do not
dominate and lecture; they facilitate, sit down, listen and learn (Chambers,
2003). In the study, the participants were asked to draw maps showing the
socio-economic situation of their place and these were then analyzed by
them in terms of development within Ayta identity and culture.

Indigenous methods such as these enfold the researcher and

community members into a layered relationship (mind, body, emotion, and
spirit) in a holistic, investigative endeavor. Indigenous research methods
aim to surface indigenous voices, build resistance to dominant knowledge,
create political spaces, and strengthen people’s sense of community (Smith,
2010).
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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

The Data Gathering Process

The first step the researcher undertook was pakikipanuluyan which

signaled the formal entry into the research locale. It was also considered
as a juncture for pagta-tao po to request for informed consent and access
to the community members’ indigenous knowledges . The second step
was the pakikipanirahan which focused on contact-building through the
identification of host families to be tapped during the data collection. This
was a crucial opportunity to enter into the loob of the research participants.
The third step was pakikipamuhay, an activity to change the researcher’s
image from visitor to “one of us” or from ibang-tao to di-ibang-tao — since
the quality of the data differs when research participants feel that the
researcher is di-ibang-tao.

Figure 1. The data gathering process with reference to indigenous

research and the community organizing process

The research process is illustrated (see Figure 1) as a spiral

movement progressing inward, signifying the importance of the process of
entering the participants’ loob.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Results and Discussion

This study was conducted among two Ayta groups in Zambales to

explore the concept of kahampatan as an Ayta concept of development with
identity and culture. One group was the Ayta in Sitio Alibang, situated in
the mountainous part of Barangay Naugsol in the Municipality of Subic.
The Ayta in Sitio Alibang belong to the Ambala tribe which practices
swidden farming to cultivate food sources especially during seasons when
no food can be gathered from the mountains. The Ambala Ayta are also
engaged in pag-uuling (charcoal-making) as a supplementary source of cash
to buy rice, bread, coffee, sugar and salt.

Both the women and men of the Ambala Ayta participate in

productive processes from clearing the land to planting and harvesting.
However, the women tend to do the household chores while the men
perform the more labor-intensive work. Ayta children play together and
are allowed to participate in community activities. At an early age, both
girls and boys are enculturated to perform adult tasks such as planting,
hunting, fishing, gathering banana blossoms, and collecting honey and
other forest products.

The second group of research participants was composed of

members of Lubos na Alyansa ng mga Katutubong Ayta sa Sambales or LAKAS
Pamayanan. LAKAS Pamayanan is an alliance of Ayta groups in the
province of Zambales located in Sitio Bihawo, Mambog, Botolan. As a self-
reliant Ayta organization, the alliance has developed a good leadership and
followership system based on indigenous knowledges and skills. During
the conduct of the study, LAKAS Pamayanan members told stories about
their struggles and successes, their pains and joys as they continue to strive
to normalize their lives after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

They recounted a time of kainomayan (abundance) in their original

place in Baytan before the eruption – how their life was so abundant since
they grew enough food and were free to hunt wild animals such as baboy
damo (wild pig), usa (deer) and labuyo (wild chicken), as well as gather
fruits and pulot (honey).

When the eruption forced them to leave Baytan, they experienced

living in ten evacuation centers. In their search for a new location, they set
a condition that the place should be situated within view of Mt. Pinatubo.
They still wanted to see the place where they had grown up and which had
provided them with the cultural values of generosity and love.

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

They endured various struggles before they found a place in Bihawo

where they bought a 7.5- hectare parcel of land for Php475, 000.00 from
their savings in their cooperative. Once settled, the LAKAS Pamayanan
continued to strengthen their organization through literacy classes and
capacity building with the sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary
who committed themselves to the empowerment of the Ayta. They learned
how to read and write, mingle with others, balance their personal life
between commitment to their community and responsibility to their family
as well as their aspiration to learn; and in the process, they continued to
preserve their culture while living in the lowland.

Descriptions of Kahampatan

The Sambal Ayta in LAKAS Pamayanan use the term kainomayan

which is translated as abundance, while the Ambala Ayta in Sitio Alibang
refer to kahampatan or goodness (goodness of life for everyone). However,
the two groups of Ayta agree that kainomayan is one of the preconditions
of kahampatan.

According to them, kahampatan as development with identity and

culture should possess the following elements:

Shared Identity. Kahampatan is manifested as a caring attitude towards the

well-being of community members. All are part of community and deserve
to be cared for. For instance, one participant shared how she monitors her
neighbors’ needs by looking at the smoke coming out of the house. This is
an indication of deep concern for the condition of others, as she related,

Kada umaga tinitingnan ko ang bawat bahay at, kapag walang usok,
ibig sabihin di nagluluto. At kapag buong araw na walang usok sa bahay,
sigurado ako na wala silang pagkain na lulutuin. Kaya ang ginagawa
namin ng tatay mo, pinupuntahan namin para bigyan ng bigas at
ulam na lulutuin. (Every morning I monitor every house in the
neighborhood. If I see no smoke coming out of the house, I am
sure the family has no food to cook and to eat. So your father and I
go to their house and give them rice and viand to cook.)

Shared Nobility. The experience of kahampatan, as shared by another

participant, resonates with the Filipino Psychology concept of kagandahang
loob or shared inner nobility or reciprocity. Kahampatan as kagandahang
loob is manifested through the act of good relationship with others, as the
participant said:

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Ang kahampatan ay magandang relasyon sa pamilya at sa kapwa tao.

Basta ang kabutihan ang laging nasa puso mo. (Kahampatan means
good relationship with your family and other people. Goodness
should always be in your heart.)

Kahampatan as a quality experience of development underscores

the importance of living with one’s goodness of the heart. And goodness of
the heart necessitates a respectful gesture towards others, as one participant
explained:

Ang mahalaga ay igalang mo sarili mo, igalang mo ang kapwa mo. Wag
kang gagawa ng ikasisira ng pagkatao mo, kasi pag sira ang pagkatao mo,
di maganda ang buhay mo, walang kahampatan, walang kainomayan.
(Respect for the self and others are important. Don’t do something
that destroys your personhood because, if your reputation is
destroyed, there is no more kahampatan, no kainomayan.)

The manifestation of kahampatan as goodness of the heart can be

seen, for instance, in Sitio Alibang. Every house does not have a door and
lock signifying the intention to share what the family has with others who
do not have.

Ang kahampatan sa amin ay magandang relasyon sa kapwa. Makikita

mo iyan halimbawa dito walang bahay ang nakakandado, ang lahat ng
bahay laging nakabukas.(Kahampatan in our community is having
good relationships with others. You can see that, for example, no
house here is locked, all the houses are always open.)

Malaya ang kapitbahay na kumuha ng kailangan tulad ng asin, asukal

o apoy mula sa kalan. Kaya iniiwang nakabukas ang pintuan. (Our
neighbors are free to get whatever they need like salt, sugar or fire
from the stove. So our doors are left open.)

Good Food. Kahampatan as food reflects the simplicity of the development

goals of the Ayta. Any intention to improve their lot is directed towards
having enough food every day. It is observed that the work they do, such
as paggagasak (cultivation) and pagtatanim (planting), is related to the
production of food. They spend most of their human energy in planting
rice, root crops, and vegetables as well as in raising animals, catching fish
in the river and gathering honey and banana blossoms. The good food that
the Ayta refer to as kahampatan must be endemic, organic and free from
poisonous chemicals. This might be a possible explanation for the alleged

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

report by development agencies which assisted the Ayta in the evacuation

centers during the Mt. Pinatubo eruption that the Ayta did not know
how to eat sardines and other food items given to them. One participant
articulated the reason:

Ngayon, pag kumakain kami ng pagkain ninyo ay di kami nabubusog.

Kapag ube at kamote, busog na kami. (Now, if we eat your food
(referring to sardines and other preserved foods), we don’t feel
contented. When we eat ube and kamote, we feel satisfied.)

Iyong bigas na binibigay ng taga-labas sa amin na galing sa NFA ay

may halong gamot. Akala naman nila di kami marunong kumain ng
magagandang klaseng bigas. Nagtatanim nga kami ng black rice na
magandang klaseng bigas. (The NFA rice that outsiders give to us
is mixed with chemicals. Maybe they think that we don’t know
how to eat good varieties of rice. In fact, we are planting black rice
which is good quality rice.)

Good health. Kahampatan as health refers not only to the absence of disease
but also includes the presence of “ease” of the body (pangangatawan). For
the Ayta, a healthy body is the main capital to achieve quality of life. One
participant connects being physically healthy to kahampatan in terms of
having the strength to work. The work they do in the land necessitates a
healthy physical condition.

Ang kahampatan ay wala kang nararamdamang sakit. Malusog ang

pangangatawan. Siyempre kung may sakit ka, hindi ka makaka-
paghanapbuhay. Di ka mapalagay dahil iniisip mo ang pamilya. Kung
walang hanapbuhay, walang kahampatan. (Kahampatan means no
illness and you are healthy physically. Of course, if you are ill, you
cannot work. You are not at ease because you are thinking about
your family. If you have no work, then there is no kahampatan.)

Good Education. Education is seen as the key to living life in kahampatan.

The school system or the mainstream educational system has been
acculturated into the Ayta culture and assimilated its elements in terms of
Ayta cultural practices. Education has brought positive changes in many
ways, from becoming confident to interact with people from all walks of life
to gaining critical knowledge, attitudes and skills in asserting their rights
in the midst of fast-paced technological progress that tends to undermine
their identity and culture.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Formal education is accepted as a positive conduit of development

among the Ayta in both Sitio Alibang and in LAKAS Pamayanan. Thus, the
leadership of LAKAS Pamayanan is focused on improving their life through
education. They articulate it every time support groups and institutions
come to offer development assistance for them:

May mga nagpunta dito, mga pastor daw sila. Sabi nila magtatayo daw
silang kapilya. Sabi ko, papayag kami kung sa halip na simbahan ay
paaralan ang itayo nila. (Some men visited us here, they identified
themselves as pastors. They told us that they want to put up a
chapel. I suggested that, instead of a church, they should build us
a school.)

Kung pera po ang ibibigay ninyo sa amin, di po magtatagal. Maganda po

ang karununganan ang ibigay ninyo sa amin at nakakasiguro po kami
habang kami nabubuhay buhay pa rin po ang inyong tulong sa amin. (If
you give us money, it won’t last. It is good if you give us knowledge
and we are sure that, as long as we are living, your help lives on.)

For one participant, kahampatan is an aspiration of the good life

through education. She elaborated:

Sa amin mga Ayta, maganda na ang buhay kung may pinag-aralan. Iyong
hindi na naloloko at naipaglalaban na ang karapatan sa aming lupang
ninuno. (For us Ayta, we have a good life if we have education. Not
being swindled anymore and able to fight for our rights in our
ancestral domain.)

Sharing the Blessings of Apo Namalyari. Sharing what one has is something
that is common practice among the Ayta communities. Sharing allows
everyone to experience kahampatan because it is directed to the realization
of the goodness of life for everyone.

One research participant illustrated this kahampatan experience

when we went to gather banana blossoms in the mountains. In a
half day, he had gathered two sacks of banana blossoms. But I
noticed that there were many more banana blossoms and insisted
on gathering all so more could be brought and be sold in the market.
But he said: Tama na ‘to, para sa iba naman iyan. (This is enough,
those are for others also.) He was referring to the lowlanders as
“others” who come and gather banana blossoms in their place. (My
journal, November 2, 2014)

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Another participant shares the blessings of Apo Namalyari by

distributing the harvest to all families in Sitio Alibang.

Tulad niyang mga mais na iyan, inani naming kahapon, at lahat ng

pamilya dito binigyan ko ng mais. Kaya kahit saang bahay ka mag punta
may roon silang mais na ipapakain sa iyo. (Just like those corns, we
harvested yesterday, and all the families have a share of corns. So
every house you go to visit, they have corn to offer to you).

Respect for the land. For the Ayta, land is the source of all life. So it should
not be monetized and converted into a commodity. All the participants
strongly agreed that land is life and everything that comes from the land is
for the goodness of life. As they put it: “Lahat na galing sa lupa ay kahampatan.”
(Everything that comes from the land is kahampatan.)

Land is central to the Ayta fulfilment of the goodness of life and the
experience of the quality of life. Kahampatan comes with the productivity of
the land. Out of respect for the land, the Ayta do not plant for cash. They
plant for food. All the participants agreed that land is the most valuable
source of their food, health, livelihood, culture and power so it should not
be sold. They had this to say:

“Iyong pera pag nagastos mo na. wala na. Ang lupa habang buhay iyan
nagbibigay ng ikabubuhay.” (When money is spent, it is gone. The
land will forever provide us with livelihood.)

Symbiotic relationship with other beings. For the Ayta, humans are not seen
as separate from the environment. Nature is not viewed as something to be
controlled, dominated or domesticated, nor viewed as a source of wealth.
The Ayta see other creatures in a symbiotic relationship, as interdependent
providing each one a part of life and thereby promoting kahampatan in
the Ayta community. Thus, kahampatan is inclusive in promoting a quality
experience of development not only among fellow humans but also with
non-human species such as birds and other animals.

Ang mga ibon tulad ng kawkaw at kulasisi ang nagtatanim ng mga saging.
Kinakain nila iyong bunga at itinatae nila ‘yong buto, at iyon tumutubo.
Kaya maraming saging sa bundok na pinagkukukunan namin ng puso.
Ang mga ibon ay nagbibigay ng kahampatan! (Birds like the kawkaw
and kulasisi plant bananas. They eat the fruits and eliminate the
seeds, which then grow. That is why there are many bananas in the
mountains where we gather banana blossoms. The birds are giving
us kahampatan!)
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Kainomayan or Abundance. According to one participant, kahampatan

is an attitude (pag-uugali) while kainomayan is abundance (kasaganahan).
Kasaganahan that is not defined by kahampatan cannot provide the quality
of experience of development. Thus, the realization of kainomayan which
means the bountiful life for all must also be the fulfillment of kahampatan —
the good of everyone. For the Ayta, kainomayan is a vision of re-creating the
past, since their past was so full of abundance. The bounty was sufficient to
provide for their needs, especially before the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. Thus,
the Ayta continue to long for this “past” in their present and in their future
life, because their past situation is what they cherish as kainomayan. As one
participant described it:

Noon, kung may kailangan ka, punta ka lang sa taniman, magpitas

ka lang, may gulay na pang-ulam ka na. (In the past, if you needed
something to eat, you could just go to the garden, pick vegetables,
and there you already had your viand.)

Kahampatan as Conceptual Framework of Development with

Identity and Culture

As re-imagined development with identity and culture among the

Ayta, kahampatan is, in essence, an appropriate attitude and act that entails
nurturing, positive and right relationships. The experience of kahampatan
can be ensured through having the right relationship with Apo Namalyari
or the Creator, with the self, with others and with nature.

The right relationship with the Creator will lead to ecological and
social justice because of due respect given to every form of life in all of
creation. Everything is sacred because all creatures share the holiness of the
Creator. If ecological and social justice are well in place, then goodness of
life for everyone can be fulfilled.

The right relationship with the self and with others will result to
positive treatment and dealings with others, both humans and non-humans.
Relationships with others are not defined in terms of socially constructed
statuses such as gender, age, disability, economic class, education, position,
etc. The cultivation of equality and freedom is seen as necessary for the
realization of a collective experience of well-being.

The right relationship with nature or with the environment and the
land makes life viable and sustainable. Nature is the source of life. Thus,
land is life. This essential connection to the land has compelled the Ayta

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

to live a simple life -- taking just enough as needed from the environment
which in turn is a means to protect and preserve it. Its conservation will
bring about peace, harmony and integrity of creation that will eventually
sustain ecological well-being.

Figure 2 summarizes the relationship among these diverse concepts.

Figure 2.The framework of kahampatan development with identity and culture

Kahampatan as a practice of wellbeing

Like any other cultural notions of development among indigenous

communities, kahampatan emphasizes a positive and right relationship and
interdependence with human and non-human entities within the systems.
This means that all forms of life are perceived to have inherent worth and
dignity and can contribute to the upholding of the symbiotic relationship
among them all. Symbiosis or a close association among different creatures
is a common worldview among indigenous people and it is considered
an important element of development with identity and culture. If this
relational association is sustained, then it results in the satisfaction of the
biological or physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of
well-being. A well nurtured ecology, in turn, ensures the well-being of
individuals and communities as it will serve as the social and natural source
and resource for living a good life. Thus, kahampatan as an indigenous
meaning of development and well-being means that every element relates
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

to, causes and affects all the other elements. The dysfunctioning of one
element affects the rest, just as the proper functioning of all elements
brings the fulfilment of the goodness of life for everyone.

In essence, kahampatan is a relational development. Its emphasis

on relationship provides an effective guarantee of the well-being of all. That
is, the survival of any one individual essentially depends on the support
of each one for all the others. This relational development cultivates a
positive and right relationship with the Creator, with nature (including
the environment and land), with others and with the self. The rightness of
these relationships ensures simplicity, peace, justice, equity, equality and
integrity of creation.

At its very foundation, kahampatan is tied to the ancestral domain.

Lands and territories have material, cultural, economic and spiritual
dimensions for the Ayta. These are required for their subsistence and
economic sustainability, and are intrinsically linked to their identity and
existence as an Ayta nation. Kahampatan as a practice of well-being for all
conserves the environmental and ecological resources that are vital and
integral components to the attainment of well-being. The Ayta are highly
dependent on their lands and natural resources, thus any change to the
ecosystem is likely to have an impact on their way of life and survival.
Environmental degradation, for instance, contributes to continued poverty
among the Ayta due to their strong reliance on the environment for their
livelihoods.

Kahampatan can enliven the discourse of social development

in a number of ways. First, kahampatan can contribute to biodiversity
conservation and environmental protection and conservation. The Ayta
have not resorted to destructive resource practices despite the alluring
influence of the cash economy. Kahampatan as a model of indigenous
development promotes ecologically sound resource management that
nourishes the land as the source of survival and existence. In this sense,
kahampatan can serve as an ethic of sustainable development, as its emphasis
on positive and right relationship is congruent with the principles of
sustainable development. Second, kahampatan is a comprehensive concept
of development that addresses the fulfilment of the needs within the bio-
psycho-social-spiritual-ecological dimensions of well-being. Kahampatan
can be experienced through the realization of the components of well-
fullness that include welfare or provisions for basic needs, being well or the
state of being healthy, activities for capacity building and empowerment,
and well-being as the state of having the goodness of life.

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Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity

Note:
This article is based on the author’s dissertation entitled “Kahampatan as Lived
by the Ayta: Affirming Indigenous Well-being” for the degree on Doctor of Social
Development, College of Social Work and Community Development, University
of the Philippines, Diliman, submitted in December 2016.

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Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

Towards enhancing capabilities of children

of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain
resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

Mark Anthony D. Abenir, DSD

The Capabilities Approach was used in this study to understand the experiences of
resilience and vulnerabilities in the lives of children of Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFWs) in the Philippines. It argues that the impact of family separation on the
functionings and capabilities of the children left behind must be analyzed. This
will provide the context for identifying what specific human capabilities should
be safeguarded to ensure that migration benefits are sustained and vulnerabilities
are mitigated. Through focused ethnography, this study draws qualitative and
quantitative insights from 2,446 workshop participants of ANAK (Anak ng
Nangibang-bansa Aruga at Kaagapay or Nurturing and Support for the Children
of Overseas Workers) held nationwide from 2011 to 2013. Three valuable capability
sets were identified that reflected the voices of children of OFWs. Findings from this
study can serve as a guide in crafting migration and development policies that are
sensitive to meeting the needs of the program participants in particular, and left-
behind children by migrating parents in general.

Keywords: left-behind children, children of migrant workers, capabilities

approach, resilience, vulnerability

Introduction

Left-behind children of migrating parent(s) have become a matter

of growing concern to the global community (Abramovich, Cernadas,
& Morlachetti, 2011) given the ever-increasing worldwide trend in
international migration (ILO, 2013). The concern for these children
is anchored upon the issue that separation from their parent(s) exposes
them to certain risks such as being abused or trafficked (de la Garza, 2010),
as well as becoming vulnerable to the psycho-social impacts of family
separation (Valtolina & Colombo, 2012). Thus, calls have been made for
migrant-sending countries to develop policies that can address the specific
vulnerabilities of these children by ensuring the benefits that they have

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

gained from their parent(s)' migration can be sustained and the negative
consequences brought about by family separation can be mitigated
(Abramovich et al., 2011).

In the Philippines, left-behind children by migrating parents

are known as the anak ng OFW (children of OFWs) since their migrant
parent(s) belong to a population sector known as the Overseas Filipino
Workers or OFWs. Local studies extensively deal with understanding the
impact of family separation on the children’s (a) economic condition, (b)
health and nutrition status, (c) education, (d) psycho-social well-being, and
(e) transnational relationship with their migrant parent(s). However, there
is limited literature on how family separation impacts the functionings
and capabilities of these children that contribute to their experiences of
resilience and vulnerabilities. The central argument of this study is that
understanding the impact of family separation on the functionings and
capabilities of the children of OFWs will help identify which specific
human capabilities should be safeguarded in order to ensure that migration
benefits are sustained and negative consequences are mitigated.

Studies on Left-behind Children of Migrating Parents

Studies regarding the impact of family separation on left-behind

children of migrating parents from different migrant-sending countries of
the Global South were examined using the following measures: economic
condition, educational outcomes and career path decisions, state of physical
health, psychosocial well-being, transnational relationship with migrant
parents, and power relations.

First, when economic conditions are considered, studies of Edillon

(2008) and Heymann et al. (2009) are unanimous in declaring that left-
behind children enjoy more monetary benefits and fewer chances for
them to be involved in child labor compared to their counterparts whose
parents are not migrant workers. But embedded in such economic gains
are what Fresnoza-Flot (2009) points to as problems concerning children’s
conspicuous consumption and what Mohapatra, Ratha, & Silwal (2010)
claim to be greater vulnerability of these children to experience economic
shocks due to global factors affecting political and economic conditions in
the host country where their parents are working.

Second, when it comes to educational outcomes and career path

decisions, studies of Dillon & Walsh (2012) and Ducanes & Abella (2008)
found out that left-behind children are more able to continue schooling

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

and are enrolled in private schools compared to children whose parents

are local workers. However, when it comes to their academic performance,
there are conflicting findings. Some studies, such as those of Ang (2008)
and Mansour, Chaaban, & Litchfield (2011), claim that left-behind children
do relatively well, if not better, in school and are able to finish schooling.
On the other hand, Halpern-Manners (2011) and Lahaie, Hayes, Piper,
& Heymann (2009) assert the contrary, especially in situations when the
mother or the primary caregiver is the migrant worker in the family.

Third, in terms of the state of physical health, Flores, Sunil,

Palencia, & Hernandez (2012) found that the level of infant mortality
decreases when a parent is working abroad, and the study of the Scalabrini
Migration Center (2004) seems to bolster this, as their findings show that
left-behind children are generally found to be taller, heavier, and more
hygienic. But Edillon (2008) claims in her study that left-behind children
have poor health-seeking behavior and have a high-incidence of hygiene-
related problems. When the gender of the migrant parent is taken into
consideration, the studies of Smeekens, Stroebe, & Abakoumkin (2012)
and Hochschild (2003) have shown that children with a mother abroad
have poorer physical health than those with both parents at home, due to
the emotional loneliness and stress brought about by the mother’s absence.

Fourth, when psycho-social conditions are taken into account,

the studies of Harper & Martin (2012) and Marchetti-Mercer (2012) have
claimed that left-behind children, during the initial stages of separation,
suffer a sense of loss resulting to mixed feelings of distress and anxiety. But
this becomes more pronounced and enduring in cases where the mother
is the migrant worker in the family – as in the studies of Senaratna (2012),
Gustafson & Elliott (2011), and Parreñas (2005) which found that children
yearn more for their migrant mothers than they do for their migrant
fathers, resulting to the children’s emotional woes and various risk-taking
behaviors.

Fifth, when prolonged separation coupled with sporadic and poor

communication becomes the norm in the family, the studies of Suárez-
Orozco, Bang, & Kim (2011) and Alunan-Melgar & Borromeo (2002)
observed that left-behind children eventually develop emotional distance
and estranged relationships towards their migrant parent(s). Also, even
if technological communication devices are frequently used by migrant
parent(s) to bridge long-distance relations, Aguilar, Peñalosa, Liwanag,
Cruzi, & Melendrez (2009) and Tanalega (2002) found that such “techie”
parenting is still not able to replace the emotional bond forged by daily

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

face-to-face interactions. However, other studies, such as Furukawa &

Driessnack (2012) and Bacigalupe & Lambe (2011), emphasize that access
to communication technology cannot be taken for granted since it is able
to provide transnational families an essential link in connecting children
with their parent(s) and maintaining relationships with them.

Sixth, and lastly, when power relations in terms of decision

making are factored in, Edillon (2008) and Parreñas (2006) found that a
substantial number of left-behind children are not involved in the decision
making of their parent(s) concerning migration. Because of this, Dreby
(2007) explains that children often use whining, nagging, complaining,
protesting, and refusing to engage with their parent(s)’ agendas as a form of
exerting power to shape the nature and course of their families’ migration
experiences. In turn, parent(s) use the control of economic remittances in
an attempt to bribe and appease their children (Aguilar et al., 2009; Dreby,
2007).

The preceding literature review demonstrates that left-behind

children tend to encounter more challenges when their mother or their
primary caregiver is the migrant worker, but the overall impact of family
separation on them has yielded a mix of positive and negative results. This
may suggest that in spite of being separated from their parent(s), these
children have learned to become resilient. Even though the pain caused by
family separation is still a source of vulnerability in their condition, they
are doing something to move on with their lives. However, studies are not
clear on what factors are involved in sustaining children’s resilience and in
mitigating their vulnerabilities. Thus, the goal of this study is to identify
such factors using the Capabilities Approach by investigating the lives of
selected children of OFWs.

Capabilities Approach, Resilience, and Vulnerability

The Capabilities Approach is a development theory by Amartya

Sen (1999) and Martha Nussbaum (2001) that focuses on enlarging
people’s capabilities when making normative evaluations on whether
individual or societal progress has been successfully achieved or not. For
Sen and Nussbaum, people’s capabilities are analyzed in terms of the core
concepts of “functionings” and “capabilities.” Functionings refers to the
achievement of the person – what he or she manages to do or be (Sen,
1999); and capabilities refers to the actual ability of a human person to
function in different ways (Sen, 2005) and have the agency to achieve
plans and goals in life which s/he has a reason to value (Nussbaum, 2001).

26
 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

Examples of functionings are being well fed, being sheltered, and being able
to work in the labor market (Robeyns, 2003).

On the other hand, although Sen proposes no definite list or

examples of capabilities, Nussbaum (2003) has created the list of human
capabilities as follows: (a) Life; (c) Bodily Integrity; (d) Sense, Imagination,
and Thought; (e) Emotions; (f) Practical Reason; (g) Affiliation; (h) Other
Species; and (j) Control over One's Environment. The list mentioned above,
according to Nussbaum (2001), isolates those human capabilities that can
be convincingly argued to be of central importance in any human life.
However, Sen (2005) argues that any attempt to create a pre-determined
list of capabilities must be sensitive to context and must undergo public
discussion. Hence, Sen espouses a capabilities list that is determined by the
individuals or groups concerned.

Applying the capabilities approach in this study, one should look at

how the parent(s)’ labor migration has impacted the children of OFWs in
terms of the increase and decrease in their capabilities, understood in terms
of “functionings and capabilities enlargement” (FCE) and “functionings and
capabilities deprivation” (FCD) respectively. More so, this study surmises
that FCE contributes to the said children’s resilience while FCD contributes
to their vulnerabilities. Resilience in this study refers to the ability to cope
and transcend adversities caused by the family separation that enables
the children of OFWs to maximize the benefits gained from the labor
migration of their parent(s). On the other hand, vulnerability refers to their
diminished capacity to cope with and transcend the adversities caused by
family separation which then increases the negative consequences of their
parent(s)’ labor migration in their lives. Clustering the different FCEs and
FCDs into relevant themes can lead to the creation of a capabilities list that
is reflective of the said children’s voices. In this way, the derived list of
capabilities becomes sensitive to their context and runs parallel with the
position of Sen (2005) that the creation of any list of human capabilities
must come directly from the people concerned or affected by it.

Methods

Data reported here is part of a focused ethnographic study of the

children of OFWs during ANAK Workshops (Anak ng Nangibang-bansa
Aruga at Kaagapay or Nurturing and Support for the Children of Overseas
Workers) conducted in the different migration hotspots in the three major
islands (Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao) of the Philippines from 2011-2013.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

The ANAK Workshops are implemented by UGAT Foundation, Inc. via

their PANATAG (Pamilya ng Nangibang-bansa, Aruga, Tulong at Gabay or
Nurture, Support and Guide for OFW Families) program in partnership
with the guidance and counseling departments of public and private
schools. I have been part of the PANATAG program of UGAT since 2008
as a facilitator and mentor for OFW families, specifically for the children
of OFWs during the ANAK Workshops and summer camps. I have been
involved with UGAT as a way of paying it forward since I have also been a
beneficiary of UGAT as a son of a former OFW father. Thus, this study is
a product of numerous personal stories shared, from the years 2011-2013,
with fellow children of OFWs who belong to a much younger generation,
mostly, those who were born between 1995 and 2005. Data from this
study is taken from 2,446 ANAK Workshop participants who participated
in answering survey questionnaires and shared their personal stories
through focus groups formatted in small group sharing sessions (SGSS).
Survey questionnaires called the ANAK Survey and Registration Form
(ASRF), answered by the ANAK Workshop participants, generated both
quantitative and qualitative data used in this study. On the other hand,
focus groups, through the small group sharing sessions (SGSS), which
are conducted three times within the duration of each ANAK Workshop,
became an avenue for more in-depth discussion of the ANAK workshop
participants’ responses in the ASRF. Discussions held in the SGSS were
documented using a combination of field journals and audio recordings.

Quantitative data extracted from the ASRF were encoded in MS

Excel and subjected to descriptive and inferential analysis using IBM SPSS
version 21. In contrast, qualitative data obtained from the ASRF and the
focus groups cum SGSS were encoded and subjected to phenomenological
text analysis using Atlas.ti7. Phenomenological text analysis is intended
to be interpretative, rather than purely descriptive (van Manen, 2011);
the interpretation is open to re-interpretation which is dialectical in
nature (Annells, 1996); the focus is on the illumination of the essence
and uniqueness of the human experience (Sternberg & Barry, 2011);
and attention is given to how things are understood by people who live
through these experiences and by those who study them (de Guzman et
al., 2012). The parameters used for such text analysis are the keywords
and phrases often used by the ARSF respondents, interview respondents,
and SGSS participants. Thus, the keywords and phrases were analyzed
using the following four steps: (a) discovering themes and subthemes
(open coding); (b) winnowing the themes into a manageable manner; (c)
building hierarchies of themes or code booking; and (d) linking themes
into theoretical models (de Guzman et al., 2012).

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

Quantitative results and qualitative findings presented in this study

were validated in three ways. First, the data were cross-checked using different
methods to search for regularities in the research data and to yield stronger
evidence. Second, data gathered through surveys were validated through
the use of three correspondence strategies: (a) I validated information taken
from the ARSF with the help of other UGAT-PANATAG mentors through
discussions during the SGSSs and plenary sessions held during the ANAK
workshops; (b) I presented the preliminary results of the descriptive statistics
based on the ARSF to a national conference held in the University of the
East–Manila on September 26, 2013 which was attended by a significant
number of students who are Anak ng OFW and who then gave feedback that
helped me improve and further understand the reasons behind the statistical
results; and (c) I presented the results of the study to the PANATAG program
manager and project director to help improve the design of the program, to
fulfill my voluntary role as consultant, and to receive feedback from them.
Hence, through these three correspondence strategies, immediate validation
became possible as a means to make sure that the answers written in the
ARSF were reflective of the thoughts and emotions of the Anak ng OFW.
Lastly, interpretations of the findings were subjected to a member checking
procedure. Here, I corresponded with the five research assistants involved
in the data gathering regarding the truthfulness and trustworthiness of the
data being researched. The five research assistants, whom I trained on how
to do data analysis, provided their analytical interpretations of the data and
these were compared with the ones I made. This was done to cross-check if
my explanations were reasonable, convincing, and could possibly be open to
another re-interpretation.

All activities pertaining to the conduct of data gathering in this

study were done using the Filipino language, and the researcher provided
the English translation. Ethical consent was secured for the entire conduct
of the research process through parental consent forms obtained by partner
schools who implemented the ANAK Workshops on their campuses. Names
used in this study which refer to workshop participants are fictional to
protect their identity.

Results

Demographic Characteristics of Research Respondents

Table 1 displays the total number of ANAK Workshop participants

per case study site used in this study. As shown in Table 1, out of the total
number of 2,446, 83% (n = 2,018) came from Luzon, while 11% (n = 274)
and 6% (n = 154) came from Visayas and Mindanao, respectively. Since a
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

significant percentage of the ANAK Workshop participants were from Luzon,

further categorizing reveals the top three regions where they came from,
namely: (1) Central Luzon region (45%, n = 1,083), (2) CALABARZON
region (19%, n = 444), and (3) Ilocos region (11%, n = 279), respectively.
These regions in Luzon, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority
(2016) belong to the five migration hot spots where most of the OFWs in the
Philippines come from.

Table 1: Number of ANAK Workshop Participants per province

Geographical Areas f %
Luzon Island
Cordillera Administrative Region Baguio 171 7
Ilocos Region Ilocos Sur 279 11
Cagayan Valley Region Cagayan 41 2
Central Luzon Region Bataan 274 11
Bulacan 259 11
Pampanga 184 8
Tarlac 159 7
Zambales 207 8
Subtotal for Central Luzon 1083 45
CALABARZON Region Cavite 233 10
Laguna 161 6
Rizal 50 2
Subtotal for CALABARZON 444 19
Subtotal for Luzon Island 2,018 83
Vizayas Island
Central Visayas Cebu 145 6
Eastern Visayas Leyte 129 5
Subtotal for Vizayas Island 274 11
Mindanao Island
CARAGA Region Surigao del Norte 154 6
Overall Total 2,446 100

Table 2, on the other hand, portrays the socio-demographic profile of the
ANAK Workshop participants. As revealed in Table 2, a little more than
half of the workshop participants were females (53%, n = 1,303) and about
70% (n = 1,702) of them were adolescents (13-17 years old). About 80%
(n = 1,972) were high school students and more than three-fourths came
from private schools (85%, n = 2,090) which are predominantly sectarian

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

(Catholic or Christian schools) (81%, n = 1,977). Finally, more than half

of the workshop participants (59%, n = 1,431) had fathers working abroad,
followed by those whose mothers (28%, n = 687) and both parents (13%,
n = 303) were working abroad, respectively. This confirmed the OFW de-
ployment statistics of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(2016) in which many of the migrant workers from the Philippines were still
males, followed closely by females whose number was beginning to close the
gap with that of men being deployed abroad.

Table 2: Socio-Demographic Profile of ANAK Workshop Participants

Indicators F % Indicators F %
Sex School Type
Male 1,143 43 Public 356 15
Female 1,303 53 Private 2,090 85
Total 2,446 100 Total 2,446 100
Age Level School Orientation
Middle Childhood 686 28 Secular 469 19
(08–12) Sectarian 1,977 81
Adolescence 1,702 70 Total 2.446 100
(13–17)
Early Young Adult 58 2
(18–21)
Total 2,446 100

Educational Level Migrant Parent

Elementary (Grades 408 17 Father 1,431 59
4 – 6) Mother 684 28
High school (1st – 4th 1,972 80 Both Parent(s) 303 13
Year) Missing 25
College (1st – 4th
66 3 Total 2,446 100
Year)
2,446 100
Total

Phenomenological Text Analysis of Qualitative Data

Phenomenological text analysis of the qualitative data derived

from the ASRF and SGSS reveals three major capability sets that form part
of the capabilities list that is reflective of the voices of the Anak ng OFW.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

These three major capability sets are (a) the capability to achieve a good and
prosperous life, (b) the capability to form enduring transnational ties, and (c)
the capability to reconstitute the social structure of the family. Each of these
is explained in the following subsections.

A. Capability to achieve a good and prosperous life

According to the ANAK Workshop participants, the main reason

why their parent(s) worked abroad was to have gainful employment. This
strongly indicates that the ARSF respondents were aware that employment
opportunities in the Philippines are inadequate both in terms of availability
and as a source of income to raise a family. As Anina wrote in the ARSF:

“Because my parent is not able to get job opportunities here (in the
Philippines), if there is one, the pay is not enough to lift us out from
poverty.” – Anina, 16

Thus, when the workshop participants were asked what advantages

they experienced when their parents started working abroad, most of them
(89%, n = 2,176) quoted the phrase, “they are now able to achieve a good and
prosperous life.” By this, they meant that the overseas work of their parents
and the economic remittances served as a ticket to improve the lot of the
entire family and help them escape from the clutches of poverty. This, in turn,
became a critical capability set for them. But what is meant by this? Further
probing into their answers in the SGSS and applying phenomenological
text analysis in the transcribed focus groups reveal six essential criteria
that the workshop participants navigated so that they could live a good and
prosperous life brought about by the overseas work of their parent(s). These
criteria correspondingly translate into the FCE they experienced in their
lives, namely: (a) being able to study in good quality schools, (b) being able
to acquire basic needs, (c) being able to realistically hope for a bright future,
(d) being able to enjoy the comforts of life, (e) being free from the bondage of
debt, and (f) being able to save money for future needs.

Essential to the experience of the abovementioned FCEs is the

sufficient economic remittances sent by OFW parent(s) to their families. Such
economic remittances were maximized into what the workshop participants
refer to as a good and prosperous life. However, about 11% (n = 262) of the
workshop participants claimed that they are not able to experience such a
life as they experienced money-related problems. Such was the case of Kiko,
a 15-year-old workshop participant, who viewed economic remittances as a
source of conflict because of the constant demands of his relatives to have the

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

lion’s share of his father’s economic remittances. As Kiko revealed in one of

the SGSS:

“I am angry at my father. He makes my mother cry. Why does he

always have to give money to our relatives? Mama is already having a
tough time making ends meet. He promised us our life would be better
if he goes abroad. But what happened is that we are just the same as
before.” – Kiko, 15

Second, another form of FCD that some of the workshop participants

experienced was when their OFW parent was a “TNT” (short for tago ng tago),
which means “those who keep on hiding” from immigration authorities, or
those who are undocumented migrant workers. This led them to vulnerable
situations which I discovered often translated into the vulnerabilities of their
children as well. Such was the case of Jena, a 19-year-old student studying in
a private school, who explained that when the US visa of her father expired,
her father continued to stay and hide from immigration authorities. Because
of this, her father found it difficult to secure a job and lived under precarious
conditions. Jena was also aware that her father could notgo back to the
Philippines for fear of being blacklisted. Thus, as her father chose to stay on
in the USA, the economic remittances were significantly reduced which led
to financial constraints in their family. As Jena verbalized in the SGSS:

“When my father still had a visa, he could afford my tuition fee and that
of my younger brother. But when he lost his visa, he had a hard time
looking for a job, and he struggled to provide for my education.” – Jena,
19

Lastly, in some other cases, some of the workshop participants

complained that on top of having their parent not by their side, what added
insult to injury was that they could not see and feel that the quality of their
family's life had improved. As Sarah explained in the SGSS:

“The economic remittance he (migrant father) sends is low. Come to

think of it, what he earns there would be just the same if he would
work here. I wish he stays here, because our life did not even change.”
– Sarah, 17

Thus, based on the above narratives of the workshop participants,

one can surmise that migration of parent(s) could either be a boon or a bane
for their children, depending upon the amount and wise use of economic
remittances that they send to their families.

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B. Capability to form enduring transnational ties

One of the advantages brought about by the labor migration of

parents that workshop participants consistently mention is the acquisition
of information communication technology (ICT) devices and the use
of the internet. When asked how many days in a year were they able to
transnationally communicate with their parents through the use of the
internet and ICT devices, descriptive statistics revealed that almost two-thirds
of the respondents (62%, n = 1,486) were able to communicate with their
migrant parent(s) ranging in frequency from at least once a week up to every
day. In contrast, those who reported that they were able to transnationally
communicate with their migrant parents only once a month (12%, n =
294) or only once a year (4%, n = 187) complained that their access to the
internet was low since (a) their family could not afford internet service, (b)
there was no available internet service provider in their area, or (c) internet
connectivity was very poor. This forced them to resort to making traditional
long-distance calls which were very expensive and, thus, hampered them
from communicating with one another transnationally. Thus, it can be
said that possession of ICT devices and access to the internet enables OFW
families to form enduring transnational ties which then leads them to feel
that, even though they are separated, they are not left behind. As one of the
workshop participants explained in the SGSS:

“It can be seen in my OFW family that we are still intact and we are not
left behind because we can talk to each other using the cellphone, the
internet, and usually through online chat also.” – Vicky, 15

But what forms of FCE do the workshop participants get out of this?
Phenomenological text analysis reveals three important FCEs that workshop
participants experience when transnational ties are fomented between them
and their migrant parents, namely: (a) being able to receive transnational
parental support, (b) being able to transnationally convey thoughts and
emotions, and (c) being able to establish transnational emotional bonds.

C. Capability to reconstitute the social structure of the family

This capability set is derived from the implicit negative experiences

of the workshop participants in this study (a) when gender inequality prevails
in their family, (b) when the existence of OFW families are not recognized,
and (c) when immediate family reunification is not fulfilled. Such conditions
contribute to the experience of FCD of the workshop participants, further

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

exposing them to vulnerabilities. However, when such FCD is successfully

turned into an FCE, such as (a) being able to live in gender egalitarian family,
(b) being able to enjoy the recognition that OFW families are transnational
families that have different needs, and (c) being able to pursue immediate
family reunification, then this could promote the resilience of the Children
of OFWs. This is further explained in the following subsections below.

1. FCD when gender inequality prevails in the family

Data show that the workshop participants, regardless of their sex, do

not feel comfortable when it is their mothers who work abroad. Verifying
this in the ASRF, Chi-square analysis as shown in Table 3 (see Appendix
A) reveals that workshop participants whose mothers are migrants are the
least likely to agree that their parent(s) are able to fulfill their duties and
responsibilities toward their families when compared to those whose fathers
and both parent(s), respectively, are abroad (93.3% Fathers, 90.8% Both
Parent(s), and 87.9% Mothers). The reason given by the participants is that,
when their mothers work abroad, their fathers do not take on the roles of
caring for and nurturing them. As Cherry explains in the ARSF:

“My father is always drunk when she is not here. My father also is of no
help in doing household chores.” – Cherry, 15

Thus, this has led some of the workshop participants to assert that the
provision of care and nurturance is the primary duty and responsibility of
their mothers. As one of them writes in the ARSF:

“Even though she works hard for us abroad, she cannot do what a
mother is supposed to do, that is, to take care of us. You cannot expect a
father to do that.” – Kim, 16

The narratives reflect the resulting views of the workshop participants

who witness gender inequality expressed through gender role stereotypes.
This becomes unfortunate for their OFW mothers since they too make
sacrifices for the betterment of their children’s lives. But because such gender
role stereotypes are pervasive, workshop participants have a hard time truly
appreciating the efforts of their mother. This is reflected in the results of
the Chi-square analysis as shown in Table 4 (see Appendix B) where the
workshop participants whose mothers are abroad (including both parents)
are the ones who are more likely to report that they feel lonely (25.7% both
parent(s), 20.1% mothers, 14.9% fathers), lack parental support (17.2% both
parent(s), 16% mothers, 12.5% fathers), spend time with questionable peers

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(11.5% mothers, 10.6% both parent(s), 7.8% fathers), and cry more often
(35% both parent(s), 28.7% mothers, 25.2% fathers).

However, there is hope that such unfortunate situations can

be reversed. Further scouring through the responses of the workshop
participants in the ASRF reveal that there are rare cases in which they report
that their fathers do perform caring and nurturing roles in the home. In such
cases, the participants have less qualms about the migration of their mothers.
As Sanda verbalizes in the SGSS:

“Even though Mama is in another country working, my Papa is with us

who nurtures and teaches us the right manners and ethical conduct.”
– Sandra, 15

Although the above statement is a rare case, there is a glimmer

of hope that when fathers learn to cross gender role stereotypes, then the
children will no longer blame their OFW mothers for not fulfilling their
duties and responsibilities towards the family.

2. FCD when the needs of OFW families are unrecognized

More than half of the workshop participants (60%, n = 1,459) report

that they continually yearn for their migrant parent(s). As explained in the
ASRF, they envy other children who enjoy the presence and companionship
of both parents. Such envious feelings are especially heightened during
family days in schools. On such occasions, the children of OFWs feel isolated
and pity their families as they see their classmates celebrate the family day
with both of their parents in the school. As Maria explains in the SGSS:

“I envy my classmates who are with their parent(s) during the family
day in school. I find it difficult to see them complete, and there is a
program for them.” – Maria, 17

Unlike her classmates, both of Maria’s parents are in Europe.

However, she can communicate with them every day as she reported in the
ASRF. Maria also writes, “Everything that is expected from a parent is fulfilled by
my parent(s),” and yet, every family day in school, she finds herself envying her
classmates. Her words connote there is a pain in her seeing them celebrate
what a typical family is, as marked by the family day program held in her
school.

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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

3. FCD when immediate Family Reunification is not fulfilled

My close interactions with the children of OFWs during the ANAK

Workshops have given me the advantage to probe deeper into the lives of
workshop participants, especially those whose migrant parent(s) are TNTs.
The precarious nature of OFW parents who are TNTs in a foreign land vis-à-
vis what life looks like when there is prolonged separation is best explained
by the workshop participants who have TNT parent(s). As Kokoy writes in
the ARSF:

“I have not yet experienced the love and care of a father. This is because
when I was born, he was already not by my side, he was already working
abroad. It has been ten years since he came home in the Philippines.” –
Kokoy, 17

Being separated for ten years is indeed a long time and has taken an
emotional toll on Kokoy. In some cases, the TNT situation of migrant parents
has also led them to abandon their families, as is often done by OFW fathers
who are TNTs. As Carl writes in the ASRF:

“He already has a different family in another country and the family
there is what he focuses his attention on.” – Carl, 16
The TNT situation of the migrant parent(s) negatively impacts the
children of OFWs, both emotionally and economically, especially in the case
of abandonment. The TNT situation tends to hinder family reunification,
aggravating the negative emotional consequences felt by the children on the
issue of family separation.

Analysis: Capabilities of children of OFWs

Three essential capability sets of children of OFWs were then

generated from the different data sets. These three major capability sets are
(a) the capability to achieve a good and prosperous life, (b) the capability to
form enduring transnational ties, and (c) the capability to reconstitute the
social structure of the family. When achieved, these capability sets contribute
to the children’s resilience or FCE. On the other hand, the failure to attain
such capability sets leads to their vulnerabilities or FCD.

First, on the capability to achieve a good and prosperous life, previous

studies of Ang, Sugiyarto, & Jha (2009) and Sabates-Wheeler & Koettl (2010)
have shown that families of migrant workers rely on economic remittances as
their means to reduce poverty and to promote human development in various
aspects. In the case of children of OFWs, poverty reduction and human

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

development for them is concretely understood and felt in terms of the six
FCEs they experience under the capability to achieve a good and prosperous
life. Such FCEs are: (a) being able to study in good quality schools, (b) being
able to acquire basic needs, (c) being able to realistically hope for a bright
future, (d) being able to enjoy the comforts of life, (e) being free from the
bondage of debt, and (f) being able to save money for future needs. These
FCEs may serve as critical indicators to gauge whether left-behind children
in general and the children of OFWs in particular, are truly benefiting from
the labor migration of their parents. But at the same time, they also help
further define children’s rights to survival, protection, and development as
accorded in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Thus, I strongly suggest that CRC signatory states, such as the

Philippines, ensure that the said children are enjoying such FCEs. However,
this would entail long-term solutions to sustain such benefits gained from the
labor migration of parents. This would require the Philippine government to
create policies to channel the use of economic remittances for asset formation
to build its domestic capacity to absorb more workers (CODE-NGO, FDC, &
UNDP, 2010). Through this, more parents would be enabled to fulfill their
obligations to their children in realizing their capability to achieve a good
and prosperous life without the need to be separated from them.

Second, on the capability to form enduring transnational ties,
previous studies of Rule (2009) and Parreñas (2005) have shown that
transnational communication between the migrant parent and their family
is crucial in maintaining a feeling of solidarity among the family members
across the miles. Also, Furukawa & Driessnack (2012) and Bacigalupe &
Lambe (2011) have found that access to ICT – such as mobile phones, full
availability of very affordable international phone calls, and mainstreaming
of internet connectivity and social media – plays a crucial role in helping
left-behind children in general, and the children of OFWs in particular, in
cushioning the pains of family separation and further allowing transnational
ties to thrive. In the case of children of OFWs, transnational communication
with migrant parents via access to ICT and the internet has contributed
to their FCEs in terms of (a) being able to receive transnational parental
support, (b) being able to transnationally convey thoughts and emotions,
and (c) being able to establish transnational emotional bonds. Such FCEs cut
across the capability set on “emotions” and “affiliations,” as Nussbaum (2003)
explains that being able to have attachments to those who love and care for
us (emotions) and being able to engage in various forms of interaction such
as being able to live for and in relation to others (affiliation) are crucial to
human development. Thus, the capability to form enduring transnational
ties can be deemed essential for the human development of the children of
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 Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

OFWs.

Based on this, the Philippine government should commit to

providing universal access to the internet by making it reliable, affordable,
and accessible through private-sector and market-based information
infrastructure development (Lallana & Soriano, 2007), increasing the value
derived from online services (Lallana & Soriano, 2007), and establishing
Community eCenters (CeCs) in municipalities and in every barangay where
there are no shared internet access facilities and transform existing public
school computer laboratories into internet hubs (DOST, 2014). CeCs can
be tapped to serve as gateways for transnational communication between
children and their migrant parents which can be very useful for OFW families
who have no internet access.

Lastly, on the capability to reconstitute the social structure of the

family, Nussbaum (1997) argues that the family is not a fixed unit, for it can
come in all shapes and sizes, and it does not only consist of people related by
blood and marriage; hence, families have the right to define themselves and
appropriate negotiated roles among its members. This is true in the lives of
the children of OFWs, where they find themselves living in the historical era
of international migration, which exerts various pressures that either expand
or limit the social structures of their families.

Hence, this study advocates three FCEs that should form part of the
capability to reconstitute the social fabric of the family, namely: (a) being able
to live in a gender-egalitarian family, (b) being able to enjoy the recognition
that OFW families are transnational families that have different needs, and (c)
being able to pursue immediate family reunification. Safeguarding such FCEs
would entail the promotion of gender equality by the Philippine government,
guided by the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) and its Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act
9710 of 2009). The government should also find ways to help transnational
families strengthen transnational ties by providing social services and
immigration policies needed by OFW families to help enhance transnational
family bonds and facilitate actual family reunification (Zentgraf, 2012).
Lastly, it should establish strategies to help shorten the duration of family
separation experienced by transnational families through subsidizing return
trips of OFWs so they can annually visit their children and respective families
(International Labour Organization, 2013).

On a related matter, the Philippine government should do more to

prevent the phenomenon of undocumented OFWs by establishing a Shared
Government Information System on Migration (SGISM) as promoted by the
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Center for Migrant Advocacy (2012). This would provide a harmonized

mechanism for gathering statistics on regular and irregular migrants by
different government agencies through gathering information and creating
a database on how long Filipino migrants have stayed in a particular
country, what migrants do when they return, the situation returning
migrants find themselves in, how many years migrants remain overseas,
and if they are subsequently redeployed to the same or a different country.
If such database could be developed and made readily available, it would
greatly help in the formulation of sound policies and programs concerning
family reunification.

Concluding Note

The capabilities list drawn from the study is reflective of the voices
of the children of OFWs. These three major capability sets are (a) the
capability to achieve a good and prosperous life, (b) the capability to form
enduring transnational ties, and (c) the capability to reconstitute the social
structure of the family.

Each of the aforementioned capability sets have their own

Functionings and Capability Enlargements (FCEs) and Functionings and
Capability Deprivations (FCDs). For the capability to achieve a good and
prosperous life, the FCEs are (a) being able to study in good quality schools,
(b) being able to acquire basic needs, (c) being able to realistically hope
for a bright future, (d) being able to enjoy the comforts of life, (e) being
free from the bondage of debt, and (f) being able to save money for future
needs. Its FCDs on the other hand are: (a) when economic remittances
become a source of family conflict, (b) when the precarious conditions of
the undocumented status of migrant parents result to financial constraints
in the family, and (c) when the salary of the migrant parent is not enough
to make ends meet.

When it comes to the capability to form enduring transnational

ties, the FCE are (a) being able to receive transnational parental support,
(b) being able to transnationally convey thoughts and emotions, and (c)
being able to establish transnational emotional bonds. However, FCDs
occur (a) when the family cannot afford an internet service, (b) when there
is no available internet service provider in their area, and (c) when internet
connectivity is very poor.

Finally, in terms of the capability to reconstitute the social structure

of the family, its FCEs are (a) being able to live in gender-egalitarian family,

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Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities

(b) being able to enjoy the recognition that OFW families are transnational
families that have different needs, and (c) being able to pursue immediate
family reunification. Its corresponding FCDs are: (a) when gender
inequality prevails in the family, (b) when the needs of OFW families
are not recognized, and (c) when immediate family reunification is not
fulfilled.

However, one may notice that the list as mentioned above greatly
differs from that of Nussbaum. This is because as Sen (2005) would argue,
any attempt to create a pre-determined list of Capabilities must be sensitive
to context and must reflect the interest of those affected in the formulation
of the Capabilities list. Thus, the list culled out here is a product of a social
constructivist approach that is sensitive to the unique context of the Anak
ng OFW and is reflective of the epistemological worldview of how the
children of OFWs perceive what is beneficial for them. This study shows
that the Capabilities Approach can be grounded based on the lives of the
children of OFWs. In this way, the study contributes to the localization of
the Capabilities Approach as understood and valued by concerned groups,
like the children of OFWs.

Notes:
This article is based on the author’s dissertation entitled, “In Their Voices: The
Rights and Capabilities of the Anak ng OFW”, for the degree on Doctor of Social
Development, College of Social Work and Community Development, University
of the Philippines, Diliman, submitted in April 2014.

The study was carried out with the aid grant from the Philippine Social Science
Council (PSSC) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The author also
acknowledges the administrators and staff of the PANATAG program of the UGAT
Foundation, Inc. for granting me the access to encode and analyze primary data
pertinent to this study and for giving me the avenue to serve and have a meaningful
interaction with my fellow Children of OFWs for the past five years since 2008.
The valuable contribution made by research assistants in the completion of this
research is also acknowledged, namely: Ma. Zarah C. Armesin, Sheelah R. Aguila,
Shiela C. Balunso, Marian Coleen D. Cajanding, and Angelica Rose M. Lintot.

Appendix A

Table 3: Crosstabulation of Agreement on whether Migrant Parent(s) can perform

their Duties and Responsibilities by which Parent is Abroad

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Dependent Variable Father Mother Both X2 P Cramer’s

V
Agreement on Parent(s)’ 93.3% 87.9% 90.8% 17.35 .000 .085
Fulfillment of Duties and (3.9) (-3.9) (-0.5)
Responsibilities (N =
2,421; df = 2)
Note: Adjusted standardized residual frequencies appear in parentheses below
observed percentages.

Appendix B
Table 4: Crosstabulation of Problems Faced and Coping Strategies of the ASRF
respondents by which Parent is working abroad

Dependent Variable Father Mother Both X2 P Cramer’s

V
Problems Faced
1. Feel Lonely 14.9% 20.1% 25.7% 23.91 .000 .099
(-4.4) (1.9) (3.9)
12.5% 16.0% 17.2% 7.42 .025 .055
2. Lack of parental sup-
(-2.7) (1.7) (1.6)
port
Coping Stategies
3. Spending time with 7.8% 11.5% 10.6% 8.610 .013 .060
questionable peers (-2.9) (2.5) (0.9)
25.2% 28.7% 35.0% 12.709 .002 .072
4. Crying
(-2.9) (0.9) (3.2)
Note: Adjusted standardized residual frequencies appear in parentheses below
observed percentages.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Examining unpaid care work of women in

the sandwich generation:
Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Excelsa C. Tongson, DSD

Drawing from feminist standpoint epistemology and Kabeer’s Social Relations

Approach, this research is anchored on three critical points. First, it claims that
women are authentic sources of knowledge that aid in the understanding of society.
Second, it asserts that, as owners of their narratives, women in the sandwich
generation bring along with them abundant and solid resources that contain both
their dominant and subordinated views and persona in providing unpaid care.
Lastly, it treats women’s experiences not only as instruments for understanding how
society operates but more importantly as dynamic vehicles for reorganizing and
changing society’s structure and workings. The situation of seven low-income urban
women in the sandwich generation shows a major confluence of class, gender, age,
and other identities. In terms of current policies, the single-determinant approach
focusing only on one aspect of social protection has largely ignored individual
differences and other identities thus limiting our understanding of how the world of
women in the sandwich generation revolves and functions around their triple roles.

Keywords: Unpaid care work, sandwich generation, social protection,

women’s well-being, intersectionality, feminist epistemology

Unpaid care work as a gender issue

According to the United Nations Development Program

(2019), women’s heavy burden of unpaid care work is one of the most
glaring structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment. In
both rural and urban areas, women’s use of their time for unpaid care
prohibits them from regularly contributing economically to their
household, partaking in political, social, and community matters,
and attending to personal care and leisure (Karimli et al., 2016).

Unpaid care is largely unappreciated and undervalued because it is
generally found within the ordinariness of daily living of women and girls,
and translated in routine household chores such as cooking, cleaning, doing
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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

the laundry, and taking care of children, older adults, and sick members
of the family (Antonopoulos, 2009; Faith & Blackden, 2009; Folbre, 1995;
ILO, 1999; Karimli et al,. 2016; Ofreneo, 2005).

Time and energy are requisites in accomplishing unpaid care
work. Across the globe, 76.2 % of the total hours of unpaid care work is
rendered by women. This is three times more than the time spent by men on
domestic work. In Asia and the Pacific, the figure reaches 80 % (ILO, 2018).
The McKinsey Global Institute (2015) approximated, using conservative
measures, that “unpaid work being undertaken by women today amounts
to as much as $10 trillion of output per year, roughly equivalent to 13
percent of global GDP” (p.2).

While unpaid care has economic value, it is not included in the

System of National Accounts (ActionAid, 2016; ADB, 2015; Chopra,
2014; Eyben, 2013; Ferrant, Pesando & Nowacka, 2014). According to
Antonopoulous (2009), women have been providing a “systematic transfer
of hidden subsidies to the rest of the economy that go unrecognized,
imposing a systematic time-tax on women throughout their life cycle”
(p.2). Hence, unpaid care is considered abusive of women.

While unpaid care is willingly and freely performed by mothers,

wives, sisters, grandmothers, and aunts, it bears noting that not all of them
belong to multi-generation households where they simultaneously look
after the needs and wellbeing of the younger and the older generations.
Situated in the middle of two generations, such women are known as
the “sandwich generation,” a term which had its origins in the United
States (Brody, 1981; DeRigne & Ferrente, 2012; Economic Intelligence
Unit, 2010; Miller, 1981). This unique familial position is found to be a
product of a coalescence of several factors related to women’s increasing
educational and abundant economic opportunities that result in the delay
of childbearing to a later age as well as the effects of modern medical science
in lengthening the life span of people. With the evolving participation of
women in the public sphere and as they strive to balance their familial and
occupational responsibilities, childcare and eldercare have increasingly
become legitimate personal and workplace concerns (DeRigne & Ferrente,
2012; EIU, 2010; Pierret, 2006), and have been regarded as critical public
issues (Marks, 1998).

The dominant discourse about the sandwich generation in the last

four decades has centered on middle class women in the formal economy
from the Global North. The debate surrounding the participation of
women in the labor force and its links to care work spurred specific public
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

and private policy formulations in the form of care services, subsidies to

avail of paid care workers and other basic services, as well as labor market
interventions such as maternity protection, parental leaves, and setting
a prescribed period of time for paid work (EIU, 2010; Jankowski, 2011;
Wagner, 2003).

Invisibility of care work

Like in other parts of the world, unpaid care in the Philippines is

largely done by women and girls, and subsumed in their daily routine. With
the assumption that unpaid care and domestic work will always be freely
available in Filipino homes and communities, it has remained unaccounted
for in policymaking and program formulations. Take for example Republic
Act 9710, “An Act Providing the Magna Carta of Women (MCW)” which
lacks specific provisions on care. According to Durano (2014), despite
being celebrated as a groundbreaking law that provides a comprehensive
legal framework directly anchored on the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Magna
Carta of Women (MCW) fell short on many counts. Apart from excluding
care, it failed to recognize culturally ascribed roles of women as “housewife
and mother” (Durano, 2014, p.2). It also lacks provision on gender division
of labor and provided less attention to personal choice and other goals that
women value. As a legally binding developmental framework, it is ironic
that the MCW does not provide developmental indicators necessary in
determining the extent of women’s advancement. With these shortcomings,
fundamental questions remain as to how the MCW would address women’s
marginalization and discrimination, how directions are set in devising
strategies to liberate women from domestication and subordination, and
how unpaid care of Filipino women in general and women in the sandwich
generation in particular will be recognized, reduced, and redistributed.

Despite theoretical advances and policy advocacy on care

work, efforts have not really created a dent as policymakers continue to
demonstrate a lack of understanding of the inextricable relationship of care
work—both paid and unpaid—to economic development and wellbeing
of individuals, families, and communities. Likewise, the lack of technical
know-how in dealing with issues of the care economy has resulted in the
invisibility of care in every stage and every level of development programs
(Chopra, Kelbert, & Iyer, 2013).

Amidst the rich literature that highlights the challenges of and the
solutions undertaken for women in the sandwich generation in the West

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

and other countries in Asia, the phenomenon remains unexplored in the

Philippines (Tongson, 2018). The lack of a local term and the absence of
data or information about it in leading government agencies such as the
Philippine Commission on Women, the Philippine Statistics Authority, and
the Philippine Commission on Population are indicative of the invisibility
of this unique familial position.

With the mixture of factors including the twin effects of high

birth rate and low mortality rate, and Filipino families being closely knit
and primarily responsible for the biological maintenance and provision
of emotional security, and kinship loyalties (Chan, 1992; Medina, 2001),
the presence of women in the sandwich generation will most likely have
a steady presence. In a patriarchal society where socially-imposed gender
relations have become ingrained, the issues surrounding unpaid care have
the potential of being ignored.

“Being sandwiched” (EIU, 2010) provide an incomplete description

of women in the sandwich generation. For most urban poor women in
the informal economy, mere access to current social services and benefits
seems inadequate to ease their caring burdens. Tongson (2018) cited the
complexities of their situation in relation to poverty, deprivation, violence
against women (VAW), and intersectionality, which are largely absent in
Western studies on the sandwich generation.

While the National Economic and Development Authority

(NEDA) in 2011 recognized that “women face multiple and intersecting
forms of discrimination such as women in poverty, women with disabilities,
indigenous and Muslim women, women living in geographically
inaccessible areas, and lesbian, bisexual and transgender women” (p. 164),
it is silent about the wellbeing of and social protection for women in the
sandwich generation.

The Social Development Committee of the NEDA defines social

protection as:

policies and programs that seek to reduce poverty and

vulnerability to risks and enhance the social status and rights
of the marginalized by promoting and protecting livelihood
and employment, protecting against hazards and sudden loss
of income, and improving people’s capacity to manage risks.
(SDC Resolution No.1, 2007)

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

On the other hand, wellbeing integrates various aspects of daily

living—social, physical, emotional, and economic—resulting in affirmative
outcomes expressed in how people think and feel about themselves and
their lives. With this premise, understanding wellbeing is hinged on the
recognition of its experiential dimensions translated into good living
conditions, good relationship qualities, realization of their potentials, and
overall satisfaction with life (Anand, 2016; Devereux & McGregor, 2014).
Earlier, McGregor and Summer (2010) argued that the aspiration to attain
wellbeing is anchored on the recognition that wellbeing is related to our
understanding of poverty as multi-dimensional. Hence, the attainment of
wellbeing must take into consideration complementary achievements in
terms of material, relational, and subjective dimensions.

Unpaid care is both an issue of women and a development concern.

The sandwich generation must be understood and analyzed in the context
of the under-fulfillment of women’s rights, lack of social protection, and
the impacts of gender division of labor on their wellbeing (Tongson, 2018).

Urban poverty and women in the sandwich generation

All of these make the call more urgent to recognize the needs and
interests of women in the sandwich generation especially those living in
urban areas where economic, social, political, and institutional gaps and
disparities are more visible compared to rural areas. As poverty takes an
urban character, the urban poor especially women suffer heavily from
structural poverty, which makes them more vulnerable to uneven economic
and social development processes, marginalization, abuses and violence
(Mathur, 2014; Brillantes, 1993; Holmes & Jones, 2013; Tacoli, 2012). In
reality, many Filipino women do not have the resources and influence to
access quality social services and social protection for themselves and their
families (Holmes & Jones, 2013; Ofreneo, 2005; Tongson, 2018).

This article highlights the women’s stories found in the author’s

earlier dissertation. It tackles how the unique position of women in the
sandwich generation in the National Capital Region (NCR) has contributed
to or restricted their growth and potential as women. It also recognizes
that unpaid care work of Filipino women in the sandwich generation is
exacerbated by insufficient social protection and inadequate social services.
As one of the initial attempts to understand the consequences of unpaid
care performed by low-income urban women in sandwich generation
households, the study endeavors to conceptually reframe their issues using
gender and development perspectives.

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Framing gender inequalities

Kabeer’s Social Relations Approach (SRA) aims to analyze gender

inequalities in relation to the allocation of resources, responsibilities, and
power as well as the relationships between people, their relationships to
resources and activities, and how they are negotiated and altered through
the four key institutional sites—state, market, community, and family or
kinship (Kabeer, 1994; Kabeer & Subramanian, 1996).

Gender, class, race, and ethnicity are within the realm of social
relations. They do not operate on their own “but are products of ways in
which institutions are organized and reconstituted over time” (Kabeer &
Subramanian, 1996, p. 25). While institutions influence and reinforce each
other, social relations are not permanent as changes in a key institution
can bring about modifications in the control over resources and positions.
Kabeer (1994) noted that examining a particular institution would reveal
the contours and processes of gender and class inequalities shaped by the
interplay of the five interrelated dimensions (rules, resources, activities,
people, and power) present in each institution. These dimensions are
critical elements in the analysis of gender and class disparities.

Guided by the SRA, the study hopes to obtain a richer understanding

of how social differences and inequalities in roles, responsibilities, claims,
and power are produced and reproduced in multi-generation households
exposing gendered beliefs about unpaid care of women in the sandwich
generation as well as their particular vulnerabilities and sufferings that
limit their choices and freedom. Working from an appreciation of the
complexity of unequal social relations, SRA’s analysis looks beyond the
household or family level. By bringing in the community, the market, and
the state, the study captures the complexity of gender-power relations, the
gendered nature of institutions, and the interaction between policies and
practices related to unpaid care at different institutional sites.

Understanding the plight of women in the sandwich generation

also requires unveiling where gender, class, age, and other identities
overlap in their everyday life. This also demands unmasking where
various sources of power and exclusion originate and intersect. Including
intersectionality in the framework of the study on women in the sandwich
generation “highlights the need to account for multiple grounds of identity
when considering how the social world is constructed” (Crenshaw, 1991,
p. 124 ). As a critical feminist tool for uncovering the invisible in women’s
diverse experiences, intersectionality is a lens through which unpaid care

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

of women in the sandwich generation could be thoroughly examined.

Combining SRA with intersectionality provides a perspective that

views unpaid care primarily in terms of gender inequality and social control
of women in the sandwich generation. Within the dominant institutional
arrangements, social power creates the stereotypical images of women as
care providers. By using SRA and intersectionality, the study argues for
the need to restructure the fragmented view of Philippine society towards
unpaid care of women in the sandwich generation. Based on their specific
and unique situation and needs, more responsive policies and programs
can be crafted to ensure adequate social protection and the attainment of
wellbeing of women in the sandwich generation.

Research Methodology

The study is guided by the principles of feminist standpoint

epistemology, which claims that those who are immersed in the situation
have the epistemic privilege to talk about their multiple realities and
contribute to knowledge generation (Brooks, 2014; Guerrero, 2002; Harding,
1987). By documenting the experiences of low-income urban women in
the sandwich generation, the hidden layers of their unrecognized issues
begin to unfold. Feminist standpoint epistemology provides spaces for
grounded knowledge generation that can spur heightened consciousness
and empowered women (Barrameda, 2012; Brooks, 2014; Guerrero, 2002;
Verceles, 2014).

For the case studies, seven low-income women in the sandwich

generation were included—ages 30 to 59 years old, residing in Quezon City,
and with a monthly family income of PhP 31, 650.00 and below (as suggested
by Albert, Gaspar, & Raymundo, 2015). To provide diverse perspectives in
terms of gender and class, the study looked into the experiences of a Person
With Disability (PWD), a member of the LGBTQ sector, and a solo parent.
All participants in the case study were interviewed in person according to
the time and venue they had specified.

Quezon City was deemed to be a fertile ground to conduct the

seven case studies. With 2.94 million residents, it has the largest population
among the 16 Highly Urbanized Cities in the National Capital Region. Five
of the most populous barangays in the NCR are found here (PSA, 2016).
While it is considered one of the richest cities in the country in terms of
income with the comforts of modern living and posh subdivisions, many
barangays in the city are considered the poorest of the poor by the National
Anti-Poverty Commission.
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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Feminist Ethics

As a feminist research, the study adhered to the non-hierarchical

relationship between the participants and the researcher, who remained
sensitive to their needs and cues. The participants knew that they could ask
questions and withdraw their participation in the research. Their written
permission was obtained for a series of recorded interviews. While their
names have been changed in order to protect their identities, the actual
circumstances, places, and events adhere to the truthfulness of their lived
realities.

Case write-ups (in Filipino) were shown to each participant during

story validation. As the owners of the story, they were free to edit or revise
the write-up as appropriate. Even after the data collection was completed,
contact through text messages and occasional home visits was maintained.

Research findings

1. Profile of the women-participants

All of the women who participated in the study are residents of

Quezon City. Three participants (Betty, Malen, and Melba) have secure
tenure of housing, three are informal settlers (Melinda, Emily, and Athena),
and Daisy is renting. As the primary providers, Emily and Daisy consider
themselves household heads. The rest regard their husbands as household
heads because of the notion that it is a man’s role.

Three participants are in their mid-50s, two are in their mid-40s,

one is in her late 40s, and one is in her early 30s. The mean age is 46 years.
Betty, Malen, and Daisy are married. Emily is widowed, Melba
is separated, and Melinda is a common-law wife. Betty is the only PWD
among the participants. Athena, the only single among them, and the only
LGBT. Athena, Emily, and Melba are solo parents.

Betty, Melba, and Daisy have college degrees while Melinda and
Malen are high school graduates. Emily and Athena have reached second
year college and third year high school, respectively. The mean number of
years for their schooling is 12 years.

2. Hearing the Voices of Women: Experiences with Unpaid Care

The discourse on unpaid care of women in the sandwich generation

must be informed of the women’s own narratives. Care work entails specific
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

skills and knowledge, mostly done by women in different settings and stages
of daily living. Often, care work remains unrecognized and uncontested.
This is especially true among women in the sandwich generation. For the
study participants, their particular vulnerabilities as care providers became
the focus of inquiry.

Patriarchal structure and the traditional mold

The burden of unpaid care work falls squarely on these women’s

shoulders for the sheer belief that it is the natural and the biological function
of women to become the primary providers of care for their families.
Statements like “we are women,” “it is really for women,” and “for women
only” provide evidence to this claim. Malen’s statements, “men do not have
the patience for caring duties” and Betty’s account, “your husband will
only take a bath and get dressed,” are clear indications of the hierarchical
structure where men cannot do more around the house. This same belief
convinced them that nobody except them could take the responsibility of
looking after the older persons in the family.

Except for Athena, who is single, all of the participants followed

the traditional mold of moving into their husbands’ or partners’ homes
when they decided to start a family. Take a look at Betty’s sharing.

My husband is an only child. When we got married, we stayed at

my in-laws’ house for eight years…We did not have a choice…When
Mother died, Father no longer had another family. You see, when your
husband is an only child, you have to go with him. There is no choice
even if you do not want to. - Case 5 – Betty

Growing up in the midst of sexual stereotyping is very much

evident in the answers of the participants. For example, Emily explained
that her son’s negative attitude towards household chores was acquired
from seeing his late father not doing them. Washing his own clothes and
occasionally taking his sister with disability to school are the only tasks
he is willing to do. As the only male in the family, he is not required to
have his share of cleaning, cooking meals, and washing the dishes as these
are believed to be for his sisters only. With Emily’s tolerance and different
treatment for her son, her daughters have also completely accepted that
their only brother is spared from household chores simply because he is a
male, “lalaki kasi.”

The same scenario and beliefs are also present in Melinda’s

household, where men are free to do whatever pleases them, like playing

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

basketball and hanging around with friends at any time of the day. Their
primary and only responsibility for the family is to earn a living that
entitles them to spending a longer time for recreation. Her family prepared
Melinda for her future role as wife and mother by teaching her all the
household chores. She shared:

Girls are taught how to cook and wash clothes, and clean the house.
What a shame it would be if you go and live in another house and you
do not know how to do household chores. You need to learn how to
clean, cook so that you would not be ashamed. For example, you get
married. What a shame if your husband would be the one to do the
laundry, do the household chores. You are the woman. You have to
take care of the house. – Case 1 - Melinda

While Malen agrees that some men have the ability and are willing
to render care work, she believes that women are more forbearing because
it is natural for them to do so. She explained:

It is because we are women. Come to think of it, men can also do

what we do…but they lack the patience. They cannot be patient. Even
if I were tired, I would still do what needs to be done. – Case 3 -
Malen

Because of the preconceived notions regarding how girls and boys

should behave, Athena’s family resented that she did not conform with the
heteronormative culture. To keep away from her lesbian friends in high
school, whom her family considered a bad influence, she stopped schooling.
She grew up hearing that lesbians and gays are sinners and will be punished
with eternal damnation. Belonging to a closely-knit family and with much
coaxing from her mother, sister, and religious advisers, Athena denounced
being a lesbian. Then she started dating a man who became the father of
her daughter. Despite calling her “disgrasyada” (a derogatory term assigned
to unmarried pregnant women), her family considered her pregnancy a
blessing in disguise necessary for her reformation. To consummate her
transformation and to ensure that she would be a “true woman” and a good
mother, her family kept her at home and assigned her to take care of their
sickly elderly parents and to take care of her only daughter full time. The
link between her religion and sexuality became more apparent when she
shared, “if I belonged to another religion or sect, perhaps I would still be a
lesbian.” Despite wearing a heterosexual front, she admitted that she is still
attracted to women with angelic faces.

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24 hours daily: the intensity of familial and employment responsibilities

The narratives of women in the sandwich generation provide

temporal accounts of when and how they perform economic activity and
domestic work on a daily basis, showing how they bear intense familial and
employment responsibilities. Compared to other members of the family,
an analysis of their typical day reveals how they disproportionately bear
the burden of unpaid care work. While both male and female children and
older adults perform household chores, the data show that daughters and
other female family members are given the bigger share of responsibilities
at home. Husbands or male partners render very limited unpaid care work
and usually only those that they like to do during their free time. While the
males have their share of domestic work while the women are away, the
responsibility immediately falls back on the latter once they arrive at home.

During weekdays and depending on whether they have full day

employment or part time employment, the women spend almost the whole
day running their households and earning a living. While all of them are
able to sleep for an average of six hours a day, they have only a small
fraction of time for grooming, eating, and recreating or relaxing. During
weekends, they devote the whole day to doing the laundry, general house
cleaning, and ironing clothes and marketing.

For those with full-day employment, Emily, Malen, Betty, Melba,

and Daisy devote between eight to 12 hours to productive work during
weekdays.

Emily works from Monday to Saturday as a cashier in a small eatery,

which serves affordable and hot meals where she is paid Php 6,000.00 . On
the other hand, Malen, is a stay-out domestic worker in an exclusive village
and takes her day off every Thursday and Sunday. Both women receive
13th month pay every December. However, Emily is not provided with
social security and PhilHealth. While Malen’s employer pays her monthly
contribution to the Social Security System, the amount is lower than what
is required.

Betty is a government employee with a permanent position,

who supervises PWDs in disinfecting plane headsets for a large airline
company. She works from Monday to Saturday and often goes home late to
meet the deadline. Meanwhile, Daisy works as an administrative staff with
a permanent position at the Human Resource and Development Section of
a huge government office and earns PhP 18,000.00. In contrast, Malen is a
government employee categorized as “Job Order” with no chances of being
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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

given a permanent position. While Betty and Daisy receive all the benefits
specified in the law, Malen does not have any.

Even at work, these women never stopped attending to their multi-

generation households. Betty purchased two units of wireless landline so
she could check on her visually-impaired stepfather-in-law, or he could
call her up whenever he needs something. Malen and Melba are able to
take their children to their respective workplaces if no one else is available
to care for them at home, but they are concerned about how the children’s
presence would affect their daily output. Daisy, on the other hand, goes
home for lunch to check on her mother.

As women who have part-time employment, Melinda and

Athena spend around nine hours a day for reproductive work. In terms
of productive work, Melinda, a laundrywoman, spends four and a half
hours every Tuesday only for work for which she receives Php 500.00.
Meanwhile, Athena spends four and half hours, seven days a week to take
care of her neighbor’s three dogs. She earns PhP250.00 a week for her
services. They do not receive any social security, health insurance or any
other benefits from their employees. The two women allot around six and
a half to eight hours a day for sleeping and one hour each for recreation
and self-care.

Behind these women’s use of time, their accounts of unpaid

care divulged their ability to perform several tasks simultaneously like
cooking and cleaning the house, doing the laundry while waiting for the
water container to be filled, supervising both the older and the younger
generations, and providing instructions to school-aged children while
getting dressed for work, among others.

3. Compounding burdens and sufferings as contributors to vulnerabilities

All these women in the sandwich generation who participated

in the study reported experiencing a host of interrelated burdens and
sufferings brought on by their exhausting daily schedules, thus wearing
them out. While it is necessary to identify the physical, emotional, mental,
and financial challenges they face, it is equally important to recognize that
each burden contributes to other burdens.

Living on a measly income

With an average family size of six and low salaries, the participants
are constantly subjected to financial difficulties. With the exception of Betty
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and Daisy, the participants have insecure employment thus forcing them to
accept low-paying jobs that have pushed them further into poverty, abuse,
and exploitation. The low regard of Athena’s employer for her services
of feeding his pets and cleaning their filthy cages is an indication of her
miserable and desperate status. Meanwhile, Melba complained that age
discrimination is commonly practiced in the private sector. In her mid-
40s, she did not have much choice but to accept a job offer with no chances
for permanency and with a no-work-no-pay policy. These women have
very little or no benefits and privileges, such as sick and vacation leaves
with pay, social security, health insurance, and retirement package from
their employers. Seeing the importance of preparing for old age, Melba
shoulders her monthly social security and PhilHealth contributions, while
Betty pays for a funeral plan monthly.

Although members of their families contribute to the weekly

budget, not all of them give consistently because work is irregular and
most of them are affected by the End of Contract Policy or “endo.” Except
for Betty whose husband has regular employment, these women are always
burdened about where to get money or the need to skip meals or tighten
their belts even more.

Considered the poorest among the seven participants, it is not

difficult see that the incomes of Melinda, Athena, and Emily are not enough
for their daily needs. Subjected to constant economic hardships due to low
academic achievement, these three women repeatedly mentioned issues
about food, “I have experienced not having food for lunch. I think I do
not get fat because I am attending to many things, I feed them, I am also
looking after a child.” Meanwhile, Athena shared, “It’s okay for me to skip
meals for as long as my daughter has something to eat.”

With their unsecured employment, they lack access to affordable

housing loans and formal lending thereby aggravating their abject
condition. Athena’s and Emily’s desires of putting up their own businesses
such as a small variety store or a carinderia through a loan will be difficult
due to their irregular employment status.

Physical burden from beginning to end

With a host of tasks to accomplish during the day, the

participants experienced physical sufferings such as changes in appetite
and stomachache, dizziness, lack of sleep, muscle tension and pain, and
shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. To quote:

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Sometimes, I have no appetite because I am tired. –Case 4- Athena

There are some days when I’m already too tired and I suddenly
stand up, I feel dizzy. – Case 1 Melinda

I want to sleep, but I have to look after them, especially when my

father is in the province. I have to look after my mother, plus my
children. – Case 6- Melba

Sometimes my body aches. When this happens, I take a rest even

for just a day. Relax. When I have already taken my medicines for
muscle pain, it goes away. – Case 3- Malen

All participants reported that doing the laundry is the most

tedious task because it requires several steps to accomplish. Cooking is
the most mentally demanding because it needs constant thinking about
what the family should eat on a daily basis. It becomes more burdensome
when the budget for marketing is very limited.

Among the participants, Melinda, Emily, and Athena are the only
ones who wash their clothes by hand, which threatens their wellbeing. As
Melinda narrated:

We don’t have a washing machine; I just use my hands to wash our

clothes. A washing machine would only add to our electricity bills. I
spend four hours scrubbing the clothes. Plus, water has to be fetched.
When I am tired, I have a hard time breathing. When I am doing a
lot of things, I forget to eat. I just want to finish the chores right away.
Case 1 – Melinda

Rendering unpaid care work and engaging in economic activities

can put the women in the sandwich generation at a disadvantage, as an
outcome of a lack of infrastructure, facilities, and equipment at various
levels. With the absence of household appliances or the inability to pay for
the things that make them work like electricity and water, Melinda, Emily,
and Athena consume a lot of time in doing chores manually, resulting in
their having less time for attending to personal needs and interests.

Being informal settlers, Emily and Athena do not have a metered

water source that provides them with easily accessible, clean, and
affordable water. “Nakiki-hose” or using a neighbor’s water hose is their way
of collecting water daily. To have some form of control, the meter owners
specify only a certain period during the day when their faucets would
be turned on and intentionally lower the water pressure. Hence, Athena

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spends three hours daily filling up one huge drum and two five-liter bottles
for drinking at a cost of PhP250.00 a week. Emily pays PhP500.00 a month
for access to her neighbor’s irregular and illegal water service. In the long
run, this manner of collecting water strains their budget and endangers
their health as the water hose tends to get dirty or may have holes where
harmful organisms could enter.

Mental health concerns

All the participants are not only confronted with economic and
physical burdens. They constantly experience mental burdens, which
are largely hidden and unrecognized. Their narratives revealed that
they constantly take note of every single thing that their families and
employment require, “I should not forget anything,” “At night, I think what
I need to do the following day,” and “I am thinking of a lot of things.” Melba
uses her lunch break to plan the weekly menu and write her market list, or
ensure that her children are not bothering her co-workers when they are
in her office. Even in the middle of a meeting and work-related activities,
Betty excuses herself to regularly check on her visually impaired stepfather-
in-law using her personal wireless landline. Malen has to lead her family
in doing household chores, otherwise nothing will be accomplished. Daisy
has to create a mental map of everything she has to do in order to meet her
office deadlines. Emily has to think of what to cook for dinner while riding
the jeepney on her way home.

Because of their insufficient income, all participants reported

being stressed about money matters. Melinda, Emily, Athena, and Daisy
are the ones most affected by financial concerns, which literally gives them
a headache. Daisy said, “I have headaches looking for money.” Melinda
shared: “Perhaps, if this happened to another family, they would go nuts
thinking about where to get their next meal. If I would not do anything, we
will not be able to eat.” These women have to scour for money even from
loan sharks to meet the most basic needs of their huge extended family.

As a mother of two daughters with disability, Emily agonizes

tremendously over the future of her children. Thinking about who will
take care of them in the future causes her mental stress.

Extreme and mixed emotions

Apart from mental burdens, the reality of life within the families
of these women is often a paradoxical mixture of love, compassion, and

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

support fused with hostility, domination, and to some extent cruelty and
abuse. The narratives of Melinda, Emily, Athena, Betty, and Daisy provided
glimpses of their love-hate relationships in the family. Emily and Betty
experience emotional anguish whenever their children and their in-laws
clash because of seemingly irreconcilable needs and interests. Caught in
the middle of two conflicting views, they are obligated to mediate and
sometimes take sides.

It pains Athena knowing that she is not her parents’ favorite

because of her sexual orientation. She noted that this is manifested when
the responsibility of taking care of her sister’s son by another man was
given to her, so that her sister could marry and start a new family. This
placed her in the sandwich generation even before her own daughter was
born. But when she gave birth, no one among her relatives helped her in
caring for her daughter so that she could find a job.

Emily’s accounts contain mentions of harsh treatment by her

late partner’s relatives, especially her mother-in-law who lives with her.
This became more obvious with her partner’s passing that resulted in
her becoming more vulnerable to verbal and psychological abuse. Her
status as a solo parent and a widow forced her to make choices that have
an enduring impact on her wellbeing. Saddled with enormous mental,
economic, emotional, and physical burdens to support her mother-in-
law and two children with disability, and the pressure of dealing with her
partner’s relatives, she lamented how overextended and unappreciated she
is. Overwhelmed with emotions, she sometimes cries as a form of release.

The lived experiences of women in the sandwich generation show

that caring for multi-generation households creates an immense impact
on their wellbeing as they undergo a myriad of sufferings, which are
magnified by a lack of infrastructure, facilities, and equipment at various
levels of society. In the community and in the workplace, the absence of
day care centers for children and older adults has restricted the mobility
of these women to a great extent. Athena, for example, has not been able
to participate in the labor market because of her caring responsibilities
to her parents and only daughter. She has to rely financially on her older
sister and, hence, accepted the offer as a caretaker of dogs. As a result, she
is compelled to follow her sister’s every wish and request, and endure her
family’s verbal abuse and innuendos about gays and lesbians. In the case
of Emily, the lack of facilities and insufficient state support for PWDs and
their families have caused her two daughters to often skip classes, thus
increasing their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation.

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These women’s narratives indicated their resourcefulness,

forbearance, and resiliency. Behind their heroic acts of caring for their
families and communities, they tend to forego things that they need or want
for themselves as they always think that other things are more important,
so their own wants can be shelved for future reference. In the process of
sorting out what is more important or less important, they forget their
personal interests and needs.

While caring for family members is good, it is necessary that

women in the sandwich generation recognize that they too need care and
attention.

Analysis: Gendered perspectives of unpaid care

Gendered vulnerability is an outcome of deeply ingrained patterns

of sexual inequality and discrimination (Connelly et al, 2000; Kabeer,
1994; Reeves & Baden, 2000). An analysis of the ways institutions govern
and interact informs why women in the sandwich generation experience
oppression and discrimination at all levels—household, community,
market, and the state. SRA posits that institutions are not ideologically
neutral, nor are they separate from each other. While the movement in one
institutional setting results in a domino effect, other institutional contexts
may reflect different gender policies. These are shaped by the extent to
which they accept and respond to gender issues. Hence, it is necessary to
understand that women’s subordinated status is largely shaped by a social
system in which their position is defined primarily by the family as an
institution that promotes private enterprise and protects private property.
As a result, the means and organization of production in society has
changed dramatically. The rise of patriarchy and male dominance within
the family and the reorganization of the community and the market into an
unequal and hierarchical division of labor have weakened the position of
women in both private and public spheres. Consequently, the state follows
the separation of men and women (Eviota, 1995; Guerrero, 1999).

Intersectionality also facilitates the understanding of why women

in general and women in the sandwich generation in particular have become
vulnerable to poverty, sufferings, abuse, and discrimination. Cultural
patterns are not only interrelated but are bound together and influenced by
intersectional systems of society (Crenshaw, 1989; Davis, 2008).

Taking into consideration the identity markers that women in

the sandwich generation possess—such as being a household head, a solo

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

parent, an LGBT, a PWD, or a widow—provides the lens for examining

how identities are related to each other. The type of employment, tenure
of housing, educational attainment, and socio-economic status are also
regarded as contributing to their vulnerabilities and sufferings.

Poor women like Melinda, Emily, and Athena, who are also
informal settlers and engaged in insecure jobs, have experiences of unpaid
care work that is different from women like Betty and Daisy who are in
permanent government employment with privileges and benefits.

Betty’s narratives as a PWD, Athena’s as a lesbian and being in

the informal economy, and Emily’s, Athena’s, and Melba’s as solo parents
provided visibility not only of their marginalized status but the multiple
positions they carry in everyday life, as well as the power relations in the
long and arduous road towards their recognition as unique sectors of
society.

The discourse of unpaid care in multi-generation households

offers a discernable loci of gender, class, age, and geographical location. The
union among several loci is responsible for their burdens and sufferings as
well as their particular vulnerabilities that characterized their lives and how
they render unpaid care (Crenshaw, 1989; 1991). Taking into consideration
their intersectional identities put forward that Betty is not only a PWD
but a low-income PWD urban woman in the sandwich generation. In the
same manner, Athena is a low-income urban LGBT and a solo parent in
the sandwich generation while Daisy is a low-income urban woman in the
generation in the formal economy. Understanding intersectionality among
women in the sandwich generation underscores that their particular
vulnerabilities are not accidental or secondary. Hence, their situations are
too dissimilar to be condensed into a single point of view.

Being a PWD, a solo parent, kasambahay, or other identities, the

diverse voices of women in the sandwich generation must be considered.
Their unique familial position in an extended family highlights that they are
a distinct group of women. They are different from other women of the same
intersectional identities simply because they directly deal simultaneously
with the older and the younger generations with distinct needs and
interest. With this scenario, these women become even more vulnerable to
abuse in a sense that they carry a heavier burden by providing unpaid care
twice compared to other women. It bears noting that while many women
belong to extended families like they do, they are not considered primary
caregivers of the older and the younger generations. In the same breath,

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while many women provide unpaid care they are not considered women in
the sandwich generation. According to Chopra, Kelbert, and Iyer (2013),
women who are providing unpaid care are more vulnerable to poverty
and hunger, which emphasizes their deplorable status in the family and
in society. The poorest women in this study constantly skip meals in their
desire to put the interests of their families before themselves. In the case of
Athena and Melinda, poverty has permeated every inch of their being.

The confluence of their identities acts as a harmonizing approach

towards social protection and wellbeing of women in the sandwich
generation. However, their state of affairs will remain bleak if their plight
and concerns remain absent in care work discourse in the Philippines.
The union of these identities dictates how the network of relationships
among families, individuals, and institutions are fashioned (Kabeer, 1994;
Kabeer & Subramanian, 1996). This particular intersection results in an
overarching pattern responsible for the construction of their social realties
experienced in multiple and overlapping locations (Crenshaw, 1989),
which were not present in earlier studies about women in the sandwich
generation in industrialized nations (Tongson, 2018).

The lack of a local term, and the apparent surprise or amusement of

many individuals, including the participants in this study upon hearing the
term sandwich generation for the first time, is indicative of its invisibility in
many ways. This also explains that while the initiative toward gender justice
and gender equality has attained unprecedented gains for the Philippines
in the last decade through favorable and programmatic policy initiatives
(Economic Forum, 2016) and the passing of the Magna Carta of Women,
the existence of women in the sandwich generation and their valuable
contributions have not reached even the consciousness and imagination
of many policymakers and development workers. The low regard for these
women’s unpaid care has resulted in them being denied access to social
services and sufficient social protection, which in turn contributed to their
lack of representation and participation in various community activities.

In examining the barriers to wellbeing and social protection of

women in the sandwich generation, it is crucial to dig below the surface of
culturally ascribed roles to identify their fundamental cultural assumptions
about caring and lay bare women’s strategic gender interests (Kabeer, 1994).
By doing so, patterns are revealed indicating not only practical gender
needs within the context of caring in poor urban extended families but also
strategic gender interests necessary to empower women in the sandwich
generation.
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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Claiming social protection and attaining wellbeing are about

demanding adequate care for ALL family members at different stages
of the human development from prenatal to old age, and for women in
the sandwich generation not to be exploited when providing care. The
links of wellbeing and social protection have been well documented as a
focus of how development could possibly affect of people more positively.
There are various ways to design policies and programs in order for care
to be recognized, reduced, and equitably distributed making governments
accountable for their implementation (Anand, 2016; Devereux & McGregor,
2014; Eyben, 2013; Karimli, et al, 2016; UNRISD, 2016).

Advocacy efforts must focus on men and women, boys and girls,
young and older family members for them to contribute to equitable caring
responsibilities in the family and in the community. Social protection and
other public and private sector interventions must be coordinated not only
towards entitlements such as direct transfers of material resources, safety
nets, and social security through national level social insurance and social
assistance programs, but also towards a gender transformative approach
that curbs suffering and abuse for all women in the sandwich generation.
By legitimizing these claims, the acknowledgment of the relationship of
these women with the state, market, and others in their communities
accentuates the profound aspiration of attaining wellbeing and advancing
their rights (Devereux & McGregor, 2014; UN General Assembly, 2009;
UNRISD, 2016).

More specifically, recognizing the situation of women in the

sandwich generation—as a major junction of class, gender, age, and other
identities is related to the adoption the SDGs, the Philippine Government
is even more bound to putting in place “social protection systems and measures
for all, including floor, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and
the vulnerable” (SDG 1.3). It must follow the prescribed social security
guarantees under the Social Protection Floor Recommendation, 2012
of the ILO, also known as R202. In the East and Southeast Asia and the
Pacific, ILO Member States agreed to work on “nationally defined social
protection floor” for all residents and to create “higher levels of social
security benefits” (ILO, 2013, p. 17). These are necessary steps in stemming
the tide and reversing the longstanding exclusion and invisibility of women
in the sandwich and increase their and their households’ ability to combat
lifecycle risks especially those brought about by economic, political, and
natural disasters.

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Recommendations

While the study contributes to the initial understanding of women

in the sandwich generation, how far this is specific to other parts of the
country is ambiguous. With the small sample size of seven women, further
studies should be organized that employ more participants in other urban
areas as well as in rural areas with focus on their needs and interest and
time- use. Men in the sandwich generation and being in the sandwich
generation on the basis of SOGIESC await future research. Likewise, the
search for an appropriate local term for the sandwich generation should be
conducted.

Efforts should be geared towards the inclusion of unpaid care

work of women in the sandwich generation in the System of National
Accounts. Finding ways on how to determine its economic value of caring
simultaneously for the older and the younger generation is the first step
with the end in view of efficiently delivering the most basic social services
and a suitable social protection program and facilities for them and their
families as claiming social protection and attaining wellbeing are about
demanding adequate care for family members at different stages of the life
cycle.
Development of legislative and development frameworks and
strategies covering women in the sandwich generation should move
towards democratizing unpaid care work at all levels of society—household,
community, market, and the state. Crafting and implementing social
protection policies and programs for them requires sustained and organized
multi-sectoral partnerships bringing in the voices of women in the sandwich
generation, development workers, feminists, demographers, human rights
advocates, and primary government counterparts (bothnational and local),
employers, and civil society, to ensure a comprehensive and participatory
policy making, and program planning, implantation, monitoring, and
evaluation.

These recommendations will be possible with the articulation of

financing strategies necessary for a wide range of social protection schemes
for women in the sandwich generation. A deliberate effort to channel public
spending at the local and national levels should be done.

Notes:
The original Filipino narratives were translated into English for better presentation.
This article is based on the author’s dissertation entitled Potentials and Possibilities
for Caring about Caring: The Voices of Low-Income Urban Women in the Sandwich
Generation, for the degree on Doctor of Social Development, College of Social

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Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation: Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing

Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Diliman,

submitted in January 2019.

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged

Leadership for Health and Development

Meredith del Pilar-Labarda, M.D., DSD

Given the importance of health leadership and community participation in

improving and sustaining health outcomes, it is important that the leadership
processes that work to improve health systems through genuine community
participation and empowerment be surfaced, described, and analyzed. In this
context, this study investigated the relationship between health leadership and
people’s participation within the municipal health systems of selected municipalities
in the Eastern Visayas Region, Philippines. It analyzed the underlying processes of
this relationship and its impact on health outcomes.

The study used a mixed methods approach with primary data collected from
workshop participants and local organizations in the enrolled communities in a
12-month period between 2017-2018. Key informant interviews (KIIs) and Focus
Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with mayors, municipal health officers,
barangay leaders, and barangay health workers (BHWs).

Results showed that local leadership and governance is significantly positively

correlated with the other five building blocks of the health system namely human
resources for health, health financing, access to medicines and technology, health
information systems, and health service delivery. The practice of dialogue, multi-
stakeholder engagement, systems and complexity thinking, and prototyping all yield
positive health governance outcomes. The Bridging Leadership framework provided
a scaffolding for an ethical leadership to bridge the gap between the powerful and
powerless in society.

Key words: health and development, local health system, leadership and
governance

Introduction

Advancing the rights and welfare of the marginalized in a rapidly

changing society is a complex endeavor. While human wellbeing has been

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linked to economic growth, there is increasing evidence that economic

expansion has not led to equitable development and the global disparity
between the socioeconomic classes has widened (Herrmann, 2014; Walby,
2018). It is asserted that the resurgent populist politics is a manifestation
of popular discontent and protest against the impact of globalizing forces
that leaves many communities and peoples behind in the midst of rapid
economic growth (Luiz, 2014). The need to reconceptualize development
that puts people and planet at the forefront have shifted efforts to human
health and wellbeing as key in achieving real development (Cabeza-García
et al., 2018; Eckermann, 2018; Kickbusch, 2014; Schuchter & Jutte, 2014).
Sen (1999) argues that development is a process of expanding the real
freedoms that people enjoy and that this process of expansion is both the
primary end and the principal means of development. People’s health and
wellbeing grounds this process (Ruger, 2004) and highlights the importance
of bringing forth an equitable and responsive health system to ensure health
for everyone.

Building blocks of an equitable health system

But what makes up an equitable health system that is responsive to

the needs of the people? The World Health Organization (WHO) defined
health systems as all organizations, people, and actions whose primary
intent is to promote, restore, and maintain health (WHO, 2007). This
system, composed of interconnected parts, is characterized by complex
relationships, power structures, and social determinants affecting health
outcomes of populations. Transforming health systems can be an intractable
endeavor, since they are comparable to a “living organism” in which the
relationship between the parts generates behaviors and outcomes that are
messy, unpredictable, and always evolving (Auspos & Cabaj, 2014). In the
Philippines, the decentralization of the country’s health system was meant to
strengthen it. Instead, it resulted in system failure after devolution (Atienza,
2012; Cuevas et al., 2017). This highlighted leadership and governance
within the health system as crucial in making sure that people’s health is
promoted, restored, and maintained. The Health Systems Framework of
the World Health Organization (WHO, 2007) identifies six building blocks
of an equitable health system, namely: leadership and governance; health
financing; access to essential medical products, vaccines, and technologies;
health information; health workforce; and service delivery. Among these
six building blocks of health, it is leadership and governance that drives
all the other parts of the system. Thus, when there is good leadership and
governance, it can propel all the other building blocks so that the system
becomes responsive to the needs of the people and the community, and

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

health outcomes are improved (J. Mfutso-Bengo, Kalanga, & Mfutso-

Bengo, 2018).

Decentralization and impact on governance of local health systems

In the Philippines, local leadership and governance became

an essential component of the local health system in providing health
resources and service delivery to the communities after the devolution,
as mandated by Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local
Government Code of 1991. Health service delivery was managed by a
Local Health Board (LHB) at the municipal level. According to Section
102 of the said Republic Act:

Every municipality shall establish a Local Health

Board headed by the municipal mayor as chairman,
the municipal health officer as vice-chairman, and the
chairman of the committee on health of the Sangguniang
Bayan, a representative from the private sector or non-
governmental organizations involved in health services,
and a representative of the Department of Health in the
municipality, as members.
(RA 7160, 1991)

This new arrangement made the Local Chief Executive responsible
for the devolved health system in the municipality. This paved the way for
health providers and for the health system to come under the management
of non-health managers. In other words, in a devolved health setting,
leadership and governance in health does not only mean the Municipal
Health Officers (MHOs) at its helm but would also include the Local Chief
Executives and the local administrative system. This has major implications
when it comes to prioritization, planning, allocation of resources, and
implementation of action plans.

Over the years since the implementation of devolution, it has

long been debated if it was indeed the right thing to do. Almost 30 years
later, it is still being critiqued by many, especially those who are frontline
actors in the public health arena. Mitchell and Bossert (2010) present two
seemingly opposing perspectives and differing viewpoints on the use of
decentralization—that of the governance perspective and the health-
systems performance perspective. Their study showed how decentralization
affects the achievement of the country’s health systems goals, as taken from
the experiences of six countries namely Bolivia, Chile, India, Pakistan, the

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Philippines, and Uganda. Two thought-provoking questions were asked in

their paper—Are you doing the right thing? Are you doing the thing right?
The governance perspective on decentralization would generally argue that
decentralizing the health sector is the right thing to do as long as conditions
of good governance exist. The health performance perspective, on the other
hand, is not at all clear if it is indeed the “right thing” to do when applied
to many functions of service delivery regardless of whether or not it is
“done right” (Mitchell & Bossert, 2010). In the context of the Philippines,
evidence presented in their study showed that, after decentralization, health
governance scored medium to high on the exercise of local discretion
across key health functions. However, decentralization did not translate
to better health outcomes. Key indicators such as the increasing maternal
and infant mortality rate, and the increasing incidence of malnutrition
and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV prevailed in many
communities (Mitchell & Bossert, 2010). All of these happening amidst the
diaspora of health workers overseas, triggered by job dissatisfaction due to
overwork, under compensation, and “political helplessness” in a devolved
health setting (Labarda, 2011).

The Challenge of Leadership and Health Governance

Central to the issue of health governance is capacitating local

stakeholders to take over the responsibility of taking care of the health of
their population. How are Local Chief Executives being capacitated and
coached such that they understand the intricacies of the health system and
the complex health challenges that their communities face, in the light of
the devolution? How do they empower the communities to participate
in the planning, decision making, and implementation of relevant health
programs that would improve their health status and wellbeing? It was
in this context that the Department of Health (DOH) in collaboration
with a non-profit organization (Zuellig Family Foundation or ZFF),
partnered with 12 academic institutions all over the country to build the
leadership capacity of local health stakeholders. In 2013, the Municipal
Health Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP) started to train
mayors, municipal health officers, and local health boards in identified
communities with poor health system indices. Hoping to build a more
equitable health system, especially for the poor, it sought to improve
maternal and infant health outcomes at the municipal level by training
and coaching stakeholders using the “bridging leadership” framework.
Conceptualized as a development framework in the context of glaring
social inequities, the bridging leadership framework provides opportunities
and spaces for individuals to undergo a transformative process of self-

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

realization, owning and embracing issues, engaging other stakeholders and

directing them towards collective response to bridge the social divide and
create a more equitable community (Institute of Medicine, 2015). When
applied to the challenges of a devolved health sector, it sought to promote
collective action in addressing complex health issues together with other
stakeholders. Initially guided by a technical roadmap that is consistent
with the World Health Organization’s six building blocks of an equitable
and functioning health system, the multi-stakeholder approach and their
collective action co-creates new realities that transform and build a more
equitable health system. This health system approach aims to effectively
harness and mobilize health leadership towards creating policies, service
delivery mechanisms, competent health human resources, and a financing
environment that are all responsive to the health needs of the communities.

The first iteration of the leadership program focused on maternal

and child health and engaged 640 cities and municipalities, and 33 partner
provinces all over the country (ZFF, 2015). The second iteration of the
program was anchored on Primary Health Care as the health development
approach, with emphasis on health equity, universal access to care,
community participation, and inter-sectoral approaches to health (ZFF,
2017).

Research Problem

It is important to understand how health leadership and community

participation impact health system performance, especially in low resource
settings. This paper sought to describe and analyze the personal journey of
transformation among stakeholders of the bridging leadership program in
selected municipalities, and the emergent leadership processes that work
to improve health systems through genuine community participation and
empowerment.

Research Objectives

Specifically, this study aims to:

1. Describe the state of the local health systems in participating

municipalities in the Eastern Visayas region in terms of key health
indicators vis-à-vis the Primary Health Care Roadmap/scorecard;
2. Identify ways how local leadership creates spaces for people participation
in the health system;
3. Investigate how institutional arrangements and collaborative
mechanisms like dialogue provide opportunities for increasing
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community participation in the local health system.

1.5 Methodology

The study used a mixed methods approach with primary data

collected from workshop participants and local organizations in the enrolled
communities within a 12-month period between 2017-2018. Key Informant
Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted
with mayors, municipal health officers, and barangay leaders. FGDs were
also conducted with members of selected people’s organizations. Most of
the FGD data were collected during the actual conduct of the Municipal
Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP) workshops participated
in by municipal mayors and Municipal Health Officers (MHOs) from 19
MLGP municipalities in the Eastern Visayas region. The FGDs among
municipal mayors and MHOs were in the form of conversations between
and among the participants during the training, facilitated by the researcher
and other MLGP faculty. Further, to include the voices of other stakeholders
in the community, FGDs were also conducted among Barangay Health
Workers (BHWs) and selected organized people’s groups in the three
selected municipalities. Leadership and people participation constructs and
processes were gleaned primarily from the stories and narratives of both the
health leaders and community members taken from FGDs and KIIs.

The quantitative research approach was used to analyze the local

health system performance using the six building blocks of health in the
municipality’s Primary Health Care roadmap/scorecard. Data on key health
indicators of the 19 MLGP municipalities came from the Field Health
Information System (FHSIS) of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 8
Office.

Results and Discussions

Profile of Respondents

Region VIII MLGP Cycle 2 Participants

In the Eastern Visayas region (Region 8), 21 municipalities from the

different provinces initially enrolled in the program, but only 19 continued
up to the third and last module. Seven of these municipalities were from
Eastern Samar, five from West Samar, five from Leyte, one from Northern
Samar, and one from Biliran. A total of 38 mayors and Municipal Health
Officers (MHOs) from these 19 municipalities participated and completed
the module workshops.
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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

More than half (63%) of the participants were female. It can be

noted that among the mayor participants, majority were males (71%),
while among the MHO participants, the majority were females (63%). The
average age for the participants was 47 years old, and around the same
mean age for mayors (48 years old) and MHOs (46 years old). Majority of
the mayors (84%) and MHOs (90%) were married. More than half of the
mayors (58%) were college graduates, 37% had post-graduate education
and one (5%) was an elementary graduate. All (100%) of the MHOs on
the other hand, as required by professional regulations, were Doctor of
Medicine graduates and licensed Physicians (Tables 1 and 2).

In terms of length of service, most of the MHOs had already served

an average of 12 years, while most of the mayors (74%) were on their first
term as local chief executives. It can also be noted that majority of the
mayors (79%) had family members who were also part of local politics or
had served in the past as elected officials. Most of their family members
were either former mayors, vice-mayors, Sangguniang Bayan members, or
barangay captains. Further, among the nine female mayors, six were wives
and two were daughters of the immediate past mayors of their respective
municipalities (see Tables 1 and 2).

Organized Groups in Selected MLGP Municipalities

Some organized groups from three chosen MLGP municipalities

were also invited to participate in the Focus Group Discussions. Among
these were two groups of organized Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) from
two municipalities, farmers and their spouses in one farmers’ organization,
public tricycle drivers from one tricycle drivers’ association, and a group of
fishermen from an organized fishermen’s group.

Table 1
Profile of MLGP Mayors in Eastern Visayas
Mean Frequency Percentage
Age (in years) 48.0
Length of service (years) 3.0
Female 9 47%
Married 16 90%
At least high school education 18 95%
With relatives in politics 15 79%

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Table 2
Profile of MLGP Municipal Health Officers (MHOs) in Eastern Visayas Region
Mean Frequency Percentage
Age (in years) 46.0
Length of service (years) 12.00
Female 15 79%
Married 17 90%
At least high school education 19 100%
With relatives in politics 15 79%

The State of Local Health Systems of the MLGP Municipalities

Municipal Primary Health Care Roadmap/Scorecard

All the municipal PHC roadmaps or scorecards of these 19

municipalities from the region were monitored by the DOH through its
Development Management(?) Officers (DMOs) that were deployed in the
different municipalities. These municipal scorecards were collected over
a span of 12 months at three time points: (1) before the start of Module 1
(Time 1); (2) before the start of Module 2 (Time 2); and (3) before the start
of Module 3 (Time 3).

Trends in the Six Building Blocks during the Program Period

After undergoing two modules, the state of the six building

blocks of the local health system used in the municipal roadmap showed
significant improvements from their baseline levels. Figure 1 below shows
the upward trend of the scores for the various blocks from Time 1 (Pre-
Module 1) to Time 2 (Pre-Module 2) and Time 3 (Pre-Module 3).
40 Health Human Resource
35
Service Delivery
30

25
Health Information System
20

15 Health Financing
10 Leadership and Governance
5
Access to Medicines and Technology
0
Pre-Module 1 Pre-Module 2 Pre-Module 3

BRL BRF BRHR BRMT BRHI BRSD

Figure 1. Trends in the Six Building Blocks for Health Scores of MLGP Cycle
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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

Comparison of Primary Health Care Scorecards Before and After the Modules

To assess if the mean scores of each building block at Time 3 were

significantly different from the baseline data at Time 1, a statistical test us-
ing analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done. Results were in the expected
direction as shown in Table 3. Leadership and Governance scores at Time
3 were found to be significantly different from Time 1 at p < .001. All the
other five building blocks (Health Financing, Human Resources, Access
to Medicines and Technology, Health Information System, and Health
Service Delivery) at Time 3 were also significantly different from those in
Time 1 at p < .001.

These provided evidence that, among the participating

municipalities, the mean scores of each health system block showed a
significant difference before and after the leadership program, as measured
by the health scorecards. But can we attribute these changes to the MLGP
training itself? It would have been ideal to set up a group (with characteristics
similar to those of the MLGP cohort) that did not undergo the training to
serve as a control group (Morgan & Winship, 2015). Given the limitation
of the study design, we cannot infer causality in the relationship between
the training that the mayors and municipal health physicians underwent
and the outcomes in terms of the health system indicators in the primary
health care scorecards. However, the improvements among the various
health system indicators before and after the MLGP training are sufficiently
robust.

Table 3
Summary for Analysis of Variance of Health Building Blocks
Building Blocks for Health Df F η p***
Leadership 1 419.20 .52 .000
Finance 1 31.65 .48 .000
Human Resource 1 17.86 .34 .000
Medicines and Technology 1 16.37 .33 .000
Health Information 1 27.79 .45 .000
Service Delivery 1 20.15 .37 .000
***Significant at p < .001. Df = degrees of freedom. F = F statistic. η = eta.

Further, a closer look at the MLGP scorecards for all the

municipalities showed the Health Leadership and Governance block to
have the highest slope or rate of change at 2.6 compared to the other five
building blocks, when scores were computed from Pre-Module 1 to Pre-
Module 3 (see Table 4).
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Table 4
Rate of Change (Slope) of the 6 Building Blocks for Health Scores
Leader- Health Health Medi- Health Service
ship and Financing Human cines and Infor- Delivery
Gover- Resource Technol- mation
nance ogy System
Time 1 12 14.7 30.2 5.5 16.3 22.6
Time 2 15.1 16 32.8 6 18.1 25
Time 3 17.8 18.1 35.1 7 19.3 26.2
Slope 2.6 1.7 2.4 0.8 1.5 1.8

When the strength of one-to-one correlation of the six building

blocks was tested before Time 1 (T1), data showed that only the Leadership
and Governance building block was moderately correlated with the
Service Delivery block at T1 at p < 0.5. No other correlations from the
other building blocks were noted at T1 (see Table 5).

Furthermore, when the strength of correlation of the six building

blocks was tested after the two modules (T3), data from Table 5 show that
the Leadership and Governance building block was strongly correlated
with the Human Resources building block at p < 0.01. It was also noted
to be moderately correlated with the Access to Medicines and Technology
building block at p < 0.01 and the Health Information System building
block at p < 0.5. Data also showed that the Human Resources building
block at T3 was moderately correlated with the Access to Medicines and
Technology building block at p < 0.5. Lastly, the Access to Medicines and
Technology building block was noted to be weakly correlated with the
Service Delivery building block at T3 (see Table 5).

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

Table 5
Correlation Matrix of Various Building Blocks for Health System
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1. Leader- 12.5 2.04 -
ship_T1
2. Fi- 14.56 2.12 .38 -
nance_T1
3. Human 30.06 3.64 .46 .46 -
Resource_
T1
4. 5.39 1.14 .29 .20 .45 -
Medicines
Technol-
ogy_T1
5. Health 16.39 2.00 .22 .25 .29 .24 -
Informa-
tion_T1
6. Service 22.39 2.38 .55* .37 .47 .33 .08 -
Deliv-
ery_T1
7. Leader- 17.22 3.04 -.11 -.07 -.28 -.22 .14 .27 -
ship_T3
8. Fi- 18.11 1.64 -.11 -.04 -.35 -.18 -.17 .24 .41 -
nance_T3
9. Human 35.00 3.38 -.02 -.23 -.03 0 -.18 .34 .70** .44 -
Resource_
T3
10. 6.94 1.16 -.34 -.13 -.39 .11 -.14 .28 .66** .50* .57* -
Medicines
Technol-
ogy_T3
11. Health 19.28 1.18 -.04 .19 -.15 -.22 .30 .09 .50* .20 .13 .36 -
Informa-
tion_T3
12. Service 26.17 2.66 -.20 -.16 -.04 -.20 -.33 .39 .43 .09 .31 .48* .21
Deliv-
ery_T3
Note: Subscripts T1 and T3 refer to Time 1 and Time 3 respectively. * p < 0.5). **p < 0.01. ***p < .001.

Testing Association Between Leadership and Other Building Blocks

Among the six building blocks for health, it was the Leadership and
Governance block that showed much improvement in the scorecard when the
baseline was compared to the data after the MLGP training was done (see Table
4). To test if there was an association between the Leadership and Governance
block after the training and all the other five building blocks, a path analysis
using linear regression modeling was done (see Figure 2). Results showed that
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

the Leadership and Governance building block at T3, controlling for the
Leadership and Governance block at T1, is significantly associated with
all of the different building blocks—Health Financing at p <.10, Human
Resource at p < .001, Access to Medicines and Technology at p < .001,
Health Information System at p < .01, and Health Service Delivery at p <
0.5 at T3. This means that better Leadership and Governance scores at T3
were associated with better scores/outcomes for all the other five building
blocks, controlling for baseline leadership scores at T1.

It is also noteworthy that among the six building blocks, Leadership

and Governance appeared to have the largest rate of change during the
period of reckoning. Although this might be due to differences in the
baseline scores and the scale of these scores, a cursory examination of the
rate of change (see Table 4) from the different time points showed that
this is hardly the case. Leadership, Health Financing, Health Information
System, and Health Service Delivery appeared to be similar in terms of
baseline score and scale. Only Health Human Resource and Access to
Medicines and Technology appeared to be at the extreme ends of the
scores.

Modeling the relationship between these six building blocks

is an important issue to address. They were originally conceptualized
as contributing to the overall goals of improving levels of health equity,
responsiveness, social and financial risk protection, and improved
efficiency of the health system. The means by which they would achieve
these goals was through increasing access, coverage, quality, and safety
of health care. There is increasing recognition, however, that these blocks
are not static, and some components drive the other blocks. And there
is mounting evidence that the Leadership block is a key driver of an
equitable health system (Mikkelsen-Lopez et al., 2011). This is consistent
with extant literature on the role of leadership and governance in building
equitable health systems (WHO, 2007; ZFF, 2015; Mikkelsen-Lopez et al.,
2011; Kohler & Martinez, 2015; Anwari et al., 2015). Leadership, then, is
not simply one ingredient among many, and it appears to be a key driver
in the process.

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

Health and Financing at

Time 3

Human Resources at Time 3

Leadership at Leadership at
Medicines and Technology
Time 1 Time 3 at Time 3

Health Information System

at Time 3

Health Service Delivery at

Time 3

Figure 2. Path Analysis using Linear Regression Modeling .

Key Health Indicators

To assess the health status of the community vis-a-vis the changes

in local health leadership and health system performance, this study
monitored two key health indicators of all the participating municipalities
that are important markers of the overall health of a society, namely Infant
Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR). Data for
both key health indicators were taken at two points during the program—
first as baseline data before the start of the Module 1 training and second
after the Module 2 training and practicum. The use of the IMR and MMR
acknowledges the fact women and children are often the most vulnerable
groups in a community. They appear to be sensitive indicators to the
levels of health system performance vis-à-vis the weakest members of the
community. Previous studies have shown that inequality is a powerful
predictor of infant mortality and maternal mortality. The more unequal a
society is, the higher the infant and maternal mortality rates are (Ruiz et
al., 2015).

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

Based on the data from 2015 to 2018, five municipalities were able
to maintain zero IMR while 11 municipalities were able to lower their
IMR or reduce it to zero. However, five other municipalities were recorded
to have infant deaths from 2015 to 2018. There was anecdotal evidence
that these infant death records were brought to light due to the stricter

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

monitoring of birth outcomes by the DOH and ZFF as part of the training
program accountability. The spike in IMR among some municipalities was
attributed to more accurate record keeping from increased surveillance.

Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)

The same scenario was seen in terms of the maternal mortality

ratio (MMR) among the MLGP cohort municipalities. Sixteen towns
either maintained zero maternal deaths or reduced the number to zero,
while two municipalities had an increased MMR during the period of
assessment. These two municipalities were both found in Leyte province.
Again, anecdotal evidence pointed to stricter record keeping and accuracy
in reporting as a driver in the spike of maternal death figures in the
participating municipalities.

Given the above data, IMR and MMR as outcome indicators lag
behind the other changes in the health system. They are sensitive measures
of inequality in general, and of social determinants of health in particular,
but they could not be expected to change quickly without addressing other
drivers of health outside of the health sector (e.g., poverty, education,
gender relations).

Revisiting the Building Blocks of a Functioning Health System

The WHO health system building blocks appeared to be useful

in tracking the changes of the local health system at the level of the
participating municipalities. Initially conceptualized to measure health
performance at the country or macro-level, the six building blocks as
operationalized in the MLGP program to measure the status of health
system functioning of local government units generated robust evidence
of their relationships to each other. However, in line with the discussion
above, there is a need to reconfigure the six building blocks with the
Leadership and Governance component as the driver of a functioning
health system. The other five blocks are directly associated with changes
in Leadership and Governance. No other building block has the same level
of influence on the other components of the WHO health system building
blocks.

There is support in the literature on the essential role of health

leadership and governance in health system transformation (Bradley,
Taylor, & Cuellar, 2015; Manyazewal, 2017; J. Mfutso-Bengo et al., 2018; J.
M. Mfutso-Bengo, 2016; WHO, 2010). The research results add evidence

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

to the importance of looking at leadership as critical in driving health

system changes. A reconceptualized WHO health systems framework with
leadership as the key driver of health system changes will be congruent
with the experiences at the local health system level.

The Practice of Bridging Leadership: Changes in perspectives on health

Political leaders and health professionals in the MLGP training

program initially viewed health issues and health challenges as the domain
of the health sector alone. The health sector operated in some sort of a silo,
separate from the rest of the functioning of the local institutions except
for the occasional meetings to seek for financial and other resources.
Results of the study showed that these assumptions prevail despite the
implementation of the Local Government Code in 1991.

In addition, health issues were traditionally perceived in an

instrumental way, as a means to an end, and not valued by themselves (e.g.,
as means to higher incomes, educational opportunity). Why does this
perspective create problems on the ground? Since health is viewed as just
a means to an end, it is traditionally not given much importance, unless
the individual or the person is already experiencing pain or suffering as a
consequence of ill health. This probably explains why individual health is
not given much attention in the day-to-day lives of the community people,
hence health preventative and promotion measures fail. In the same way,
local leaders also do not give as much priority to health issues as they would
to building infrastructure in the community. This is in contrast to Sen’s
(1999) health capability approach where health is perceived to be valuable
in itself. An individual’s health expands the ability to exercise freedom and
increases the capacity for desired functionings to pursue wellbeing and
approach the world with courage and freedom (Sen, 1999). Thus, health
should not just be a means to an end, but also an end in itself.

Further, it was a jarring experience for many of the participants

to realize that the health problems of the community have a lot of putative
causative mechanisms (i.e., health inequity is a complex systemic problem),
necessitating multi-stakeholder approaches to tackle such complex
problems effectively. After undergoing experiential and structured learning
exercises and health data analysis of their respective municipalities,
some participants expressed that they were part of the complex system
that created the problem. From not feeling accountable for health issues
because “I am not a doctor,” participants were able to probe deeper into
the system, tracing how their roles affect the bigger whole, and how other

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

sectors and stakeholders affect the health system. Perhaps this is what
Senge described in learning organizations as systems thinking—the “shift
of mind” from seeing ourselves as separate from the world, from seeing
problems as caused by someone or something “out there” to seeing how
our own actions create the problems we experience” (Senge, 2006). This
systems perspective also leads to the realization that an individual is
only one part of the system, and that there are other parts of the system
that need to be engaged. However, engaging other stakeholders can be
a socially complex problem, which means that the people involved see
things very differently leading to a more polarized problem and getting
stuck (Kahane, 2004). This reflects that health, like other complex systems,
is characterized by self-organization, constant changes, feedback loops,
non-linearity, time gaps between inputs and outputs; it is historically
grounded and even well-intentioned interventions produce unintended
consequences (Savigny & Adam, 2009).

It was in this context that engagement in multi-stakeholder

processes and dialogues was appreciated, leading the MLGP participants
to seek real-time information from the field, increasing their field of
awareness, and challenging long-held class and gender-based biases
against the poor and marginalized sectors. In the practicum phase of the
health leadership program, mayors joined the MHOs and the RHU team
in going to the barangays for health service delivery to understand the
complexities of health problems and find solutions by witnessing and
experiencing at least part of it for themselves. The challenge in solving
problems with high social complexity does not yield to easy solutions
generated by authorities alone, but rather, the people involved must
participate in creating and implementing solutions (Kahane, 2004). This
meant talking and listening to community people to deliberately involve
them in understanding their health predicament and in creating and
implementing solutions to their own problems.

Leading by Creating Spaces for People’s Participation in the Health

System

Making people participate in the conduct and implementation

of health programs has always been a challenge for health leaders, even
if services are geared towards improvement of health status. Yet, despite
these setbacks, mayors and MHOs in the MLGP program continue to
create spaces and opportunities for people participation, acknowledging
the fact that health programs will be difficult to implement, and health
improvements will be difficult to reach without the community’s help and

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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

participation. Local leadership is thus crucial in making sure that there are
spaces for people participation in the local health system.

Involvement of Organized Groups in the Community

There are many ways that local leadership can provide such spaces.
In Region 8, for instance, maternal and infant deaths have remained
a challenge, especially in far-flung barangays where access to birthing
facilities is difficult. Even if pregnant women and their family members
would like them to give birth at the health facility, most of the time they
cannot afford the transportation fare, or they cannot find available means
of transport especially in emergency cases. In Municipality A, the Local
Chief Executive together with her Municipal Health Officer (MHO) and
health team spearheaded the organization of a group of volunteer public
transport drivers to provide transportation to pregnant mothers from
Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) needing to go
to the health facilities when they are due to give birth. The group was later
named as Habal-habal and Motorcycle Emergency Drivers (HAMED) and was
mainly composed of tricycle and single motorcycle or habal-habal drivers in
the municipality. When the partnership was started, the local officials and
health team encountered challenges such as setting the tariff at a reasonable
level and making the community understand that the program was not
only owned by the LGU, but that all have a big role to play in making the
lives of other barangay people better. This awareness drive and the attempt
to make the HAMED service an important part of an innovative solution
for health issues was initiated by the local health leadership.

Involvement of Community Leaders

One strategy that Municipality B employed to implement

programs on sanitation, specifically on the construction of sanitary toilets,
was through the involvement of its barangay leaders. The mayor made
sure that, even if the program was supported by the municipal budget,
the different barangays would also give a counterpart, as a sign of their
support and participation. In this municipality, the project was allocated a
budget of Php1.5 million and they wanted to ensure that the toilet bowls
they purchased would not go to waste. Thus, they coordinated with the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in identifying
the poorest members of every barangay. And as part of their partnership
with the barangay, for every ten households that were given sanitary toilets
and construction materials by the municipality, the barangay would also
identify and provide construction materials to five more poor households
in their barangay.
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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

The partnership agreement also stipulated that barangay officials

would take responsibility for the proper and timely construction of these
sanitary toilets. After a dialogue, it was agreed that every barangay was to
appoint a Sanitary Inspector to monitor the construction of the toilets in
their own barangay. To clarify roles and responsibilities, an orientation was
held for all Sanitary Inspectors at the barangay level. At the household level,
families started to make structures for their sanitary toilets, sometimes
using their own money when necessary.

Involvement of Leaders at the Family and Household Level

In Municipality C, where the focus was on child malnutrition, it

was observed that community people, particularly mothers, were more
receptive to health programs, especially when it involved their children.
The local mayor took the issue on as one of her personal advocacies, made
sure that she knew the malnutrition records and status of her municipality,
and did something to address it together with the community people. One
window of opportunity that they saw to actively involve family members,
especially mothers, in giving proper nutrition to their children was through
health education during the Nutrition Month celebration every March.

Creating Spaces for Dialogue

For some program participants, the dissonance between their

prejudice and biases and their experiences on the ground shifted their focus
of attention and allowed them to identify with some of the struggles faced
by the community people, increasing the space for empathetic listening.
This process of “deep listening” when practiced in dialogue allows the
leader to shift the origin from where his or her listening originates—
from the boundaries of one’s own mental cognitive organization to seeing
how the world unfolds through someone else’s eyes (Scharmer, 2007).
Participants had the opportunity to practice this during their interactions
with the community during their MLGP practicum. For many leaders
who took the program seriously, they transitioned from the practice of
mere information dissemination to creating spaces for real dialogue where
people are encouraged to participate in discussions. Some even took it to
the next level and institutionalized these arrangements in the form of a
People’s Assembly, and the expansion of the Local Health Board and the
Barangay Health Board to include other non-health stakeholders in the
discussions on health.

While these arrangements have indeed changed how participation

processes are practiced on the ground, it is also important to interrogate
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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

the nature of the power relations that surround and imbue these potentially
democratic spaces—the levels, spaces and forms of power (Gaventa, 2006).
In his “Power Cube” framework, Gaventa argues that the different levels
(i.e., global, national, local), spaces (i.e., closed, invited, claimed/created),
and forms (i.e., visible, hidden, invisible) of power must align horizontally
and vertically simultaneously to bring about successful change. The
challenge, however, is how to determine which “alignment” of strategies is
best for a particular issue, given that many combinations and “alignments”
are possible, and their interaction with each other makes it even more
complex. In essence, he pointed out that issues need not be addressed
by a single strategy only, but rather, several strategies should be explored
and understood in the light of the different dimensions of power for real
transformative change to occur (Gaventa, 2006). On the ground, leaders
should continue to explore and test these strategies to make these spaces
for participation work in their own context, in order to produce sustainable
innovations that will improve people’s health and wellbeing. Similarly,
in the Theory U framework, this process is known as prototyping—the
process of exploring the future by doing, rather than by thinking and
reflecting (Scharmer, 2007).

Acknowledging now that health issues are complex and evolving,

the mayors together with their MHOs tried to explore new ways of doing
things by going to the people, asking, listening, and trying to make sense
of what was happening around them. Most of these were experienced
during the actual Deep Dive activity of mayors and MHOs where they had
experiential learning activities with some selected groups/households in
their respective communities. For many of the participants, the activity
sufficiently moved them to a decision to commit to changes in the
health system and forge cross-sectoral collaboration to address the social
determinants of health inequity.

Lessons and Insights

Towards a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health Equity

The Municipal Leadership and Governance Program (MLGP)

sought to capacitate local leaders as “bridging leaders” to address health
inequities in their communities in the context of prevailing social
and economic divides. Their challenge as leaders amid this inequality
is to “bridge” the gap created by these social divides. The process of
conscientization in their journey to become bridging leaders who seek
to address these social inequalities started with self-awareness of their
principles and values. This allowed them to ground their personal response
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 Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

to these divides and understand how they are part of this complex system
that perpetuates these inequities. Understanding that health inequities
are rooted in the lived social conditions of the people is integral to
understanding the healthcare predicament of the poor. Several of the tools
used to address health disparities included the primary health care approach
to achieve “health for all,”; the bridging leadership process of ownership, co-
ownership, and co-creation; building leadership and social capital; systems
thinking and complexity approach; multi-stakeholder processes, dialogue,
and rapid prototyping.

The practicum period also provided the participants with the

opportunity to implement their action plans based on RAPID change
using the principles of iterative learning and inter-sectoral collaboration.
The mid-program checkpoint during Module 2 celebrated “quick wins”
and provided space for reflection on the challenges the participants
faced as bridging leaders. Their insights were deepened by the practice of
adaptive leadership in the context of the cultural understanding of “loob.”
They also crafted their personal response as bridging leaders into a public
narrative that shifted their personal story, into a story of “us” and called for
collective action into forging a story of “now” to co-create new institutional
arrangements.

The final lookback in the last module focused on addressing the

social determinants of health, the broader social conditions that generate
health inequalities beyond the health sector. Gearing for the long haul in the
struggle for substantive changes beyond the health system, participants are
called to resilient leadership, building resilient organizations and partnering
for resilient communities. The challenge is to co-create community-centered
actions through the exercise of community-engaged leadership where
communities participate meaningfully in all levels of decision-making.

Limitations

To ascertain the sustainability of these community empowerment

processes, a longitudinal study to follow up the participating communities
and track changes through time should be done in the future. It would
also be important to disaggregate data in the local government primary
health care scorecards to reflect gender, class, and other social inequalities
relevant to health outcomes in the community. Further studies looking at
the critical factors that differentiate successful bridging leaders from those
who were not could likewise shed light on the contextual elements that
contribute to the process. Lastly, expanding the concept of leadership to
include participants from various levels of organizations, institutions, and
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 Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and Development

communities would allow the exercise of transformative leadership to

permeate deeper layers of social relations and other sub-structures that
drive sociocultural changes.

Conclusion

The Bridging Leadership framework used in the MLGP program

provided a scaffolding for ethical leadership to bridge the gap between
the powerful and powerless in society. It started by acknowledging that
leaders are part of the problem and that substantive solutions to societal
problems need a shift in awareness to allow for emergent realities to
breakthrough—from actions that emanate from the poor themselves.
There is evidence to suggest that this model of leadership that seeks to fully
engage the various stakeholders in the community has the potential to
create new institutional arrangements and strengthen existing structures
for community participation to tackle complex problems like the social
determinants of health. Beyond the personal commitment of local leaders
to initiate meaningful changes in governance, shifting the dynamics of
power to these mechanisms of democratic participation like the barangay
health boards, local health boards, and provincial health boards could
bridge the gap between the vulnerable and the powerful. Making these
institutions accountable and answerable to the poor, however, would
entail a highly engaged and empowered citizenship. This goes back to the
capability approach of health where expanding the freedoms of people
to do and be is critical to the whole development project. This iterative
process where social conditions generate increased human capability
would, in turn, lead people to envision, plan, act, and build a better future
together for their communities.

Note:
This article is based on the author’s dissertation entitled, “Transformative Leadership
and Governance as a Development Process: Building Equitable Health Systems and Filipino
Well-being,” for the degree of Doctor of Social Development, College of Social
Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Diliman,
submitted in June 2019 .

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Framing Research in Social Development

Thinking and Practice:
The DSD Experience

Teresita Villamor-Barrameda, DSD

This study examines the trends in social development (SD) perspectives, strategies,
and processes gleaned from the dissertations of doctoral graduates of the UP-CSWCD
Doctor of Social Development (DSD) program from 2014 to 2019. Thirteen (13)
dissertations of DSD graduates were used as case materials in drawing out lessons
in SD research.

Two major trends emerged from the 13 dissertations: one, what are the defining
features of SD research, and two, knowledge-building and meaning-making initiatives.
Two guiding features differentiate SD research from mainstream social research: (1)
a clear standpoint and bias for the poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged groups
and communities; and (2) privileging the voices and perspectives of the poor, the
marginalized, and the disadvantaged.

In terms of knowledge-building and meaning-making, significant themes were

noted: (1) community organizing-community development (CO-CD) perspectives
are embedded in SD concepts, strategies, and processes; (2) feminist perspectives
complement and enhance SD knowledge building by examining gender and power
relations within social institutions (i.e., family, community organizations, market,
and the State); and, (3) the dissertations provide a learning platform for DSD
students to engage in development discourse and grounded theorizing. The research
participants are generally regarded as co-learners in the research process. The paper
concludes by citing the implications and challenges to Social Development as an
academic discipline in the context of policy development and planning, theorizing,
and curricular development and enhancement.

Key words: social development, SD research, DSD program, development

practice, SD as an academic discipline

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 Framing Research in Social Development Thinking and Practice:The DSD Experience

I. Introduction

In celebration of its 10th year, the Doctor of Social Development

(DSD) Program of the University of the Philippines-College of Social Work
and Community Development (UP-CSWCD) embarks on a review of its
major accomplishments. Among its knowledge products are 13 doctoral
dissertations that surface emerging themes in social development discourse
and practice. Using these as case materials, this study examines the trends
in social development (SD) perspectives, strategies, and processes gleaned
from the dissertations of graduates of the Doctor of Social Development
(DSD) Program from 2014 to 2019 . Insights from this review can
inform curricular development, classroom pedagogy as well as program
management concerns.

SD perspectives have evolved over the years. From the activism of

social work leaders in the 1900s who subscribed to SD as a philosophy in
improving the quality of life, theorizing and research have resulted to varied
conceptions of SD. Western academics like Booth (1994) even claimed that
SD research had reached an “impasse” by failing to define its trajectory
and the difficulty encountered by researchers in linking theory to practice.
Thus, he contended, that SD needs rethinking.

On the other hand, Edwards (1994) even questioned its relevance

in lieu of the continuing mass poverty in developing countries. In the
Philippines, the relevance of SD as a development strategy to improve
the lives of the people and to end poverty has been recognized by the
government as reflected in the Medium-Term Development Plans of
various administrations. Likewise, SD remains relevant to civil society
organizations, development practitioners, and scholars who work with the
grassroots sectors in the different parts of the country. The 13 dissertations
of DSD graduates mirror this relevance.

This article has four major sections: (1) a presentation of the varying
SD perspectives and concepts as these evolved over time; (2) a summary of
the 13 dissertations in terms of topics, topic sources, contexts, theoretical
and conceptual frameworks, research methodologies and methods, and
research outputs; (3) trends as presented in these dissertations; and, (4)
implications of the findings on SD as an academic discipline and as practice.

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II. Meanings and Perspectives of Social Development

A. Definitions of Social Development

Over the years, many authors have claimed difficulty in defining

SD. For instance, Blumer (1966:16 cited in Bautista, 1997:3), in his classic
paper, “The Meaning of Social Development,” argued that the notion of SD
is “vague and confused” because countries differ in their goals, strategies,
and metrics in achieving SD. Some years later, Macpherson (1989:70
cited in Bautista, 1997:3) proposed a generic definition of SD which is the
“enhancement of well-being and the progressive enrichment of the quality
of people’s lives.”

To further clarify the meaning of development, the United Nations

Center for Regional Development (1988) focused on the “social” aspects of
development, giving emphasis on the non-economic factors that contribute
to the improvement of the quality of life – in particular, those concerning
people. Likewise, the definition used by the Institute of Social Studies
(ISS, 2013) has placed people at the center of the development processes
– particularly the poor. This, however, acknowledges that social relations
and norms in a given group or society shape the processes of SD. Thus,
such conceptualization implies institutional change, not only in formal but
informal institutions as well.

Consequently, the ISS has developed the Indices of Social Development

– focusing on the areas of civic activism, clubs and associations, inter-group
cohesion, interpersonal safety and trust, and gender equality – to measure
the role of informal social institutions and argued that their contributions
to the development processes be recognized since they are given limited
attention in SD discourse.

While many international agencies and other UN bodies prefer

the term social development, the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) uses the term human development instead. The notion of human
development used by UNDP (1999) was further developed in later years
based on the work of Sen (1999) as a means to enlarge the choices and
opportunities of people. By the late 1990s, Jacobs and Cleveland (1999)
described SD as a process of tapping human resources and initiatives
to attain social and economic objectives. From then on, notions of SD
have continued to evolve as informed by various disciplines, theoretical
frameworks, researches , and practices.

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At present, SD is associated with community-based projects

and programs in developing countries that include, but are not limited
to, cooperatives-building, self-help women’s organizations, maternal
and child health, provision of safe water, construction of education and
health infrastructures, to cite a few. SD also refers to government social
policies and programs such as poverty reduction, education and literacy
improvement, maternal and infant mortality reduction, elimination
of gender discrimination and oppression, political participation, and
improvement in sanitation. In academic disciplines, sociologists associate
SD with social change for the betterment of society; social workers equate
it to community-based projects; psychologists associate SD to child
development; and in social policy, SD is about social improvements due to
the welfare interventions of governments (Midgley, 2014).

As drawn out from SD practice, the goals, key components,

approaches, and strategies of SD have been popularized. In contrast
to debates around SD definitions, discourse on SD goals is not fully
problematized as pointed out by Midgley (2014:48):

Although a variety of goals are mentioned in the literature, they

are seldom defined in concrete terms or formulated as a coherent
conception of the desirable end state that social development seeks
to achieve… reflect[ing] the tendency among social development
scholars to rhetorically use value-laden terms rather than grapple
with the complexity of defining goals such as ‘social change,’ ‘equality,’
‘progress,’ and ‘social justice,’ which are often bandied about in the
academic literature on the assumption that their meaning is self-
evident. However, when linked to different normative perspectives,
these concepts are interpreted very differently. For example, the
notion of social justice which now pervades the social development
literature is defined in different ways by market liberals, Catholic
social thinkers, Marxists and social democrats.

Midgley (2014) also noted that, aside from abstract goals, material
goals are also important. These goals are more exact, observable, and
easily operationalized through the use of metrics such as indicators and
indices. The Index of Social Progress (ISP), the Physical Quality of Life
Index (PQLI), and the more recent Human Development Index (HDI)
are examples of such indices. Further, he noted the importance of linking
the goals to the state or condition which SD aims to change. It may also
be noted that the existing research studies on inequality and social capital
provide the possibility of the operationalization of such an abstract goal.

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SD goals include abstract and lofty ideals such as peace, equality,

rights, and social justice. In some cases, material goals such as poverty
alleviation and access to opportunity are often hinged on these abstract
goals. On the other hand, SD practitioners and scholars subsume SD
outputs into a single goal such as improved well-being, gender equality,
or improved quality of life. The goal “to foster the emergence and
implementation of a social structure in which all citizens are entitled to
equal social, economic, and political rights and equal access to status, roles,
prerogatives, and responsibilities, regardless of gender, race, age, sexual
orientation, or disability” articulated by Chandler (1986:151) provides a
very broad goal encompassing several concerns.

Scholars also give attention to the principles and values of SD. For
instance, Chandler (1986) noted that cooperation, participatory planning
and decision-making, nondiscrimination, and distributive justice are some
of the principles of SD. She also cited a study by Falk (1981) that values
participation, respect for human dignity, humanism, nondiscrimination,
and global awareness as important to SD practitioners in the field of social
work.

Further, Chandler (1986) pointed out the parallel values of SD

and feminism that include participation, respect for human dignity, and
institutional equity, implying that ideas of feminism are embedded in
the SD perspective in social work. Such similarities include: (1) placing
importance on citizen participation in civic, democratic, and political
decision-making; (2) developing grassroots leadership; (3) community
planning with the people rather than for them; (4) treating women and
“clients” with respect and dignity; and (5) critically examining institutional
systems that foster and perpetuate inequity by challenging such systems.

B. Theoretical Foundations of Social Development

According to Midgley (2014), though SD is rich in its practice, SD

literature revealed a deficiency in theorizing and theory-building. Despite
this claim, practitioners and researchers in both developed and developing
countries continue to enhance SD theorizing. Midgley (2014) further
noted that the varied definitions of SD reflect a rich tradition of theoretical
perspectives on which these conceptualizations are hinged. Midgley
(2003) also classified the various theoretical perspectives that influence SD
practice as follows:

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• The livelihood perspective has its roots in individual ideology and

rational choice theory which is based on the assumption that
household members, though living in poverty, are rational actors
who have the choice to address their conditions.

• The gender perspective started with the critique of the non-

recognition of women’s contribution to development as well as
the impact of patriarchal culture on the oppression of women.
These critiques resulted to efforts in attention to gender as a
development concern. Gradually, it has been mainstreamed in SD
thinking and practice. With the mainstreaming of gender in SD,
programs and services are no longer confined to the conventional
maternal and child welfare interventions, but also include the
promotion of gender equality, women’s rights, and economic
development to alleviate women’s poverty. Such focus is premised
on the assumption that the participation of women in SD is an
important productive contribution. Eventually, an empowerment
approach was adopted that promotes women’s self-determination
and control over their lives through a bottom-up strategy. This
strategy includes mobilizing, campaigning, organizing, and
collective action against patriarchy, neoliberalism, and imperialism
to address gender oppression. The concept of empowerment has
been a major aspect of activism among women’s organizations in
responding to oppressive gender practices, promoting economic
participation, and influencing State policy and international
development organizations. SD approaches such as community
development, asset-building, and microenterprise are often
associated with the gender perspective.

• The community participatory perspective is oriented in activism.

Starting from a critique of top-down SD, it gives importance to
concepts such as social capital, civil society, social entrepreneurship,
and social economy. It draws its ideas from populism and posits
that communities and civil society organizations are in the
best position to achieve SD goals based on the assumption that
communities can mobilize local resources, decide on their own
development, and implement community projects. Through
community organizing, people in communities can form
organizations (e.g., community-based cooperatives); commit
their time, effort, and resources; and fully participate in decisions
that affect them. It posits that, for community-based SD initiatives
to succeed, the full participation of people as well as their access

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to government and donor support are needed. It then poses a

critique of the conventional community development approach,
the central role of the government, and the strong influence of
market liberal ideas in SD. Likewise, this perspective recognizes
the role of social movements as a SD strategy because of their role
in mobilizing people and communities for social change.

• The enterprise perspective argues that participation in the market

is a better strategy in achieving SD goals. It is influenced by
market liberal ideas such as incentives, competition, and profit as
effective strategies in realizing community development as well
as in reducing poverty. This perspective advocates the notions
of “social entrepreneurship,” “social business,” “social economy,”
“philanthro-capitalism,” and “corporate social responsibility”
(p.58). It proposes that to ensure participation of the poor in the
market, the government has a crucial role to play by lowering
taxes, deregulating the market economy, privatizing services,
and implementing market-friendly policies. Microfinance and
microenterprise are among its preferred strategies.

• The environmental or sustainable development perspective is a result

of the critique that economic growth, with its concomitant
consumerism fueled by capitalism, has caused destruction to the
environment. The unstoppable focus on economic growth has
bred global problems like pollution, environmental degradation,
deforestation, and other forms of ecological destruction. The
negative impact of ecological damage has propelled international
bodies to promote ecological projects in communities. This
perspective promotes the adoption of sustainable development as
a strategy in SD. The most important principle of this perspective
is the recognition that economic development should meet the
needs of this generation but without compromising the lives of
future generations.

• The statist perspective argues that the government has both the
capacity and authority to implement SD interventions and
achieve SD goals. Based on social science thinking, technical
planning, and efficient management, the government is viewed
as the best promoter of its citizens’ well-being on the following
grounds: (1) It has the authority to implement SD programs
through the enactment of laws, regulation, and the provision of
resources and social services; (2) It has the capacity to mobilize

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both domestic and international resources for SD goals in

partnership with international agencies and other governments;
(3) It has the macro perspective to allocate resources to the most
in need; and, (4) It has the regulatory role to direct the market
to work towards the interest of the majority. This perspective
promotes the idea that the citizens have ownership of the State in
which the latter has accountability to the former. Socio-economic
planning, redistributive growth, basic needs and rights-based are
approaches that subscribe to this perspective.

Alongside these theoretical foundations, SD has developed different

approaches and strategies culled from its long tradition of practice. These
are categorized as follows: the development of human capital, social capital,
community development and its key components – community-building,
community action, community economic development, promotion
of decent work and employment, microenterprise/microfinance, asset
development, social protection, social planning, and social rights (Midgley,
2014).

In the Philippines, practitioners incessantly do research to help

refine the whats, whys and hows of SD. For instance, Venus-Maslang (2013),
in her study on the roles of non-government and community-based
organizations in sustaining SD efforts, emphasized that the interactions of
socio-cultural, economic, political, and environmental factors impact on
SD projects. Likewise, the 13 dissertations are knowledge products that
can provide added ideas that could inform theorizing and practice in the
country.

III. Summary of DSD Dissertations

This section contains a summary of research topics, sources

of topics, contexts, theoretical/conceptual frameworks, research
methodologies and methods used, and research outputs.

A. Focus of SD Research Studies: Topics, Interest Groups, and Contexts

From 2014-2019, a total of 13 dissertations were produced by

graduates of the Doctor of Social Development Program of the College of
Social Work and Community Development. The focus of the research studies
in terms of topics, interest groups, and research contexts can be categorized
as follows:

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• Surfacing the conditions of marginalized groups through their

own voices: children of migrant parents (Abenir, 2014), urban poor
women in the sandwich generation (Columna-Tongson, 2019),
humanitarian workers (Paez-Beltejar, 2015), prisoners (Rueda-
Acosta, 2015), and rural poor women (Villamor-Barrameda,
2015);

• Testing out indigenous SD concepts such as well-being (Meneses,

2016) and flourishing (Will, 2014), and SD strategies and
processes such as community governance (Carolino, 2016), citizen
participation (Dumaraos, 2014), participation, capacity building,
and community building (Le, 2015), and social enterprises (Pham,
2014);

• Exploring grassroots’ agency and organized responses: organized

women’s responses to poor housing systems and programs
(Laguilles-Timog, 2018) and efforts of women in the informal
economy in transforming their lives and communities (Verceles,
2014).

The interest groups of these research studies include: children of

migrant workers (Abenir, 2014), internal migrants (Le, 2015), prisoners
(Rueda-Acosta, 2015), urban poor women (Columna-Tongson, 2019;
Laguilles-Timog, 2018), women in the informal economy (Verceles, 2014),
rural poor women (Villamor-Barrameda,2015), humanitarian workers
(Paez-Beltejar, 2015), fisherfolk and farmers (Carolino, 2016; Dumaraos,
2014), indigenous peoples (Meneses, 2016; Will, 2014), and owners of
social enterprises (Pham, 2014).

B. Dissertation Contexts

These research studies were conducted under the following

contexts: children of migrants as community of interest (Abenir, 2015),
disaster situations (Paez-Beltejar, 2015; Villamor-Barrameda, 2015),
prisons/detention centers (Rueda-Acosta, 2015), socialist State (Le, 2015;
Pham, 2014), coastal communities (Carolino, 2016), agricultural/fishery
councils (Dumaraos, 2014), urban poor communities (Columna-Tongson,
2019; Laguilles-Timog, 2018), conflict-ridden communities of indigenous
peoples (Will, 2014), communities of indigenous peoples (Meneses, 2016),
and informal economy (Verceles, 2014).

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C. Sources of Dissertation Topics

There are three major sources of dissertation topics: (1) personal

experiences, (2) personal advocacies and research interests, and (3)
development practice. Dissertations that were inspired by personal
experiences are as follows:

• Mark Anthony Abenir (2014) drew inspiration for his dissertation,

In Their Voices: The Rights and Capabilities of the Anak ng OFWs, from
his personal experience as a son of a migrant father.

• Zenaida Paez-Beltejar (2015) has decades of experience as a social

worker of a leading humanitarian organization in the country. Her
dissertation, Caring for Carers. Psychosocial Support to Humanitarian
Workers in Coping with Disasters: The Case of the Philippine Red Cross
in the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban City, was borne out of her
experience being “in the line of fire” during Typhoon Haiyan.

• Teresita Villamor Barrameda (2015) survived various typhoons

while on fieldwork as a development worker and her personal
experience of Typhoon Ondoy developed her interest in
studying the intersection of gender, poverty, and disasters and
had published articles and did presentations in both local and
international conferences on the topic. In her dissertation, Stories
Women Tell: Rural Women’s Narratives of Their Lived Experiences of
Poverty, Recurrent Typhoons and Disasters, she wove the life stories
of 10 rural poor women with her experience as the “insider/
outsider” in the research community that was once her residence
in her childhood years.

• Excelsa Columna-Tongson (2019) experienced being in the

sandwich generation – caring for both her family and her-father-
in-law – while simultaneously working as a faculty member in
the College of Home Economics and as a student of the DSD
program. This personal experience inspired her dissertation,
Potentials and Possibilities for Caring: The Voices of Low-Income Urban
Women in the Sandwich Generation, which she called a problem that
has no local name.

Other research studies were drawn from the development practice

of graduates such as the following:

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• Pham Tien Nam (2014) has been into development work since
working in his home country of Vietnam and in the Philippines.
As board member of an advocacy organization for children’s rights
in the Philippines, his interest in the workings of civil society
organizations (CSOs) in the context of a centralized socialist State
became the basis for his dissertation, Non-State Partners in Social
Development in Vietnam: Organizations, Issues and Processes.

• Pedro Dumaraos Jr. (2014), as a staff of the Department of

Agriculture, has observed the development and problems of
the agricultural and fishery councils (AFCs) as mechanisms for
people’s participation. His experience and observation on the
uneven development of these mechanisms led him to develop
his dissertation, Images and Voices of Citizens’ Participation in Local
Governance: Potentials and Challenges of Agricultural and Fishery
Councils as Participatory Mechanisms, to interrogate the elements
that made some AFCs functional while others were not.

• Matthew Will (2014) has been exposed to the indigenous peoples

of Mindanao through his faith ministry and his dissertation,
Kaelleuman Hap: A Yakan Experience of Flourishing Amidst Conflict,
which fueled his passion to understand indigenous notions of
development and flourishing.

• Le Van Cong (2015) has been involved with CSOs in Vietnam and
in the Philippines as a development practitioner and as a lawyer
catering to the needs and concerns of Vietnamese migrants in
Palawan. His dissertation, Participation in Community-building
Among Internal Migrants in Eahdil Village in Vietnam, was the result
of his interest in working with Vietnamese migrants within and
outside his home country.

• Persida Rueda-Acosta (2015), as Chief of the Public Attorney’s

Office (PAO), has been exposed to the appalling conditions of
inmates and the sub-standard facilities in prisons and detention
centers while doing her regular rounds in monitoring cases
of prisoners handled by the PAO, developed her dissertation,
Examining Deaths Behind Bars: Toward Penal System Policy Reforms in
the Context of Human Rights, as her response to alleviate the inmates’
conditions by proposing policy reforms from a human rights
perspective.

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• Juliet Carolino (2016) is a development worker with academic

background in both community development and public
administration. Her dissertation, Social Development Realities and
Practices in Community Governance of Selected Coastal Communities in
Pangasinan, came out of her interest in the notions of empowerment
and participation that reside among community-based people’s
organizations in her hometown.

• Angelito Meneses (2016) has been a community development

practitioner whose years of practice working in Aeta communities
were the source of inspiration for his dissertation, Kahampatan as
Lived by the Ayta: Affirming Indigenous Well-being.

Personal advocacy or research interest is another source of

dissertation topics for the following graduates:

• Nathalie Verceles’ (2014) topic in her dissertation, Livelihood

Practices of Women in the Informal Economy: Forging Pathways Towards
Feminist Solidarity Economy, was inspired by her continuing
advocacy in making a difference in the lives of grassroots women
in the informal economy. Her exposure to the women in this
sector started when she did fieldwork as a student in Women and
Development and her interest in her topic was also inspired by her
advocacy on solidarity economy.

• Rowena Laguilles-Timog (2018) has an interest in housing that

has produced research papers published in journals and presented
in conferences; and her dissertation, Organized Women’s Responses
to Urban Poor Housing: Towards Transformations in Housing in the
Philippines, was one of her major research studies on housing.

D. Research Methodologies and Data Gathering Methods Used

Most of the research studies used the qualitative research approach

such as feminist research, descriptive case analysis, participatory action
research, and ethnography. For research methods, the authors combined
more than one data gathering method such as: case studies, key informant
interviews, in-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews, documents
review, participant observation, life story and narratives, and focus group
discussions. Immersion in communities was another method used by
some to fully understand the processes and dynamics in the communities

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under study—commonly done by those with community organizing-

community development (CO-CD) orientations or who were development
practitioners themselves.

Of the 13 dissertations, seven employed mixed methods –

qualitative and quantitative methods – of which the quantitative used
surveys and statistical analyses such as inferential statistics and descriptive
statistics. In addition, four of these were feminist research studies –
adopting feminist perspectives, processes, values, and ethics.

In terms of sample size, the 13 studies used small samples of research

respondents, sample organizations, or sample communities. Although the
studies of Columna-Tongson (2019) and Abenir (2014) utilized secondary
data from large national surveys as backdrops of the conditions of their
study respondents, all the studies are considered micro studies. As such,
each study only provided the reality in a specific setting.

E. Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

All the dissertations explored various SD theories, perspectives,

and concepts to frame the topics under study. These theories – human
rights-based approach, capability approach, human development, social
relations approach, feminist grounded theory, standpoint feminism,
systems theory, Third World feminist theory, inclusive development,
feminist solidarity economics and ecology, development as freedom, and
feminist intersectionality – as well as concepts – transnationalism, social
capital, restorative justice, gender and development (GAD), participation,
inclusion, citizen participation, community governance, empowerment,
agency, capacity and community-building, indigenous knowledge,
flourishing, and sandwich generation – provide the analytical handles of
the dissertations under study.

F. Research Outputs

Based on the observations made on the 13 dissertations, the

research outputs may be categorized as follows:

1. Current conditions of specific groups.

Organized women (Laguilles-Timog, 2018; Verceles, 2014), unorganized

women (Columna-Tongson, 2019; Villamor-Barrameda, 2015),
humanitarian workers (Paez-Beltejar, 2015), and inmates (Rueda-Acosta,
2015) in various settings.
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2. Initiatives in theorizing from practice, consequently developing

frameworks, models, and tools.

Abenir (2014), for instance, proposed a framework focusing on five specific

rights and three capabilities that could enhance the capabilities of children
of OFWs to mitigate the social cost of migration. In like manner, Meneses
(2016) and Will (2014) formulated indigenous models of the good life
and well-being from the perspectives of indigenous peoples – the Ayta of
Zambales and the Yakan of Basilan, respectively. Le (2015) proposed a
model for inclusion of internal migrants through SD processes – people’s
participation, capacity building, and community building – in improving
the quality of life of internal migrants within a socialist welfare state. Will
(2014) also identified indicators in assessing the good life in combination
with rights obligations that could be a tool for the flourishing of a particular
group, whether in a conflict situation or not.

3. SD processes and strategies in different settings.

The study of Carolino (2016) highlighted participation, sense of

ownership. and empowerment as elements in community governance in
coastal communities. On the other hand, the study of Dumaraos (2014)
underscored the elements needed in sustaining citizens’ participation
within the local governance mechanisms, while Pham’s (2014) study
highlighted the application of social enterprise as a SD strategy by civil
society organizations in the context of a socialist central economy.

4. Applications of existing theories, concepts and approaches.

The studies of Columna-Tongson (2019), Laguilles-Timog (2018),

Villamor-Barrameda (2015), and Verceles (2014) used the social relations
approach (SRA) in various SD concerns – sandwich generation, urban
poor housing system, disasters, and informal economy, respectively.
Likewise, Paez-Beltejar (2015) adopted the UNIASC guidelines for mental
health as the standard measurement for assessing psychosocial support
for humanitarian workers, while Villamor-Barrameda (2015) applied
major principles of human rights – participation, anti-discrimination,
transparency, humaneness, empowerment, and rule of law – as indicators
to determine the rights-based responsiveness of DRR programs of local
government units.

Despite differences in many aspects, the studies had a common

trajectory contributing to policy development and policy reforms. It

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was also observed that the studies had varied depths of analysis. Some
studies were limited to descriptions of current conditions, SD processes,
and strategies; while others, particularly those that adopted the feminist
perspectives, showed the intersections of two or more axes of difference
such as gender, class, age, identity, and disability.

It may be posited that the 13 dissertations were a microcosm of

the current SD issues, presenting a comprehensive understanding of
critical and pressing social problems. Although these SD dissertations
were micro studies and therefore cannot provide generalizations of the
phenomena being examined , these studies represent the realities of the
poor, marginalized, and/or disadvantaged sectors in Philippine society.
They cited specific challenges to current SD research and practice as a means
of enriching understanding on the emerging knowledge and experience on
SD. Likewise, these studies showed the applications of various SD strategies
and processes in various settings.

IV. Trends of SD Research

Two major trends are evident: one, the defining features of DSD
research, and two, knowledge and meaning-making initiatives.

1. Features of DSD Research

The dissertations vary in perspectives, depth of analysis, approaches,

and methodologies. Based on features, two salient points can be identified:

• A clear standpoint and bias for the poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged
groups and communities. Drawing from Paolo Freire’s ideas,
knowledge and learning can never be neutral. As such, these
could either change or preserve the status quo. Research studies
as sources of knowledge are not immune to being located in either
position. A clear standpoint and bias for the poor, marginalized,
and disadvantaged sectors in our society are reflected in the DSD
research studies. This can be observed in the choice of topics,
sectors, research settings, and the goal of transforming the lives
of the subjects of study. The studies did not only show interest in
generating knowledge from the lived experiences of these people,
but looked at realities from their own perspectives as well.

The dissertations were conducted not only as academic

requirements but, more so, as a means to effect changes in the lives of the

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poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged:

• Use of the research results by organized grassroots groups

and organizations in their advocacy work in claiming rights
of children of OFWs (Abenir, 2014), in improving housing
and upholding the right to decent housing (Laguilles-Timog,
2018), and in improving lives of women in the informal
economy (Verceles, 2014);
• Advocacy within the authors’ organizations and institutions
in developing policies for the support of humanitarian
workers (Paez-Beltejar, 2015), improvement of inmates’
conditions (Rueda-Acosta, 2015), and enhancement of
mechanisms for the full participation of farmers and
fisherfolk in local governance (Dumaraos, 2014);
• Advocacy and basis for dialogues with local and national
governments about the post-disaster conditions of poor
and unorganized rural women (Villamor-Barrameda,
2015), mechanisms for the inclusion of internal migrants
in development processes in a socialist State (Le, 2015),
and the importance of social enterprises in the economic
development within a socialist welfare society (Pham, 2014);
• Affirmation of indigenous knowledge on well-being and
the good life as alternative models to the dominant Western
models (Will, 2014; Meneses, 2016);
• Provision of information as a basis for education,
consciousness-raising, and planning to enhance the
participation of fisherfolk in local governance (Carolino,
2016) and to improve the conditions of urban poor women
in the sandwich generation (Columna-Tongson, 2019).

• Privileging the voices and perspectives of the research participants. The

poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged have found themselves
excluded from the development discourse and from the
development planning and policy-making processes. These
sectors were given prominence in the DSD dissertations. The
research studies served as venues to hear their voices as well as
their perspectives – their ways of making sense of the conditions
they live in, their analysis of these lived conditions, their strategies
in surmounting such conditions, and their agency in improving
their lives. Likewise, ideas, perspectives, and the wisdom of the
research participants were valued and acknowledged as legitimate
knowledges. Further, they were regarded as people with agency

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rather than victims of their own conditions. Most importantly, they

were recognized as experts of their own experiences and conditions.

2. Knowledge and Meaning-making

There were initiatives from the research studies to theorize from

the ground as reflected in the development of frameworks, models, and
tools as metrics in measuring SD elements, strategies, and processes. As
results, concepts, and approaches were drawn out from the local knowledge
and processes, Western concepts such as human rights and development
were given new meanings. Among the major points gleaned from the
dissertations in terms of knowledge construction are as follows:

• Community organizing-community development (CO-CD) is the

crucial core element of SD in which community participation, citizens’
governance, empowerment, capacity building, and community building
are hinged;

• Feminist perspectives complement and enhance the SD perspective by

examining and interrogating social institutions (i.e., family, community,
organizations, the State, and market) as sites of power dynamics and
contestations;

• The dissertations provided a learning platform for DSD students

to engage in development discourse and grounded theorizing. The
research participants were generally regarded as co-learners in the
research process.

V. Concluding Notes

Based on the lessons generated from the DSD research studies,

the question, “What then is SD research?” remains a relevant concern. The
following provides a summary of the points presented in the dissertations
for reflection and possible sources of future research interest, and as a basis
for ocial policy development and developing planning processes:

1. More in-depth analysis of SD strategies and processes as applied in

different settings and situations;
2. Interrogating specific SD theories, combining the perspectives of
both the grand theories and grounded theorizing; examining marked
boundaries and dichotomies; and finding interconnections among
different theoretical viewpoints.

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3. The research methods used in the SD studies can be cases for students
to analyze the methodologies used vis-à-vis the research questions. In
addition, the combined use of quantitative and qualitative methods
in some studies showed complementation rather than contradiction.
The studies can also enhance the curriculum design of the course on
statistics for SD practice, providing a better measure of SD indicators
and setting of SD research parameters. The dissertations have
significantly contributed to the application of statistics in processing
and analyzing SD data, providing shape for the data presentation in the
research studies.

4. Presentation of specific socio-political-cultural-economic contexts, as

presented in two dissertations where the area of focus was Vietnam.
Having local and international field study/visits as part of the DSD
program has offered opportunities to broaden and deepen the
understanding on different development contexts, given the varying
cultural and eco-political structures. Thus, comparative studies also
make a significant contribution to understanding the SD context of a
sector, within a specified community/locality; and,

5. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary nature of SD as an academic

discipline. The research studies reflect the fusion of SD with the
previous academic backgrounds of the researchers (i.e., anthropology,
community development, law, philosophy, social work, women and
development studies, home economics, theology, law), eventually
enhancing and complementing the SD perspective. Aside from the
academic backgrounds and experiences of the researchers, future SD
dissertations can be further enriched by other disciplinal fields. As
such, future doctoral students can be encouraged to take electives in
other disciplines to further enhance the transdisciplinary character of
SD as well as the intersectionality of SD issues and concerns.

Ten years of DSD research have generated knowledge and

information about social development as these studies provided new
perspectives in enhancing discourses on SD. Since SD concerns and
issues are broad, these dissertations are already significant contributions.
Considering the broad concerns of SD, the DSD program has complemented
these research efforts with its own initiatives through symposia, fora and
other activities, harnessing the knowledge and experiences of local SD
experts to amplify the voices and perspectives of the poor, marginalized,
and disadvantaged sectors in the development arena. And recognizing the
challenges of studying other SD issues, especially in these unsettling times

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of climate change, worsening mass poverty, violence, and authoritarian

governance, future DSD students can take on these challenges to generate
new research studies to sustain the relevance of SD as an academic discipline.

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114
Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)

in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda
Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo, Ph.D.

How can women in poverty, as well as other vulnerable groups, realize their
aspirations for a life of dignity and prosperity within the framework of the 2030
Development Agenda given the persistent poverty, extreme inequality, recurring
financial and food crises, climate change and its disastrous impacts gripping the
world today? One pathway being tried out in many places is Social and Solidarity
Economy (SSE). As defined by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on SSE,
this “refers to the production of goods and services by a broad range of organizations
and enterprises that have explicit social and often environmental objectives, and are
guided by principles and practices of cooperation, solidarity, equity and democratic
self-management” (UNTFSSE, 2014:1). SSEs, however, may not necessarily be
supportive of women’s empowerment. This paper, therefore, aims to explore
this dilemma by attempting to answer the following question: Do SSE initiatives
documented in existing case studies within Asia, particularly in the Philippines and
other ASEAN member countries, consciously pursue the SDG on gender equality
as they aspire to realize other SDG goals? Its objectives include: 1) To examine the
relationship between SSEs and the achievement of SDG goal number 5 on gender
equality in available case studies from the region; 2) To surface gains and gaps in
these initiatives by employing SDG and SSE evaluation criteria; and 3) To make
recommendations for future action based on insights culled from the research.

Key Words: sustainable development goals, social and solidarity economy,

gender equality, women’s empowerment, SSE initiatives

Introduction

“Let no one be left behind.” This is the fearless premise and promise
of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda being pursued globally
amidst the persistent poverty, extreme inequality, recurring financial and
food crises, climate change and its disastrous impacts gripping the world
today.

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Although extreme poverty defined as surviving below USD1.90 a

day went down to 10% in 2015, almost half (45%) of the world population
are still poor, meaning they are living below USD5.50 a day (World Bank,
2018). “Inequality is keeping people trapped in poverty,” (Oxfam, 2019) as
the number of billionaires has grown in tandem with their wealth since the
global financial crisis struck the globe 10 years ago and caused enormous
suffering among mostly ordinary folk who belong to the 99%. In 2018,
26 super-rich people owned an amount of wealth equivalent to that of the
poorest half of humanity. Hunger is on the increase, affecting 851 million
or one out of nine people, and stunting the growth of 150 million children
(WHO, 2018).

Climate change and the “extreme weather events” it generates

have wreaked havoc on food security and the quality of life of vulnerable
populations. According to one report, “2018 saw unprecedented
heatwaves, storms and floods across the globe, and global greenhouse
gas emissions continued to grow last year, with the current concentration
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the highest it has been in 3 million
years” (UNFCCC, 2019). Yet climate action is lagging far behind what
is necessary to stem the already alarming level of global warming,
reflecting “environmental policy failure” on the part of many governments
(UNFCCC, 2019).

These intractable and overlapping problems have been widely

attributed to a flawed development model based solely on the profit motive
(Utting, 2015). The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which
include SDG no. 5 on gender equality, are in themselves responses seeking
to correct, if not transform, an increasingly unacceptable world order
perceived to be bringing the whole of humanity to the brink of destruction,
if not extinction. However, since the SDGs are in themselves results of
negotiations between and among governments, business interests, civil
society organizations, and other stakeholders, they can be both limiting
and liberating depending on how forces for positive change can critically
engage in the complex processes of SDG implementation.

In a world where almost half (48.5%) of all women—those who

are not in the labor force (ILO, 2018)—are being left behind by the engine
of dizzying growth and technological change that aggravates existing
forms of inequality even more, the challenge of including and empowering
them and other marginalized groups is an awesome one. Given the 2030
Development Agenda, which has provided a sense of hope and direction
despite its limitations, how can women in poverty, as well as other vulnerable

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Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

groups, take advantage of its existence and assumed implementation to

realize their aspirations for a life of dignity and prosperity in a crises-ridden
world?

One pathway being tried out in many places is Social and Solidarity
Economy (SSE), part of a concerted effort to search for and apply in practice
people- and planet-centered alternatives that are inclusive and sustainable.
For women in particular, however, such alternatives must also address their
most urgent issues and lead to their empowerment.

As defined by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on

Social and Solidarity Economy, SSE “refers to the production of goods
and services by a broad range of organizations and enterprises that have
explicit social and often environmental objectives, and are guided by
principles and practices of cooperation, solidarity, equity and democratic
self-management” (UNTFSSE, 2014, p. 1). Social protection and equality
are central to building this form of economy. As explained by a leading
SSE proponent within the UN system, “The SSE movement that is growing
worldwide is attempting to reassert social control over the economy by
prioritizing social objectives above profit maximization, recognizing the
key role of collective action and active citizenship for both economic
and political empowerment of disadvantaged groups in society, and
reintroducing notions of ethics, sharing, equity and democracy in economic
activity” (Utting, 2015, p. 1).

As further described by a Filipino proponent, SSE has five

important dimensions which may be used for assessing existing models:
1) socially responsible governance; 2) edifying values; 3) products and
services for social development; 4) environmental conservation measures;
and 5) economic sustainability (Quiñones, 2014).

But as borne out by evidence obtained from SSE organizations

such as cooperatives, which will be presented later in this paper, these are
not necessarily supportive of women’s empowerment. This paper, therefore,
aims to explore this dilemma by attempting to answer the following
question: Do SSE initiatives documented in existing case studies within
Asia, particularly in the Philippines and other ASEAN member countries,
consciously pursue the SDG on gender equality as they aspire to realize
other SDGs?

Its objectives include: 1) To examine the relationship between

SSEs and the achievement of SDG no. 5 on gender equality in available

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case studies from the region; 2) To surface gains and gaps in these
initiatives by employing SDG and SSE evaluation criteria; and 3) To make
recommendations for future action based on insights culled from the
research.

SSE and SDG 5 on Gender Equality

According to SSE advocates, SSEs can be instrumental in

achieving the 2030 Development Agenda by addressing many Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) (UNTFSSE, 2014). With respect to SDG
no. 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” SSE
initiatives can be relevant to the following specific targets:

5.4. Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through
the provision of public services, infrastructure and social
protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility
within the household and family...

5.5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal

opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in
political, economic, and public life.

5.6. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic

resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land,
other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural
resources, in accordance with national laws.

SSEs include “cooperatives, mutual and self-help groups,

community-based organizations managing forests and other common
pool resources, fair trade networks, associations of informal economy
workers, and new forms of social enterprise” (Utting, 2015, p. 1). Many,
if not most, members of SSEs are women. Many SSEs are led by women
who have been empowered by organizing and capacity building processes
common among SSEs. The pursuit of gender equality goals within SSEs
thereby becomes stronger and more visible, inviting increased attention
to the need to address the unequal gender division of labor. Within
this context, a major finding is that women do much more unpaid care
work than men, which prevents them from spending time and focusing
effectively on their productive work in SSE initiatives (IDS, IDRC, Oxfam,
2016).

Aside from transforming the gender division of labor, the other

strategic need of women which has to be addressed in an SSE context is
for them to be empowered enough to participate meaningfully in both

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economic and political decision-making. Initially, this can be at the

enterprise, household, and community levels, but eventually, this can
extend all the way to national, regional, and global levels.

The above assertions are supported by a recently conducted study

on women in cooperatives by the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). The study showed
that there had been progress in terms of increasing numbers of women-
owned cooperatives and women’s membership in cooperatives. However,
according to respondents in this same study, women comprised less than
50% of the governing boards and of the management positions. Fifty percent
of these respondents also claimed that there had never been any training
or awareness-raising session on gender issues (Schincariol McMurtry &
McMurtry, 2015, pp. 14-16). Thus, it seems that a lot of challenges still
remain in the journey of cooperatives towards gender equality and women’s
empowerment.

Women’s Enduring Issues: Unpaid Care Work and Informal

Employment

Solidarity economy as a pathway to make change work for women

acquires urgency given existing constraints to gender equality and women’s
empowerment.

UN Women has recently provided global data on the situation of

women specific to particular SDGs. According to a document released in
2018, the proportion of women living in extreme poverty is higher than that
of men: 122:100. More than 30% of income inequality is due to inequality
within the household, particularly that between women and men. More
women (11%) report suffering from food insecurity compared to men.
Only 13% of agricultural landholders are women. There are 15 million girls
who will not be able to read or write compared to ten million boys. During
disasters, women and girls are 14 times more likely to die (UN Women,
2018, pp. 6-7).

Data on unpaid care work show that globally, women and girls,
especially those in poverty, shoulder a disproportionate burden compared
to men and boys. They spend 2.6 times more time on such work (UN
Women, 2018, pp. 6-7). The gender division of labor has proven to be a well-
entrenched and widely observable reality, with cultural norms dictating
that women take on tasks necessary to maintain domestic life and keep

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households running in the reproductive sphere. Men, on the other hand,

play the role of breadwinner doing remunerated work in the productive
sphere, and wield visible power in public life.

Because women are largely tied to the home, the value of their
reproductive work is statistically invisible because it is generally not
reflected in the National System of Accounts. Many of them are classified
as “housewives” and considered not in the labor force, meaning that they
are not considered economically active. Globally, 48 women out of 100
are in the labor force, compared to 75 out of 100 men (ILO, 2018: Table
1, p. 7). For many of those not in the labor force, the time they spend on
doing unpaid care work leaves them no opportunity to engage in work
that earns a clear and visible income. This phenomenon, called “time
poverty,” is more apparent among grassroots women in rural and urban
poor areas, who have no access to basic utilities and social services, and
who cannot afford hired help or labor-saving devices. Such deprivation
can have harmful effects on health and even on life itself. According to
global data released by UN Women, 80% of household water collection,
which can be very time-consuming and back-breaking, is done by women
and girls. Inefficient stoves using combustible fuel within households and
resulting in harmful indoor pollution claimed 4.3 million lives in 2012,
60% of whom were those of women and girls (UN Women, 2018:6-7).

Grassroots women who are able to engage in productive work,

despite their reproductive burden, are found mostly among the working
poor in the informal economy in both urban and rural areas. Among their
ranks are home-based workers and store owners, vendors, small farmers
and fisher folk, unpaid or contributing family workers in household
farms and micro-enterprises, waste recyclers, domestic and other service
workers doing laundry, massage, hair and nail care, etc. They do work that
are compatible with or akin to reproductive work, and since this work is
considered secondary or supplemental to the productive work that men
do, the pay is usually dismally low, working conditions are substandard,
and social protection is lacking or completely absent.

Many women who are employed are in the bottom rungs of the
formal economy. Their vulnerable and unprotected situation magnifies
the issues emanating from their dual status as women and as workers
deprived of rights and benefits enjoyed by men and by those who are in
formal employment.

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Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

The scale of informal employment and non-realization of rights

resulting from this has given rise to the global discourse on transitioning
from the informal to the formal economy embodied in the 2014 report
of the International Labour Conference. In the transitioning document,
solidarity economy is identified as an important component of informal
employment and as a strategy for facilitating formalization (ILO, 2014).
In other words, it is seen as a pathway towards more and better work
that is recognized and protected, that is productive yet sustainable, that
pays more, that is more regular, that is more marketable, and can provide
flexibility in meeting family responsibilities while maintaining work-life
balance (Pineda Ofreneo, 2014).

Decades of discussion regarding the unequal gender division

of labor have not made a sizeable reduction in the obviously intractable
burden of unpaid care work for both housewives and women and the
informal economy. This has led to an increasing resolve to systematically
address the issue as articulated in SDG no. 5. The three Rs responding
to unpaid care work—recognition, reduction, and redistribution—have
captured the imagination of gender advocates in many countries. The care
diamond, which places responsibilities not only on households, but also
on the state, the market, and civil society organizations, provides a base for
advocating change among all these actors.

But since gender equality is a human right, the state is considered

to be the principal duty bearer, primarily accountable for respecting,
protecting, and fulfilling this right. The state, therefore, is expected to
recognize unpaid care work by including it in the National System of
Accounts. It is tasked to provide basic utilities such as water and electricity
to reduce unpaid care work devoted to fetching water and gathering fuel
sources. It is mandated to extend accessible and affordable public and social
services such as child and elderly care, health care, community kitchens,
laundry stations, transportation facilities, education, decent housing, etc.,
that will also reduce the time spent by household members, especially
women and girls, in taking care of the young, the old, and the sick, in
preparing food and cleaning clothes, in marketing and taking/fetching
children to and from school, etc. By taking on these obligations, the state
will not only reduce unpaid care work but also help in redistributing it.

Redistribution may occur at the initiative not only of the state but
of the various actors in the care diamond as well. At the household level,
more men and boys can have a bigger and more equitable share of unpaid

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care work. Women and girls can facilitate this change if they become more
conscious of the need to transform the gender division of labor through
awareness-raising done in school, through media, and women’s movement
advocacy. SSE initiatives of community-based groups and other civil
society organizations can lead in similar awareness-raising activities to
enable women to participate more actively in economic ventures as well
as take on community leadership positions. Market-based production
activities can have built-in child care mechanisms such as lactating stations
for mothers and play stations for young children.

Case Studies of SSE Initiatives

Do existing SSE initiatives consciously pursue the SDG on gender

equality as they aspire to realize other SDG goals as well as the five
dimensions of social and solidarity economy?

Four case studies presented during the ASEAN SSE Dialogue held
in Quezon City in November 2017 under the sponsorship of the Asian
Solidarity Economy Council (ASEC) show mixed results illustrating
both gains and gaps. Two of these case studies focus on the rural poor
in agricultural communities: one on the Orang Asli indigenous people in
Malaysia, and the other on Prayatna Samiti self-help groups in Rajastnan,
India. The other two case studies are on the working poor in the informal
economy: one on the Homenet Thailand Association, and the other on the
PATAMABA in the Philippines, which the author updated through field
interviews in March 2019.

These case studies were selected because they consciously employed

SSE and SDG evaluation criteria, although only the first two (Orang Asli
and Prayatna Samiti) may be considered pure SSE organizations. The other
two (Homenet Thailand Association and PATAMABA Philippines) have
larger advocacy concerns, programs, and services but have subgroups
focusing on SSE initiatives and goals. Although these case studies were
already analyzed in terms of SSE and SDG evaluation criteria, the
relationships with the SDG of gender equality have not yet been traced,
and the possibility of teasing this out from existing and updated data
presented itself as a subject for further exploration. And in the Malaysian
case study, how the additional factor of ethnicity in the Orang Asli group
influenced both SSE and gender equality goals seemed to be an important
concern that could be highlighted. Last but not least, the subjects of these
case studies are found in developing countries in Asia, where the enduring
issues of women (low labor force participation rate, employment mostly in

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the informal economy, and disproportionate share of unpaid care work)

are striking.

For example, in India, only 27 out of 100 women are in the labor
force; in the Philippines, 50; in Malaysia, 51; and in Thailand, 60 (World
Bank, 2018). A recent ILO report reveals that women do 4.1 times more
unpaid care work than men in Asia and the Pacific; in India, in particular,
women spend 297 minutes per day on unpaid care work, while men spend
only a little over 10% of that time with just 31 minutes; and in Thailand,
women spend 173 minutes compared to men’s 56 minutes (not even one-
third) (ILO, 2018). According to the Household Care Survey conducted in
Mindanao with 410 respondents, women reported averaging 10.6 hours of
care work a day, while men reported only 3.6 hours (Kidder, Mapandi, &
Ortega, 2014, p. 508).

Regional data on South and East Asia show that around 60% of
those who work in the non-agricultural sector are in informal employment,
with the range being from 42% in Thailand to 84% in India (ILO, 2014, p.
12). The most recent ILO report reveals that on average, in the Asia-Pacific
region, more than 58% of total employed are in the informal economy
(ILO, 2018). In the Philippines, one credible source claims that more than
80% (33 million out of 40.7 million) of employed workers are informal
(PIDS, 2018). More than 95% of women in South Asia, which includes
India, are in informal employment.

Orang Asli organic vegetable farm in Malaysia

The Yayasan Kajian dan Pembangunan Masyarakat (YKPM,

Malaysia) set up an organic vegetable farm in 2015 among the Orang Asli
indigenous people. According to the author of the case study, “it is primarily
designed to give hope in the face of helplessness…(as) current income and
food sources are being destroyed by a diminishing forest and an imposed
cash economy. The farm enterprise is designed to improve their incomes
by three fold and to strengthen their leadership through a SSE community
enterprise” (Kon, 2017, p. 1). The long-term aim is to provide inspiration
to other Orang Asli groups and make them believe in their capacity to
enhance and transform their livelihoods and communities.

The organizers found that it was taking more time to develop

leaders “of vision, integrity, and discipline…who will inspire hope and
motivate others to move forward” (Kon, 2017, p. 2). With respect to the
SSE dimension of “socially responsible governance,” they had to contend

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with traditional cultural structures. Thus, although the collective farm is

formally managed by a committee of four (two men and two women),
it is “under a larger oversight of the traditional leadership of the village
council” consisting entirely of men (Kon, 2017, p. 2).

The business model based on collective ownership of the farm

and sharing of profits and benefits, was built on traditional values within
the Orang Asli community. These seem to be consistent with the SSE
dimension of “edifying values.” The aim was for the farm to capture
60% of the retail price, and an additional 10% for the community chest.
Aside from the value of sharing, other values which the model sought to
develop in the daily work routine of the members include cooperation,
accountability, integrity, and discipline. However, majority of the original
members dropped out because they could not adjust to the group and to
the routine.

With regard to the SSE dimension of “social development,”

there are gains for the members such as access to land and capital, the
creation of jobs and a fair market, an increase in incomes, and acquisition
of organic farming and management skills. Hunger is addressed when
villagers gain access to second grade vegetables which they can take home
and eat. The non-use of chemicals is consistent with the SSE dimension of
“environmental conservation” but the “economic sustainability” dimension
remains a challenge that has to be addressed through stronger partnership
among the community leadership, fair markets, and civil society to upscale
farm production, reduce dependence on subsidies, and build self-reliance.

Prayatna Samiti in India

A contrasting model is that of Prayatna Samiti, a voluntary

organization founded in 1989 to facilitate the development of poor rural
communities in Udaipur district of the Rajasthan state of India. The
organization “believes in the collective strength of communities to achieve a
just society, free of exploitative forces” and promotes “self-empowerment…
among marginal farmers and rural labourers by developing institutional
structures, management capacity, and leadership abilities” (Prayatna
Samiti, 2017: 1). It works in 120 villages with more than 50,000 people
who have very little formal education.

Prayatna Samiti has focused on engaging women directly in

development work, considering their participation crucial to livelihood

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improvement. There are 220 self-help groups (SHGs) aiming to empower

women and reap collective economic gains recognized by the larger society.
Girls’ education and enrollment in schools are promoted and facilitated.
Women’s community leadership roles are continually honed through
capacity building. Campaigns against gender-based violence have been
mounted.

The SHGs comprise the basic form of SSE aimed at developing

sustainable livelihood and community resilience. A revolving fund accessed
through “intraloaning” among the SHGs enables women members to
acquire inputs and assets such as land, seeds, cows, goats, animal shelters,
etc. Seventy-five social enterprises managed by local people have emerged
from SHG lending; other economic activities have increased household
capital. Small loans have been used for developing nurseries, vegetable
gardens, crop seed production, dairy and goat-raising, while large ones
have gone to building groceries and purchasing transportation facilities.
Business development training has accompanied lending mechanisms.

Prayatna Samiti has also considered women’s participation as

crucial in pursuing SDG no. 2 on ending hunger, achieving food security,
improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Women are
in charge of raising minor millets to improve calorie and protein intake,
and increase community food consumption especially among women and
girls. They have created grain banks and nutrition gardens following good
agricultural practices.

The pursuit of other SDGs through Prayatna Samiti activities

contribute indirectly to gender equality. The revival and development
of wells, and the availability of potable water in or near households not
only address SDG no. 6 on clean water and sanitation but also have the
effect of reducing unpaid care work of women and girls in fetching water.
Similarly, the use of more efficient and environmentally-friendly stoves not
only leads to the mitigation of climate change (SDG no. 13); it also makes
cooking healthier, faster, and cheaper, thereby facilitating women’s work
and contributing to achieving SDG no. 7 on clean and affordable energy.
Self-help groups have been capacitated and mobilized in a participatory
way to identify risks and to engage in climate change adaptation through
livelihood practices such as procuring stronger seeds, better breed of goats,
improved animal shelter, land leveling, and mixed cropping, among others.

Using the SSE dimensions in assessing Prayatna Samiti, it is

clearly striving to achieve SSE status, seeing it as the key to sustainability

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and resilience. The organization’s structures encourage participation and

comply with the requisites of the SSE dimension of socially responsible
governance, while its principles are consistent with the SSE dimension of
edifying values. Achievements in social development are palpable, and the
climate change mitigation and adaptation activities are consistent with the
SSE dimension of environmental conservation. The SHGs and the social
enterprises that have emerged from them provide a viable pathway towards
the SSE dimension of economic sustainability.

Homenet Thailand Association

This association is a membership-based organization of home-

based workers from northern, northeastern, southern, and central
regions of Thailand, including Bangkok. It consists of women producer
groups engaged in food, handicraft, and agricultural production. These
groups cater to local, city, or foreign markets, depending on the scale
of their operations. They are now challenged by stiff competition from
cheaper products, which has led to uncertain income and livelihood. In
response, they plan to form a social enterprise with support from the
Rockefeller Foundation so they can network among themselves, develop
their products, and improve their marketing. This plan is based on an
SSE framework which includes members’ ownership and participation,
adherence to fair trade principles, employment of vulnerable groups
(women workers, persons with disability, older persons), facilitating access
to social protection, and production of healthy, safe, and environmentally
friendly food and other products.

Homenet Thailand claims that it promotes socially responsible

and social mission-oriented governance not only in the association of
home-based workers but also in the Garments and Leatherwear Producers
Cooperative, and the network of domestic workers (foreign and Thai) it
helped organize. This is also in accordance with SDG no. 16 on building
strong institutions. Homenet Thailand also brings to life edifying values
such as solidarity with and assistance to vulnerable groups, while also
pursuing SDG no. 1 on ending poverty.

Homenet Thailand’s services that enhance social development

include marketing products based on fair trade principles, employment of
vulnerable groups, facilitating access to social welfare schemes, conducting
workshops on occupational safety and health, as well as successful
campaigns for health care for foreign domestic workers, and extending
social security to informal workers. This is also in pursuit of SDG no. 3 on

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health and well-being, and SDG no. 10 on reducing inequalities. Regarding

environmental conservation, Homenet Thailand is proud of its promotion
of healthy organic food, support for women farmers to produce organic rice,
and use of natural dyes in woven material. Economic sustainability is still a
challenge but in developing this SSE dimension, Homenet Thailand is also
pursuing SDG no. 8 on decent work and SDG no. 15 on building the capacity
of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities.

There is no mention of gender equality and women’s empowerment

in the Homenet Thailand case study but the concern for women workers is
made visible in the practical sphere of organizing where they are the most
numerous and hold leadership positions.

PATAMABA (National Network of Informal Workers in the Philippines)

In the Philippines, a women-organized national network of

informal workers called PATAMABA has 20,000 plus members spread over
eight regions and 34 provinces.

Although PATAMABA has many other examples of SSE initiatives,

this particular case study focuses on PATAMABA found in two coastal
barangays highly susceptible to flooding, namely, San Vicente and Kalayaan,
as well as in the upland barangay of Mahabang Parang, an agricultural area.
The Kalayaan sub-chapter was established in 1992; San Vicente followed
in 1995, and in 2015, the Mahabang Parang sub-chapter was organized as
a result of the Child Labor Program that PATAMABA implemented with
the support of the Department of Labor and Employment. In the early
‘90s, majority of the women members were involved as subcontracted
homeworkers in smocking and embroidery for the export market. Eventually,
when demand for smocking declined and now is almost exclusively catering
to the domestic market, other livelihood activities were explored.

The PATAMABA Rizal governance and advocacy framework has

the following components: social security and insurance, protection of/at
workplaces and social justice, human development, asset reform (particularly
on land and housing), participation and recognition of informal workers,
employment and enterprise building (SHAPE). Recurrent and worsening
experiences of flooding have also pushed PATAMABA members to address
their vulnerability through disaster risk reduction and management
(DRRM) training and practice.

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PATAMABA Rizal also highlights gender concerns in its work,

holding workshops on gender and development (GAD), conducting para-
legal training concerning violence against women and children (VAWC),
and coming to the aid of VAWC survivors. A good example is that of a
PATAMABA member who was once a battered woman but who later was
able to send her husband to prison. Since she acquired new livelihood skills,
she was able to support her family. She also learned about the anti-VAWC
law through the organization. A recent group interview conducted with
PATAMABA leaders revealed plans of the municipality to reserve space
for a Women’s Crisis Center as well as a child care facility in a common
building which is also used for production by the various clusters (Parilla,
Nacario, Torres, Amano, & Aquino, 2019). This initiative is the result of
advocacy by the GAD Focal Point, where a PATAMABA leader sits.

PATAMABA members also became leaders in a social housing

program in Angono. The 216-strong PATAMABA Housing Association
now enjoys a stable and accessible supply of water and electricity from
service providers. They have worked to achieve this vast improvement
since the time when water was being rationed and electricity had to be
bought through sub-meters. They have also promoted the development of
urban gardens for food security in the area.

Angono producers are organized under the PATAMABA-WISE

(Workers in the Informal Sector Enterprise) which is the economic arm
of PATAMABA Rizal. It was registered with the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) and the municipal government of Angono. It began
with 29 members contributing Php200 each in 2009, and since then has
expanded to 238 (overwhelmingly women, with less than 10 men).

Angono, being one of the 1,233 poorest municipalities in the

Philippines, was covered by the Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) program.
The Angono BUB is spearheaded by the Local Poverty Reduction Action
Team (LPRAT) composed of 28 members (14 from government and 14
civil society organizations or CSOs) chaired by the Mayor and co-chaired
by Josephine “Olive" Parilla of PATAMABA WISE. LPRAT is mandated
to facilitate the drafting, finalization, and approval of the Local Poverty
Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) of the municipality primarily identified
by the CSOs .

The BUB has its own project management team under the Local
Poverty Reduction Action Office (LPRAO) which handles the day-to-day
operations of the livelihood projects. There are production clusters (on

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rag making, doormat making, sewing curtains and bed linens, homecare
products, accessories, box and picture-frame making made of water lily
and recycled Ilocano cloth) mostly headed by PATAMABA WISE leaders
who are compensated by the municipality with a small monthly allowance
amounting to Php2,000. The cluster heads supplement this allowance
by also engaging in production paid through piece rates agreed upon
collectively. The main buyers are the employees of the municipality and
nearby communities, but some of the products are also bought through
the Homenet Producers Cooperative and DTI (Department of Trade and
Industry)-facilitated bazaars and mall displays.

PATAMABA’s participation in local governance facilitates access to

state funding, resources, and support services. It helps that the Angono
Municipality, which has won the Seal of Good Local Governance for three
consecutive years, is committed to the BUB project process under its Local
Economy Program even after the exit of the Aquino government and BUB’s
renaming into Assistance to Disadvantaged Municipalities (ADM) and
now to just Assistance to Municipalities (AM). However, with the recently
concluded elections, continuity is dependent on whether or not the winner
of the mayoralty race will be just as supportive. Nevertheless, PATAMABA
WISE is confident their production clusters can survive with or without
government support, since many of these clusters had been in existence
even before the BUB project started (Parilla, Nacario, Torres, Amano, &
Aquino, 2019).

PATAMABA also has had a good experience relating with the

private sector. For example, PATAMABA WISE forged an agreement with
Lafarge Holcim cement factory to use the latter’s waste materials to produce
higantitos souvenirs which the Angono municipality used as giveaways to
guests. Production, however, has stopped pending payment of receivables
from the Municipality (Parilla, Nacario, Torres, Amano, & Aquino, 2019).

Relations with the academe have developed through the years.

For example, the Department of Women and Development Studies of
the University of the Philippines College of Social Work and Community
Development (UP CSWCD) has fielded practicum students in the area
since the early 2000s, with partnerships forged in gender awareness
training and GAD planning, organizational development, implementation
of the anti-VAWC law, sexuality education for youth and older persons,
feminist leadership, and social marketing. The Ateneo de Manila University
engagement with PATAMABA Angono began with DRRM training, and is
now moving on to youth-focused skills training in livelihood development,

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starting with the production of decorative boxes.

PATAMABA is a membership-based organization adhering
to democratic principles. As explained in the case study, “it employs
participatory governance in the management and operation of livelihood
projects. The members own and govern their business because they are
not mere members of the organization, but they are also the investors who
are themselves involved in the production, marketing and management
of their business” (Royandoyan, 2017:5). Opportunities for members to
develop themselves are implied in the statement of its President, Josephine
Parilla: “In participatory leadership, I want everyone to shine, not just the
leader” (Royandoyan, 2017, p. 6).

What holds the organization together is not the experience of

increased incomes, which at best remains supplementary but a sense
of solidarity and belongingness which are the values the members hold
dear. Members know that they can rely on each other for mutual aid
during critical times. They also put to life the traditional Filipino value of
tangkilikan, which is important for SSE success. Parilla explains tangkilikan
in this manner: “We produce, we sell and buy our own products. In return
we provide our members the opportunity to earn. The more the members
sell and buy, the more they earn” (Royandoyan, 2017, p. 6).

PATAMABA has contributed a lot to social development by

ensuring that their products first of all address community needs. It
provides fair compensation, encouraging incentives for product patronage,
and flexible working conditions to women who also have to contend with
child care and other family responsibilities. When they were working
together in a common production center, producers made sure that space
was reserved for children to play in. Surplus is plowed back to the members
in the form of mutual aid and educational funds. Members benefit from
awareness-raising on gender sensitivity and GAD, the Magna Carta of
Women, the Reproductive Health law, the Kasambahay law, Exclusive and
Continued Breastfeeding (ECBF), among others. Some have also undergone
certificate courses on dressmaking, welding, and solar energy provision
through cooperation with the Technical and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA). These courses opened up better employment opportunities for
the certificate holders through the PESO (Public Employment Office) and
CTLO (Community Training and Livelihood Office) of the Municipality of
Angono.

PATAMABA’s production processes also exhibit a concern for

the environment. Home care products are biodegradable. Findings of the

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Bureau of Product Standards of the Department of Trade and Industry show

that WISE powdered laundry detergent soap and liquid dishwashing soap
have no hazardous chemical content. These are high-quality, community-
based products. BUB home care products are made of coconut and sodium
sulfate, and are safe for watering plants. Rags and doormats use recycled
waste materials from nearby factories, and picture frames are made of water
lily from the lake.

PATAMABA leaders, however, admit that they still have a long way to
go before they achieve economic sustainability. They still rely on grants, and
need to move towards self-reliance and better marketing through product
development and wider networking. They have had productive relations
with national agencies, local government units, women’s organizations,
and academic institutions such as the Ateneo de Manila University and the
UP CSWCD. Over time, and with the support of allies, they hope to truly
achieve full SSE status.

Insights from the Case Studies

The four case studies have contrasting features which bring out the
strengths and weaknesses of these organizations, as well as their possibilities
and limitations in terms of developing the five dimensions of SSEs, and
pursuing various SDGs, particularly SDG no. 5 on gender equality and
women’s empowerment.

The first case study on the Orang Asli organic farm in Malaysia
shows at the micro-level how gender, resource status, and ethnicity intersect
to influence results. The farm has the potential of exemplifying a model
which can provide sustainable livelihood as well as inspire hope in an
indigenous community undergoing a challenging, if not painful transition.
The model is project-based and emanates from an external NGO which
is trying to build a strong governance structure anchored on traditional
community leadership. The project claims success in building unity through
good governance mechanisms in the farm management committee and
strengthening the village council leadership, which however remains all
male. An unresolved issue, therefore, in terms of gender equality is women’s
inclusion in the community leadership. How this can be addressed is still
an unanswered question.

Although the project has had concrete gains since its founding in
2015, in terms of increasing income, developing fair trade mechanisms,
and networking with supporting institutions, it still has to be completely

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owned by the community and build a core of farm worker leaders with
management and leadership capabilities to steer it towards self-reliance.
For the group, SSE is not yet a reality but an aspiration partially fulfilled.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment within the indigenous
community are not yet consciously pursued.

The second case study on Prayatna Samiti in rural India has had
more than a quarter century of experience and has focused on empowering
women through self-help groups (SHGs) and social enterprises born from
these SHGs. Women’s gains are concrete in terms of increased incomes,
more and healthier food, access to water, efficient and environmentally
friendly cooking stoves, accumulation of assets and household capital, and
participation in planning and implementation of programs. Education of
girls as well as gender-based violence are concerns that are also addressed.
Prayatna Samiti has moved ahead in terms of the five dimensions of SSEs
and the pursuit of the SDG on gender equality and other related SDGs.
Unpaid care work is assumed to have been reduced through access to water
and better stoves. However, redistribution of this kind of work through a
fairer gender division of labor within the household remains a question for
further research.

Homenet Thailand, which was founded in the early ‘90s, believes

in the primacy of democratic and membership-based organizations. These
include informal workers and other vulnerable groups as the key actors
ready to work with other stakeholders in the community. Homenet is
an SSE proponent, organizing producer groups, cooperatives, and social
enterprises. It operates within the framework of providing informal
workers legal and social protection based on decent work principles and
ILO-recommended strategies towards transitioning from informality
to formality. Its current concerns are ensuring product quality and
development, sustained networking for marketing, SSE promotion and
advocacy. In this endeavor, it aims to improve, expand, develop, upgrade,
and upscale its current SSE initiatives while plowing back greater benefits
to people and the environment. It is ready to advocate for policy reforms
and state support, and converge with potential allies to ensure sustainability
and resilience.

Although most of Homenet’s members are women, being mostly

home-based and domestic workers, gender equality is not clearly articulated
as a goal, although in practice it may indirectly be partially addressed. The
gender division of labor and the resultant unpaid care work of women and
girls are not yet problematized as significant barriers to the empowerment

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of workers in the informal economy, many of whom are women.

PATAMABA is a well-established people’s organization founded

in 1989, run and managed by home-based and other informal worker
leaders. Although it shares Homenet Thailand’s concerns with regard to
the realization of decent work for workers in the informal economy, it
is also engaged in promoting women’s economic, social, political, and
reproductive rights, as well as in preventing and addressing gender-based
violence. Accessing water and electricity in the social housing program
led by PATAMABA has the effect of reducing unpaid care work. Gender
awareness sessions have also borne fruit, albeit slowly. An estimated 30%
of men in member households are said to be already engaging in child care
and domestic work (Parilla, Nacario, Torres, Amano, & Aquino, 2019).

The experience of PATAMABA WISE in cluster-based production

with local government support can serve as a model of SSE initiatives using
a multi-stakeholder approach. Aside from adhering to the principles of a
democratic, transparent, and inclusive membership-based organization in
the tradition of socially responsible and mission-oriented governance, it also
believes in sharing responsibilities with other stakeholders, and accessing
resources from the state, the private sector, the academe, and CSOs.

Aside from addressing the primary economic needs of the

community, PATAMABA engages in recycling, environmental safety
and conservation measures connected to disaster risk reduction and
management, and climate change adaptation. Through awareness-raising
and capability building activities, it instills edifying values such as solidarity,
damayan (mutual aid), and tangkilikan (supporting each other’s products).
Production and community-based activities of PATAMABA have given
visibility and prominence to its women members who have stepped up to the
challenge as empowered leaders whose private and public lives increasingly
show manifestations of gender equality.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Although there are clear gains, there are also gaps which need to
be addressed, as the four case studies show. When women and girls are
specifically named and targeted for organizing, awareness raising and
capability building, strong empowerment results, impacts, and outcomes
ensue. These empowering processes have to be inclusive and sensitive to
many intersecting as well as differentiating factors aside from gender, among
them poverty, informality, ethnicity, age, educational attainment, disability,

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and citizenship (in the case of migrants).

Even so, more attention needs to be paid to the intractable issue

of unpaid care work, and an unfair gender division of labor which saddles
women and girls with multiple burdens and prevents them from fruitfully
engaging in productive work, participating in community activities, and
taking on leadership roles in local governance and beyond. SSEs can offer
women more and better jobs approaching decent work standards but they
can do more in terms of recognizing, reducing, and redistributing unpaid
care work in a consistent and systematic fashion.

SSEs can advocate for “better provision of essential services,

including care services; more investment in time-labor saving equipment
and infrastructure services; more investment in initiatives to shift
perceptions, norms, and gender roles about care” (IDS, IDRC, & Oxfam,
2016, p. 4). Many case studies around the globe show that these policies
and practices are effective in laying down the requisites for the economic
empowerment of women and girls.

On the whole, and as pointed out in a dissertation employing

case studies focused on gender and solidarity economy in the Philippines,
women and men must be able to share power and decision-making
not only in SSE organizations but also in the household and the larger
community, including in local government and beyond (Verceles, 2014,
pp. 53-65). Coming from a disadvantaged position, women through SSEs
must gain greater access to and control over resources as well as legal and
social protection, and have greater visibility and voice not only as members
but also as leaders.

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Schincariol McMurtry, L. & McMurtry, J. J. (2015). Advancing gender equality: The

co-operative way. ILO/ICA, Geneva. Retrieved March 2, 2018 from http://
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documents/publication/wcms_379095.pdf
United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy
(UNTFSSE). (2014). Social and Solidarity Economy and the challenge of
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uploads/2014/08/Position-Paper_TFSSE_Eng1.pdf
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Position-Paper-SSE-and-SDGs_UNTFSSE.pdf
UN Women (2018). Turning promises into action. Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/
digital-library/sdg-report
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impacts top WEF’s 2019 List of Risks. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/
news/climate-impacts-top-wef-s-2019-list-of-risks
Utting, P. (2015). Realizing the 2030 Development Agenda through Social and Solidarity
Economy. Retrieved March 2, 2018 from https://www.who.int/news-
room/detail/11-09-2018-global-hunger-continues-to-rise---new-un-
report-says
World Bank. (2018). Nearly half the world lives on less than $5.50 a day. Retrieved from
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/17/nearly-
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indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS

Interviews
Parilla, J., Nacario, E., Torres, I., Amano, N., & Aquino, E. (2019). Group interview
conducted by the author, March 31, 2019. Barangay San Vicente
Municipal Council Hall, Angono, Rizal.

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:

Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

Redento B. Recio, Ph.D.

In many Global South cities, informal hawkers occupy public spaces to earn a
living. They often face eviction, resulting in uncertain income and insecure access to
workplaces. Inevitably, many vendors nurture a clientelist link with political brokers
to cope with their precarious street life. In some cases, vendor groups engage with
state agencies to resist eviction and push for social inclusionary policies. While the
informal vending literature has examined the strategies and outcomes of various
state-vendor relationships, there has been scant scholarly account on the role of
intermediaries in the engagement channels. In this paper, I ask: How do grassroots
intermediaries facilitate and sustain engagement channels between street vendors
and state actors? What role/s do they play in the engagement practices? I draw on
the experience of Baclaran hawkers to demonstrate how grassroots intermediaries
perform four functions: a) conduit to power structures; b) instrument of control;
c) facilitator of social dialogues; and d) channel for policy advocacy. I argue that
these critical roles reinforce grassroots democratic entanglements where collective
action practices contain progressive and regressive democratic elements as well as
conflicting motives or routines in a context of acute inequality and informality.

Key Words: urban informal economy, Baclaran hawkers, grassroots

intermediaries, grassroots democratic entanglements, urban citizenship

Introduction

About 2.5 billion people, or half of the global labor force, work
in the informal economy (ILO, 2017). In developing Asian countries, over
50% of the urban labor force is informal (Vanek et al., 2014). Within the
urban informal employment, street vending is seen as the most visible
livelihood. Yet, there are no accurate statistics on the volume of street
vendors. Informal trading activities are not included in official planning
documents; they are “off the map.” This invisibility largely stems from state
rules that consider street vending illegal.

Amid the harsh policies, vendors occupy public spaces to earn a

living. They often face eviction, resulting in precarious income and insecure

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access to workplaces. State officials, who associate vending with filth and
congestion, prefer relocating hawkers to regulated market spaces away
from busy locations. When the eviction-relocation approach fails, the state-
vendor relationship is characterized by conflict or constant negotiation.
As a result, many vendors nurture a clientelist link with political brokers,
which entrenches their uncertain situation.

In some cases, street hawkers collectively undertake activities

that promote their welfare. In India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, for
instance, vendor coalitions and allied groups engage with state agencies
to stop eviction, gain legal recognition, and push for social inclusionary
policies. While the outcomes from these engagements have been diverse
due to a number of issues (e.g., organizational capacity, divisive politics),
the collective efforts indicate how street vendors demand legitimacy for
their livelihood.

While the informal vending literature has examined the strategies

and outcomes resulting from various state-vendor engagement practices,
there has been limited focus on the role of grassroots intermediaries in the
engagement channels. In this paper, I ask: How do grassroots intermediaries
facilitate and sustain engagement channels between informal vendors and
state actors? What roles do they play in the engagement practices? I draw
on the experience of Baclaran hawkers to demonstrate the key functions
that grassroots intermediaries play as local brokers. Four roles emerge
as critical: a) conduits to power structures; b) instruments of control; c)
facilitators of social dialogue; and d) channels for policy advocacy. As I will
show later, there are strengths and constraints embedded in these roles,
illustrating how brokering contributes to what I call “grassroots democratic
entanglements.” In what follows, I situate the intermediaries in the literature
and explain the notion of grassroots democratic entanglements.

Revisiting grassroots intermediaries

Throughout Philippine history, various organizations develop

out of volunteerism to confront state power, oppose policies, and propose
actions on different issues. These organizations that intersect with the state
domain without being part of its apparatus are commonly referred to as
civil society organizations or CSOs (Constantino-David, 1997). CSOs are
vital to democratization as they enable and widen citizen participation,
protect citizens from the abuse of state power, and help guarantee state
political accountability (Krut, 1997). CSOs are viewed as independent
non-governmental and non-profit groups that interact with the state and

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

business sector. These groups are categorized into socio-civic organizations,

professional associations, cause- oriented movements, people’s organizations
(POs), and non-government organizations (NGOs).

NGOs are defined as intermediary groups between the people

and the state, speaking for or on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged
without being from among them (Cariño, 2002). By contrast, POs come
from various sectors including the poor and disadvantaged (Cariño,
2002). POs are membership-based organizations formed on a voluntary
basis, functioning as community-driven and/or issue-oriented grassroots
groups (Tuaño, 2011). They have identifiable leadership, membership,
and structure with the capacity to promote the public interest. Some POs
may partner with NGOs, but they remain autonomous from such partner
organizations (Abao, 2011). Street vendor groups can be considered POs as
they collectively address their needs and demand recognition.

The informality literature has noted how street vendor organizations

deal with state agencies. In Mexico City, the vendors’ encounter with the
government’s Departamento del Distrito Federal paints a relatively good picture
of informal associations. One hawkers’ organization acts as a negotiator
and a manager of social assets (Peña, 1999). The Johannesburg case (South
Africa), however, unmasks the undemocratic and rent-seeking side of
informal groups. In this city, accountability issues hound vendor groups that
seem to wield substantial power on who is able to trade in the city’s strategic
locations. The group determines the rental which “favors more affluent
traders, who might also be more organized, at the expense of those who are
poorer and less organized” (Hlela, 2003, p. 2). In Bogota (Colombia), the
government’s engagement with vendors is tokenistic. Vendors’ involvement
in state negotiation is valued not for its potential to arrive at better policy
outcomes, but for its educational quality, participatory nature, and the
legitimacy it lent the government (Hunt, 2009).

In addition, Tucker (2016) has chronicled the role of political

intermediaries known as punteros in the Paraguayan border economy. In
India, Routray (2014) has documented how the intermediaries, locally called
pradhans, simultaneously embrace solidarity, patronage, and exploitation of
the urban poor. In the Philippines, my previous studies (Recio, 2010; 2014;
2015) have shown how some NGOs act as intermediaries in advancing
the rights of street vendors. Intermediaries serve as conduits between
marginalized groups and the more powerful actors like state officials.
They often link local struggles with the broader socio-political milieu
(Kritsanaphan & Sajor, 2011) and enhance the urban poor’s social capital

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(Routray, 2014). They can include academics, politicians, journalists, and

NGOs (Evans, 2002; Lee, 1998). In this paper, intermediaries are confined
to those who connect Baclaran vendors to power structures and governance
processes. These grassroots intermediaries consist of local political leaders
and vendor organizers. I will present later how these intermediaries
undermine and/or introduce change in Baclaran’s unequal socio-spatial
relations.

I view local intermediaries as key actors in what I have called

“grassroots democratic entanglements” (Recio, 2018), which possess
progressive and regressive democratic elements as well as conflicting
motives or routines in a context of entrenched inequality and informality.
Grassroots democratic entanglements are grounded in two strands of
scholarly literature. One is the literature on grassroots agency in which a
running thread underscores the contingent and context-specific nature
of grassroots initiatives. This argument resonates with Chatterjee’s (2004)
politics of the governed, Honwana’s (2008) strategic and tactical agencies,
Kerkvliet’s (2009) everyday politics, Musoni’s (2010) adaptive resistance,
and Bayat’s (2013) non-movement of the dispossessed. The other stream
of thought stems from Quimpo’s (2005) contested democracy and
Caldeira and Holston’s (1999) disjunctive democracy. While Quimpo has
emphasized the importance of grassroots struggle in Philippine history,
Caldeira and Holston have pointed out how actually-existing democracies
in the Global South are diverse, uneven, and contain contradictory
elements. Thus, examining grassroots democratic entanglements entails
looking at how grassroots actions might constitute resistance and coping
strategies while being attentive to factors that impede transformative
collective action in a democratic context. In the empirical discussion, I will
illustrate how the roles and routines of local intermediaries are embedded
in grassroots democratic entanglements. In the next section, I present the
case study area and research methodology.

Studying Baclaran street vending

The findings in this paper are part of a qualitative research that

interrogates urban governance and informality issues in the Baclaran
vending district. I employed the case study as a research strategy to
investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context (Yin,
1994). It has allowed me to understand complex social phenomena and
explain what has transpired and how it occurred (Duminy et al., 2014).
While the case study has received criticism on its supposed inability
to produce scientific generalization, it is generalizable to theoretical

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

propositions and not to populations or universes (Yin, 2014). A case study

does not represent a sampling unit and the researcher’s goal is to shed light
on some theoretical concepts/principles or analytic generalization (Yin,
2014). In this paper, analytic generalization pertains to empirical themes on
the roles of grassroots intermediaries in Baclaran’s informal trading.

Baclaran district (see Figure 2) refers to the area occupied by

informal hawkers, encompassing one barangay1 in Parañaque (Barangay
Baclaran) and five barangays in Pasay (Barangays 77, 78, 79, 145, and 146).
The 2015 Philippine census reveals that 38,306 residents live in these six
barangays.

Source: Author
Figure 1 – Baclaran borders Pasay and Parañaque Cities in Metro Manila

Studying “informal” livelihoods is fraught with empirical

ambiguities that elude neat conceptual categorizations and methodological
approaches. Even the ways of collecting data involve ethical considerations
as some street vendors thrive on learned habits that evade the state’s watchful
gaze. Although this poses challenges to urban scholars—who want to lend
voice to marginalized groups—academic work can still be a vital tool for
1
Barangay is the smallest political administrative unit in the Philippines with elected execu-
tive and legislative officials.

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articulating issues that are often muted in the government’s cost-benefit

calculations. Given these considerations, I used multiple data gathering
methods to examine the views and experiences of those involved in urban
informality: document review, in-depth interviews (55 respondents), focus
groups discussions (20 participants), life-history accounts (7 vendors), and
repeated site observations (between February 2015 and February 2017).

Interview respondents—chosen through purposive, quota,

and snowball approaches—included: a) national and local government
officials, b) members and leaders of organized vendors, and c) unorganized
vendors. Three FGDs took place involving vendors who were not part of the
interviews. FGD participants, identified through the snowball approach,
comprised the following: a) members and leaders of vendor groups; b)
unorganized vendors with varied religious affiliations; and c) unorganized
Muslim vendors. Lastly, life-history entailed chronicling the narratives of
seven vendors—five women and two men, with different backgrounds and
who became part of the conducted interviews. I used the Nvivo software
in coding and analyzing key themes from written materials, transcripts,
and field notes. In what follows, I examine some empirical threads on how
grassroots intermediaries broker socio-spatial ties between vendors and
state authorities.

Baclaran street vendors

If you don’t allow street vendors to sell, it is tantamount to killing them.

They sell to earn a living; their family members depend on vending. They
get their food from vending. (Myra2 , a stallholder)

The statement above captures the precarious claim of many urban

poor on the right to livelihood. It is a common sentiment among Baclaran
vendors. Informal vendors began occupying Baclaran streets in the 1950s,
and their number started rising in the 1980s. At that time, hawkers were
using carts, bilao (a round native woven container), and small pieces of cloth
to display their wares. They were on the roads near the Baclaran Church.
Julie, an old vendor leader, shared how hawkers have multiplied over time,
“It’s because we were allowed by the mayor, the Mayor of Pasay… It seemed
related to politics.”

Different estimates on the current number of Baclaran vendors

abound. Local officials say there are 1,000 to 3,000. Vendor leaders peg it
2
All the names that appear in this paper are pseudonyms I have used to protect the re-
search participants’ identity.

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

at 1,500 to 2,000. My own repeated calculations using a digital tally counter

reveal over 1,500 semi-fixed stalls and ambulant hawkers during ordinary
days and almost 4,000 on peak days (Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday) and
during Bermonths3 (September-December).

Vendors put up semi-fixed kiosks (see Figure 2) or roam around

four Baclaran road networks: Taft Avenue Extension, Harrison-Quirino
Avenue, Redemptorist Road, and Roxas Boulevard Service Road. They
sell clothes, shoes, housewares, toys, gadgets, street-food, fresh fruits
and vegetables, among others (see Figure 3). As vendors occupy streets,
they generate an urban environment that makes people think they are a
homogenous group with common needs. Yet, as what has been observed
in other contexts (Etemadi, 2004; Bhowmik, 2005; Recio, 2010), Baclaran
vendors are heterogeneous with diverse interests, issues, and relations.

Figure 2: Vendors with semi-fixed stalls in front of shopping malls

In terms of mobility, two types of vendors occupy the Baclaran
spaces. The first consists of ambulant vendors who use bilao, carts, steel
panels, and plastic bags (see Figure 4), which they easily pack up when
there is eviction. Dubbed as "haging" or "sniper," some of these unorganized
vendors are mobile; others occupy certain "territories" they have marked off
using electric posts, building facades, and street lines.

3
On ordinary days, vendors earn between PhP 100.00 (US $2.17) and PhP 500.00 (US
$10.9). On peak days, they earn over PhP 500.00 (US $10.9) a day; a few of them even take
home around PhP 3,000.00 (US $65.22).

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Figure 3: Baclaran street products

Figure 4: Ambulant hawkers in Baclaran

Figure 5: Vendors under the LRT1 rail track

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

A second group comprises hawkers who have semi-fixed stalls4.

They can be considered organized in that they have leaders who coordinate
with local state officials. Equipped with informally-granted permits from
the local governments, many of their kiosks (see Figure 5) have been
informally-built while some were installed as part of a local government’s
livelihood programs. In some areas, the presence of semi-fixed stalls has left
only about a two-meter-wide space for the pedestrians and slow-moving
vehicles. The congested space is under the LRT Baclaran station.

Mobility is also linked to security of vending spaces. The itinerant

hawkers are less secure than those with temporary kiosks who have political
ties. No less than the city mayor is their key ally. As Jason, a local government
staff, narrated: “If there’s a vendor who is a relative of a Barangay official,
that official will go to the Mayor. Then, the Mayor will instruct us to allow
[the vendor/s]. We cannot do anything. It’s the instruction of the Mayor.”
This statement illustrates how vendors occupy Baclaran streets and nurture
tenuous ties with local government officials. Two grassroots players help
vendors grapple with Baclaran’s precarious environment. They are examined
in the following section.

Baclaran’s grassroots intermediaries: Brokering amid informality

While street vendors often operate in political society (Chatterjee,

2004), an engagement space mostly created by those on the margins of power,
some of them use the available spaces within formal governance structures.
Others transcend the limits of legal norms and embrace “informal” relations
that enable them to earn a living. These formal and informal channels are
sustained by grassroots intermediaries: the local political leaders and the
vendor organizers. What follows presents how these intermediaries operate
in Baclaran.

Local political leaders

In Baclaran, local political leaders or operators are usually part of

the electoral machinery of local government officials or politicians vying for
state positions. They sometimes occupy appointive positions in the city or
barangay bureaucracy. Some act as Barangay Intelligence Officer (BIO) and
Barangay Intelligence Support (BIS)5 volunteers who gather information
4
A vendor typically owns one stall. The exceptions to this are the leaders and old vendors
who have occupied the streets since the 1980s and acquired more than one stall over the
years.
5
BIO and BIS volunteers are informally mobilized as part of an ad hoc electoral machinery
of incumbent local state officials and/or politicians. They operate during the 45-day local
campaign period until the election day.
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on the electoral support of politicians in barangays. They help strengthen

the latter’s political base during election season. In exchange, some BIS
ask their political patrons to allow some people they endorse to sell on the
streets. Jenny, a vendor and a BIS, admitted that she can also facilitate the
release of confiscated products after an eviction. “If someone’s products got
confiscated, we can get them back. They [vendors] just need to approach a
BIO who is part of our network.”

Local official, Jason, acknowledged the presence of this informal

channel and linked it to the rising number of Muslim vendors.

Some of them [Muslim vendors] got involved in politics. [They have

become] barangay leaders, political leaders of the Mayor… So, that’s the
problem… they use the political leverage. We are trying to be non-partisan
in the [Anti-vending Ordinance] implementation. But some people within
the city hall tell us we should be less strict with the vendors since they are
also our voters.

Jess, a political leader for local politicians, confirmed this arrangement.

We got in touch with leaders of Muslim residents who got evicted from
their settlements. We helped them register as barangay residents in Pasay.
This assistance forged a relationship between political operators and
Muslim leaders who have later on capitalized on their growing number
as an electoral leverage with politicians vying for government positions.

Armed with this political influence, the Muslim leaders have

gained concessions from local officials such as an access to vending spaces
for Muslim residents. The same strategy has occurred in Parañaque. As city
official, Krisha, explained, “Since many vendors have been there for a long
time, they got [their voter’s] registration there. Their purpose is to have a
link to the barangay, to the city [government].”

Lastly, there have been instances when political leaders link up

with vendors to undermine the latter’s collective initiatives. As vendor
organizer, Leo, shared,

We were coordinating with the [Parañaque] Mayor [for vendors’ social

protection programs]. But they [political operators] were doing something
else, [an] underground [move], involving other vendors. But their leaders
were not vendors, they were political operators. They slowly disbanded
[the vendors’] federation. They would say there will be clearing operation.

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

During the clearing [operation], the political operator would intervene. [S/
he would say], "These [vendors] are [our] political allies. Do not disturb
their area." The vendors witnessed that and [they thought] these [political
operators] have power. Some vendors began to cling [to the operators].

Belinda, a vendor organizer, also recalled how local government officials

undermined vendors’ organizing efforts.

They [local government] did a divide-and-rule strategy. [In Baclaran], they

appointed new leaders to be able to control the vending spaces. If you’re an
ordinary member, you would simply follow even if it’s difficult. You must
obey otherwise you would not have an income… One leader was asserting
her leadership. She was still the president, but they could not come up with
decisions. The local government was disrupting the organizational process.

Hector, an academic who has worked with vendor groups, offered an

explanation on this political move.

It occurs because there are parties who want to maintain the situation…
[T]he government is the main player who does that… Why? Isn’t that a
divide-and-rule [strategy]? They know that once the urban poor gets
organized, they [erring state officials] will fall; so, their strategy is to disrupt
the process. It’s a divide-and-rule [strategy]… [T]hey initiate and nurture
it.

The insights above illustrate how local political leaders capitalize

on their access to governance structures by serving as brokers between the
powerful and the marginalized. While they may have helped vendors gain
access to streets, they also feed on the latter’s insecure conditions. In other
words, they act simultaneously as a vendors’ conduit to power structures
and as a dominant players’ instrument of control over the vulnerable groups.
To a certain extent, these political leaders operate in the ”realm of calculated
self-interests” (Osella, 2014) by using their socio-political capital to satisfy
certain wishes of their political bosses, respond to the urgent needs of the
marginalized, and advance their own interests. This echoes Routray’s (2014)
observation on how some intermediaries employ skills and knowledge to
gain power and respect in a neighborhood. At other times, however, these
intermediaries, like Baclaran’s local political operators, are denounced as
money-makers and cunning manipulators.

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Vendor organizers

Besides the local political leaders, the role of vendor organizers

needs to be examined to understand the complexity of relationships among
different groups and the nature of collective action in Baclaran. While
political leaders are tied to state officials and politicians, vendor organizers
are part of informal worker coalitions and advocacy NGOs pushing for
reform-oriented socio-economic agenda for hawkers.

Belinda, a vendor organizer and former sectoral representative in

the National Anti-Poverty Commission – Workers in the Informal Sector
Council (NAPC-WISC)6 , shared their approach.

[Our approach] was issue-based organizing... We wanted them [Baclaran

vendors] to articulate their own issues because they know their situation
better. We don’t want to represent them. We would only facilitate their
representation… We touched base with them… Then they [started]
joining us [in WIS Council meetings] and even in rallies. [There were] 48
organizations, [which] we got registered at SEC [Securities and Exchange
Commission] and DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] so they
could be [recognized] as workers’ associations.

When a series of evictions took place, Belinda was at the forefront of

mediating work.

They [Baclaran vendors] became more active [during the evictions]. We

had media coverage… We were on the streets until 2:00 AM when there
were demolitions… My approach then was to bring in the [national]
agencies such as the DOLE, the PCUP [Presidential Commission for the
Urban Poor], the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development].

Apart from dealing with national government agencies, vendor

organizers helped vendors engage with local governments. Leo, a vendor
leader-organizer and former NAPC-WISC member, explained some of
their activities in Baclaran from around 2002 to 2004.

We helped them create a channel to the LGU [local government unit of

Parañaque]… We engaged in an LGU conference ...We invited them to
meetings with the NAPC, LGUs for them to explain their situation on the
6
The vendor organizers who used to work with the NAPC–WISC were technically not part
of the state bureaucracy as government workers. They were sectoral leaders who represented
informal worker groups pushing for social inclusionary policies and programs.

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

ground… Some LGUs sent their [Mayor’s] Chief of Staff, which helped us get
an access to the [Mayor’s] office. Sometimes, during the WISC meetings, we
invited vendor leaders and city officials… One outcome of these dialogues
was the formation of an Informal Sector Desk in some local governments...

In Parañaque, the LGU engagement produced two local regulations

on informal workers’ welfare. Executive Order (EO) No. 02-04 (Series
of 2002) establishes a local Task Force that will promote and protect the
informal workers in the city by identifying programs that address the
issues of their issues. Meanwhile, City Council Ordinance No 826 (Series
of 2003), which builds on EO 02-04, identifies the local government offices
constituting the Task Force. These offices/officials include the City Council
Committee on Social Services, Planning Officer, Health Officer, Social
Welfare and Development Officer, and Public Market Office, among others.
While these two regulatory instruments provide key steps in responding
to informal workers’ issues, there is limited evidence on whether the Task
Force has undertaken any meaningful programs for Baclaran vendors since
its establishment.

Although the LGU engagement produced some encouraging

outcomes, the vendor organizers like Leo were aware of the need to navigate
the local political dynamics.

When we started, they [vendors] had different groups. They said they
wanted to form a [vendors’] federation for the whole Baclaran area… We
challenged them to continue forming the federation and we supported them
in dealing with the barangay and city governments… [We focused] on
what we call social dialogue, social insurance, social protection... security
of workplace... There’s nothing about “politics.”

Leo’s point on “politics” refers to how they avoided confronting the

political leaders/operators in Baclaran. As he clarified, “I told them (vendors)
‘whatever discussion you have with others, it’s different [from our talks]. Let’s
concentrate on our agenda. I won’t meddle in your negotiations with them’.”
This evasive tactic stems from the entrenched patronage relations in the
area. Maura, a long-time vendor organizer, described how she experienced
dealing with the political relations in Baclaran. “At one point, it became a
matter of life and death... I remember, before in Pasay area, our group was
being monitored… Some vendors even whispered to us, ‘Maura, please take
care, some eyes are watching you.’ That’s the situation.” Leo and Maura’s
concerns are linked to the divide-and-rule strategy, as previously discussed,
which has eroded democratic collective action initiatives in Baclaran.

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Based on the foregoing account, vendor organizers help Baclaran

hawkers in two ways: as facilitators of social dialogues and as channels
for policy advocacy. They were with vendors when a series of ”clearing
operations” occurred, creating channels with key government agencies. As
vendor organizers brokered for democratic politics and policy change, they
had to contend with local politics in the area—apparent in the divide-and-
rule strategy. In addition, they needed to manage the resistance of other
local stakeholders and the internal dynamics in their own organizations.
The subsequent paragraphs expound on the last two issues that vendor
organizers had to face.

Besides dealing with local political operators, vendor organizers

have to consider the role of the Baclaran Vendors’ Development Cooperative
(BVDC) in providing economic resources to some vendors. Established in
1976 by 250 street vendors to address the usurious lending arrangements
with loan sharks, the BVDC now requires a business permit if one wishes
to apply. Thus, they have only accepted hawkers as associate members who
can only avail of certain loan packages.

For old vendor, Julie, it is beneficial to be a BVDC member: “Yes,

it [BVDC] is a big help. We have savings and shares in the cooperative.”
Hannah, another vendor, agreed but pointed out a concern: “I’m a member
of the Baclaran Cooperative. I pay them daily [for my past loan]. [But]
during lean season, I could hardly pay.” Apart from the payment issue,
Myra, a former street vendor and now a stallholder, raised another
concern: “I used to be a Cooperative member; but I left because it is not
really an association that protects [vendors’ welfare]. It’s more about loans,
livelihood stuff. It is not focused on promoting the interests of vendors
[beyond economic concerns].”

Mayeth, a social worker who tried organizing Baclaran vendors, explained

the deeper implications of Myra’s concern.

Before, we tried to organize [Baclaran vendors] but it was difficult because

the cooperative is strong… They reacted adversely… because our approach
[to vendor organizing] is [it should be seen as] a mass struggle… [We
believe], they [vendors] must assert their rights and exert pressure on the
local government to address their problems… Their traditional approach
is not like that. They (BVDC) are not after the security of tenure… Still, the
members keep paying. Yes, they have big [financial] asset but it’s purely
economic. It is not concerned with governance; they don’t think about how
to be political [about other issues] … The [vendors] are fine with it as long

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as they receive annual dividends. Of course, the government likes it because

they [vendors] do not resist.”

Mayeth’s explanation captures the constraint of BVDC’s economic-

oriented engagement with vendors. It reveals the Cooperative’s limited role
in the broader local political relations. As BVDC leader, Nelson, admitted,
“We are an accredited NGO [by one barangay in Baclaran] so we attend their
meetings... But we don’t want to interfere when it comes to implementation
[of policies on vendors] since we know how complex the situation is.”

Intersecting with local concerns, the internal dynamics within the

vendor organizers’ institutional affiliation contributed to the decline of
reform-oriented collective action in Baclaran. As vendor organizer, Belinda,
noted, “After our term [at NAPC-WIS Council], they [new leaders] focused
on other things they wanted to pursue.” This change in priority reflects
the wider sentiment within many Philippine labor unions, which focus on
formal employees. Belinda and Mayeth, members of two of the country’s
largest trade union federations, have been struggling even within their own
labor groups to justify their engagement with informal workers. In Belinda’s
words, “They [labor unions] support the informal sector but on a project-
based arrangement.”

The preceding discussion points out how vendor organizers, serving

as intermediaries, engaged with government units to push for vendors’
welfare. They capitalized on existing formal spaces and created new paths for
state engagement. Yet, the local power relations and the internal dynamics
within their groups proved too much to sustain their efforts.

Conclusion

Street vending is a precarious urban livelihood. Vendors endure

harassment and eviction resulting from hostile and unresponsive state
policies. In Baclaran, land use plans are notably inattentive to informal
vendors. This concern underscores how the urban planning process often
“seeks order in simple mappable patterns, when it is really hiding in extremely
complex social organization” (Webber, 1963, p. 54). Such a depoliticized
approach fails to consider how grassroots players are entangled in messy
socio-spatial relations. In this paper, I have shown how local brokering
operates in a context of entrenched informality and inequality. The power
asymmetries manifest in a tapestry of ties where grassroots intermediaries
generate informal engagement channels and/or employ the spaces afforded
by formal state rules.

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

On the one hand, some vendors and political leaders engage in

fragile political bonds with local officials. Their link to the Mayor’s Office
rests on one agenda: temporary access to streetscape. While this may
appear particularistic for outsiders, it is a fundamental agenda for many
vendors. On the other hand, the narratives by vendor organizers show the
potential of hawkers, when organizing assistance is sustained, to resist and
break the cycle of uncertain relations. They formed a federation, joined
rallies, and attended meetings with government agencies. Alas, their
collective action encountered fierce resistance from political leaders and
local officials. In other words, while local political leaders sustain clientelist
ties, vendor organizers enhance the civil component of citizenship
(Caldeira & Holston, 1999), leading to a fragmented urbanity in which
citizens interact differentially with state authorities to claim (the rights of/
to) urban citizenship. This phenomenon reveals how urban citizenship is
not simply a set of laws delineating proper behavior; it is more importantly
about social relations on the ground (Hammett, 2017). The various spaces
for political and policy engagements generate uneven experiences of urban
citizenship. As the street traders fight off eviction and inhabit contested
sidewalks to earn a living, they also learn to engage with local state officials
not as rights-bearing citizens, but as a client or a part of a network hinged
on mutual exchanges and loyalty.

Indeed, there seems to be a paradox in the roles grassroots

intermediaries play in Baclaran informal trading, where they act as: a) a
conduit to power structures; b) an instrument of control; c) a facilitator
of social dialogues; and d) a channel for policy advocacy. These somewhat
contradictory roles demonstrate how vendors rely on conflicting motives
and routines, embracing social inclusionary agenda as well as tenuous
clientelistic ties. This is inevitable in a contested environment where
players simultaneously collaborate and compete to maintain their
insecure access to coveted workplaces. Amid a deeply unequal socio-
spatial environment, local brokering may stifle resistance and, at the
same time, inspire developmental aspirations. In this sense, the empirical
insights show how political brokering between informal vendors and state
authorities is embedded in grassroots democratic entanglements in which
cooperation, contestation, and co-optation generate a mosaic of problem-
solving strategies undertaken by marginalized groups. Put another way,
the Baclaran case reveals how grassroots democratic entanglements are
both an offshoot and a driving force of diverse and uneven experiences of
urban citizenship, rights, and development.

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Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:Brokering for development or stifling dissent?

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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

Learning Tourism Destination:

Contributions towards Community Education and
Social Development

Aleli B. Bawagan, Ph.D.

Miguela M. Mena, Ph.D.
Richard Philip A. Gonzalo
and Victor G. Obedicen

Learning Tourism Destination (LTD) is a learning organization approach that

improves the sustainability of tourism destinations. This development concept
advocates collaborative learning and co-creation of knowledge between the tourist
and the various service providers in the destination and recognizes the capacity
of societies to learn and to develop economic organizations that are relevant to its
unique context. Grounded in the point of view of the local community, the goal of this
research was to look at the contributions of LTD to social development, specifically
in the improvement of human well-being, with emphasis on community learning
that occurs among different stakeholders. The Municipality of Maribojoc was
deemed an appropriate study area for the application of LTD as it was recovering
from the effects of the 2013 earthquake where volunteer tourism was used as a
recovery strategy. Secondary data analysis and qualitative research methods, such
as community immersion, personal and key informant interviews, and workshops,
were conducted in six barangays of Maribojoc to explore tourism development in the
province of Bohol and in the municipality. Research findings showed that LTD has
contributed to the improvement of the human well-being, specifically on continuing
community education processes, as well as in terms of organization building and
strengthening; environment protection and rehabilitation; and stronger linkages
and partnerships among various tourism actors.

Key words: learning tourism destination, learning communities,

community education, social development, Maribojoc, Bohol

Introduction

Learning Tourism Destination (LTD) is a novel development

concept in the field of tourism that advocates collaborative learning and
co-creation of knowledge between the tourist and the various service

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providers in the destination. It is an approach that recognizes the capacity

of societies to learn and to develop economic organizations that is relevant
to its unique context. As an alternative to external development models, the
LTD is a system where a society defines problems based on its perceptions
and formulates solutions from its cultural resources in order to address
situations specific to that society (Schianetz, Kavanagh, & Lockington,
2007).

LTD is part of sustainable tourism development and management,

which looks at tourism’s potential as an instrument of positive change. It is
known to be achievable and can be realized when the “spiritual elements”
of the practice of tourism take precedence over its technical and material
elements. These spiritual elements include: (1) fulfillment of the human
being; (2) contribution to education; (3) recognition of equality of destiny of
nations; (4) liberation of the individuals in a spirit of respect for their identity
and dignity; and (5) affirmation of the originality of cultures and respect for
the moral heritage of people (World Tourism Organization, 1980). In order
to advance sustainability in the tourism industry, approaches are needed
that promote stakeholder collaboration and learning on an organizational
as well as destination level. Learning on a destination level is necessary to
ensure that sustainable development issues are incorporated.

In communities, where the people are always in need of new

knowledge to fulfill their functions in various aspects of community life
(e.g., political, economic, environmental and/or socio-cultural), non-
formal education such as LTD is essential. According to the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission (UNESCO,n.d.), non-formal education
is “an addition, alternative and/or a complement to formal education within
the process of the lifelong learning of individuals…[that] is often provided
to guarantee the right of access to education for all." Key to non-formal
education in the community setting—which usually happens through
processes such as community-based trainings, skills demonstration,
educational group discussions, exposures outside the community, and
organizational development trainings that enhance skills related to
planning, decision-making, monitoring, and evaluation—is how it prepares
the community members to engage in community-based programs and
projects which propel them to improve their current situation.

Education—including non-formal and community-based—is

essential in social development. As stated by the United Nations Research
Institute for Social Development (UNRISD),

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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

[Social development] is concerned with processes of change

that lead to improvements in human well-being, social relations
and social institutions, and that are equitable, sustainable, and
compatible with principles of democratic governance and social
justice. It includes material achievements, such as good health
and education, and access to the goods and services necessary
for decent living; and social, cultural and political achievements,
such as a sense of security, dignity, the ability to be part of a
community through social and cultural recognition, and political
representation. (UNRISD, 2011, p.2, authors’ emphasis)

This study aims to look at the contributions of LTDs to social

development, specifically in the improvement of human well-being, with
emphasis on community learning that occurs among different stakeholders.
The research is grounded on the point of view of local peoples, local
organizations, and local communities. Since the Philippine national
government hopes to develop a tourism sector that will promote inclusive
socio-economic growth (DOT, 2012), lessons from the creation of an LTD
is furthermore an opportunity to transform the tourism industry in the
target municipality into a creator of learning opportunities.

Research Problem

This research is part of a larger project entitled, “Learning Tourism

Destinations: Creating functional partnerships and initiating positive
change for sustainable tourism development in local economies.” It aims to
answer the following research questions on LTDs and their contributions
to community education and social development:

1. What community learning processes have taken place in

Maribojoc? Who provided trainings and what learning methods
were employed?
2. How does learning among members of the organizations happen?
3. How does learning between the community members and
tourists happen? What topics are shared (e.g., culture, history,
environment)? What learning methods are used?
4. What is the people’s evaluation of the learning methods used? What
other topics still need to be learned by the community members?
5. What are the other contributions of LTDs to social development?

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“Learning Tourism Destination” as a Development Concept

Tourism Destination. Rapid development of tourism due to new

technologies of transport and data communications brought corresponding
changes in the concept and understanding of destinations (Laws, 1995).
Medlik (1993) defines tourism destinations as countries, regions, towns,
or other areas visited by tourists. Throughout the year, their amenities
serve their resident and working population, but at some or all times of
the year, they also have temporary users—tourists. How important any
geographical unit is as a tourist destination is determined by three prime
factors: attractions, amenities, and accessibility, which are sometimes called
tourism qualities of the destination. Vukonic (1997) examines the meaning
of tourism destination in the context of growth and sustainability and
defines the notion of tourism destination as “an integral and functional unit
in which its particular components (such as tourist places, localities, zones,
etc.) can have their own specific offering, grow and develop independently.”
He further emphasizes that, regardless of the attractiveness and the capacity
of their tourist offering, such areas can be called “tourism destinations” only
if a great number of tourists are attracted to them.

Most destinations comprise a core of components, which is usually

referred to as the “six As” framework (Buhalis, 2000, p. 98): Attractions
(natural, artificial, purpose built, heritage, special events); Accessibility
(entire transportation system comprising of routes, terminals, and vehicles);
Amenities (accommodation and catering facilities, retailing, other tourist
services); Available packages (pre-arranged packages by intermediaries and
principals); Activities (all activities available at the destination and what
consumers will do during the visit), and Ancillary services (services used
by tourists such as banks, telecommunications, post, news agents, hospitals,
etc.).

From LO to LTD. To aid and guide the successful transformation of

destinations, learning ability, data and research capabilities, agility and
adaptability should be fostered through long-term strategies for change
(McLennan, Ritchie, Ruhanen, & Moyle, 2014), which can be aided by
learning organizations (LOs). The concept of learning organizations (LOs)
was introduced by Senge in 1990s. He defined LOs as organizations where
people expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new
expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, and where people are learning
how to learn together.

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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

In the context of tourism, the LO concept is implemented by

creating Learning Tourism Destinations (LTDs). An LTD is any tourism
city, town, village, and surrounding area that, in the process of achieving
agreed upon objectives based on sustainable development: (1) uses lifelong
learning as an organizing principle for community, organizations, and
individuals; (2) promotes collaboration of the economic sectors, directly
and indirectly linked to tourism, civic, voluntary, and education sectors;
and (3) provides an infrastructure to collect new information, disseminate,
process, and apply gained knowledge (Schianetz et al., 2007).

When building LTDs, major players are identified, and their

interdependencies understood. Entrepreneurs take responsibility for the
development of tourism destination competitiveness (Komppula, 2014).
The local government provides a supporting role as facilitators of an
entrepreneurial environment for these private enterprises (Komppula,
2014). In addition, governments can facilitate the learning process by
providing data and research capabilities, and even initiating collaboration
through strategic planning, which all ultimately facilitate the learning
process (McLennan et al., 2014). Tourists and host communities also play a
role in the creation of LTDs. Despite being viewed as responsible for much
of the damage to destinations, tourists contribute to the productivity of
LTDs. Tourists can bring new knowledge by creating social opportunities
where guests can share insights from cultures outside the destination.
The host communities, composed of the local people, serve as stewards of
the culture and attractions that provide the pull in tourism. Universities
also contribute to the transformation of LTDs as facilitators and initiators
of change. Universities also contribute to the transformation of LTDs as
facilitator and initiator of change. Interventions of university researchers
may be viewed as a form of eco-acupuncture for positive change. Eco-
acupunctures are small interventions that can shift the community’s ideas
of what is permissible, desirable and possible and provide transformation
points (Ryan, 2013).

The component learning systems of an LTD are learning

individuals, learning organizations, and learning communities while its
fundamental elements are: (1) Shared vision and goals; (2) Information
system; (3) Continuous learning and cooperative research; (4) Co-operation
(informal collaboration); (5) Co-ordination (formal collaboration); (6)
Cultural exchange; (7) Participative planning and decision making; and
(8) Adaptive management (Schianetz et al., 2007).

These eight elements are not fixed, complete, or static but all are
highly interlinked; and promotion, implementation, and/or maintenance
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of one will have a positive effect on another. Some of the elements, such as
information systems and co-operation, are well established in some tourism
destinations but their implementation in isolation does not realize all the
benefits of an LTD. Lasting collective learning in a tourism destination can
only be achieved if the organizational structure has been provided to foster
learning processes (Schianetz et al., 2007).

Community Education. Millwood (2012) mapped a compilation of

learning theories based on various scientific disciplines. Social learning
theory combines cognitive learning theory (that learning is influenced by
psychological factors) and behavioral learning theory (assumes that learning
is based on responses to environmental stimuli) to describe the psycho-
social functions of humans when learning occurs in the context of a social
setting (Bandura, 1986). Under the organization domain is David Kolb’s
(1984) Experiential Learning Theory, where learning refers to the process of
creating knowledge through the transformation of experiences (Kolb, 1984).
According to the theory, knowledge acquisition is a continuous process and
is gained through a variety of personal and environmental experiences. It
posits that the learner must be capable of (1) reflecting on experiences, (2)
conceptualizing experiences using analytical skills, and (3) decision making
and problem-solving using ideas gained from the experience.

The most important challenge of Learning Tourism Destinations

seems to be equipping local communities with the required knowledge,
skills, and awareness to enable them to meaningfully participate in tourism
development (Razzaq et al., 2013). For this concern, community education
plays a major role in the development of LTDs (Luna, Ferrer, Dela Cruz,
Bawagan, Magcuro, & Torres, 2009). This is a process where community
members, through their community-based organizations, learn various
topics important to their lives in the community, as members of a particular
sector, such as farmers, fisherfolk, women, or young people and as members
of a people’s organization. Examples of these would be trainings on
community organizing, organizational development, leadership, project
development, gender sensitivity, advocacy, and specific skills trainings
relevant to their livelihood, such as records management, organic farming,
and sustainable agriculture and fisheries.

Various organizations, whether internal or external to the

community, support the education process. Examples of these are non-
government organizations which introduce new ideas and projects to
the community based on the people’s current situation, such as Sentro
para sa Ikauunlad ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT), a non-government
organization, which introduced community-based coastal resource
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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

management projects in fishing villages, and Kilusang Magbubukid ng

Pilipinas (KMP), a national peasant people’s organization which trains
farmers’ organizations on peasant advocacy (KMP, n.d.; SIKAT, n.d.).

Such education processes are guided by principles of critical

consciousness as espoused by Paulo Freire (1973). These principles are
as follows: collaborative learning; raising critical consciousness; learning
as enhancement of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits; learning as
participatory and collective; learning as two-way between the community
and the facilitators or between the community and tourists; and learning
as a lifelong process. The format likewise follows a participatory process
of learning where community members identify their training needs,
proposed schedule of training, proposed participants, etc. Support
organizations implement projects with their eventual phase-out as part of
the over-all plan, when community members have been trained to carry on
the organizational and project development processes on their own.

Community education is complementary to other community-

based activities such as community organizing and resource management.
These processes have a transformative objective in mind, such that the
community becomes empowered to analyze their situation, their capacities,
and weaknesses and can work on projects and activities that will improve
their situation, especially for the benefit of the marginalized sectors of the
community (Luna et al., 2009).

Methodology

Using secondary data analysis, this study explored tourism

development in the province of Bohol and in the municipality of Maribojoc.
It also used qualitative research methods, such as community immersion,
interviews, key informant interviews, and workshops. This research was
conducted in six of the 22 barangays of Maribojoc, as follows: Agahay,
Bayacabac, Poblacion, Punta Cruz, San Vicente, and Toril (Maribojoc,
n.d.).

Through community immersion, informal interviews/

conversations were conducted with as many types of stakeholders as
possible directly and indirectly involved in the tourism development
programs in the community. Observations of interactions between
community members and tourists were also done, especially in terms of
the learning processes that happen between them. Interviews were likewise
done randomly with tourists and tour operators/guides regarding the
learning process that happened while they were on tour.
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Key informant interviews were conducted with the barangay

chairpersons, the municipal tourism officer, and selected tour operators. A
workshop on LTD and Disaster Risk Reduction was done as a response to
an expressed need of community members. Focus group discussions were
implemented to evaluate the tourism development program and the learning
processes that have taken place, as well as come up with recommendations
for a more effective and sustainable tourism development program.

Maribojoc, Bohol as a Learning Tourism Destination

Bohol is an island province in Region 7 in Central Visayas and

the 10th largest island in the country. Mainland Bohol is surrounded by
72 smaller islands, the largest of which is Panglao Island facing Tagbilaran
City, Bohol’s capital. The province has 47 municipalities in a land area of
4,117.26 sq. km. (1,589.68 sq. mi.). It has 261 km. (162 mi.) of coastline. Its
population as of the 2007 census is 1,230,110. The province is accessible by
air and sea transport. Boats ply the waters to and from the country’s capital
city and other ports in Visayas and Mindanao.

Bohol has gently rolling terrain, ideal for commercial and industrial
site development. It has beautiful landscapes, coastlines, diversified flora
and fauna, religious and historic landmarks, and archaeological artifacts,
all of which form the foundation of the province’s tourism. Starting in 2004,
Bohol has experienced a boom in tourism, making it one of the fastest
growing tourist destinations in the country (PPDO, 2013).

However, in recent years, frequent world-wide natural disasters

have been observed (Faulkner, 2001), bringing huge devastation to human
society, life and property. With the tourism industry being one of the most
susceptible and vulnerable to such disasters (Santana, 2004), the resulting
challenges to the tourism sector serve as continuous reminders that crisis
management should no longer be ignored, by both the destinations and the
tourism companies (Glaesser, 2006).

The effect of these natural calamities on tourism has been observed

in the Philippines, considered one of the world’s most disaster-prone
countries, vulnerable to typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic
eruptions (UN OCHA, 2013). In 2013, the Philippines experienced several
major natural calamities—among them, the Visayas region being hit by a
7.2 magnitude earthquake in October and Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in
November.

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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

Bohol was one of the places in the Philippines that experienced

the effects of both these disasters. Its geographical and cultural landscape
and heritage suffered extensive damage from the powerful earthquake.
Furthermore, the after-effects of Typhoon Yolanda negatively affected the
tourism industry supply chain, thus creating an undesirable dent in Bohol’s
economy.

Maribojoc, 14 kms. away from the capital city, lies on the

southwestern coast of Bohol. It has a culturally-rich heritage and a vibrant
past, as well as a sprawling bay rich in bio-diverse marine life, rugged
panoramic mountain ranges, rolling plains, extensive water resources, and
high-grade limestone. Forest products provide an abundant source of raw
materials for the municipality’s native handicrafts. Prior to the destruction
of the 2013 earthquake, Maribojoc had already been known for its
centuries-old Church, a museum, the historical Punta Cruz Watchtower,
and a Spanish-era flight of stone stairs.

Maribojoc was one of the Bohol municipalities that was severely

hit by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on 15 October 2013. Many houses
were damaged, and the historical church was destroyed. The seabed was
lifted more than a meter and, as a result, the coastline receded some 50 to
100 meters. A few weeks after the earthquake, the town was again affected
by Typhoon Yolanda making landfall in the neighboring Cebu and Leyte
Islands.

The provincial government has identified the following tourism

attractions in the town of Maribojoc: Punta Cruz Watchtower in Bgy.
Punta Cruz; Demonstration Organic Farm in Bgy. Bayacabac; San Vicente
Mangrove (SAVIMA) forest walk in Bgy. San Vicente; Abatan river tour
in Bgy. Cabawan and Bgy Lincod; socio-cultural activities in Bgy. Toril;
and church ruins in Bgy. Poblacion. After the earthquake, uplifted ridges
emerged in Bgy. Punta Cruz.

The natural calamities that struck Bohol in 2013 revealed the

need for approaches to encourage volunteering for disaster recovery. In
the past, volunteering had already been a proven approach to mustering
the needed logistical support for disaster relief operations. Recognizing
this potential role of volunteers in assisting organizations to deal with
calamities, volunteer tourism projects were organized to facilitate Bohol’s
post-disaster recovery.

To facilitate rehabilitation and recovery efforts in Maribojoc,

volunteers were invited to be part of special tourism programs in earthquake-
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hit villages. The inspiration likely came from similar volunteering efforts in
the past. There had been several documented cases of tourists contributing
to recovery efforts, such as in 2004 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina
and in 2005 following a tsunami that hit Western Thailand in 2004. In these
cases, volunteer tourism or “voluntourism” became recognized as a disaster
recovery strategy, with many tourists choosing to use their vacation time to
volunteer on recovery efforts (Crater, 2013).

In 2014, the University of the Philippines Asian Institute of Tourism

engaged a community in Maribojoc for a voluntourism program with the
aim of facilitating disaster recovery in the municipality. The voluntourism
project was dubbed Buklod Bohol. Three batches of tourists went to Barangay
Toril, Maribojoc in February, May, and October 2014. The group was
composed of medical doctors, local and foreign students, and foreign guests
willing to do volunteer work. This voluntourism program was packaged
as a series of cultural tourism and immersion activities where both tourist
volunteers and members of the local community could share time, labor,
and resources to accomplish the target volunteer work. The program goals
were to rebuild communities and to reconnect the host locality with the
larger Philippine community through volunteering and cultural tourism.
These goals were achieved by: (1) construction of traditional houses; (2)
revitalizing community sources of living through cultural tourism; and (3)
reaching out to local communities through community engagement and
attending to the community’s health needs (Gonzalo, 2014).

Subsequent field research in 2015 and 2016 also revealed tourism

patterns similar to those observed in 2014, despite the tourism programs no
longer taking the form of voluntourism. New activities like firefly watching,
mangrove adventure tours, educational tours of organic farms, and viewing
the post-earthquake ruins and uplifted ridges had become popular.

Anchored on the community linkages and knowledge established

from previous research in the province of Bohol, in general, and the
municipality of Maribojoc, in particular, the municipality was deemed an
excellent study area for the LTD demonstration. The effects of the natural
disasters on the people of Maribojoc included diminished income, livelihood,
and employment, as well as losses in terms of damaged state properties.
By investigating the feasibility of establishing learning organizations that
comprise an LTD, Maribojoc had the opportunity to enhance the capacity of
the learning organizations and allow these organizations to adopt to change
using their local resources and develop models for learning and knowledge
co-creation, so that they could pursue and achieve sustainable tourism
development.
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Tourist Attractions and Activities in Maribojoc. For decades,

tourists have been enjoying the natural and historical sights and cultural
performances that Maribojoc has to offer. In recent years, firefly watching
along the Abatan River has become very popular, while a river day tour
takes tourists to see the nipa and mangroves along the river on board a
kayak, and a mangrove adventure tour is also available in San Vicente.
The Punta Cruz Watchtower offers a glimpse of history from a time when
pirates would attack the local communities of Maribojoc.

An educational tour of an organic demonstration farm presents

vermiculture, different kinds of herbs and their medicinal uses, and
how organic pigs, chickens, goats, and cows are grown. Cultural groups
showcase the local culture, by providing homestay facilities and conducting
performances of the nipa dance and demonstrations of basket weaving.
Since the October 2013 earthquake, tourists now see the ruins of the San
Vicente Ferrer church in Bgy. Poblacion as well as the geological changes,
specifically the uplifted ridges, that resulted from the movement of the
fault line in Bgy. Punta Cruz.

Tour Providers. In Maribojoc, there are different types of

management of tours, the primary tourist product, as follows:

1. Tours managed by government: These include the Bayacabac

organic demonstration farm and the Punta Cruz Watchtower;
2. Tours managed by people’s organizations: These include the San
Vicente Mangrove Adventure (SAVIMA) managed by a women’s
organization, performances of the nipa dance by the Lincod
Cultural Collective composed of young people and elderly of Bgy.
Lincod, a cultural trail organized by the organizations in Bgy.
Toril, a river tour offered by Abatan Lingkod Mangrove Growers
Association (ALIMANGO), and a homestay arrangement
managed by a local organization in Bgy. Bayacabac; and
3. Tours managed by private establishments such as the kayak firefly
tour of KayakAsia in Bgy. Lincod and the motorboat firefly tour of
Maribojoc Mangrove Firefly in Bgy. Cabawan.

Learning Processes of the Learning Tourism Players. Entrepreneurs

such as the kayak tour operators and firefly tour operators make use of the
lecture/demonstration method, such as using kayaks to take tourists to see
the different types of mangroves important for fireflies and other fishing
species. They have also learned how to diversify their enterprise, such as
having a small restaurant to cater to other needs of the tourists. They also

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interact with other service providers to learn more about the peculiarities
of certain groups of tourists, e.g., what Koreans and Chinese prefer for their
tours.

The local government provides the general overview of the tourism

sites in their locality, identifying in the process the different tour service
providers and the learning opportunities available in each destination.
When funds are available, the local government may produce flyers which
the tourist can read and further learn from either on site or during their
downtime. Moreover, as the local government links with different tourism
agencies, it provides learning opportunities as well to the service providers/
entrepreneurs in their area, especially on how the local enterprises may link
with service providers in other sites in the island to increase their capacities.

Host communities present a wealth of information to tourists about

their community, focusing on the local history and culture, such as their
songs, dances, and cuisine. They also share about the resources in their
environment and how these are preserved to sustain the tourism activities.
These are usually done through demonstration activities which the tourists
get to participate in, such as cooking and preparing nipa wine. In Maribojoc,
the tourists are specifically shown the effects of the earthquake on the
communities and how these have impacted on the people’s livelihood. The
tourists likewise learn of the impacts of the earthquake on the geological
formations in some municipalities, such as the raised sea bottom. Locals
have learned to become tour guides, with some men who did not have
any economic activity in the past acquiring the skills to become good tour
guides. These include learning about the technical aspects of the tour, such
as the types of mangroves and nipa, fireflies and their habitat, the raising of
organic chickens and pigs, the medicinal uses of herbs, first aid and lifesaving
techniques, as well as how to handle a paddle and maneuver a kayak. The
host communities also re-learn their local songs and dances as they perform
these with the guests. In essence, the host communities, composed of the
local people, serve as stewards of the culture and the attractions that provide
the pull for tourism in their locality.

Affirming related literature regarding tourists' role in the

promotion of a learning environment, they learn how to use a kayak and
keep their balance, especially when they kayak while doing the firefly tours.
Tourists learn of the importance of keeping the environment sustainable
and participate in planting mangroves and clean up drives. There are also
instances when visitors provide the communities with additional training
on organic farming.

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Learning Tourism Destination: Contributions towards Community Education and Social Development

The involvement of universities in the Maribojoc, Bohol

experience, such as through the volountourism program, similarly affirms
what related literature says regarding the role of universities in creating
small interventions that facilitate transformation points or what Ryan
(2013) called "eco-acupunctures."

Learning Activities. Community-based service providers have

learned various skills, such as: being effective tour guides, dancers, singers,
actors, cooks of local delicacies, housekeepers for those who offer their
homes for homestay, project managers, and other staff needed to implement
activities in the learning tourism destination. They have learned more about
the history of their place and the attractions so that they can explain these
to the tourists, such as those who visit the ruins caused by the earthquake.
They mingle with individuals from various other countries, despite using
“broken English”; and through their interaction with different nationalities,
they have learned the specific interests of certain groups, such as Koreans
preferring firefly watching, while the Chinese want to kayak through the
river or to go firefly watching by kayak.

Learning exchanges also take place between the tour guide and the
tourist, such as when the guide describes the various types of mangroves,
the fireflies and their habitat, how to grow organic chickens and pigs, the
uses of herbal medicines, and how to handle a paddle and maneuver a
kayak. On the other hand, learning opportunities between the cultural
performers and the tourists occur when the group members perform local
dances and songs and demonstrate to the tourists how these are done;
tourists then participate in the performance of dances and songs native to
Bohol.

Meanwhile, the learning activities between the homestay host

and the tourist emerge when host families share their village life with the
visitors who stay with them for at least two nights. In the same manner,
the tourists share about their lives in their own countries. Through the
homestay, the hosts ensure that they converse with the visitors, entertain
them, share meals and build relationships with them.

There is also learning among the members of the people’s

organizations. These groups have learned how to manage tourism
projects through trainings provided by government, non-government
organizations, and academic institutions supporting their activities.
They have learned more about managing their tourism programs such as
establishing a tourism network to attract more tourists; conserving and

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protecting the environment such as Bohol’s mangrove plantations; and

organizational and finance management. They have also come to realize
the importance of incorporating disaster risk reduction and climate change
adaptation in their tourism plans (e.g., considering the resiliency of buildings
and having contingency plans). Among the members of the cultural group,
they have learned to innovate in their performances (e.g., they created a new
“earthquake dance” to show tourists the effects of the earthquake in their
area).

For their part, the communities have learned how to manage their
natural resources (e.g., communities along the river and coasts regularly
hold a river and coastal clean-up), and how to maintain and manage their
tourism facilities (e.g., the boardwalk and activity center).

Whenever time allows, the tour operators ask for feedback from the
tourists about the tours and the performances, and solicit suggestions on
how they can further improve their services.

Learning Methods. Community members have gained from

different learning methods utilized by the institutions which helped them
in their education processes. Prominent methods have been seminars,
exposure visits, demonstration techniques, on-the-job learning, and
informal learning sessions during organizational activities. Seminars
are provided by government agencies, non-government organizations,
and academic institutions on various aspects of sustainable tourism and
on specific topics of their tourism activity such as management of their
mangrove areas. Some of the trainings incorporate exposure visits to other
communities or organizations that are implementing a program of similar
nature, such as that of the organic farm.

The community members have likewise benefitted from the visits

and lectures of geologists and other academics who visited their areas to
survey the physical changes brought about by the earthquake. They have
come to understand the impact of the movement of the fault line resulting
in uplifted ridges in their area.

They also learn through demonstration techniques, as in the case of

the cultural groups who acquire skills like singing, dancing, script writing,
acting, and nipa-weaving. The original members of the cultural groups
had to do a lot of “recall” on the dances and songs of old and how these
were performed by their parents or other community members. They then
showed the younger members how things are done and how they should

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relate with the tourists. Demonstration is also used in the Bayacabac farm,
where community members learn to prepare organic feeds, raise organic
pigs, and prepare vermicast.

Other informal means of learning come through on-the-

job experiences, such as learning the English language by having to
communicate with the tourists using English. Through exchanges with the
visitors, community members also gain exposure to other methods that can
be used to conserve their natural resources, especially when the country
where the tourists come from use environmentally-friendly methods.

Learning Tourism Destination and Social Development

The adoption of the LTD model provides an opportunity to

transform the tourism industry through inclusive livelihood activities for
stakeholders promoting tourism products and services. However, more
than that, findings show that LTD contributes to social development,
not just economic development. This approach has led to improvements
in human well-being, specifically in continuing community education
processes, one of the main goals of social development. Moreover, by
emphasizing and strengthening learning processes among community
organizations, community members have been able to adapt to change
using their local resources as they pursue sustainable tourism development.
Apart from community education, LTD contributes to social development
through organization building and strengthening, environment protection
and rehabilitation, and stronger linkages and partnerships among various
tourism actors ultimately benefitting the local communities.

LTD and Community Education. The LTD approach has proven to

be an effective mechanism for community education where collaborative
learning between the tourist and various service providers takes place.
The focus on community education is important since the LTD approach
emphasizes that tourism should be a community effort and should redound
to the benefit of the community members. Various community learning
processes and activities take place in the LTD, extending across multiple
actors in any tourism activity, mostly through non-formal sharing and
interactions where experiences are processed to create knowledge (Kolb,
1984; Luna et al., 2009). There are also formal seminars and workshops
conducted by academic institutions, non-government organizations,
government agencies, and other volunteers who wish to share their
knowledge on topics which are useful for the community members. These
seminars enhance the knowledge and skills of the community members on

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management of their tourism products, whether these be a mangrove walk

or a river tour.

The community members have also learned organizational

management, especially with the need to boost the morale of the members
after experiencing setbacks due to the 2013 earthquake; and financial
management, with their finances coming from entrance fees and other
charges paid by the tourist or donations received from private organizations.
Even so, community members have expressed the need for more learning
activities to enable them to strengthen their tourism activities, consolidate
their organizations, and strengthen themselves as a learning organization.
These trainings range from basic skills like learning English to more complex
knowledge on tourism planning. Various partners from the academe, non-
government organizations, and government agencies are able to support
them on these.

LTD and Organization Building and Strengthening. Community

organizations are vital in any LTD to manage the various tourism activities
in the area. In Maribojoc, the active organizations include the cultural
collective, the homestay providers, and the women’s organization managing
the mangrove resources. The tourism activity was not the original program
of the latter, but they realized that they could take advantage of the mangrove
areas in their community by engaging in tourism as an additional livelihood
source for members of their organization. Senge (1990, as cited in Schianetz
et al., 2007) explained that, in learning organizations, people continually
expand their capacity to create the desired results, their patterns of thinking
are nurtured, and they continually learn how to learn together.

The application of the LTD approach in Maribojoc has shown that

the community organizations are well on their way to transitioning into
learning organizations where they share vision and goals, have opportunities
for continuous learning, have established cooperation and coordination
with various entities, and engage in participative planning and decision
making (Schianetz, et al., 2007). To maintain the area as a Learning Tourism
Destination, education processes towards organizational strengthening
are important. The organizations can also take on new challenges—in
partnership with both public and private organizations—to improve their
area as a tourist destination, such as constructing rest areas and canteens.

LTD and Environment Protection and Rehabilitation. Tourism

activities designed around natural resources, such as Maribojoc’s mangrove
and firefly tours, will only be sustainable if the resources are well maintained,

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as cited by Nyaupane and Poudel (2011). The community members are

conscious of this imperative, making coastal and river clean-ups a staple
activity. This has generated awareness even among the younger members
of the community. It is important to note that unrestrained tourism
developments can diminish the tourism product and image of Maribojoc.
Since tourism activities rely on the protection of environmental and socio-
cultural resources for the attraction of tourists, planning is an essential
activity for the success of Maribojoc as a tourism destination.

Communities are very often threatened with unwanted

developments and face problems from unplanned or carelessly planned
tourism expansion. To overcome these multi-faceted problems, a
comprehensive tourism plan is needed to maximize the benefits and
minimize the costs or disadvantages of development through the
involvement of the local community who must live with the tourists and
the costs and benefits they bring.

It is therefore important to examine Maribojoc’s and Bohol’s

existing destination marketing and tourism development planning.
Developing destinations like Maribojoc should consider making
sustainability a core of their destination development and marketing since,
despite increasing instability on a national level induced by economic,
political, and environmental challenges, tourism is expected to remain a
significant driver of economic growth and social development.

LTD and Partnerships. Strengthening partnerships among various

stakeholders is another area important to LTD (Komppula, 2014). This is
particularly vital in Maribojoc, which is not yet part of the usual tourist
routes in Bohol. It is one of those areas that need to be marketed for its
unique attractions, especially after the earthquake. Major marketing
tourism players such as provincial and municipal tourism officers, public
and private tour operators, community organizations, and the academe
play important roles towards this end.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For many tourism destinations, the most compelling reason

for pursuing tourism as a development strategy is its alleged positive
contribution to the local economy. However, the extent to which tourism
contributes to the local economy depends on a variety of factors. As a
basis for exploring the relationship between tourism and development, it
is important to define not only the desired outcome of tourism, namely

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development, but also the means of achieving that outcome.

The adoption of the LTD approach provides an opportunity to

transform the tourism industry into inclusive livelihood activities grounded
on the community situation. Exploring tourism in Maribojoc revealed that
LTD has indeed been able to contribute to community education and social
development.

To further strengthen the tourism activities in Maribojoc, it is

recommended that the various tourism stakeholders in the municipality
take stock and address the following identified challenges to sustain the
community education and social development gains from the LTD approach:

1. Difficulty of some tour guides with conversing in English, which

allows them to only present a regular spiel to the tourists, many of
whom are foreigners, instead of carrying on light conversations and
educational exchanges with them;
2. Limited time allocation for specific sites in tour packages, causing
tourists to hurry from one site to the next and thus discouraging
learning opportunities from more substantial interaction between
tourists and locals;
3. Mostly one-way interaction (i.e., from the tour guide to the tourist),
giving tourists limited opportunities to share about their lives in
their own country;
4. Need for the rehabilitation of tourist areas affected by the
earthquake, such as building rest areas and canteens for visitors and
pilgrims who visit the church ruins, and conservation efforts for the
environment, such as regular planting of mangroves;
5. Specific training needs expressed by community members and tour
operators, such as marketing of the destination and their tourism
products, safety measures and responding to emergency situations,
mitigating and preventing possible negative impacts of tourism such
as prostitution, and strengthening and consolidation of community
organizations;
6. Need for a) continuous knowledge building and sharing across
different tourism sites where communities can learn from each
other, b) continuous training of second liners who can become
potential members of the cultural collective, kayak tour guides, and
others, and c) improving knowledge on and maximizing the use of
various social media platforms to enhance tourism activities; and
7. Need for stronger linkages with the Bohol Tourism Office (BTO),
Bohol Federated Travel Tour Operators (BOFETTO), and Bohol

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Integrated Tour Guide Association (BITGA), as well as proper

harmonization and coordination from the city to the barangays,
and the barangays to the local organizations.

Acknowledgement: The authors acknowledge the support of the Office of

the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of the Philippines
for the research funds from the Emerging Inter-Disciplinary Research
(EIDR) grants (OVPAA-EIDR-06-18). A paper on the interdiscplinary
methodology of this research was orally presented at the 2nd Global
Tourism and Hospitality Conference and 15th Asia Pacific Forum for
Graduate Research Students in Tourism held at Hotel Icon, Hongkong SAR
on May 16-18, 2016; and a paper on the preliminary research findings was
presented at the International Tourism Hospitality and Events Conference
held at University of Surrey, Guilford on July 19-22, 2016.

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 Disaggregated Data: Making sure that excluded peoples are included
Disaggregated Data: Making sure that excluded
peoples are included
(The experience of the Las Piñas Persons with Disability
Federation, Inc. in participatory data profiling)

Paul Edward N. Muego

Addressing disability is a fundamental aspect of re-imagining social development

and reclaiming people’s development. An essential aspect of this is having disability-
related data which can be used in measuring and tracking the progress of global
development initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals as well as in
deciding priorities, crafting policies, and developing and implementing development
programs at the national and local levels. This article aims to describe the
experiences of the Las Piñas Persons with Disability Federation, Inc. (LPPWDFI), an
organization of persons with disabilities in developing, implementing, monitoring,
and evaluating their own data-profiling project. This article utilized a combination
of three methods: (a) Pakikiisa at Pakikipamuhay (Integration), (b) Kwentuhan
at sama-aralan (Conversations, dialogue, reflection, and learning sessions) and
(c) Pagbabasa at pagsusuri ng mga kwento at dokumento (Review and analysis
of existing documents) with the underlying intent of listening to and valuing
the perspectives and voices of persons with disabilities. Four critical factors that
contributed to the success of the LPPWDFI’s collective initiative are also discussed
in the article: (a) Rights, identities, and aspirations of persons with disabilities, (b)
Leadership development, capacity-building, and local initiatives, (c) The role of
support organizations and the state, and (d) Facing the need to build on local gains.
The article hopes that the story of LPPWDFI’s data profiling initiative can open
up spaces for introspection among organizations of persons with disabilities and
eventually for their collective action aimed at creating inclusive communities in a
more inclusive world.

Key Words: disability-disaggregated data, participatory data profiling,

social inclusion, persons with disability, LPPDFI

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Philippine Journal of Social Development 2019 Vol. 12

Introduction

Addressing disability is a fundamental aspect of re-imagining social

development and reclaiming people’s development. Development, after
all, is about making sure that excluded peoples, or what the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development refers to as people who are vulnerable—
children, youth, persons with disabilities (of whom more than 80% live in
poverty), people living with HIV/AIDS, older persons, indigenous peoples,
refugees, and internally displaced persons and migrants—are in schools,
in playgrounds, at work, in government offices, in avenues for decision-
making, and everywhere else that those who are “included” often take for
granted (Wolfenson, 2002; United Nations General Assembly [UNGA],
2015).

There has been a constant call for people living in poverty and
vulnerable groups to be included not only in the targets, but in the planning
and implementation of development policies and programs—in Agenda 21
in 1992, which reiterated the idea that poverty is a complex multidimensional
problem; in the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development in 1995,
which stated that social development and human well-being are highest
priorities; as well as in the 1st United Nations Decade for the Eradication of
Poverty (1997-2006). In 2001, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
further offered another promise for a global collaboration towards these
ends, “to make the right to development a reality for everyone” (UNGA,
2015).

Invisibility of persons with disabilities. Up to the end of the

implementation of the MDGs in 2015, there have already been admissions
that the goals, targets, and indicators will not be fully achieved. While there
would be various reasons for these bleak outcomes, one of the main reasons
is that the MDG failed to include one of the most vulnerable sectors, persons
with disabilities. The conspicuous absence of persons with disabilities
in the MDG represents a lost opportunity to address the pressing social,
educational, health, and economic concerns of the majority of the most
marginalized citizens (Department of Economic and Social Affairs [DESA],
2012).

In 2011, the United Nations Secretariat’s Department of Economic

and Social Affairs came up with the report entitled Disability and the
Millennium Development Goals, A Review of the MDG Process and Strategies for
Inclusion of Disability Issues in Millennium Development Goal Efforts. The report
associated the dismal achievements of the MDG with regard to persons

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with disabilities with

[T]he lack of the systematic collection and monitoring of disability-

related statistics and analysis of this data, which are the primary
tools for tracking MDG efforts and allocating further funding and
resources at the local, regional and global levels (DESA, 2012, p. x).

In 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) carried out

POPCEN 2015 or the 2015 Census of Population. The primer for this
document stated that this “is a complete enumeration of households in
the country… designed primarily to take an inventory of the population
of the entire Philippines” (PSA, 2015). Contrary to the claim of “complete
enumeration,” however, questions related to persons with disabilities were
left out of the census. This ultimately meant that data on Filipinos with
disabilities remained inadequate to serve as bases for the inclusion of
their strategic and practical needs in national-level socio-economic plans,
policies, and programs. The policy and program implications of the lack
of data on persons with disabilities at the national level are magnified
when seen in the context that most of the 145 cities, 1,489 municipalities,
and 42,036 barangays of the country do not have reliable disability-
disaggregated data.

Moves towards inclusion in data collection. One of the main

recommendations in the 2011 World Report on Disability “for action
towards achieving a society that is inclusive and enabling, providing equal
opportunities for each person with a disability to fulfill their potential…
(is to) include disability in national data collection systems and provide
disability-disaggregated data” (World Health Organization [WHO],
2011, p. 268). A few years later and promising to take on what the MDG
failed to achieve, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were more
explicitly focused on empowerment and the needs of the most vulnerable.
Persons with disabilities are referenced 11 times in the goals and targets
of the SDG including but not limited to education (Goal 4), employment
(Goal 8), inclusive cities (Goal 11), and in data disaggregation. While the
17 goals are integrated, a cursory examination of the targets under Goal
10, Reduce inequality within and among countries, drives home the point that
inclusion, equal opportunities, reduction of inequalities, and elimination
of discrimination are all important facets of re-imagining development
considering the situation of persons with disabilities.

To support the abovementioned challenges, the SDG and the

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(UNCRPD) emphasize on increasing the availability of “high-quality,
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timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity,
migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics
relevant in national contexts” (UNGA, 2015). Apart from the importance of
such data in measuring and tracking the progress of the SDG, these data are
even more important in terms of deciding priorities, crafting policies, and
developing and implementing development programs.

Data inclusion, an uphill climb. However, it has been observed

that almost four years into the implementation of the SDG, “disability
data overall are not being collected by National Statistical Offices (NSOs)
for SDG monitoring” (Cuk, 2018). Pisani, Grech, and Mostafa’s (2014)
assertion that the continuing absence of disaggregated data on persons
with disabilities exacerbates the marginalization of disability as an area of
practice migration and humanitarian affairs can be extended to development
policies and practice in general. Grech and Soldatic (2016) note that the “call
for disaggregated data to account for disability is a positive way forward
but generating this data will not be a simple or precise endeavour, not least
on account of different disability definitions, methods, costs and political
inconvenience” (p. 15). The resulting lack of information on persons with
disabilities poses a major barrier and challenge for inclusion of persons with
disabilities in different communities (Pisani et al., 2014; Cuk, 2018).

Generating disability data at the local level. While the debates and
finger-pointing continue on who gets the blame for the persistent situation
described above, there are examples of local initiatives which can be sources
of learning in coming up with a more reliable disability-disaggregated
data at the local level. For example, in an unpublished article entitled
Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR): Disability-Responsive Development,
Muego (2016) presented the case of the Local Government Unit (LGU) of
Cervantes, Ilocos Sur when it partnered with the CBM Community-Based
Rehabilitation Coordination Office in 2010.

The lack of reliable data on persons with disability at the LGU level
was one of the main reasons why they were not included in mainstream
programs and services of the LGU. One of the first steps taken by the LGU
of Cervantes was to update its registry of persons with disabilities. After
conducting a training on identifying persons with disabilities, the Barangay
Health Workers (BHW) went to the different barangays and were able to
register more than 700 persons with disabilities. The new data became the
bases for the LGU of Cervantes' policy issuance, Resolution No. 264 or the
2012 Community-Based Rehabilitation Action Plan of the Municipality “for
the protection, rehabilitation, inclusion and participation of people with
disabilities in the mainstream of society, honing and utilizing their God-
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given gifts for the total development of the Municipality of Cervantes, Ilocos
Sur.” The LGU of Cervantes “allocated a total budget of PHP4,987,000...
and made sure that the Executive-Legislative Agenda of Cervantes would
be disability-responsive by ensuring that persons with disabilities and their
organizations were part of the process” (Muego, 2016).

Research Objectives and Significance

The case briefly described above is an LGU-led data profiling

initiative. While the data generated were utilized by the LGU in crafting a
local policy and developing local plans, the process of generating the data
did not significantly include persons with disabilities themselves. One
factor that contributed to this is the fact that there was no organization of
persons with disabilities to speak of during the time that the data updating
project was conceptualized and implemented.

Thus, the present article aimed to describe the experiences of an

organization of persons with disabilities (OPD), the Las Piñas Persons with
Disability Federation, Inc. (LPPWDFI)1 , in developing, implementing,
monitoring, and evaluating their data-profiling project. The article also
sought to identify and interrogate critical factors that contributed to the
success of their collective initiative.

The data profiling project of the LPPWDFI covering all of the 20

barangays of Las Piñas City was their collective response to the dearth
of disability-related data at the barangay- and city-levels which often
resulted in local plans and programs that failed to include persons with
disabilities. This was one of the organization’s ways of pushing the LGU
of Las Piñas City to re-imagine local development that includes persons
with disabilities. This was an example of organized collective action aimed
at “creating inclusive communities in a more inclusive world” (Ledwith,
2012, p. 23).

The data-profiling project of the LPPWDFI and the lessons that

were gleaned from their experiences can serve as an example as well as a
source of insights for other organizations of persons with disabilities so
that they can take the lead in producing reliable disability-disaggregated
data at the local level to serve as important inputs in re-imagining and
reclaiming development that includes everyone.

1
“LPPWDFI” and “Federation” will be used interchangeably in this article to refer to the Las Piñas
Persons with Disability Federation, Inc.

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Methodology

The study is rooted in qualitative, critical, and emancipatory

methodologies. Using qualitative methods ensured that the process of
documenting the experiences of the LPPWDFI in data profiling captured
the depth and richness of their contexts, experiences, and insights as well as
privileged their voices and stories. Listening to and valuing the perspectives
and voices of persons with disabilities leads to a deeper understanding of
their lives, experiences, and aspirations (Hosking, 2008).

Data gathering employed a combination of three methods: (a)

Pakikiisa at Pakikipamuhay (Integration), (b) Kwentuhan at Sama-aralan
(Conversations, dialogue, reflection, and learning sessions), and (c)
Pagbabasa at pagsusuri ng mga kwento at dokumento (Review and analysis of
existing documents) (Muego, 2018). Relevant details from the author’s
engagement with the LLPWDFI since 2010, when he had begun working
with them in different initiatives such as trainings, consultation workshops,
and advocacy projects, also enriched the data gathered for this formal study,
particularly as part of Pakikiisa at Pakikipamuhay and Kwentuhan at Sama-
aralan.

Pakikiisa at pakikipamuhay emphasized the principle of “being there”

and “being with them” which paved the way for the author to be included
in the life of the organization and the people that form it. Pakikiisa included
participating in their activities and programs such as their capacity-building
activities for parents and caregivers, enrichment programs for children
with disabilities, and sensitivity training programs for barangay officials.
Pakikipamuhay included spending time with persons with disabilities
and their families. This meant participating in their day-to-day activities
including economic activities (e.g., rag-making or paggawa ng basahan, selling
homemade trinkets made of beads), social activities (e.g., being at the wake
of the sister of the LPPWDFI president), and political activities (e.g., joining
them in their meetings with barangay officials). This also involved living for
several days with five LPPWDFI leaders who were directly involved in the
data profiling project. Pakikiisa and pakikipamuhay provided opportunities
for the author to see firsthand the situation of persons with disabilities and
relate these to their data-profiling project.

Kwentuhan at sama-aralan brought deeper meaning into this study,

and in a very particular way in the analysis of the stories and insights that
emerged. The leaders and members of the LPPWDFI that the author
met with recalled how they developed the project at the beginning and

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how they implemented it. They shared stories showing the difficulties
they faced in the project such as having no previous experience in data
profiling, not being allowed to enter some of the gated villages, inaccessible
transportation, and even being ridiculed and threatened by a drunk man
in one instance. More than these, however, they also shared stories such as
the joy felt by a person with disability when she met the enumerators of the
data profiling project who were also persons with disabilities themselves.
The stories shared by the leaders and members of the LPPWDFI involved
in the data profiling project were bound by the strong sense of pride, of
individual and collective self-esteem brought about by being able to carry
out a seemingly insurmountable task. Insights and learning were also
drawn from their stories. A common lesson they expressed is the necessity
of consistent participation of persons with disabilities throughout the
design and implementation of the data profiling project if the aim is to
really come up with disability-responsive data.

Pagbabasa at pagsusuri ng mga kwento at dokumento allowed the

organization to collectively review and analyze existing documents
regarding the data profiling project such as the project completion report
prepared by the LPPWDFI and submitted to the City Social Welfare and
Development Office, data validation presentations, and presentations made
during disability-related fora and congresses (e.g., the 2nd Philippine CBR
Congress). Other relevant documents, such as draft proposals, could no
longer be accessed by the LPPWDFI since these were stored in an email and
social media account that at the time of the study was no longer existent.

The Case Study: LPPWDFI Data Profiling Project

The Las Piñas Persons with Disability Federation, Inc.

(LPPWDFI) is a cross-disability and city-wide federation of 20 barangay-
level associations of persons with disabilities in the City of Las Piñas,
National Capital Region. Founding members of the LPPWDFI organized
themselves in 2009 to assert their rights and to facilitate their access to
government programs and services. Coming to a consciousness that they
have often been relegated to being recipients of charity and beneficiaries of
“special” services, they saw the necessity of organizing themselves—to be
empowered, to be able to make decisions and influence decision-making
processes, to be part of their communities.

The need for data. Even before the SDG came into force with its
call for disaggregated data by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory
status, disability, and geographic location, the LPPWDFI were already
grappling with the problem of having no reliable data on persons with
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disabilities and the implications of this with regard to local development

planning, budgeting, service delivery, and more. The LPPWDFI officers
shared that, after they had organized themselves, they had a lot of ideas
to meet the different needs of persons with disabilities (e.g., sign language
training for deaf people, parents, family and community members; therapy
services for persons with disabilities and older persons) which they brought
to the attention of the local government of Las Piñas City, particularly at the
barangay level. In reply, they were often asked, “How many persons with
disabilities are there? How many of them are needing therapy services? How
many of them are blind? How many are deaf? What do the orthopedically
impaired need?” At this point, the LPPWDFI realized that they were missing
out on a lot of opportunities because they did not have the data.

Taking on emerging opportunities. Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB)

was implemented by the Human Development and Poverty Reduction
Cluster (HDPRC), the Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Cluster
(GGAC), and the Economic Development Cluster to “ensure the inclusion
of the funding requirements for the development needs of poorest/focus
cities and municipalities in the budget proposals of participating national
government agencies” (DBM-DILG-DSWD-NAPC Joint Memorandum
Circular No. 2, series of 2012). The initiative was also meant to involve
grassroots organizations and communities in the planning and budgeting
processes of local and national governments.

Alyansa ng May Kapansanang Pinoy (AKAP-Pinoy), a national-level

federation of organizations and individuals dedicated to advocating for
the rights and promoting the interests of persons with disabilities, was
among the organizations interested in the BUB process. AKAP-Pinoy was
invited to participate in a National Basic Sector Consultative Workshop
organized by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) on April 8,
2011. AKAP-Pinoy saw that this could also be an opportunity for some of
its member organizations like the LPPWDFI. Through the efforts of AKAP-
Pinoy, an invitation to participate in the NAPC consultative workshop was
extended to the LPPWDFI. The Federation designated two of its leaders, Dr.
Jeana Manalaysay and Mr. Mars Jaymalin (both persons with disabilities,
founding members of the LPPWDFI, and currently members of its board),
to participate in that workshop.

After the NAPC-led consultation workshop, Dr. Manalaysay

and Mr. Jaymalin met with the rest of the Federation officers and started
brainstorming on the project that the LPPWDFI would submit to the BUB
process. The organization did not take long to decide: They wanted to do a
data profiling project aiming to
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[R]ealign and justify appropriations for programs and services

intended for persons with disabilities and at the same time
help strengthen and consolidate the federation through active
participation of its leaders and members in the data basing project.
(LPPWDFI, 2014).

Developing the data profiling project—working with partners.

Dreaming of doing a data profiling project was one thing but translating
that dream into reality was a totally different story. In preparing for the
proposal, Dr. Manalaysay and Mr Jaymalin were joined by other LPPWDFI
officers2 , Ms. Maria Fe Maravillas, Mr. Napoleon Castillon II, Mrs. Epifania
Maria ‘Chona’ de Guia, and Mr. Michael Manuel. Important questions
were raised by the group to help them define how to proceed with the data
profiling project: Who among us has experience in data profiling? What
do we need to be able to do the project? How much does it cost? How will
we manage it? What training does the Federation need to accomplish the
project? They were able to answer some of the questions they raised, but
there were certain questions which they believed could be answered better
with the help of partners and like-minded organizations and institutions.

For the questions which they could not answer, the Federation
turned to several of its partners. One of its partners was the Philippine
Coalition on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(PCUNCRPD), a coalition involved in “policy review of domestic law
in the context of international commitments, disability budget analysis,
engagement with various national and local government agencies for
participation in public finance, and legislative lobbying with Congress
and Senate” (PCUNCRPD, 2013). Their contact in the Coalition, Dr. Lisa
Martinez, linked them to another group in an academic institution that
could help them in the data profiling project. The idea proposed by that
research group was a pilot study covering only a sample of barangays
in Las Piñas. While the LPPWDFI leaders could no longer recall all the
details of the proposal, what they remember is the study was to be led by
professional researchers and experts and would involve extensive training
of enumerators. The Federation eventually turned down the proposal of
that group saying,

The cost was way beyond what we could get from the BUB, the
cost of paying their resource persons was already half of the BUB
budget! And what they wanted was simply to do a small sample
with the end in view of doing the same thing nationally. What we
needed was data for all the barangays.
2
All of the officers of the LPPWDFI are persons with disabilities.

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Not the kind to easily give up, the LPPWDFI leaders got in touch
with another partner, Life Haven, Inc., an organization based in Valenzuela
City and one of the leading organizations in the country in the advocacy for
independent living through

[A] philosophy and a movement of persons with disabilities who work

for self-determination, equal opportunities and self-respect… (providing
opportunities for persons with disabilities) to support and learn from each
other, organize ourselves and work for political changes that lead to the
legal protection of our human and civil rights.

Two of the leaders of Life Haven, Mr. Abner Manlapaz and

Dr. Benjamin “Jun” Bernardino, came up with suggestions—e.g., have
enumeration done by persons with disabilities and by parents or relatives of
persons with disabilities, utilize existing resources or tap resources such as
transportation from the barangays—on how to go about the data profiling
project in a more cost-efficient manner.

With these suggestions and after a series of discussions and

consultations among the leaders of the LPPWDFI, they eventually came
up with the Data Profiling Project, “a participatory project that will
actively involve its members and help empower persons with disabilities”
(LPPWDFI, 2014). This proposal was submitted to the LGU of Las Piñas
for inclusion in its Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP). This
was followed by a series of consultations from March to September 2012
that were actively participated in by two LPPWDFI leaders, Dr. Manalaysay
and Ms. Maravillas. Within this period, the Federation also entered into a
Budget Partnership Agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and
Development in April 2012.

LPPWDFI documents show that the project was finally approved

in September 2012. After the approval, the Federation was asked to submit
an action plan for the implementation of the Data Profiling Project. Though
already approved, there were still some changes in the proposal particularly
in the calendar of activities. Implementation guidelines for the project were
completed in April 2013, and actual implementation started in the first
week of November 2013. Throughout the process, the LPPWDFI was also
supported by one of its closest partners in the LGU, the City Social Welfare
and Development Office (CSWDO).

Another crucial aspect in preparing for the data profiling project

centered on the question: Who will do the actual gathering of data at the
barangay level? At this point, the Federation was also coordinating with the
Department of Social Welfare and Development-National Capital Region
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Field Office (DSWD-NCR FO). The DSWDD-NCR FO suggested that

the survey should be done by social workers. The Federation, however,
asserted their idea that persons with disabilities and their relatives should
be the ones doing the data gathering in the different barangays. As one of
the Federation leaders said,

We wanted to be the one to do the actual survey. It was our way of showing
our ownership of the project. And besides, many of the persons with
disabilities would rather talk or be interviewed by persons with disabilities.

Furthermore, they also saw this as an opportunity for them

to personally meet and get to know the life situation of persons with
disabilities. The Federation’s decision was respected by the DSWD-NCR
FO; the Federation officers and the Disability Focal Person from the NCR
FO worked together on the guidelines for doing the data gathering.

Phases of the Data Profiling Project. The data profiling project

had five phases namely: (a) Preparation, (b) Selection and Orientation
of Enumerators and Encoders, (c) Actual Conduct of Profiling and Data
Encoding, (d) Midterm and Final Evaluation of Data Gathering Activity,
and (e) Data Processing/Data Analysis.

In the first phase, the LPPWDFI developed policies for the hiring
of enumerators and for the profiling of persons with disabilities. They
also reviewed and enhanced their data gathering instrument. The second
phase saw the LPPWDFI selecting enumerators and data encoders—
those selected were either persons with disabilities themselves or family
members of persons with disabilities. They also did an initial mapping of
the barangays for the purpose of identifying the targets per day in each of
the barangays, as well as the number of enumerators that would be assigned
in each of the areas. The total target was 5,000 persons with disabilities for
the whole of Las Piñas. The last part of this phase involved training and
simulation exercises on the use of the survey form. In the third phase, the
LPPWDFI conducted the survey in the span of 25 days (from November
18 to December 17, 2013). The fourth phase focused on encoding the data
as these came in from the enumerators. Monitoring the progress of the
data gathering was also done midway and at the end of the data gathering.
Monitoring was primarily done by the LPPWDFI.

The last phase centered on analyzing the data gathered from the 20
barangays. Statistical presentation of the data was done by Mrs. de Guia,
one of the officers of the LPPWDFI, based on the 10 indicators they had
identified at the outset: the total number of the different types of disability,
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cause of disability, disability and age category, education, employment,

assessment, mobility, voting population of persons with disabilities, and
the number of persons with disabilities with or without disability card. The
LPPWDFI also drew several recommendations based on the results of the
profiling. The organization provided the local government of Las Piñas City
(including the 20 barangays), the City Social Welfare Office, and the DSWD-
NCR FO with the findings, analysis, and recommendations that arose from
the data profiling. The table below provides details on key activities, dates,
and accomplishments made during the different phases of the project.

Table 1: The Five Phases of the Project

Phase Activity & Date Accomplishments, Highlights

Preparation Writeshop 1. Established guidelines in hiring

enumerators, encoders, evalua-
November 4-6, tors;
2013 2. Established implementing proce-
dures for enumeration process,
3. Identified strategies for enumera-
tion phase
4. Developed goals & indicators for
evaluation of output
5. Started developing the survey
forms

Selection and Screening of 1. 40 enumerators were selected;

Orientation enumerators and grouping of enumerators into 4
of Enumera- encoders teams; 1 team of 10 enumerators
tors and per barangay
Encoders November 7-8, 2. 4 Area Supervisors selected from
2013 the 40 enumerators
3. 5 encoders were hired

Mapping of 20 1. Determined the schedule of the

barangays barangays to be surveyed per day
and the number of enumerators
November 11, 2013 assigned per barangay

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Phase Activity & Date Accomplishments, Highlights

Orientation of 1. Conducted brief training on dif-

Enumerators and ferent types of disabilities
Encoders 2. Conducted interview simulations
using the questionnaires
November 12,
2013

Actual Actual conduct of 1. As of December 6, 2013, a total

Conduct of profiling of 2,617 PWDs were surveyed
Profiling and covering 14 barangays
Data Encod- November 18 – 2. Remaining barangays were cov-
ing December 6, 2013 ered after the mid-term evalua-
tion
December 8 to 17, 3. Advised persons with disabilities
2013 to register with CSWDO
4. Information on rights of persons
with disabilities, privileges and
benefits that can be accessed
using the government-issued ID
card, and LPPWDFI and the as-
sociations in their barangay
5. Households were also informed
on how to provide appropriate
support to persons with disabili-
ties
6. New advocates and potential
leaders were identified

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Phase Activity & Date Accomplishments, Highlights

Midterm Midterm Evalu- 1. Team of enumerators identi-

& Final ation fied learning and challenges
Evaluation faced during the enumeration
of Data December 7, 2. Submitted the total number of
Gathering 2013 PWDs they had interviewed
Activity per barangay
Final Evaluation 3. 8 members of the LPPWDFI
Workshop Core Group, 4 Area Supervi-
sors and encoders together
December 27-28, with the project facilitator
2013 from DSWD NCR, BUB Project
Coordinator of Las Piñas City,
and CSWDO Focal Person for
PWDs evaluated the data pro-
filing activities from Phases
1-5

Data Extraction of 1. Prepared tables and graphs

Process- data from the encoded data using
ing/ Data Preparation the 10 indicators
Analysis of summary & 2. Prepared the final output
analysis 3. Provided each barangay a
Drafting of rec- copy of the findings, analysis,
ommendations and recommendations
Presentation of
final output

January to March
2014

Source: LPPWDFI, 2014, Profiling of Persons with Disabilities in Las

Piñas City

Data profiling, an on-going endeavor. Among the disability-

disaggregated data that emerged from the 2013 data profiling project of the
LPPWDFI is that there are 3,183 persons with disabilities, 36.76% of whom are
persons with orthopedic/mobility impairments. The LPPWDFI (2014) report
also showed that “the specific types of orthopedic/mobility impairment with
most number are: poliomyelitis (22.31%), stroke (18.72%) and cerebral palsy

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(15.41%)” (please refer to the figure below). The data generated further
showed that there were slightly more men with disabilities, a total of 1,747,
compared to 1,436 women with disabilities. The data profiling project
showed that three of the highest causes of impairments are: (1) congenital
or inborn, (2) illness, and (3) injury.

Figure 1: Types of Disability in Barangays from District I and II

For educational attainment, 75.56%, or 2,405 out of the 3,183

persons with disabilities identified, reported having gone to school. Close
to half of these, however, reported attending school only until the primary
level. Only 444 reported having attended college or enrolled in vocational
training. The data also showed a total of 2,034 adults with disabilities. Of
these, 492 were employed while 1,542 were unemployed. Men topped
the list for both employed and unemployed. The data generated in the
profiling project were further disaggregated by age, access to medical
assessment services (the main reason cited for not accessing such services
was financial difficulties), voting population of persons with disabilities,
and the number of persons with disabilities with or without disability
card (the main reason identified for not having a disability card is lack of
knowledge or information).

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Figure 2: Employment Among Adults with Disabilities in Barangays from

District I and I

In 2013, the officers of the LPPWDFI who led the data profiling
project stated/declared, “The output will serve as a basis in all future programs
and activities for persons with disabilities towards their empowerment and
in claiming the rights due them” (LPPWDFI, 2014). The LPPWDFI was
able to use their disaggregated data to influence changes at the barangay
level, such as through successful lobbying among many of the barangay
officials to provide funding support for such projects and activities of the
Federation as sensitivity and awareness-raising workshops for barangay
officials. With the data, they were also able to convince barangay officials to
give them access to use the barangay transport vehicles when they needed
to attend meetings or trainings in the city hall or in other LGUs in the
National Capital Region. Capacity-building activities for persons with
disabilities also began receiving support as a result of the data on their
educational situation. At the city level, LPPWDFI was able to leverage their
data to influence the priorities of programs, projects, and activities of the
City Social Welfare and Development Office thereby ensuring that these
would address what persons with disabilities truly need. Whereas before,
“services” for persons with disabilities consisted only of gifts given during
the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week and during
Christmas, the data that came out from the profiling project paved the
way for more capacity-building activities (such as community organizing,
leadership training of officers, local budget advocacy, and proposal making)
for the LPPWDFI leaders and members.

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Apart from these, the following are some of the other

recommendations that the LPPWDFI came up with in 2013 and which are
now being implemented. The LPPWDFI recommended that the LGU of
Las Piñas pursue the establishment of the Persons with Disability Affairs
Office (PDAO) in the city pursuant to Republic Act 10070. To date, the
LPPWDFI have already drafted the implementing rules and regulations
for the city PDAO, and these will likely be approved by the city council
before the end of 2019. They also recommended the maximization of
learning opportunities for persons with intellectual disabilities. To date, the
Federation is already in its second year of implementing its Children with
Disabilities and Parents Enrichment Program with funding support from
the CSWDO.

Data profiling, still an on-going endeavor. The organization,

however, did not stop at the 2013 Data Profiling Project. To date, they
continue to regularly update their database. They are now in the process
of validating their 2018 and first quarter 2019 data—with the raw figures
showing that there are already over 12,000 persons with disabilities in their
database. The LPPWDFI also sees further improvements in data gathering
as it has partnered with the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) which
is currently implementing a project entitled Inclusive Data Management
System for Persons with Disabilities. The data that will come out from this
partnership will be used in influencing the disaster risk reduction and
management (DRRM) plan of the City of Las Piñas towards being more
disability responsive. It must be noted as well that the review of existing
DRRM policies and programs in Las Piñas including rescue procedures,
drill exercises, early warning systems, and information materials was also
one of the recommendations made in the 2013 data profiling project.

Their experiences and their continuing initiative to build on their

data profiling project has opened up opportunities for the LPPWDFI to
partner with different organizations locally, nationally, and even at the
international level in pursuit of their advocacy for inclusive development.
Speaking from their context in Las Piñas, this means, “Truly inclusive—not
just for persons with disabilities. This includes older persons, children and
youth, women, the urban poor, and fisher folk.” This, for them, is their re-
imagination of development.

Discussions of Critical Factors

The discussions of the author will focus on four critical factors

that he sees contributed to the success of LPPWDFI’s collective initiative:

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(a) Rights, identities, and aspirations of persons with disabilities, (b)

Leadership development, capacity-building, and local initiatives, (c) The
role of support organizations and the state, and (d) Facing the need to
build on gains.

Rights, identities and aspirations of persons with disabilities. In

a conversation with Dr. Manalaysay, one of the founding leaders of the
LPPWDFI, she stressed that they organized themselves around human
rights and their shared aspiration to have a voice, to be empowered. Further
conversations with officers and members at barangay-level associations
showed a growing appreciation of their being claimholders and of their
organizations as avenues for holding the local government accountable in
fulfilling its obligations.

Being a cross-disability organization, the LPPWDFI was also

very much aware that they needed to have disaggregated data that they
can use in holding the local government accountable in enhancing
existing programs and services or developing new ones that will include
the different needs of its members. While the majority of those identified
in the 2013 data profiling were persons with orthopedic/mobility
impairments, the recommendations they drafted covered the needs of all
their constituencies. Apart from impairments, there was also a good effort
to identify women and girls with disabilities so that they can be rendered
more visible and thus included in mainstream development programs and
services (LPPWDFI, 2014). The data profiling project also provided the
LPPWDFI the opportunity to have a deeper appreciation of who among
them needed the most support due to their socio-economic status.

The Articles of Incorporation of the LPPWDFI speaks of aiming

for the improvement of the lives of persons with disabilities. Conversations
with leaders and members of the LPPWDFI and its barangay-level
associations provided a glimpse into how they see this aspiration hopefully
playing out in their communities: communities that are more respectful,
communities that are more sensitive to the needs of vulnerable people,
communities that provide opportunities for them to participate in all
aspects of community life, communities that are becoming more aware
of the different barriers that exclude people and the need to reduce, if not
remove, such barriers.

The rights, identities, and shared aspirations of persons with

disabilities belonging to the LPPWDFI, or what might also be referred to as
collective identity and organizational unity, provided the firm foundation
for the data profiling project of the LPPWDFI. All these taken together
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have led to the Data Profiling of Persons with Disabilities, a participatory

project that involved persons with disabilities themselves from planning, to
implementation, to monitoring and final evaluation (LPPWDFI, 2014).

Leadership development, capacity-building, local initiatives.

The lack of reliable data particularly on disability had become an easy
go-to excuse for local government units and different agencies. This
attitude provided fertile ground for business-as-usual development, i.e.,
development that sees persons with disabilities as beneficiaries and not as
agents. The continuous development of the LPPWDFI leaders—through
participation in different capacity-building programs—enabled them to
gain more confidence to develop more complex local initiatives such as
the data profiling project. At another level, investing in capability-building
has contributed in levelling the playing field to allow more room for
participation. For example, pushing for persons with disabilities to serve as
enumerators for the project and ensuring that they are sufficiently trained
so that they can carry out their tasks allowed for greater participation.
There was also a strong sense of ownership of the data profiling project
since this idea emerged from the organization’s analysis of its situation and
it was perceived to be a relevant response to their need to influence how
local government programs and services are developed and implemented.

Role of support organizations and the state. While the LPPWDFI

were at the front and center of the data profiling project, it was evident from
their story that different individuals, organizations, and institutions also
played important roles at different phases of the project. Partnering with
other organizations has been one of the main strategies of the LPPWDFI that
enabled it to develop and implement many of their ideas, including the data
profiling project. In partnering with other organizations, it was essential for
LPPWDFI to have a firm belief in their capacity and the centrality of their
role with regard to their local initiatives. For their partners, on the other
hand, like the DSWD-NCR and the Las Piñas CSWDO, it was essential
for these organizations to take a step back and recognize their facilitative
role in the process. It must be said however that such a situation did not
simply come about. In the words of the leaders of LPPWDFI, “We fought
for our views, our rights.” The respect that support organizations have
come to accord to them is a result of their collective struggle and their local
initiatives to change their situation.

Facing the need to build on gains. The Federation recognizes that,

while there have been positive outcomes across the barangays and even
within the city government, these changes have been uneven and have not
really levelled the playing field, so to speak. There is a recognition that most
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of the outcomes respond to practical needs of persons with disabilities and

their families, but outcomes in terms of strategic concerns around social
barriers (prejudicial attitudes, environmental and institutional barriers) are
still wanting. In this regard, the LPPWDFI sees the need to continue to
deepen their analysis of the data they have produced and are producing,
and utilize the results of this in further enhancing and developing their
strategies, programs, and projects towards broader and deeper societal
changes. They also see the need to use the data (and the continuing
generation of disaggregated data on persons with disabilities) to inform
their initiatives in (a) consolidating their organizations at the barangay and
city levels, (b) partnering with support institutions, and (c) pursuing their
advocacy for a more inclusive society.

Conclusions

While having disability-disaggregated data, be it at the national level

or at the level of the barangay, is not enough to ensure that excluded peoples
are included, it cannot be denied that having such is critical in ensuring
that the rights of persons with disabilities are included in all development
efforts. The value of disaggregated data in shaping development policies
and programs is further increased if excluded peoples themselves play a
central role in producing such data. In the case of the LPPWDFI, however,
it seems that it was not merely the resulting disaggregated data which
convinced policy makers and program implementers at the barangay and
city-levels. Rather, it was the collective action of persons with disabilities
and their commitment to their cause to be included in their communities,
which persuaded the government to start to change and be more disability-
responsive.

Furthermore, the value of the data profiling project of the LPPWDFI

goes beyond the fact that relevant data was produced. Being at the front
and center of the data profiling project gave LPPWDFI the opportunity to
deepen their (a) understanding of the different but intersecting realities
of persons with disabilities in Las Piñas City; (b) appreciation of their
individual and collective capabilities; and (c) relationships with each
other within their organizations—which they believe is essential if they
are to continue to genuinely participate in re-defining and re-imagining
development in their communities.

The lack or absence of disability-disaggregated data in the

majority of Philippine communities continues to be a major barrier that
results in the exclusion of persons with disabilities in social development.
While local government units can take the lead in doing this, such as in
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the case of the LGU of Cervantes mentioned in the earlier section of this
article, the Data Profiling Project of the LPPWDFI shows the significance
of persons with disabilities themselves being at the forefront of such an
endeavor. Not only does it ensure that the data generated are relevant to
their lives, experiences, and aspirations, but the process itself contributes
a lot to their empowerment as individuals and as an organization. While
many organizations of persons with disabilities in the country are looking
and waiting for their respective LGUs to take the lead in data profiling,
perhaps the story of the LPPWDFI can open up spaces for introspection
and eventually for their collective action.

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 Interrogating Human Rights: A Personal Journey in Drafting the Right to International Solidarity

Interrogating Human Rights:

A Personal Journey in Drafting the Right to International Solidarity

Virginia B. Dandan, DSD

(Editor’s Note: This article is based on the initial chapter of a
recently concluded dissertation. The dissertation is ‘different’ from
the conventional dissertation in terms of form and substance. The
dissertation chronicles the author’s journey in working within the UN
human rights system as an Independent Expert tasked to prepare the
Draft Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity. The author
describes it as a process of deconstructing and constructing the Right to
International Solidarity.)

Introduction

There is something profoundly intriguing in the idea that everyone

is born equal and free, with human rights that no one can take away from
us, no matter who and where we are, our skin color, what gods we worship,
whether we are rich or poor, young or old. That was the thought that ran
through my mind when I first read the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) in the late 1980s. I came across the UDHR as I was doing a
library search for a Philippine law that could be applied so that the women
potters of Samoki—a small village in the Mountain Province where I was
doing research—could continue to gather their clay in a neighboring patch
of land that had become private property. I was at that time part of a team
of faculty members from the University of the Philippines College of Fine
Arts conducting field research on the traditional art forms of Northern
Luzon; and being a sculptor, pottery was assigned to me. I divided my time
between my teaching duties, artmaking, and traveling to visit the potters’
village. It was a relief when a local lawyer intervened and negotiated a
mutually agreed solution to the problem between the potters and the
private property owner. The village of Samoki is still there today, with a
few of the potters still living but now grown old with just a few of them
still making an occasional traditional clay pot that less and less people still
find useful as storage vessels in this age of inexpensive plastic containers
and the introduction of piped water services.

That chance introduction to human rights changed the course of

my life. I have since all but set aside my art practice, to pursue what has
turned out to be a journey spanning three decades now and still counting.
I concentrated on doing human rights work in the United Nations system

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as an “independent expert,” a term of art denoting a person with a formal

United Nations mandate without compensation and, as such, acts and
speaks in her individual capacity. I brought with me to the UN system
an approach to human rights that was seen as different from that of the
UN diplomats and international lawyers who monitored compliance with
human rights treaty obligations by the so-called duty-bearers, the States.
In my early years as a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (CESCR or the Committee), there were only a few
colleagues who found my approach “refreshing” while most rolled their
eyes heavenward whenever I showed more interest in the best practices by
States instead of their neglect or failure in implementing their obligations
to promote and protect human rights. I was attempting to strike a balance
between the prevailing inordinate focus on violations of human rights and
the positive instrumental value of human rights. The negative approach,
sometimes referred to in the vocabulary of human rights as the violations
approach, largely contributed to the misconception that human rights are
only about torture, executions, forced evictions, repression of the media,
and so on. This state of affairs dismayed and disturbed me and I wondered
how a shift could ever be achieved given the established negativity in the
vocabulary of human rights. It occurred to me that my UN mandate could
be a useful platform to raise awareness of the positive values that human
rights can bring to people’s lives.

This approach launched me on a path that has led me to this

point—writing a paper with the objective of illustrating and expanding the
understanding of human rights through my experience of constructing and
then deconstructing a United Nations document titled “Draft Declaration
on the Right to International Solidarity,” referred to onward as the Draft
Declaration. This is the first time that a single individual has been tasked
by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC or the Council) to prepare a UN
declaration in her capacity as the mandate-holder of human rights and
international solidarity. The preparation of a UN declaration has always been
assigned to a working group composed of representatives of States assisted
by legal experts. Like all other UN declarations, the Draft Declaration will be
negotiated by the Member States of the UN, modified to their satisfaction,
before it is submitted to the General Assembly for adoption. Although the
task of writing the Draft Declaration was assigned to me simply by virtue
of circumstance, as part of the myriad duties of the “what is known as a
mandate holder” in UN parlance, it was for me a privilege that gave me a
singular opportunity to make a direct impact on the fulfillment of human
rights. The first mandate holder—I was the second—was unable to complete
the preparation of the Draft Declaration within the maximum allotted term

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of six years, owing to daunting obstacles that this paper will discuss.

This paper serves as the introduction chapter to my dissertation

that traces the processes and questions I confronted in my journey in
understanding human rights, particularly the right to international
solidarity. The entire dissertation is a firsthand account of my modest
contribution to the human rights work of the UN where I devoted the most
productive years of my professional life, culminating in the submission to
the Human Rights Council of the Draft Declaration at the end of my term
in 2017.

Looking Back: My Engagement with Human Rights

The ensuing years as part of the UN human rights system were

hectic, as I worked simultaneously on my teaching duties in the University
and my responsibilities as a member of the UNCESCR. I was also managing
a project for the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines on
integrating human rights in community development where I first
encountered a vocabulary of human rights that gave a name to my own
thinking regarding a shift in attention from the violations approach to
human rights to their essential positive values. The project team and I
were working with three indigenous communities, one in Northern Luzon
and two in Mindanao. It was encouraging how well those communities
responded to learning about human rights, and surprising that these
communities were already practicing human rights principles although
these were not named as such. They could easily translate into their local
languages the human rights principles of equality, non-discrimination,
participation, accountability, and rule of law. They spoke of these human
rights terms in analogous phrases rather than single words. In effect, they
were describing the connotations of each term rather than denoting them.

There was one community in particular—the Badjao of Tampalan

close to Zamboanga City in Mindanao—who understood the meaning
of the human rights principles as expressions of love in their personal
relations with each other and with their community. For example, the rule
of law was about the reverence for and obedience to their council of elders,
whom they regarded as the bearers of the wisdom and love as handed
down by their ancestors. I recall a long conversation with the head of the
Badjao community whom they called Panglima. He explained to me that
the term human rights which I was using was just another way of referring
to love which in the Bisayan language spoken in Mindanao, is translated
as paghigugma or just simply gugma. He was apparently unimpressed about

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what I called “human rights” because they regarded gugma as a behavioral

norm in their culture. What he said was not a revelation because indeed
human rights principles are akin to the golden rule, “Do unto others as you
want others to do to you.” But the way the Panglima casually but explicitly
proclaimed that human rights was simply gugma, love, had an impact on
me. Even if I secretly held the same conviction that human rights are really
all about love, I was reticent to openly talk about human rights as such for
fear that I would be ridiculed.

The New Road in the Same Direction

I stayed on course with the CESCR for 20 years, with eight of those
years as the Chairperson. The UN Human Rights Council then appointed
me as the Independent Expert on Human Rights and International
Solidarity, where my priority task was to prepare a draft declaration on the
right to international solidarity while at the same time taking into account
the processes and outcomes of all major United Nations conferences and
other global summits and ministerial meetings in the economic, social, and
climate fields. I was also requested in this context, to seek the views and
contributions from governments, United Nations agencies, other relevant
international organizations, and non-governmental organizations in the
discharge of my mandate. Further requests from the Council included
participation in relevant international forums and major events to promote
the importance of human rights and international solidarity in, for example,
the post-2015 development agenda and after that, in the processes that went
into the outcomes of the 2030 development agenda of the United Nations,
more familiarly known as the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Council resolution that defined my mandate did not specify

concrete instructions as to how I would go about the task of creating a
draft declaration. It was apparently my decision as to how I would go
about creating a new human right. I approached the task in the only way
I knew how, by problematizing the subject. The problem itself was fairly
simple—how to create a new human right. My past experience taught me
that the full understanding of human rights cannot pre-exist the right
itself. Human rights are a work in progress, and come into full light and
existence as enforceable claims only through continuous development of its
dimensions, made possible through the experience and hands-on work done
on the ground by local actors themselves. In this case, I had to ask myself
questions that would spur my initial imaginings of how a Draft Declaration
might be. What is the definition of the right to international solidarity?
What are the relevant principles, norms, standards, and practices that

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could be applied for an effective implementation of a right to international

solidarity? Other questions linked to multiple issues convinced me that
my work would benefit greatly from the expertise and insights of other
human rights experts.

The first major step I took in relation to my tasks was to

convene a two-day expert workshop on human rights and international
solidarity under the auspices of my official mandate. I invited 26
internationally recognized human rights experts selected from various
regions. Representatives of States, United Nations agencies, and non-
governmental organizations were also invited as observers in the private
meetings and as participants in the workshop groups. The discussions in
the workshop focused on relevant issues that included the content, nature,
and added value of international solidarity; the definition of international
solidarity and a right to international solidarity; the relationships between
international solidarity and international cooperation; and working
beyond the Millennium Development Goals. The participants expressed
their thoughts freely, based on their individual expertise, and exchanged
views on the issues at hand.

The outcome of the expert workshop provided invaluable data

from which I gained a clearer understanding of what the contour and
scope of a right to international solidarity might be. In terms of justifying
the right to international solidarity, there was no need to look beyond the
various crises facing the world. If the right were in place, better tools would
be available with which to tackle issues. The right could also be justified by
exploring existing good practice in terms of international solidarity and
by bringing in human rights standards, including non-discrimination,
equality, transparency, participation, and accountability of national and
international institutions and State and non-State actors. The participants
stressed the importance of the concept of “preventive solidarity” as a
normative framework, in particular to minimize the negative effects of
crises. It could take the form of safeguards against financial recessions or
of early warning systems for natural disasters, for example. The work of
the International Labor Organization on the social protection floor was
cited as a good example of preventive solidarity.

The right to international solidarity would capture the ways

in which solidarity was used by the public to achieve development and
to push for a more revolutionary definition of the concept. A note of
caution was that imposing a right to solidarity and turning it into a State
obligation might actually undermine the right because it could weaken

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community solidarity and make the Government solely responsible. Several

participants pointed out that, in drafting a declaration, it was important to
strike the correct note, tone, and balance so as to be forward-looking but
also to focus on what was palatable at a time of crises and what would have
both strength and content. The added value of the right to international
solidarity in the form of a declaration would be that the declaration would
set forth interpretive principles and forward-looking text. It would also be
important at some stage to look at how to muster sufficient support among
Member States and civil society for the declaration. One way to build
consensus was to base the declaration on the Charter of the United Nations
and existing human rights obligations.

The workshop was only the beginning and, in the course of my

mandate, more stakeholders would be sought out and consulted. At
the sessions of the Human Rights Council, I held numerous informal
consultations with the delegations of the regional groups of countries, to
listen and exchange views. It was my intention to listen to as many people
as possible. I managed to compile a rich resource basis from which to
draw a first attempt at crafting a preliminary text of the Draft Declaration.
This compilation was complemented by my informal conversations with
different groups of people with whom I engaged in UN world conferences.
I also benefited from the country study missions I conducted, particularly
in Brazil where solidarity is integrated into its Constitution, and where the
government practices what they call “solidarity diplomacy.”

Defining International Solidarity and a Right to International

Solidarity

The most common understanding of the word “solidarity” from

the dictionary is in terms of a unity or agreement of feeling or action,
especially among individuals with a common interest; and mutual support
within a group. Solidarity also refers to an independent trade union
movement in Poland that developed into a mass campaign for political
change and inspired popular opposition to communist regimes across
eastern Europe during the 1980s. The Human Rights Council resolution
that spelled out the terms of my appointment as independent expert also
stipulated that international solidarity is a “…broad principle not limited
to international assistance and cooperation, aid, charity or humanitarian
assistance, and that it includes sustainability in international relations,
especially international economic relations, the peaceful coexistence of
all members of the international community, equal partnerships and the
equitable sharing of benefits and burdens” (HRC, 2011).

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Interrogating Human Rights: A Personal Journey in Drafting the Right to International Solidarity

A particular vocabulary of human rights prevails in the language

of the international human rights domain as well as in the various legal
instruments denoting interpretations of the human rights standards
contained in the UDHR. I took this into account as I went through a review
of UN documents relevant to my task of preparing the Draft Declaration.
Since I was creating a document that would be closely examined specifically
by the Member States of the Human Rights Council, I had to learn to write
using the dominant vocabulary of human rights.

It has been said, and rightly so, that the principle of solidarity—
emphasis mine—is a concept that progressively moves forward in asserting
common rights and responsibilities and in the shaping of an international
community, representing values to be attached, as a whole, to the life of
present and future generations, and to the development of a democratic
and equitable international order (Van Boven, 2012). When I first
accepted my appointment to the mandate, I spoke in “lay person’s terms”
of solidarity as a persuasion that combines differences and opposites,
holding them together in one heterogeneous whole, imbuing that whole
with the universal values of human rights. For that reason, solidarity
should be protected from exploitation and corruption, particularly at the
international level, across national boundaries and cultural diversities.
Furthermore, international solidarity should be explicitly a human right
if it is to be true to the purposes of the United Nations, and if it is to be
the engine that will drive the international community’s collective actions
to overcome the common challenges, risks, and threats faced by nations
and peoples, and to achieve the transformative changes that are imperative
in these troubled times. It did not take long for me to realize that, more
than anything, what was required was an understanding of international
solidarity in human rights terms. This is the rationale and significance of
the Draft Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity.

Article 1 of the Draft Declaration provides a definition of the

principle of international solidarity: “International solidarity is the expression of
a spirit of unity among individuals, peoples, States and international organizations,
encompassing the union of interests, purposes and actions and the recognition
of different needs and rights to achieve common goals.” The above definition
of international solidarity as a principle encompasses a comprehensive
and coherent conceptual and operational framework to regulate a
spectrum of global governance issues beyond the more limited instances
of international cooperation in the field of development. For example,
international solidarity requires the deployment of preventive solidarity
aimed at proactively preventing and removing the root causes of inequalities

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between developed and developing countries, as well as the structural

obstacles that generate poverty. International solidarity represents a multi-
directional—rather than a one-way—deployment of action, together with
the corresponding obligation and accountability, thus creating a nexus of
intersecting elements that would bring about an enabling environment
where human rights can be exercised and enjoyed by individuals, groups,
and peoples.

In Article 4, the full definition of the right to international solidarity

is stated in two paragraphs—

1. The right to international solidarity is a human right by which

individuals and peoples are entitled, on the basis of equality and non-
discrimination, to participate meaningfully in, contribute to and
enjoy a social and international order in which all human rights and
fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.
2. The right to international solidarity is grounded in the codification
and progressive development of freedoms and entitlements contained
in international human rights treaties reflecting civil and political
rights, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development,
and international labour standards, and complemented by other
responsibilities arising from voluntary commitments undertaken in the
relevant fields at the bilateral, multilateral, regional and international
levels.

The framework for international solidarity derives from four general

sources: the Charter of the United Nations; the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights along with the international human rights treaties;
the numerous commitments relating to human rights and development
that have been adopted by States in UN conferences and summits; and
the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly. These documents
stand on the positions taken by States that reflect their acceptance of these
resolutions and, more importantly, their actual practice. UN resolutions are
key to the treaty-making process as well as the formulation of declarations,
with the respective texts having to be negotiated among States of the
General Assembly.

The wide political divide among Member States of the UN is

a reality that most UN people have learned to live with, and mostly
ignore. But like it or not, this great political divide can be the single most
destructive element within an institution that is founded on solidarity,
cooperation, and “brotherhood.” There has always been among States

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of the Human Rights Council, a general recognition of international

solidarity as a principle. However, the Council is divided along political
lines when it comes to supporting the concept of international solidarity
as a human right. Developed countries, particularly the European Union
countries, and their political allies like the United States, Australia, New
Zealand, and South Korea, all reject international solidarity as a human
right. On the opposite side, there is strong support from Russia, China,
and the developing countries from Africa and the Latin American and
Caribbean and Southeast Asian regions. In my bilateral consultations, I
was informed by the Western group that their objection lies in the fact
that international solidarity as a right does not have a legal basis because
it applies to collectives in direct contradiction to its avowed position that
human rights belong only to individuals. As a postscript to this issue, I
place on record that the mandate of international solidarity was created
under the sponsorship of Cuba and it is my opinion that this fact has
made all the difference in their staunch political position against a Draft
Declaration on the Right to International Solidarity. When I began my
term as the Independent Expert, my first bilateral meeting was with an
ambassador from a Latin American country who gently pointed out to me
that this state of affairs will be the single most formidable obstacle to the
success of the mandate.

Relevant Literature

Direct reference in the major literature of the United Nations
to international solidarity as a right does not exist but, in contrast, the
reference to the principle of international solidarity is abundant. The Draft
Declaration therefore makes generous use of the principle of international
solidarity to build upon in the articulation of its preambular paragraphs
and in laying down the foundations of the right to international solidarity.

International solidarity is a foundational principle underpinning

the three pillars of the Charter of the United Nations—peace and security,
development, and human rights. The Charter distinctly reaffirms faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person,
in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small. The
Charter adopted in 1945, is a testimony to the determination of States

…to establish the conditions under which justice and respect

for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained; to promote social progress
and better standards of life in greater freedom; and to employ
international machinery for the promotion of the economic and

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social advancement of all peoples. Accordingly, international

solidarity should be understood within the context of the
conditions that States are bound to maintain, and not otherwise.

The Charter of the United Nations needs to be revisited as often

as necessary, as a reminder of its timeless vision, given the evolving needs
of a changing world. Article 1 of the Charter, articulating the purposes of
the Organization, implicitly calls for international solidarity to undertake
effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats
to peace. Article 1 also calls for international cooperation in solving
international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian
character. The Draft Declaration interprets this article as consistent with
its claim that international cooperation is a key feature of the right to
international solidarity.

The adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights put into motion the extraordinary promise and exhortation in its
Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Further in its penultimate Article 29
paragraph 1, the UDHR makes a powerful point: “Everyone has duties to the
community in which alone the free and full development of his personality
is possible.” These two articles together with the other articles between
them, set out a “…common standard of achievement for all peoples and
nations” (UDHR Preamble). The preamble and the articles of the UDHR
shape the contours of international solidarity as both a principle and a right.
They also reinforce the idea of international solidarity as an instrument
that responds to the existing imperative to establish the conditions under
which all individuals and peoples can enjoy and realize their human rights.
It is in addition the engine for international assistance and cooperation
towards the effective implementation of sustainable development.

The Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted in 1986, was

a response to the need for substantive change in the reprehensible conditions
of the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable groups. Yet its effective
implementation continues to be fraught with complex political issues and,
to this day, support for the Declaration on the Right to Development, the
source of the so-called human rights-based approach to development,
has not risen beyond lip service from the same States that signed it. The
issues that emerged out of the right to development are the same issues
being echoed in discussions around the right to international solidarity.
The political divide between the developed and the developing countries
so intensely polarized the United Nations. The Declaration on the Right
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to Development itself was not the issue. It was also on its implementation
where the opposing factions simply could not agree on how the provisions
of the Declaration would be implemented. The controversy centered on
the same position of the EU countries and their allies that collective rights
such as the right to development do not have a legal footing because of
the fact that human rights belong only to individuals. The question of
who should foot the bill in the implementation of development assistance
brought the debate to a virtual standstill. An intergovernmental Working
Group on the Right to Development was created and an Independent
Expert on the Right to Development was appointed, who would report to
the Working Group on the implementation of the Right to Development.
The Right to Development: Reflections on the First Four Reports of the Independent
Expert on the Right to Development, published by Franciscans International
(2003), is a compilation of commentaries by varied authors who had been
following the issues linked to the processes and activities surrounding the
controversies. I found this book useful in gaining relevant knowledge on
how and why these controversies seemed to find no solution even with the
passage of many years. The articles cover a wide range of topics that may be
relevant to my own mandate such as development cooperation strategies,
the establishment of a development compact, and escaping poverty through
development cooperation (FI, 2003).

I make special mention of the book Human Rights and Their Limits by
Wiktor Osiatynski (2011), a professor at the Central European University in
Budapest, who spent his boyhood years in communist Poland of the 1950s.
His book represents his most significant learning about human rights over
20 years doing research and teaching human rights, witnessing firsthand
“…the world around me slowly waking up to the concept of human rights”
(Osiatynski, 2011). With such opening remarks, it is no wonder that I have
been keeping this book within easy reach and regret that I have not spent as
much time reading it as thoroughly as it deserves. My readings of the book
so far have left me with more questions than answers in my quest of finding
something that I could use in my task of writing the Draft Declaration.
Aside from finding resonance with the idea that the author wrote the book
from firsthand experience, I did find the book’s format unusual. Osiatynski
divided the parts of his book into two, providing two separate conclusions
for each part. I also found resonance between his discussion of rights in
the public sphere, rights and society, and the theory of communicative
action of Jurgen Habermas (1991) which I used to frame my examination
of variables in preparation to writing the Draft Declaration.

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The Process of Making the Draft Declaration

Through all the years that I was working with the UN, I was
constantly engaged with colleagues among whom were some of the best
minds of international law. It was from them that I learned to pay attention
to Human Rights Council resolutions because resolutions emanating from
international organizations such as the UN General Assembly and the
Human Rights Council have a persuasive effect on international law.

This entailed a tedious process of sifting through countless UN

documents in search of the appropriate elements for a draft declaration;
numerous bilateral consultations with the various delegations of States at
the UN headquarters and at their permanent missions in Geneva as well as
in New York; interviews with other independent human rights experts and
academics both within and outside the UN system; and spending the rest of
the time studying relevant references.

Consultations with the delegations of States were part of my

official duties and I took that effort as a matter of priority, recognizing
that the support of delegations would be crucial to the success of the Draft
Declaration, and the continuation of the mandate itself. My objective during
the initial round of consultations with the delegations was to listen to and
note what they had to say about a right to international solidarity and, just
as importantly, to what they did not say.

The insights, comments, and inputs from United Nations agencies,

independent experts, non-governmental organizations, academics, national
human rights institutions, and local communities on the Preliminary Text
were of great benefit in the process of amending the original text to its new
form which I started referring to as the Proposed Draft Declaration. The
Proposed Draft Declaration was circulated for further comments.

I modelled the original Proposed Draft Declaration after the

traditional format of UN declaration documents. It took on a different
form after it went through the step-by-step procedure that was put in
place to finalize it. The two versions of the Draft Declaration were framed
by the communicative action theory of Jurgen Habermas (Bolton, 2005)
who created a distinction between Lifeworld and System, two distinct but
related spheres of social life in which what he calls communicative and
instrumental action occur. Lifeworld refers to the everyday world whose
realities are influenced by System that consists of structures and patterns
of instrumental action such as money and power. Lifeworld is the medium

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of the symbolic and cultural reproduction of society and System is the

medium of material reproduction of society (Bolton, 2005).

In my quest for a theoretical foundation on examining the

vocabulary of human rights, my position on the matter resonates with the
idea of the language-world relationship dealing with questions on what
gives words their meanings and what is it for a word to even have a meaning
to begin with (Geisz, 2011). It is a simple starting point to questions about
representation and reference. However, what is more related to the context
of this paper is Frege’s concept (Dummett, 1973) that expressions which
share their referents (that which is referred to; in this case, human rights)
could generally be substituted for one another without changing the truth
value of a sentence. In other words, anything we might predicate with
the one we may predicate with the other, so long as the two expressions
have the same referent. I attempted to do this while I was in the process of
revising the Proposed Draft Declaration.

The final version of the Draft Declaration of the Right to

International Solidarity was submitted to the Human Rights Council at the
end of my term as Independent Expert in June 2017.

Human Rights as Language of Love?

Specialists in international law use legal language to interpret the

substance of human rights which contribute to the skewed perspectives
on human rights among those who have no legal background. More often
than not, the average person relates human rights only to violations that
are featured in dramatic fashion in print and broadcast media. Even today,
when human rights education has become part of the curriculum in
schools, there is a lack of awareness and understanding of human rights in
its positive light. Philip Alston has recently sounded the alarm regarding
the “nationalistic, xenophobic, misogynistic and explicitly anti-human
rights agenda of many populist political leaders” (Alston, 2017). He has
called on human rights proponents to rethink long-standing assumptions
about human rights, re-evaluate strategies and reach out more actively and
broadly to reaffirm the basic human rights principles. Alston’s words may
also be taken as a criticism of the lack of creative initiatives to revitalize the
already enervated vocabulary of human rights. In response to this, it could
well be that the time has come to be less didactic and be more open to other
possibilities in reaffirming human rights principles.

Alston’s warning is truly alarming; and not only human rights

advocates but rather every one of us should be concerned as to the future of
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democracy in the face of the rising tide of change in the opposite direction
of where we would want the world to go. The sad truth is the idea of human
rights is growing old and tired. Too much has been expected of the promise
of the UDHR, as though it were the panacea to every large and small crisis
that happens in the world on a daily basis. That was the feeling I had as I
went through the process of crafting the Draft Declaration on the Right to
International Solidarity.

The notion of international obligations becomes even more

relevant in the present context of globalization, where the role of the State
is increasingly being reduced—inadvertently in some cases, it might be
argued. Whether or not this is the case, the State’s capacity to respect,
protect, and fulfill human rights is diminished. In such a context, the value of
international cooperation, a key feature of international solidarity, takes on
even more importance, particularly in connection with supporting a State
that needs assistance in complying with its core human rights obligations.
Collective action by States in undertaking measures of reactive solidarity,
as well as preventive solidarity, are of critical importance in minimizing
adverse impacts on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights.

More recently, a friend called my attention to Michael Hardt’s

thoughts on love as a political concept which he discusses in Multitude, War
and Democracy in the Age of Empire (Negri & Hardt, 2004). Hardt makes a
distinction between “love as politics” and the other more familiar forms of
love. In his own words he sums up his view on

…a political notion of love that is not only open to difference, like
not only a kind of tolerance, but a love that loves the stranger, a
love that functions through the play of difference rather than the
insistence on the same….not merging into unity, but constructing
of constellations among differences, among social differences.

In an interview, Hardt points out that limiting love only for what is
the same kind has destroyed the possibility of a more generous and positive
concept.

Hardt’s theory of love as politics resonates with the convictions I

have held and which have been driving my human rights work through all
these years. Although I have yet to find literature on the topic of human
rights as a language of love, there is a significant body of human rights
literature that can be understood as a connotation of or an inference from
human rights as a language of love. The sense of the words in the UDHR
“act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood” obviously signifies

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Interrogating Human Rights: A Personal Journey in Drafting the Right to International Solidarity

love in a direct manner, and at the same time reinforcing the place of love
in the political context.

In one of my occasional lectures on integrating human rights in

development, a young woman from the audience asked me “How did you
become a human rights defender? Isn’t that a scary profession?” My answer came
quickly: “I call myself a human rights worker, not a human rights defender.” I
explained that, while the subject of human rights has filled my life for
almost three decades now, I have never been challenged to the point where
I have had to defend human rights. This is also because I choose to focus
on the aspects of human rights that make them positive interventions on
human life. This brings me to the fact that after all these years, I am still in
search of a concept frame that matches my understanding of the meaning
of human rights as I have come to understand it. With all due respect,
human rights are more than what the eminent human rights experts and
theorists say they are. My task now is to articulate my understanding about
what human rights are.

References:
Alston, P. (1917). The populist challenge to human rights. Journal of Human
Rights Practice, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp. 1 -15. Retrieved from: https://doi.
org/10.1093/jhuman/hux007
Bolton, R. (2005). Haberma’s theory of communicative action and the theory of social
capital. Paper read at meeting of Association of American Geographers,
Denver, Colorado, April 2005
Retrieved : https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4d37/90471aaf0ea2280aa701651ec97
ba920934d.pdf
Dummett, M. (1973). Frege: Philosophy of Language UK: Duckworth
Franciscans International (2003). The right to development: Reflections on the first
four reports of the independent expert on the right to development. Geneva:
Franciscans International
Geisz, S. (2011). What’s new in… Philosophy of language. Philosophy Now #33.
Retrieved: https://philosophynow.org/issues/33/Whats_New_in_
Philosophy_of_Language
Negri, A., and Hardt, M. (2004). Multitude: War and democracy in the age of empire.
UK: Penguin Books
Osiatynski, W. (2011). Human rights and their limits. US: Cambridge University
Press
Selected documents of the UN Human Rights Council

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AUTHORS' PROFILE
ANGELITO B. MENESES, DSD is a faculty member at Philippine School of Social Work,
Philippine Women’s University. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Social Work
from Saint Louis University, Baguio City. He holds a master’s degree in Community
Development and a Doctor of Social Development from the College of Social Work
and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Diliman. Prior to
joining the academe, he has been involved in development work with Kapatiran-
Kaunlaran Foundation, Inc. He has worked with Ayta communities in Bamban,
Tarlac and in Zambales when he served as Community Organizer in the Office for
Community Development of the University of Santo Tomas and as Director of the
Center for Institutional Community Involvement of St. Joseph’s College of Quezon
City.

MARK ANTHONY D. ABENIR, DSD earned his AB Philosophy (2003) from the
University of Santo Tomas (UST) where he graduated with honors (cum laude). He
is a graduate of Master of Community Development (2008) and Doctor of Social
Development (2014) from the College of Social Work and Community Development
(CSWCD), University of the Philippines-Diliman. In 2013-2014, he was a fellow
of Brown University, USA under their Brown International Advanced Research
Institute (BIARI) Program and at the same time received the BIARI Seed Grant
Award in order to hold an international workshop and conference on children and
youth studies in Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogota, Colombia. Currently,
Assoc. Prof. Abenir currently serves as the Director of the UST SIMBAHAYAN
Community Development Office. He teaches at the Department of Sociology, Faculty
of Arts and Letters, UST. He is also a research associate of the UST Research Center
for Social Sciences and Education (RCSSED), and leads the research interest group
on Community-engaged Studies (CEnS).

EXCELSA C. TONGSON, DSD is a faculty member of the Department of Family Life

and Child Development, College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines.
She is currently the Deputy Director for Training, Outreach, and Extension Program
of the UP Center for Women's and Gender Studies. Her research interests include
Early Childhood Education, women and gender studies, and unpaid care of women
in the sandwich generation. She finished Bachelor of Elementary Education (Cum
Laude) at the Philippine Normal University and Masters of Family Life and Child
Development at the College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines. She
also has a Doctoral degree in Social Development from the College of Social Work
and Community Development, University of the Philippines.

MEREDITH DEL PILAR-LABARDA, M.D., DSD is a faculty member of the University

of the Philippines Manila-School of Health Sciences (UPM-SHS), Leyte Campus. She
was the former chairperson of the Medical Department. She finished BS Medical
Technology and Doctor of Medicine at the Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical
Foundation in Tacloban City. She took her Master of Health Social Science in La Salle
University. In 2014, she became a Fellow of the Team Based Learning at Duke-National
University of Singapore. She recently completed the Doctor of Social Development
Program at the College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD),
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 Authors' Profile

University of the Philippines Diliman. She is an advocate for building equitable

health systems, socially accountable medical education, transformative leadership,
integration of spirituality in development work, empowering marginalized groups
in the community and Filipino wellbeing.

TERESITA VILLAMOR BARRAMEDA is an Associate Professor and the Chairperson

of the Department of Women and Development Studies, UP College of Social Work
and Community Development. Prior to teaching, she has been a development
worker for more than three decades in various fields of social development. She
finished her Doctor of Social Development, Masters of Community Development,
MA Women and Development, and BS Community Development at UP-CSWCD.
She also completed BS Fisheries from the University of the Philippines.

ROSALINDA PINEDA OFRENEO, Ph.D. is professor emeritus of the University of the

Philippines. She continues to teach at the Doctor of Social Development Program
of the UPCSWCD, which she also served as Dean from 2011-2013, and Chair of the
Department of Women and Development Studies for three terms. She has several
researches and publications, focusing lately on gender equality, social protection,
solidarity economy, poverty, and sustainable development in the context of climate
change. She has been active in the women's movement for almost five decades,
working mainly with women in the informal economy organized by PATAMABA,
Homenet Philippines, and Homenet Southeast Asia. She also writes poetry, for
which she won several awards.

REDENTO B. RECIO, Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Informal

Urbanism (InfUr) Research Hub of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of
Architecture, Building and Planning. Before joining the UniMelb in 2018, he worked
with academic institutions, development NGOs, and social movements in the
Philippines. His scholarly interests include urban informality, grassroots collective
action, social inclusion policies and other urban planning and governance issues in
the global South. He is currently pursuing a research examining the role of urban
informal livelihoods in post-disaster recovery process. He took his BS Community
Development (Magna Cum Laude) at the UP College of Social Work and Community
Development and MA Urban and Regional Planning at the UP School of Urban
and Regional Planning. He also obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Children,
Youth and Development from Erasmus University – International Institute of Social
Studies, Netherlands.

ALELI B. BAWAGAN, Ph.D. is a professor of the Department of Community

Development, UP College of Social Work and Community Development. She
obtained her BS Chemical Engineering, Masters of Community Development
and PhD Education at the University of the Philippines. She was on special detail
as Assistant Secretary at the Department of Social Welfare and Development for
three years. Concurrently, she is the Director of the UP Institute for Small-Scale
Industries.

MIGUELA M. MENA. Ph.D. is a professor and former Dean of the University
of the Philippines Asian Institute of Tourism. She obtained her Ph.D. in Tourism
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Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and

Tourism Management, Master of Statistics and Bachelor of Science in Statistics
at the University of the Philippines School of Statistics, and Diploma for Tourism
Management (Highest Distinction) from Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management
in Salzburg, Austria. She has extensive experience in Philippine tourism education
and training and has handled various technical consultancy and research projects
for international organizations and non-government organizations.

RICHARD PHILIP A. GONZALO is currently Assistant Vice President at the

Office of the Vice President in Administrative Affairs, University of the Philippines.
He is a faculty member of the UP Asian Institute of Tourism, where he teaches
graduate courses in Investment Planning and Tourism Development Planning. He
also provides technical assistance on Destination Development, Cultural Education,
and Project Monitoring and Evaluation to a number of Local Government Units
and National Government Agencies in the Philippines. He obtained his BS Business
Administration & Accountancy and MS Finance degrees from the UP College of
Business Administration. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in the Doctor
of Social Development program of the UP College of Social Work and Community
Development.

VICTOR G. OBEDICEN finished his BS Community Development and Masters

of Community Development at the UP College of Social Work and Community
Development. He is currently teaching community organizing, participatory
planning, and community-based disaster risk management. Prior to teaching, he
worked with various Non-Government Organizations in the field of community-
based resources and risk management.

PAUL EDWARD N. MUEGO is a faculty member of the Department of Community

Development, UP College of Social Work and Community Development. Prior
to joining UP-CSWCD, he worked with Asia Southeast Regional Office's CBR
Coordinating Office in 2010 and the Philippine Coordinating Center for Inclusive
Development in 2014 to 2018, which gave him the opportunity to further work closely
with organizations of persons with disabilities and other support organizations.
working with and for persons with disabilities on various development initiatives
at the local, national He is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Social Development
Program of CSWCD and is now working on his dissertation entitled From
KAPANSANAN towards KA-PASAN: Re-envisioning organizing of persons with disability
towards inclusivity amidst complexities.

VIRGINIA B. DANDAN, DSD is a former Dean of the UP College of Fine Arts

where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Sculpture, with honors.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from UP and has recently
completed the Doctor of Social Development program at the UP College of Social
Work and Community Development. She was a United Nations Independent
Expert on human rights from 1990 to 2017 and continues to work extensively for
the recognition, protection and promotion of human rights in development through
advocacy, education and training.

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Part 1
Kahampatan: Ayta’s concept of development
in the context of Indigenous People’s (IP) culture and identity
Angelito B. Meneses, DSD

Towards enhancing capabilities of children of Overseas Filipino Workers

to sustain resilience and mitigate vulnerabilities
Mark Anthony D. Abenir, DSD

Examining unpaid care work of women in the sandwich generation:

Pathways towards social protection and wellbeing
Excelsa C. Tongson, DSD

Creating Spaces for a Community-Engaged Leadership for Health and

Development
Meredith del Pilar-Labarda, M.D., DSD

Framing Research in Social Development Thinking and Practice:

The DSD Experience
Teresita Villamor-Barrameda, DSD

Part 2
Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)
in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda
Rosalinda Pineda Ofreneo, Ph.D.

Grassroots intermediaries in urban informal trading:

Brokering for development or stifling dissent?
Redento B. Recio, Ph.D.

Community Education and Learning Tourism Destinations:

Case of Maribojoc, Bohol
Aleli B. Bawagan, Ph.D.
Miguela M. Mena, Ph.D.
Richard Philip A. Gonzalo
Victor Obedicen

Dissaggregated Data: Making sure that excluded peoples are included

Paul Edward N. Muego

Interrogating human rights

Virginia B. Dandan, DSD