Smokey Mountain and Navotis:

1
Smokey Mountain and Navotis

• Helping the Poor or Treating People like Garbage?

2
Introduction

• People at Pyatas
• Navotis and the Company
• Smokey Mountain
• The People at Navotis and Smokey Mountain

3
Payatas An Introduction to the People

• 3 years ago the dump collapsed killing a lot of
  people that live there.
• Now the front of dump is kept up for appearance.
  I took pictures at the back where there is an
  access road through a private street. It is
  safer to go this way anyway since jeepneys dont
  go there (e.g. from drunk residents).

4
But its Still not a Pretty Place

• 2nd Payatas as high as 1st in 3yrs since fall!
• The garbage leaches into creeks in Payatas the
  government doesnt even see.
• Its common for equipment to run over kids that
  ignore warnings they cant see small kids.

5
Agusto and Menila Roselda

• Augusto and Menila are a couple at Payatas that
  were born at the dump. Their parents migrated to
  the dump before they were born.
• Agusto has worked for 10years as a litter picker
  and his wife is a scavenger too. He almost died
  in Payatas when it collapsed and his house was
  destroyed. None of his family died. Now there
  are seldom accidents maybe once a year.

6
Happily Ever After?

• He met his wife after the disaster and there was
  lots of help after the disaster groceries,
  clothes etc. While they tried to go home to
  province after the disaster, no one could help
  there so they decided to go back to the dump.
• Now perhaps 60 families live in the forest, but
  there are more than 500 families at the dump.
  They have a house in the forest but lived on the
  dump before.

7
Daily Life

• There is no water or electricity at the dump and
  the stores for food are far away so life is
  difficult.
• They get water delivered 1-2x a week.
• They bathe in the leaching pool and look for gold
  there too.
• Sometimes urban priests help them with food and
  candies for the kids. They also help educate the
  kids. Both of them finished elementary school
  and are Catholics. There is a German foundation
  that gives them medicine and a cemetery for the
  dead.

8
A Better Future?

• Scavenging is the only thing they know how to do.
• Lots of business men buy plastic, bottles, and
  metals from them. They have to clean it first
  and the kids work too.
• They are on good terms with the companies here
  but the prices arent negotiable.
• They would like a different job for the
  betterment of their family but their 3 kids will
  go to school and when the kids can help salvage
  life will be easier.

9
Navotas

• The project was the creation of an accredited
  dump.
• Only two accredited dumps exist in the
  Philippines the others are open dumps.
• Accreditation means they follow the solid waste
  management act.
• The mayor of Navotas is young and wanted his
  municipality to be the first municipality to
  comply with the act.

10
The Law

• The solid waste management act says that disposal
  facilities must be controlled (not open) dumps.
• Controlled dumps are like sanitary landfills
  both have daily cover, litter fences, compaction,
  and deodorizers. The difference is that there is
  no leaching at the landfills since there is a
  water treatment facility (but this is very
  expensive).
• After 3yrs the law says that only sanitary
  landfills should be made.

11
Corruption

• In the Philippines to get a government contract
  one usually has to pay a 10 facilitation fee
  -anything below 10 is an insult.
• About 30-50 people were bribed up to the
  president (Estrada) to get the contract to build
  Novartis.
• The bribes ranged from 55,000 pesos to 45 million
  pesos.

12
To Create the Dump

• They first dredged the river.
• The project was smaller than expected because
  the bigger barges couldnt be used since they
  underestimated the depth of the river.

13
The People

• But the company says they also underestimated
  the people living around it because they didnt
  complain about the dredging and just started to
  be upset when the garbage came in.

14
The Dredging

• The people were not upset about the dredging
  because it prevents flooding and the company gave
  material from the dredge to the people to
  backfill their villages which would have cost
  millions of dollars. (Before the houses were on
  stilts).

15
History of Smokey Mountain

• The Smokey Mountain (SM) project was under the
  purview or RII Builders Corp. and the National
  Housing Authority of the Philippines
• The Home Corporation Gauranteer, Philippine
  National Bank, and the Philippine National Board
  of Trustees were also involved in the SM asset
  pool.

16
The Government (again)

• The government gave the people temporary housing
  and plots for permanent housing.

17
Shared History

• Navotas is 10 hectares and SM is 15 hectares
• In doing SM the parent company of RII needed to
  get a lot of research done so they created
  PhilECO

18
The Dump

• Smokey Mountain dump is in the city of Manila.
  It is 30ft high.
• It has been burning for years!

19
Buildings and Stuff...

• 1997 Ramos commissioned RII for the project.
• Part of contract was to build and move SM.
• 70-80 of the SM project involved construction of
  the buildings

20
Financing

• Bonds were floated for 2bil for 21 houses and the
  36 temporary ones.
• The proceeds should have pay off the investors in
  bonds but they didnt, so the investors called in
  the guarantee.

21
The Payment

• The company reclaimed 75 hectares by creating an
  island in the sea for development
• 30 of Manila bay (including the U.S. Embassy) is
  on reclaimed land.
• But they havent paid the contractor for the
  reclamation, and they cant sell most of the land.

22
The Environment

• The company did do the required environmental
  safety measures and build some infrastructure.

23
What to do with the garbage?

• The original plan for the garbage at SM was an
  incinerator but the clean air act prevented that.
• Incineration was supposed to be funded by the
  Danish Exim bank with RII and they were going to
  get another 150 hectares that were never
  re-claimed.
• They then wanted to use Navotas to move SM but
  negotiation between them never happened due to
  lack of funding.

24
The Future?

• A supplemental agreement was made with RII for
  the strengthening of the Foundation
• It was supposed to pay the company more but the
  NHA didnt have the money.
• Nor did the government come through with help --
  tax breaks etc. and with financial crisis didnt
  help.
• The company says it couldnt afford to fix the
  buildings.

25
The Company Looking Up?

• RII has gotten other contracts in other areas.
• Business is down partly because of the project
  but also infrastructure and the crisis.
• But the company says Navotas increased our
  revenue by something like 80

26
The People

• The people at Smokey Mountain (SM) were put in
  temporary housing near SM and proceeds of sale
  from reclaimed land used to pay for some of the
  permanent housing.
• But the foundations were not done correctly and
  need more work. R2 says it cant get the funds
  and the NHA wont approve moving the people in to
  unsafe buildings.
• The delay meant 21/30 buildings were built but
  only three have residents due to a fire.

27
What has Happened to the People

• Waste segregation is going on now. It is the
  main way people at SM get money now.
• This is bad because it is still scavenging.
  Uniforms dont make it better. NGOs provide the
  job but the environmental benefit is lessened
  because of contamination at the site.

28
Why it Failed

• RII sub contracted testing the ground for
  stability to an engineer who (obviously) did a
  bad job.
• The Asian financial crisis didnt help.
• Corruption didnt come through - RII used their
  own money (1.2 bill) to finish the project hoping
  the government would repay them with 150
  hectares (this would allow them to recoup the
  costs) but this didnt happen.

29
On the Company Obligations

• They know that people are worse off now because
  of SM II.
• Most are not in the permanent housing except for
  those transferred 3yrs ago because of a fire in
  the temporary housing.
• Transfer of SM residents to permanent housing
  would have cost 10m. pesos but RII has already
  spent 1.8 billion.

30
What Needs to Be Done

• The company thinks that the government would have
  to finance disposal of waste it is not safe for
  people at the mountain because of the collapse
  potential.
• It would take 4 billion pesos to complete the
  projects
• 21/30 permanent housing buildings are made, but
  some need to be finished. They say it might take
  2 billion pesos to make the houses.

31
Whos Responsibility?

• The company thinks that it is the responsibility
  of the people to help themselves. But that there
  are generations of scavengers - and it will be
  hard to break out.
• Part of the deal was to provide jobs but they
  never did.
• Some of the people declined computer courses paid
  for by RII to get good jobs the company says
  they want it immediately.

32
Yolanda Mengote, Shila Jamindang, Melda Dianda

• Live in the Temporary Housing Units put up in
  1995. In this building there are 88 families.
  10 live in the permanent and 90 in the
  temporary housing.
• They have lived here for 7 years and came from
  Mindanao.
• Yolanda works as a vendor (she sells comote at
  the market). Before coming here her family
  planted rice. She has 9 kids.

33
Not Comparable?

• She says its better here than rice farming we
  try to gain strength in order to survive with
  children everyday She must work every day to
  survive.
• Before in the summer money was hard to get
  because farming is seasonal after the crops there
  was no more money.

34
Child Support?

• Three of her kids are 11, 13, and 16 years old
  and are scavengers. They do not go to school.
  Her oldest is 22 and a scavenger, but the 18 year
  old went away to work as a maid to help her
  nephew study. But even when kids here do go to
  school they dont get too far. Yolandas 16 year
  old is in grade 1, the 22 year old went through
  grade 6 and the 14 year old is a 5th grader.
• Her husband used to have a better job in
  construction but now drives a pedicab.

35
Co-operation

• She wants to be a member of the cooperative
  Precious Jewels but they must contribute
  savings to join and they dont have enough money
  yet.
• The people alone created the co-op. One woman
  manages it.
• It takes 1000 pesos savings to join. Then you
  can get loans of 2000 pesos for business
  expansion.
• You can pay in installments to the coop and the
  Co-op also helps people buy rice and clothes as
  well as gives loans.

36
Transfer?

• She wants to transfer to the permanent housing
  and wants to get money to move. But she must pay
  to live there. She has the money from the three
  kids who are scavengers and they can make up to
  200 pesos a day.

37
Myrna Marcelino and Charito Fuertes

• Live in the permanent housing. They were the
  first people to move in and have been there for
  three years. Before they were in the temporary
  housing but a fire there moved them here. They
  were lucky. No one was hurt. They only thing is
  they dont have any food. They are a garbage
  truck driver and company driver (husband and
  wife).

38
Family Life

• They have 8 kids and the oldest is 12 and she is
  pregnant again because they dont have and cant
  afford contraceptives. Most of the kids born
  here survive they have free dr. visits from the
  government and missionaries. They are happy that
  the church people help them.

39
Employment

• Many people here at the permanent housing
  scavenge too (the majority) and once the kids are
  6-7 they help. Most of the people have an
  elementary education but the kids are primarily
  responsible for scavenging and they are primarily
  2nd generation scavengers. Her kids dont have
  to scavenge though because her husband has good
  work driving. They are in the Smokey Mountain
  Co-op.

40
A Brighter Future?

• 119 families live in this building. 12 buildings
  are fully occupied, 14 buildings are empty
  because they are not approved by the NHA.
• More people are scheduled to transfer here within
  a year (after December).
• They cant come before December because they have
  just started renovations in Jan/Feb this year.
• They know RII since they work for the company
  (but of course think or at least speak fondly of
  the company).

41
Jenny Edem

• Is a Navotis scavenger because she doesnt know
  how to fish and thats what people can do here
  (about 70 of families here scavenge and 30 fish
  though a few are vendors or in the salt
  business).
• Navotis dump provided the housing because they
  needed flood control. While everyone came here
  because their houses were destroyed by the floods
  (which also made it hard to work). They say
  their old houses were better.

42
Her Kids

• She has 6 kids. the oldest is 15 and is also a
  scavenger, her 12 year old is in grade 3, the 10
  year old is a salt vendor, the 8 year old doesnt
  work and the youngest is 3.

43
The Stats

• There were 127 families here but only 35 are
  left. Many are new people to the area
  squatters. Some families here are from manila.
  They all get along but the problem is the census.
  Some cant go to the new housing. 68 families
  were from Navotis.
• After the transfer is completed they will have to
  turn the houses over to the Department of Public
  Works and Highways.

44
The Past and Future

• She has been here for 2-3 years.
• She was supposed to have transferred already but
  couldnt get work there so she came back. It was
  a 2 hour jeepney ride to the dump and her husband
  stayed there he collects shells. Three kids
  live with her, the others with her husband.
• She says that mostly fishers are left in the
  permanent housing since they can work there.
  Scavengers usually go home to the permanent
  housing only on weekends.

45
Erlinda MalapitanMarianida Odlien Arcelyn G.
Pablo

• Were from a squatter area in manila but it is
  better here and they were luck enough to move
  into a scavengers house since they were related
  to husband of the scavenger. The people in the
  community here agree to keep houses full with
  people who need them.
• They make doormats and did so before too. They
  plan to move to an empty house when they cant
  stay here.

46
Help

• In the past the NGOs tried to help the community
  because only 22 were legal residents, the
  remaining 47 were illegal. The NGO helped make
  them legal. They were all happy.

47
Celina Griego

• Is also at the Navotas temporary housing. She is
  a housekeeper, her husband is a security guard.
  She has 5 kids that study. The eldest is 22yrs
  old in 6th grade. The 20 year old graduated from
  high school Most kids here only get through
  elementary. Most become fishermen. Houses are
  given for free. Gloria gave it to us ( its
  only temporary though).

48
Better Options?

• Her family had the chance to move into the
  Towerbill Bulacan Relocation Area Project
  (permanent housing) but they only provided lots
  not houses in new area so they want to stay here.

49
Thoughts?

• You decide!