While Typhoon Ondoy swooped across a large geographical area in 2009, this social impact monitoring study reveals that its effects are very much localized. The case of Westbank Floodway in Maybunga, Pasig demonstrates that while conditions in livelihood, employment and social relations were altered to some degree in the wake of the calamity, the impacts on local governance and security and land tenure were much more apparent.
Residents in WMF appear to be fairly self-actualizing. As such, many are able to bounce back in terms of generating income. As a local leader stated in one of the FGDs, “mayroong mga taong nagsumidhing magsumikap sa pamumuhay. Kagaya ng barangay, nagbibigay din sila ng aid/tulong pero probably karamihan po ay sa inisyatibo ng indibidwal na mga pamilya. Kapag barangay naman ang aasahan natin 100% naman hindi naman po lahat iyan mabibigyan, hindi po ba? Kailangan din po talaga ng mga mahihirap katulad namin na magsikap para sa kabutihan din ng mga naninirahan dito.” (There are those who are zealous in finding work. The barangay gives aid but most families have their own initiatives (in generating income). If we depend 100% on the barangay, not all will be given, right? The poor like us really need to be diligent for the sake of people who live here).
Although the people agree that there had been no sweeping changes in the way they obtain work, there is a need to bring back discontinued livelihood programs which residents, especially the women and elderly rely on to make ends meet. The local government of Pasig can partner with the business sector to provide a placement service which can prioritize the hiring of its constituents most especially the poor who reside in Ondoy-stricken communities like WMF. POs can also partner with the LGU or various NGOs in order to bring in new entrepreneurial activities here. Only then will micro-finance institutions make sense and become relevant to the community.
Very noticeable is the lack of dialogue among stakeholders in WMF especially as regards the issue of land tenure. There is a unanimous clamor for better and safer housing conditions to improve quality of life but opinions differ on how to reach this goal. Two years after the first SIA, the Pasig City Mayor has still not granted an audience with the community. Most people are at a loss about their fate. Many do not believe that their area is not safe environmentally even if it is along the waterway. They demand that a public presentation of environmental impact assessments (EIA) take place so that they can move forward and, with partner NGOs, can suggest engineering solutions to the national and local governments that can ensure their safety while developing their community on-site.
Most of the WMF residents have seen and heard horror stories about the life of their former neighbors in the Calauan relocation site. There is a need for the host LGU to coordinate with the relocatees' former LGUs to streamline aid and work on the provision of basic services to ensure humane living conditions. While WMF residents acknowledge that work is being done by some church groups and NGOs to help Calauan residents, they are unwilling to barter that life with their life in WMF. Ironically, the very things that make them stay and wage war against efforts of the Pasig City government to relocate them are, aside from proximity to work opportunities, the benefits they receive from the Pasig City government itself.
Not yet seen but often heard of is the way the City and Barangay prepare their constituents against future calamities. The plan itself seems promising as structures, equipment, protocols and systems are already in place to rescue the people from disasters. But the crucial focus must still be on disaster preparedness. The City and Barangay DRRMC, aside from upgrading its physical resources and training personnel, could ensure that knowledge about reducing vulnerabilities is communicated at the household level, not only in private subdivisions but especially in high-risk informal settlements like WMF. To this end, printed pamphlets and public announcement systems must only complement effective public information campaigns that gather people in the public spaces to talk about the must-do’s in times of environmental crises.
Nobody is sure yet about the fate of the informal settling community in Maybunga. Dialogues must not tarry regarding the issue of security of land tenure on the national, inter-city, city and community level as this is crucial for a “Bagong buhay, bagong pag-asa” or new life, renewed hope for the people and a “pagsasaa-ayos” or reordering of WMF. However, things must not go on a stand-still. Various stakeholders can help individual families continue working on everyday needs like generating enough income, inculcating a culture of savings, reducing crime and other socially-inflicted dangers to the community, and preparing for any future disasters in that may come WMF’s way.
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Promises are made to be broken. I know! But I wrote this today so, technically, it counts right?
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