4.0 ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

4.1 BACKGROUND ANALYSIS

Both BSN and Pitogo are situated within a highly urbanized setting, the former in Cebu City which is the second premier urban center in the Philippines and the latter in Metropolitan Manila, the premier one. This consideration is important because highly urbanized areas, specially in the southern countries, are where one will find congestion and extreme environmental degradation. Waterways are black and biologically dead; streets, vacant lots and other public places are littered with garbage and the air is very polluted. It is also in highly urbanized areas where slums and squatter communities abound normally located in marginalized and depressed areas, and danger zones, i.e., river banks, under bridges and railtracks. Therefore, low income communities are physically disadvantaged. And as observed by many social scientists, they have less access to necessary resources and are the least reached by modern infrastructures and public services. Moreover, the low income communities are subjected to negative public bias, accused of being the cause of pollution, urban decay, criminality and chaos.

Given such social, economic, political and physical barriers, the challenge to the low income sector is tremendous. It can be said that these two communities took the challenge and rose to the occasion to prove to themselves and others that they have the capacity and determination to improve their lot and environment. It is also observable that initiatives can come from the community members themselves like the urban poor of BSN (bottom-up) or it can come from the local government as in the case of Pitogo (top-down).

4.2 COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

Indeed, a lot of this "success" in SWM has to do with committed leadership and the support of the community members and other sectors. However, this is no simple matter. Many, if not most, are not as motivated as the leaders. Knowledge, attitude, behavior of the community members have to change before desired results are realized. From the two case studies, it is shown that some forms of social engineering, referred here as community management approaches or CMAs, were utilized.

4.2.1 Formal CMAs

CMAs take many forms and are implemented at different levels of the social structure. The CMAs can be formal. They are manifested in the promulgation of city or barangay ordinances and LGU sponsored activities. Ordinances, of course, refer to the C.O. 1361 in BSN and the Barangay Ordinance 05-89 in Pitogo. These ordinances form the legal basis from which the local authorities exact compliance from the community members; else, the violators are penalized through fines or detention or both. These ordinances can originate from a higher local government unit (city level) and implemented at the lower (barangay) level as in the case of BSN. It can also be inspired by a program conceived at the national level like the Pook Kalinisan. Implemented at the local barangay level in Pitogo, Pook Kalinisan was actually conceptualized by the Presidential Management Staff under the Office of the President.

In conjunction with the ordinances, the barangay leaders and officials conduct regular monitoring activities to ascertain compliance among the members of the community. On the formal level, the barangay tanods and the zone leaders, as employed by the local government, make the rounds of inspecting the streets and surroundings of the community. They have the legal basis and are on the front line of implementation of the SWM rules and regulations. As a feedback mechanism, they also receive and entertain complaints. This is one good CMA wherein residents feel they are heard and their complaints acted upon as quickly as possible.

Another distinct kind of formal CMA takes the form of awards. External institutions, government and private alike, give formal recognitions. In the case of Pitogo, it was awarded as the greenest barangay in Makati in 1994. In 1995, it received a Plaque of Recognition from a banking institution for its environmental projects. It was also awarded third prize by the City government in its Clean and Green contest for which they received P50,000.00 as monetary reward. External recognition enhances the sense of community among the members and boosts community pride. Local leaders are given plaques of appreciation for their responsive, proactive and innovative approaches to SWM problems. These recognitions tend to sustain local initiatives in SWM.

As shown above, these formal CMAs are very specific and focused in their goals and activities. It is important to note that rewards and recognitions were also direct and appropriate be it for the community as a whole or for the individual.

BSN has not received any award yet mainly because their SWM program is still new and not known to many. It can be said that recognitions come with consistency and maturity.

The school and the church are other venues where formal CMAs are manifested. Educational and religious institutions have a lot of influence over the mental makeup of the youth in terms of values and knowledge learned. In Pitogo, the school incorporates SWM matters in four courses offered. The school also conducts specific activities as part of cleanliness campaign promulgated by the city government of Makati. The parish church promotes collection and sale of recyclable waste to raise funds for the renovation of their chapel. The lay leaders, as concrete form of community participation, spearheaded the project.

4.2.2 Informal CMA

Informal CMAs are the type of social engineering approaches that require no legal or formal institutional basis. Very often, informal leaders are ones prone to apply such CMAs. Like the formal CMAs, they are also designed to increase the level of compliance and/or participation among the community members. Moreover, even the formal institutions and their representatives use these initiatives in the course of their duties to suit immediate situations or conditions. However, they follow no strict rules of implementation. Many times, they are short term reactions to address temporary needs. In other cases, informal CMAs applied by leaders border on the extreme just to deliver a message.

The CBO-sponsored activities like the symposium, parade and slogan contest in the BSN are the more visible examples of informal CMAs. Initiated by the BUPCC and supported by the LGU, these approaches are designed to increase awareness about the SWM project and promote participation from the broad membership of the community. More awareness and knowledge are a prelude to change in behavior.

Social pressure is also a form of informal CMAs. Shown in these case studies, social pressure can range from the soft or subtle kind to the hard or offensive type. First time violators are simply informed of the proper ways to handle household waste and are reminded not to commit the same mistakes again. In Pitogo, leaders even cleaned the front yard of uncooperative households to prick their conscience. Gentle persuasion maybe the proper term. On the other hand, local leaders, both formal and informal, sometimes resort to threats. In BSN, the Barangay Secretary threatened to shoot the would-be violator. The Barangay Chairperson also threatened to burn the house of a delinquent if he does not change ways and follow proper waste handling procedures. (In the case of theft and robbery, he also burned the hands of a violator by pouring boiling water just to emphasize his seriousness.) In Pitogo, local leaders dumped piles of garbage in front of hardheaded market vendors.

In line with BUPCC initiatives, monitoring is also done at the informal level. Watsanen monitoring teams do the rounds of inspecting the streets and alleys. Since they are not deputized to apprehend violators, some uncooperative members ignore them. In such cases, they report violations to the proper authorities.

4.3 OTHER RELATED ISSUES

4.3.1 Prerequisites to Bottom-up Approach

The SWM efforts in BSN are relatively new compared to Pitogo’s. But BSN has a couple of interesting features not found in Pitogo. First, the BSN case is an example of bottom-up approach. The urban poor sector, through the watsanen committee of the BUPCC, was the one which initiated the SWM activities in the area. Initially, the members of the urban poor organized themselves to address their problem of land ownership/tenure because most of them were squatters. But their concerns spread to other issues, like water, sanitation and environment. (It is relevant to note that in other barangays known to the research team, the usual committee is water and sanitation; environment is not included.) Their success in watsanen can be partly attributed to their desire to disprove the notion of their more affluent neighbors that they generate the greater volume of waste that dirty their surroundings. The other interesting feature is their ability as a group to exert political influence in election matters. They were able to strike a covenant with the then Barangay Chairperson candidate Mr. George Rama - a quid pro quo arrangement where they will support Mr. Rama candidacy as long as he will reciprocate the support to BUPCC’s projects most specially those of the watsanen committee. These two features illustrate the urban poor’s high level of self awareness and organization in BSN. Both features can be said as important prerequisites for bottom level initiated SWM projects or any community projects for that matter.

4.3.2 Motivations and Sustainability

Community participation can be viewed from many angles. One is through the motivation angle. On the level of community leaders, access to political and financial resources constitutes a strong motivation. Both Pitogo and BSN get more than three million pesos in annual revenues. They can dispense favors by allocating funds to individuals or groups. Barangay tanods and zone leaders, who are mostly political appointees, received salaries and/or honorarium between P4,000 to 7,000. Many of them are undereducated and unemployed. Their service to the community becomes their employment. In contrast, the watsanen leaders in BSN do not receive any compensation from the barangay nor from the BUPCC which hardly has any resources, specially financial. Here lies the problem of sustainability. Watsanen leaders are starting to lessen their time spent on their projects since they too need to raise a living for their families. They foresee the need to develop second liners. There is a big chance in the future that less and less volunteers will come if their efforts are not rewarded. The committee and the whole organization have to innovate and implement measures to sustain their activities. Income generation from the waste recover and recycling is one way to address financial problems. Another is through continuing education and training of members of the different CBOs. For the residents at large, posters and stickers are good information vehicles and reminders. Increasing awareness and understanding of SWM matters are vital steps in community participation, as observed by BUPCC leaders in BSN.

4.3.3 Gender Participation

Gender participation as observed in the two case studies has some bias in favor of women, more specially in the case of BSN. Out of the 35 PO members of BSN, about two-thirds are led by women presidents. Of the thirty (30) PO leaders active in the watsanen monitoring teams, twenty-two (22) are women. Only eight are men. Watsanen committee and the steering committee are both chaired concurrently by Ms. Navarro, an energetic but soft spoken woman community leader.

In Pitogo, five of the seven zone leaders are males. However, most of the eight (six of eight) assistant zone leaders are women. All of them are equally active. Counting all of the fifteen, women (8) outnumber the men (7) by a point in terms of active participation. This lead, however, is not very conclusive.

It seems more is revealed when participation is analyzed in the context of domestic economics. There are more men than women occupying positions that have compensation, like zone leaders. Watsanen team members in BSN and the assistant zone leaders in Pitogo receive no compensation. It is observed, therefore, the women are more predisposed to accept community tasks, like SWM, on a voluntary basis, while their male counterparts are more attracted to positions with compensation. This observation can be attributed to the fact that the menfolks, in general, are the ones expected to be breadwinners for the family.

At the household level, members who are available and have time are the ones expected to clean the house and handle the waste. As such, mostly housewives are the ones seen sweeping and disposing household garbage. Cleaning the house is not perceived as a gender issue but is more influenced, again, by the household economics. Most men go to work or are employed outside the home. In Pitogo, retired military personnel are seen cleaning their surroundings early in the morning. Aside from having the time, it forms part of their daily exercise. Some attribute this behavior to the military training and discipline they were accustomed to during their active years.