Hong Kong University Students' Union (HKUSU) Exposure Trip : Philippines 香港大學學生會 藍帽子 周游列國 : 「尋找菲律賓的故事」

Metro-Manila Quezon City :

Based on the printed materials provided by the HKUSU and because of the lack of specific programs by the Philippine Government and ADB for Payatas, I searched http://www.yahoo.com and found several relevant and useful articles:

1. Rachel Evans and Ray Fulcher visited the Philippines for three weeks in April 1994 :
The infamous Smoky Mountain proved too much of an embarrassment to government officials and was closed; now Payatas is the main site for dumping. It is a smelly, hot toxic tip, of about 220 hectares. It is home to 200,000 urban poor families. Women, men and children scavenge the waste from dawn to dusk, collecting cans, plastic, scrap metals, bottles and newspapers to earn 60-70 pesos per day. The minimum needed by a family of six (the average size of a Filipino family), as calculated by the National Economic Development Agency, is 250 pesos per day.

2. Newspaper Manila Bulletin Temp-Online interviewed the Quezon City Mayor Mel Mathay regarding residents of Payatas voicing out their objection to the closure of the dumpsite on January 20, 1999 :
There are hundreds of families who eke out a living from the city𠏋 refuse because of poverty. Closing Payatas will mean a loss of livelihood for them. Now the residents of Antipolo and San Mateo, Rizal, have blocked roads and are barring dump trucks from traversing the road leading to the San Mateo landfill. It is estimated that Metro Manila alone produces three tons of garbage daily. Residents of the area and neighboring communities have taken a more active stand against pollution and the degradation of their community. There are certain minimum sanitary requirements in the use and maintenance of a landfill like facilities for the proper release of methane gas produced by the garbage and the covering of garbage with enough layer of soil, etc. It appears that these are not being done in San Mateo. Mayor Mathay has called on everyone to remain calm over the issue so that it could be settled through dialogue. He is hopeful that after talks with MMDA chairman Binay and Rizal Gov. Y鎙res, a solution will finally be implemented. A considerable amount of time will have to be taken for a landfill such as San Mateo to be closed up properly. Now what do we do with our trash?

3. The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) runs a school for the children in Payatas. CBN also provided a loan for pastor Dunn and his wife, Anida, that enabled them to start their own business so that Anida could get out of the dump. Giving loans and teaching job skills are two more examples of CBN's commitment to lasting solutions.

4. Shack Dwellers International in Africa and Slum Dwellers International in Asia mentioned in its website the Urban Poor Savings Schemes in Payatas, Quezon City, Philippines; but contains no further details.

5. Balik Kalikasan (Return to Nature), a project of the Babilonia Wilner Foundation (BWF), is the first Philippine environmental website. It chronicles people's progress in confronting environmental issues. It also has a database of the relevant Philippine laws and regulations. Although I cannot find Payatas there, the frontpage reads Anti-landfill Coalition Calls for Rehabilitation, Non-Reopening of Carmona Landfill. Apparently, Payatas is not the only dump in the Philippines, but NGO groups will hopefully be vigilant enough to identify them.

Sources: As indicated above in the opening sentence of each paragraph.

This website is the 3rd draft designed and written for the HKUSU by Anthony C.H. CHUA 蔡誌慶, PhD Student in Law, HKU, and member of Trip001, on 10 March 2000 (then 26 March 2000, 8 Mar 2001) pending formal approvals from the Trip members and from HKUSU, and pending linkage/transfer to the HKUSU website. (please see acknowledgement section in FronPtage)