This article investigates how informal urban settlers autonomously and substantially organise and develop their own communities in Metro Manila. Such a community is neither one which has been introduced by an outside third party nor one which has been organised by the residents to realise concrete objectives. We can verify that a community of informal settlers emerges in the guise of village endogamy networks, which arise paradoxically from chronic poverty and are formed without recognition.. The deepening of these networks provides families with incentives to reside permanently in their locality and undertake collective action to obtain property rights. Such networks spread across many sites of poverty in Metro Manila at the same time, and build open stages for enhancing and sharing local knowledge, which can be mobilised for development by the urban poor.

1. Hidden Community Development among the Urban
Poor: Informal Settlers in Metro Manila
Toru Nakanishi 1
Abstract
This article investigates how informal urban settlers autonomously and substantially organise
and develop their own communities in Metro Manila. Such a community is neither one which has
been introduced by an outside third party nor one which has been organised by the residents to
realise concrete objectives. We can verify that a community of informal settlers emerges in the
guise of village endogamy networks, which arise paradoxically from chronic poverty and are formed
without recognition.. The deepening of these networks provides families with incentives to reside
permanently in their locality and undertake collective action to obtain property rights. Such networks
spread across many sites of poverty in Metro Manila at the same time, and build open stages for
enhancing and sharing local knowledge, which can be mobilised for development by the urban
poor.
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to examine the capabilities of autonomous social
organisations created by the urban poor. It is based on participant observations
conducted in sections of Metro Manila in the Philippines for approximately
twentyyears. Our concern here is the mechanism of the formation and deepening
of a community which is peculiar to the urban poor in Metro Manila.
It is frequently stated that rural social organisations in Southeast Asia are
loosely structured and thus vulnerable. Such vulnerability increases in urban
localities which have appeared accidentally and whose community organisations
began later, because, unlike the situation in rural areas, it is difficult to assume
the existence of common interests in urban localities. Contrary to this
traditional understanding, we attempt to clarify that the urban poor can realise
poverty alleviation and social stabilisation to some extent by mobilising built-in
community-based resources. In such a case, the emergence of a community is not
accidental because the autonomous development of horizontal socioeconomic
relationships paradoxically arises from chronic poverty. We would like to clarify
the possibility that such a community mechanism is ubiquitous among the urban
poor.
The arguments presented here are as follows: After we review previous
discussion on community among the urban poor in Section 1, the process
of emergence of a community by the development of kinship-matrimonial
networks in a locality is clarified in Section 2. These networks have contributed

2. 38 - Toru Nakanishi
considerably to social development in the field of my research during the 1990s.
Thus, in Section 3, we clarify the possibility of a spillover process within the
networks dispersed across Metro Manila, namely, the formation of kinship belts.
Kinship belts can create a kind of common culture which is widely shared by
the vast population of the poor across Metro Manila. In other words, we have
encountered a hidden process for identifying the urban poor in Metro Manila.
1. Feasibility of a Community among the Urban Poor
1.1. Community-based Resources in Southeast Asia
Indeed, economics has played an important role in understanding
community by functional analysis,2
which stresses the relationship between
private and social costs and benefits.3
However, substantial characteristics of
“a community” have thereby vanished, as eloquently discussed by Geertz, Scott
and other social anthropologists (Geertz 1963; Scott 1976). Scott suggests in
his criticism of the high modernist approach that the functional analysis of a
community in development economics renders a community “legible” at the
expense of its abstraction and the dismissal of significant characteristics such as
its diversity, which is based on rich and complicated local knowledge, that is metis
(Scott 1998). These characteristics are indispensable for the efficient functioning
of a community (Scott 1998). Development economics lacked concern for the
assumptions underlying a community, such as social relationships as bases of
common interests for collective endeavours, a prerequisite for understanding
the essence of a community. Therefore, we begin by a reconsideration of some
discourses that are important for a substantial understanding of community-
based resources in Southeast Asia.
Since the publication of Embree’s influential article (Embree 1953),
communities in Southeast Asia have come to be regarded as loosely structured
compared with those in East Asia. According to the traditions of social
anthropology, since rural society in Southeast Asia has been based on the bilineal
kindred system, tightly structured communities have not been formed (Kroeber
1919).
The notion of “chains of dyad relationships” offers another convincing
viewpoint that can effectively explain these facts (Nakane 1987). Societies in
Southeast Asia are not closed sets in which the “excluding principle” is well
behaved. Since decision-making follows binomial relations, the private interests
of individuals prevail over the common interests of the social group. The
formation of closed social groups that can internalise the common interests of
localities in Southeast Asia is frequently considered to be difficult.

3. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 39
1.2. “A Community” for the Urban Poor
In the agrarian societies of Asia, people and land have been indivisibly related
for many generations. The villagers, who have to confront the inclemency of
nature, are required to be always ready to cope with natural disasters through
collective action under a certain set of rules. Here, we can understand the raison
d’étre of a local community that has a long history and has been established in
agrarian Asia.
Indeed, at first glance, there appears to be a shortage of community-based
resourcesinurbanareasingeneral.Theaffectionof urbandwellersfortheirplaces
of residence is far weaker than that of rural dwellers because the hired labour
system, by which the workplace is generally located away from the labourer’s
residence, is observed to be more common in urban areas. Furthermore, unlike
in the case of agriculture, it is not necessary for urban dwellers to recognise the
necessity of collective action for production risk caused by changes in weather.
Many urban residents are immigrants who belong to various rural regions, or
their descendants. Therefore, inter-personal relationships in an urban locality
grow thin and loose since many residents live in an anonymous space and this
leads to high population mobility. This necessarily weakens residents’ affection
for their locality and their incentive to stay there since they expect others to shift
to other localities with ease.
The situation is most unstable in slum areas where the urban poor are
concentrated and it is accepted without question or doubts.4
So-called “informal
settlers” reside in awful living conditions such as rubbish dumps or dry riverbeds.
They also confront various risks such as the demolition and evacuation of their
houses or forced relocation to resettlement areas because they do not possess
land property rights. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that these informal settlers
are dependent on relatives and acquaintances outside the locality to confront the
constant fear of forced relocation. Furthermore, their standard of living is often
so extraordinarily low that it does not deteriorate noticeably even after a sudden
terrible misfortune. It appears that even if these settlers are forcibly evicted,
it is not impossible for them to uncover opportunities to upgrade, rather than
degrade, their standard of living or to move to other localities in Metro Manila
by harnessing their inter-personal networks even when forcibly relocated to
resettlement areas outside the metropolis, where they earn a lower income due
to the lack of job opportunities.5
The poor have no reason to continue to remain
there under inferior living conditions, the unproductive land does not generate
any additional income and they are always afraid of forced relocation.
In this paper, we address these issues and illustrate that traditional discussion
of them contain some errors. In other words, we would like to clarify that 1) the

4. 40 - Toru Nakanishi
urban poor can form an autonomous community under certain conditions and
2) kinship-matrimony networks within such communities have expanded and
spread out across Metro Manila, connecting the urban poor.
2. The Emergence of a Community among the Urban Poor
2.1. Roots of Poverty and Poverty Alleviation in Sitio Paz
Our field of concern is a squatter area – Sitio Paz – which I have been studying
since 1985 (Nakanishi 1990). This locality, the area of which is approximately
7,900 square metres, is situated in the fish pond belt along the Malabon River
and the adjacent highway. The people surrounding this locality refer to it as
tambakan, which means “dumping area” in Tagalog, because the land there is
filled with waste material that was discarded during the 1960s. Some of the
current residents have been living in this locality since the early 1960s. It is
said that the first-comers were twenty households whose heads were born in
Ilocos and Western Visayas regions.6
Obviously, they were aware of their low
status as squatters or informal settlers; the fact that the people’s organisation
– the Sitio Paz Tenants’ Association – was created as a platform to discuss land
and property rights indicates this awareness. Issues regarding property rights
have arisen due to a lack of consensus or sense of identity. In 1975, when
approximately 100 houses were forcibly relocated ten to thirty metres towards
the east to ease the construction of manpower facilities, it was rumoured that
Pasig City would sell this land to the then Malabon Municipality. When this
rumour became reality at the end of the 1970s, Pasig City offered to sell the land
to the residents on condition that they buy it all at once. The Sitio Paz Tenants’
Association became defunct because a number of the residents insisted that
they could not afford tthis.
One of the reasons for the vulnerability of the locality is the historical
confrontation between the township groups: Ilocanos and Visayans. The conflict
was at its worst during the presidential election of 1985-1986. The collision
between the pro-Marcos Ilocos group and the pro-Aquino Western Visayas
group sparked numerous incidents of violence. These divisions significantly
influencedeconomicrelationsintherecyclingindustryof thelocality.Whilemany
scavengers had some types of inter-linked deals with their bosses – junkshop
owners – the roots of these relations were based on hometown considerations.
The junkshop owners monopolised the junk which their scavengers collected
by giving grants or lending money at low interest rates based on the criterion of
kababayan (town-mates).
While confrontations continued to escalate in Sitio Paz until the mid-1980s,

5. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 41
the composition of the birth places of the household heads gradually changed
during this period. According to official migration data, inflows from Ilocos
and Western Visayas decreased, while those from Bicol and Eastern Visayas
increased rapidly (Nakanishi 2002). After the so-called February Revolution in
1986, the residents of Sitio Paz benefited from political stabilisation and poverty
alleviation to some extent (Figure 1). This period coincides with changes in
migration inflows (Nakanishi 2002).
Figure 1
Head-Count Index* in Sitio Paz
* The Head Count Index is the share of the population whose income is below the poverty line.
Source: Survey conducted by the author
But why and how did poverty alleviation occur? Indeed, the scavengers, who
form the poorest stratum in the locality, have been blessed with good external
conditions. Since the economic stability during the first half of the 1990s induced
an increase in investment in the manufacturing and construction industries,
it became easier for the scavengers to change their jobs (Nakanishi 1998).
Poverty line
(The official poverty line = 1)
Head Count Index

6. 42 - Toru Nakanishi
However, it is difficult to explain the voluntary reduction of the conflicts in the
locality by only citing the improvement in the residents’ living standards. Severe
emotionally charged conflicts, instances of brutal violence or serious quarrels
among residents have not been observed even during the severe recession periods
during 1989-1991 and 1998-2000 although these were observed frequently
before 1986. It appears that we need to consider other conditions responsible
for the social stabilisation of the locality. These are the conditions that cultivate
a sense of belonging, in other words, a community.
2.2. The Conditions for the Emergence of a Community
Contrary to the traditional understanding, it appears that the incentives for the
residents to leave the locality were weak. One hundred and sixty nine (84.1%) of
201 families who resided in the locality in 1985 still remained there in 2004 – and
these families included the descendants of the first generation.
This figure demonstrates the fact that the residents were strongly committed
to remaining in the locality even as squatters; that is, the emergence of a local
community. The Sitio Paz Tenants’ Association was composed mainly of
residents who were born in Ilocos and members of the reconciled Samahang
Lakas Bisig, many of whom hailed from the Western Visayas. All the households
shared one common interest – to obtain land titles in the locality – and these
two tenants’ associations were consolidated into the New Sitio Paz Tenants’
Association in 1989. It is surprising that all the families agreed to purchase
their housing lots from Malabon City although this issue is currently under
trial. Perhaps they shared a feeling of belonging to the same community and
recognised the existence of their common interest, which is to obtain land title
deeds. The association has nominally and actually developed as an autonomous
organisation that reduces conflicts among residents.
At this point, we have to ask how a community can emerge in a squatter
area. At first glance, the land title appears to be the most important common
interest for the residents, as indicated by the birth of the tenants’ associations.
It provides a strong incentive to form a community. However, the fact that
residents have no land titles does not necessarily promote or strengthen the
formation of a community by itself.
One reason is that, as opposed to rural areas, land has not been observed to
exert a binding power over residents in urban areas. If the government orders
the forcible eviction of residents and their relocation to a remote resettlement
area, the desire to obtain rights of residence will not induce solidarity among the
residents but will serve as an incentive to search for alternative housing lots. It
is not difficult for them, in their process of migration, to find a new residence
through the assistance of their acquaintances because almost all of them have

7. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 43
relatives or town-mates residing near their localities, even if they come from rural
provinces. This situation hinders a community from emerging and developing.7
Issues of rights of residence, therefore, do not create the conditions for the
emergence of a community in a squatter setting. A strong community itself is
a necessary condition for residents to remain in a locality of their own resolve
when confronted with the problems of forced relocation.
2.3. Development of Matrimonial Networks: Emergence of a Community
Our hypothesis is that the conditions for the emergence of an autonomous
community organisation in a poor urban locality are the expansion and
deepening of the kinship-matrimonial relationships therein. These are devices
that clarify and provide a mutual understanding of the existence of common
interests for the residents. The forty-plus years of the Sitio Paz locality have built
extensive chains of matrimonial relationships through repeated inter-marriages
– or, specifically, village endogamy. Within two to three generations, the kinship-
matrimonial networks that have spread out across the locality have helped
reduce the potent tensions between the groups segmented by hometown and
to developing solidarity among the residents. The deepening of the networks
has provided households with incentives to reside permanently in the locality
and has prepared them for collective actions to obtain property rights. Although
most of the residents regard only those with direct matrimonial networks as
their relatives, they could have unconsciously mobilised these wide - but thin -
networks that are spread out across the locality. Our hypothesis can be rewritten
to state that these kinship-matrimonial networks have developed community-
based resources.
We would like here to examine how today’s kinship-matrimonial relationships
have formed by employing social network analysis. As an operational concept,
we use “the basic family group” as the node or vertex in our analysis. It is
defined as a family group that comprises family members with the same family
name in 2003 and having common relatives.8
To simplify our network analysis,
if a new male entrant who immigrates from outside of the locality marries a
member of some basic family and still has no matrimonial members or relatives
therein until the present (2003), he would be considered as a member of the
basic family group to which his wife belongs.9
Indeed, it is difficult retrospectively to trace all of the basic family. However,
we have checked the list of families every year between 1985 and 2003. As
mentioned above, there are thirty-two families (15.9%) who left Sitio Paz from
1985 to 2005. Only twenty families have moved away while all the members of
twelve families including six single families have already died. According to our
informants, these members have no kinship or matrimonial ties with the basic

8. 44 - Toru Nakanishi
family group. Furthermore, our list covers at least the basic family groups in
1970, according to the members of all of the basic family groups who have
stayed since 1970 and before. We can approximate, therefore, the dynamics of
the process of network formation by using the concept of the basic family
group. These groups have reached saturation point since the latter half of 1980s
(Figure 2).
Figure 2
Number of Basic Family Groups in Sitio Paz: 1970-2003
(Base Year: 2003)
Source: Survey conducted by the author.

9. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 45
Figure 3
Formation of Kinship-Matrimonial Relationships: Sitio Paz, 1970-
2003
Figure 3 shows the formation of the kinship-matrimonial networks of basic
family groups since 1970. Although two and more independent kinship-
matrimonial network “components” existed in the locality from the 1970s to
the late 1980s, more than a half of these groups (58.9%: 76 groups out of
129) merged and united into one vast network component by 1988. Here a
component is a term in network analysis, which is formally defined as a maximal
connected subgraph (Scott 2000; de Nooy et al. 2005). In order to understand
the level of the cohesion of the kinship-matrimonial networks in the locality, we
can check the average degree of the networks – how many kinship/matrimonial
relationships in the locality has each basic family group on the average? Figure
4 shows that the average basic family group already had about 1.5 kinship-
matrimonial ties (one kinship and 0.5 matrimonial) when a community emerged
on our hypothesis in the locality in 1988. This index rises to 2.5 (one kinship and

10. 46 - Toru Nakanishi
1.5 matrimonial) in 2003. Figure 5 shows how the kinship-matrimonial network
has grown by examining the relative scale of the largest component, or the share
of the vertices which belong to the largest component in all the vertices. This
share suddenly increased from 30% to about 60% in 1988 because the two large
components merged as depicted in Figure 3. While more than 70 per cent of
the basic family groups (74.6%: 100 groups out of 134) were connected by these
networks until 1992, approximately 90 per cent (88.1%: 118 groups out of 134)
belonged to a network in August 2003.
Figure 4:
The Average Degree of Kinship-Matrimonial Relationships for
Basic Family Groups: Sitio Paz, 1970-2003
Source: Survey conducted by the author.

11. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 47
Figure 5
The Share of the Maximum Component in the Overall Kinship-
Matrimonial Network for all Basic Family Groups: 1970-2003
Source: Survey conducted by the author
These figures suggest that the rate of village endogamy is considerably higher
in this locality, where almost 40 percent of the marriages of second-generation
residents (110 of 276, 39.9%) are classified as village endogamy. While the
tendency towards village endogamy in the rural areas was often pointed out
in the paddy fields (Takahashi 1972; Umehara 1992), it could also be observed
among the urban poor. This fact indicates that the chains of matrimonial
relationships formed after the second generation towards the end of the 1980s
led to reduction in the tensions between the groups segmented by hometown
(which are often found in multilinguistic countries like the Philippines) and the
emergence of a community.
Such close-knit village endogamy networks can be often observed among
the urban poor in Metro Manila. Aside from Smokey Mountain (where the rate
of village endogamy is .373) in the next section, we find extremely close kinship-
matrimonial relationships in a locality like Sitio Lakbay, Navotas, where we

12. 48 - Toru Nakanishi
conducted a survey in August 2005. This village near the seashore has more than
forty years of history. While 576 families (72.2%) out of 798 are descendants of
the first generation, 292 couples (50.7% of descendants’ families, 36.6% of all
families) were formed through village endogamy.
2.4. Poverty Paradox: Principles of Formation of a Community
Why have repeated inter-marriages or village endogamy practices been
predominant in the locality? Is this endogamy a particular phenomenon only in
the locality or a general one among the poor in all localities of Metro Manila?
These are the questions that we must address here.
Let us begin our analysis by examining the fact that homogamy is thought to
be predominant among the urban poor. The most important factor explaining
this homogamy appears to be the existence of social strata caused by social
exclusion from the area surrounding the locality. It is not surprising that every
Metro Manila resident knows where sites of poverty are located. Such habitat
segregation by social strata is often observed in developing countries. It indicates
that the residents of Metro Manila share an understanding that the Philippines
is still a class-ridden society.
As previously mentioned, the locality has historically been referred to as
tambakan, a disdainful and abhorrent term, by the residents in surrounding
areas. This is one of the reasons why children in the locality have been mocked
in the elementary school, leading to a high dropout rate.10
Residents have also
been frequently discriminated against in their search for jobs. The poor have
experienced deprivation of their right to obtain education and employment
because of social exclusion: this has aggravated their chronic poverty. Therefore,
the poor clearly recognise that it is almost impossible to marry the wealthy or
even the non-poor. The rich have negative incentives to marry the poor and
almost no opportunity or desire to meet them. This is a type of invisible or
implicit social exogamy and the reason for the existence of repetitive homogamy
and the absence of marriages between individuals of different social classes.11
Secondly, why do poor residents often refrain from marrying in the same
income bracket outside the locality? One reason seems to be their geographically
narrow sphere of activities. Although public traffic utilities for the lower income
bracket have developed rapidly since the Second World War, the sphere of
its activities is still limited because of high transport costs and the like. The
commuting spheres of most of the residents are within one or two jeepney or
tricycle rides. The workplaces of approximately 90 per cent (232) of the total
family heads who have jobs (258) are within a radius of five kilometers of the
locality, while there are only six heads of families with workplaces further than
ten kilometers from the locality. As seen below, most of the residents’ relatives

13. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 49
in Metro Manila concentrate in the northwest poverty zones, especially places
like Malabon City. Furthermore, the low university attendance rate has limited
the opportunities for encounters with residents in other remote localities. Since
the poor in the urban areas live in an anonymous space, they have very few
opportunities for contact with the unspecified larger population. Therefore, the
sphere of marriage choice is extremely narrow.
Imperfect information may be another reason for avoiding homogamy
outside the locality. When searching for a spouse, even if a resident obtains
sufficient information about a candidate from outside the locality, it is difficult
for him/her to gather details on the candidate’s binominal relationships with
his/her relatives or neighbours within a short time. In contrast, if the candidate
is local, it is very easy for the resident to obtain sufficient information on the
candidate’s social relationships and take a more informed decision regarding
marriage.
Thus,wecanconcludethatthemainreasonforthepredominanceof repeated
inter-marriages or village endogamy practices that support the emergence of a
community arises from the residents’ geographical and social isolation because
of chronic poverty and social exclusion. Indeed, the fact that the poor residents
are squatters appears to have induced a vicious circle of poverty through
inter-generational transfer as a result of repeated inter-marriages between the
poor, who possess few assets. In the squatter area, village endogamy resulting
from poverty has induced a type of adverse incorporation, which has caused
chronic poverty (Hulme 2003). However, poverty itself will eventually induce
the formation of kinship-matrimonial networks, and adverse incorporation can
paradoxically lead to social stabilisation within the locality and alleviate poverty
through the emergence of a community, as discussed below.
2.5. Matrimonial Networks and Functions of a Community
It should be noted here that the kinship-matrimonial networks discussed
above depend on the chains of dyad relationships which are the source of the
vulnerability of a community. Can we consider such networks to be a community?
Indeed, relationships that are indirectly based on the dyad relationships within
these networks – such as the relationship between Mr. A and Mr. C who have
matrimonial relationships with Mr. B under the condition that Mr. A has a mutual
dyad relationship with Mr. B – are not necessarily friendly (Nakane 1987). Since
kinship-matrimonial networks were not formed in Sitio Paz until the late 1980s,
the dyad networks were segmented and there were frequent prolonged conflicts
among the residents. Such networks do not appear to guarantee the emergence
of a community.
However, our hypothesis does not contradict the logic of dyad relationships.

14. 50 - Toru Nakanishi
In the process of the spread and development of village endogamy, the kinship-
matrimonial networks have become close-knit and have paved the way for
the emergence of a community. The close-knit networks built by matrimonial
relationships would provide the most important social site in the locality, and
if the density of such relationships were to increase, this would undermine any
incentive for the residents to leave the locality. Thus, this logic corresponds
to what Lynch has termed the narrow networks of an “ego-based universe”
(Lynch 1973; Nakane 1987). In this context, a community can be considered to
be a place where ego-based relationships in the narrow locality have extended
and deepened with face-to-face relationships, verifing that kinship-matrimonial
networks have performed the functions of a community.
Such networks have provided social safety nets to residents through the
sharing of job information. In developing countries, most job opportunities are
closed to the poor because labour markets are segmented rather than integrated.
This situation is not necessarily disadvantageous for employers because it
can prevent or at least weaken the collective power of trade unions, formed
by permanent labourers, by employing casual labourers instead. Although
employers in turn encounter the problem of obtaining credible information on
the quality of labour, they may discover that they can depend on the personal
connections of “good” labourers, developed through their kinship-matrimonial
relationships. From the labourers’ viewpoint, this is why they should always
collect job information through their kinship-matrimonial networks.12
Figure 6 shows that residents have obtained job information by utilising their
kinship-matrimonial relations (relatives in Figure 6) or ritual kindred (compadre)
relationships during recessions and other weak networks during booms, as
Granovetter (1982) suggests.13
In other words, kinship-matrimonial networks
have contributed to increasing income and alleviating poverty by playing the
important role of a last resort safety net, especially during recessions. We also
observed that the spread and trickle-down of assistance from NGOs as well
as the communication and sharing of job information have been implemented
through these networks.
Furthermore, they have been able to perform certain functions of an
autonomous administration. The residents have arrived at a realisation that
disputes, troubles or conflicts can be resolved and cases of violence in the
locality can be reduced by means of these networks. If a conflict arose between
A and B, who have no direct social relationships with each other, and if one
of them or a third person C desired reconciliation, it would not be difficult
to find an appropriate third party D within the chains of the dyad networks
between A and B to resolve the issue. Hence, even if they do not grasp the full
significance of these networks, a number of residents might realise through their

15. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 51
experiences that these have contributed to the stabilisation of the locality. Thus
the kinship-matrimonial networks can imperceptibly play the basic functions of
a community.
Figure 6
Sources of Information on Job Opportunities

16. 52 - Toru Nakanishi
3. Kinship Belts as Global Networks: Spreading of Matrimonial
Networks
3.1. Formation of Kinship Belts: A Small World for the Urban Poor
As an extension of the above discussion, this section proposes and verifies the
hypothesis that the urban poor in Metro Manila, despite appearing segmented
and dispersed, are connected by wide and thin networks and share a kind of
common culture. Everyday life in the urban locality, which is based on village
endogamy, is assumed to be a type of complicated and unconscious local social
networking, as suggested by Jacobs and Scott (Jacobs 1961; Scott 1998). Such
local networks can work across Metro Manila by means of the chains of dyad
relationships in the kinship-matrimonial networks created by homogamy; in
other words, the inter-marriages among the poor are induced by the logic in the
poverty paradox explained above. The narrow sphere of marriage determined
by poverty and social exclusion will increase propinquital homogamy, namely,
inter-marriages among the residents in the neighborhood who belong to almost
the same income bracket and reside in different but nearby localities. This
process will promote the formation of weak social relationships, and thus create
subconscious, unorganised, but vast social networks among the urban poor. We
term these networks kinship belts.
Even the poor can obtain more information by increasing their chances of
contact with those outside the locality by using the public transport facilities
for the poor. Furthermore, they still have various types of networks, such as
hometown or ritual kindred relationships as well as kinship-matrimonial ones,
which they utilise in case of immigration to Metro Manila. These factors have
developed kinship-matrimonial networks that extend over the Sitio Paz locality
as well as adjoining areas. The geographical sphere of these networks was limited
to an area within a certain radius of Sitio Paz, which was easily accessible to the
residents with one or two 30-minute jeepney rides. Therefore, we arrive at the
hypothesis that all the poor localities in Metro Manila are connected to each
other and form a global homogeneous social group.
3.2. Kinship Belts in the Urban Poor: Sitio Paz and Smokey Mountain
The existence of kinship belts can be directly verified by some data. We would
like to show that many of the relatives of the household heads living outside Sitio
Paz concentrate in Malabon, especially the barangays (villages) near this locality.
It is difficult to collect all information on the “relatives” of the residents by
interviews because the criteria for “relatives” varies from person to person, even
though most Filipinos regard second-cousins as close relatives. Furthermore,

17. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 53
for our discussion here “relatives” who have never been seen are outside of
our concern. In our interviews, therefore, we considered only relatives whose
full names and barangay-level addresses at least were known to the residents
interviewed.
Of the total relatives of the household heads in Sitio Paz who live outside
the locality (588), 259 (44.0%) live in Malabon City. Furthermore, Figure 7
indicates that the nearer the barangay is to the locality, the larger the number of
the relatives who tend to reside there: Concepcion (59) (where the locality is
situated), Catmon (24), Muzon (21), Langos (20), and Bayan-bayanan (20). These
data show an uneven distribution of the residents’ relatives in neighbouring
barangays. Other relatives’ addresses are also concentrated in neighbouring cities
and municipalities (Figure 8). The total number of relatives living in the top
six cities and municipalities, including Malabon City, is 521 (88.6%). Further,
302 relatives (51.4%) are concentrated in an area within three kilometers of the
locality, while 405 relatives (68.9%) live within five kilometres.
The same phenomenon is observed among the residents of the so-called
“ex-Smokey Mountain”. Smokey Mountain (SM) was the largest dumping area
in Metro Manila. It was opened in the 1950’s, but it ceased to be used in 1994. All
the squatters residing in this area (approximately 4,000 households) were forced
to relocate by the end of 1997. In August 2004, about two-thirds (approximately
2,800 households) still resided in the temporary housing lots built by the National
Housing Authority in 1996, while the remainder had been compelled to relocate
to the other low-income area in Metro Manila, the resettlement areas, or their
home provinces.

18. 54 - Toru Nakanishi
Figure 7
Geographical Distribution of Relatives in Malabon City for Sitio
Paz Residents
Source: Survey conducted by the author.

19. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 55
Figure 8
Geographical Distribution of Relatives in Metro Manila for Sitio
Paz Residents
Source: Survey conducted by the author.
In research conducted during August 2003, the residents of 1000 households
were interviewed. These residents were selected by random sampling from
among the list of households residing in the temporary housing lots. According
to this questionnaire research, 1,464 (41.2%) of the total relatives in Metro
Manila were concentrated in Tondo district in City of Manila, where Smokey
Mountain and the temporary housing lots are located. The concentration rate
in the neighbouring six cities and municipalities was above 80 per cent. While
1,840 of the residents’ relatives (51.9%) were concentrated in an area within
three kilometers of the locality, 2,251 relatives (63.5%) resided within five
kilometers. Here, we observe close kinship networks and a tendency towards
village endogamy in the temporary housing lots. Within 799 households, the
instances of marriages between residents who were born in SM are 81 (10.1%)
and cases of marriages in which at least one partner migrated into SM where he/
she met the other partner are 217 (27.2%). Thus, the rate of village endogamy
is .373 (298 cases).

20. 56 - Toru Nakanishi
Thus, in both Sitio Paz and Smokey Mountain, the relatives of the residents
who live in Metro Manila but come from outside the locality are concentrated
in sites of poverty near the locality.14
This suggests that the urban poor all over
Metro Manila are mutually connected by the kinship-matrimonial networks
through propinquital homogamy.
3.3. Shared Culture of the Poor
Here, we examine the role that kinship belts play in the lives of the urban
poor. First, the urban poor can complement the functions of a community by
employing kinship belt networks. Casual labourers can obtain alternative sources
of information regarding job opportunities or vendors can extend their own
markets through these networks. Under conditions of market segmentation or
a high level of uncertainty, they can benefit from sharing diverse information
even beyond the local networks, as discussed in the last section. As already
argued, residents encounter constraints on access to information due to the
restricted geographical sphere of their social behaviours. In such a situation,
kinship belts that enable the circulation of information to other localities are
extraordinarily useful to the urban poor, as are ritual kinship (compadre) networks,
which may sometimes surpass social stratification in importance (Hart 1977;
Nakanishi 1999).
Of greater significance is the creation and communication of the common
culture peculiar to the urban poor. There are countless and varied types of local
knowledge (or metis), which could be useful in improving their lives. Squatter areas
in Metro Manila look very similar, although each also appears to be independent,
segmented and/or dispersed. These areas employ the same techniques to
manage the illegal supply system (kabit) of public water or electricity. They also
employ the same method of constructing houses from scraps of building waste.
These houses and the technique of constructing them have long been called
barong-barong. Even the games, songs or dances of children have spilt over to
kinship belts. Some popular songs by famous composers in recent years were
arranged based on songs and dances that were composed in squatter areas and
were already popular among the urban poor children across Metro Manila. All
the informants I interviewed in Sitio Paz and Smokey Mountain believed this to
be the reason for the instant popularity of these songs among the poor across
Metro Manila. Although it is difficult to verify the truth of this story, the fact
that my interviewees in Sitio Paz and Smokey Mountain believed this to be
true is important. This story about popular songs is already a kind of common
knowledge based upon the kinship belts.
Furthermore,kinshipbeltsshapepoliticalviews.Weobservethatkinshipbelts
played an important role in the political behaviour of the urban poor during the

21. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 57
February Revolution in 1986 and in the forced resignation of President Estrada
in 1999. Networks with neighbouring localities have provided an alternative
source of information that differs from the mass media. The jeepney or tricycle
drivers voluntarily provide services for relatives or acquaintances beyond the
locality. It may be much easier to verify the identity of economic relations such
as labour contracts. During the 1980s, the systems of the junkshop-scavenger
relationships in both Sitio Paz and Smokey Mountain were extremely similar
(Nakanishi 1990; Brillantes 1991). They were types of inter-linkage based on
hometown relationships.15
While the kinship belts among the urban poor were formed, developed and
strengthened, local knowledge was established on the basis of common customs
and has spread across Metro Manila. Thus, we can arrive at the hypothesis
that local knowledge spills over to all the urban poor by kinship-matrimonial
relationship belts through propinquital homogamy. Knowledge gained in a
locality was refined or improved by encounters with similar cultures, was rendered
suitable to the specific locality by repeated trials and errors, became the refined
metis, embodying rich accumulated experiences, and spread across Metro Manila,
even though participants do not recognise the full structure of these networks.
Therefore, it can be said that the chains of the wide but weak networks have
produced a sense of identity, which has promoted the communication of the
culture of the urban poor.
Concluding Remarks
This paper investigates the process whereby community and kinship belts
are formed and deepened by strengthening kinship-matrimonial relationships
among the urban poor, which arise from the fact that the residents have been
compelled to confront chronic poverty. In the Philippines housing policy for the
urban poor, especially in Metro Manila, has lacked consistency and deepened
urban poverty since the Second World War. Repeated neglect over the long run
has been compounded by largescale demolition and relocation (Laquian 1969;
Berner 1997). Several policy implications, which were obtained through our
analysis, can be outlined as follows.
The first pertains to the slum/squatter policy in Metro Manila. The
reason for the ineffectiveness of the unified slum clearance policies has been
the government’s neglect of the aforementioned local networks. The cost of
clearing slums that have a long history, have been inhabited by more than two
generations and are already established in an area will be extraordinarily large
as compared with that of clearing a new slum area. The clearance may often
deprive the poor of their indispensable networks and may have severe negative
effects on them. In this case, it will be much more effective to utilise the kinship-

22. 58 - Toru Nakanishi
matrimonial networks for poverty alleviation.
Mobilisation of the networks of “core” families to alleviate poverty is
the second policy implication. Indeed, since community in the Philippines is
extremely dependent on the dyad relationships of individual members, it does
not possess an efficient vertical system for the circulation of information
observed among East Asians, who employ “exclusion principles”. In the Manila
locality, however, it is easy to detect the core family that was established first and
thus possesses rich networks at various levels. The government can mobilise
such resources of core families to build a more efficient aid delivery system.
The networks that utilise community-based resources among the poor should
be studied and developed further.
Finally, we should reconsider the issue of establishing a common identity
for the urban poor. If the existence of kinship belts is recognised, it suggests
the existence of common local knowledge (or metis), common customs and
common culture peculiar to the urban poor. This implies that we can learn many
more lessons, even from small pilot projects that target only a small segment of
the urban poor. While fixed-point observations in specific urban poor districts
are often criticised as studies of special cases, it is revealed that such studies may
hold rich information and deep insights for understanding various problems of
urban poverty.
Notes
1. This study is a part of a research project funded by Monbusho Grant in Research, entitled
“Social Changes under Economic Development” (2002-2005). I owe many valuable comments and
insights to Cristina A. Pangilinan (Help Foundation), Ferdinand Maquito (University of Asia and
the Pacific), Hiroyoshi Kano (University of Tokyo), Makoto Maruyama (University of Tokyo), Kaku
Sechiyama (University of Tokyo), and Noriko Hataya (Sophia University).
2. A community is generally defined as a social group that has some sense of belonging, possesses
its own enforceable rules and customs for the pursuit of members’ common interests and comprises
families who reside permanently in a given locality.
3. According to a study in Japan (Ishikawa 1990), the functions of a community are as follows:
redistribution of income, mutual reciprocity in case of emergency and achievement of scale
economies and collective action against monopoly. The common characteristic is that a community
can solve problems that arise from the immaturities of markets and governments. This implies
that a community is not necessarily regarded as an altruistic utopia under an immature market
system (Hayami 2000). Even in developing countries, traditional customs such as labour exchanges
or various reciprocities can be explained as a form of social security for risk diversification, long-run
insurance and so on (Barrett 2005).
4. Lobo (1981) is one of the few studies that indicated the tendency of squatters to permanently
reside in a locality and suggested the importance of dynamic inter-generational analysis of a squatter
area. Lobo’s field, however, is Lima, Peru.
5. See Laquian (1968) and Berner (1997).
6. The pre-1985 history explained here relies on interviews (August 2004) with residents who
have stayed in the locality since 1968.

23. Informal Settlers in Metro Manila - 59
7. Here, since the condition of disposal (that the entire site be purchased at once) is not a common
issue for the residents, the risk of opportunistic behaviour by some residents cannot be excluded.
8. In the Philippines, a child receives the last name of the father, while that of the mother is used
as the middle name. In general, however, upon marriage the daughter changes her middle name
to the last name of her father, because her last name is substituted by her husband’s last name. A
daughter’s middle name before marriage, which is the last name of her mother, thus disappears
when she marries.
9. When such a family forms new matrimonial relationships with other residents, it becomes a
new basic family. The purpose of these procedures is to reduce the insignificant vertices for the
social network analysis. The larger the number of vertices, the more meaninglessly complicated the
network graph becomes.
10. Some residents who obtained university scholarships opened private classes to teach
supplementary lessons to children in the local chapel. They did this in order to reduce the dropout
rate of children after they attend elementary school. One such university ex-student who joined this
project recalled that one of the reasons for the high dropout rate in the locality was discriminatory
utterances against the children. It was remarked that the performance of the children in the tambakan
was as poor as their clothes. This wassaid not only their friends but also their teachers.
11. In fact, it can be observed that there is considerable similarity between the jobs of the household
heads in the locality and those of their spouses’ brothers and sisters who come from outside the
locality. This suggests that even marriages of the residents to outsiders should be classified as
homogamy.
12. On the issues in political economy in the labour market in developing countries, see Williamson
(1988).
13. “Compadre system” is defined as the ritual kinship relations between different families following
Roman Catholic practices such as baptism, confirmation and marriage. Since there is no rule of
godparents, a godchild can have any number of godparents. The circle of ritual kindred is extended
up to the relations between members of the ritual families, or even between the godparents’ families.
Compadre relationships can infinitely extend beyond the localities. The godparents are formally
required only to give a religious advice to their godchild, but some social norms oblige them to
offer some kind of social security to their godchild or his family as well. The godparents can also
find benefits in compadre, such as social prestige, stabilisation of other socio-economic relationships
between ritual families and social capital in the form of social relationships between the godparents.
Thus, in the Philippine setting, the compadre has been maintained for a long time. See Hart (1971).
14. All their relatives, except foreigners such as Japanese or Americans, are considered to belong to
the low income bracket in the Philippines, as deduced from the employment data of the relatives.
However, more accurate and detailed data may be required in this regard.
15. It is reasonable for landlords in rural areas to have contracts with labourers or tenants to
pay high wages (or require low tenancy rates) while charging high interest rates for credit on the
understanding that the labourers or tenants will not bankrupt or cheat them (Basu 1997). On the
other hand, in urban areas, since scavengers can easily go bankrupt and flee and their turnover rate
is high, junkshop owners will offer a combination of low wages and low interest rates. The low
interest rate itself may be a strategy to secure the supply of labour in anonymous social conditions.
See Nakanishi (2002).
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