POVERTY, POPULATION-GROWTH AND THE IMPACT OF URBANIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

This article examines the consequences of urban growth within the context of an underdeveloped export-oriented economy and rapidly increasing population in the Philippines. In particular, it elaborates on the continued deterioration of living standards and the dismal lack of basic services in urban areas, which contribute to further impoverishment of the majority of urban residents. This majority - which ranges from the lower middle class to the urban poor and the homeless - constitute the marginalized sectors found in the peripheries of urban society. In the Philippines, as in most developing countries, these people comprise the vast pool of unemployed labour, the energy that fuels the so-called 'underground economy' or informal sector. The article also discusses the effects of urban poverty on women. In particular, the authors try to show how social and economic inequalities, coupled with gender bias, have combined to make life much harder for women in impoverished urban communities. The third section then presents some of the specific attempts by both government and non-governmental organizations to address several needs of the urban poor, namely, land tenure and housing, livelihood for women, and domestic violence. The authors, in presenting these responses to urban poverty, posit that empowering marginalized communities is the only way of effectively dealing with the needs of the poor. Collective action, quality participation in planning and decision-making processes, and direct access to substantial economic and political resources are necessary if the poor are to effect changes in social structures.