6 10.2307@41308326

Those that Urbanization Left Behind: A Case Study of Spatial Disparities and Rising
Dependency in Coastal Areas in Mindanao, the Philippines

Author(s): Carmeli Marie CHAVES
Source: Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Vol. 24, No. 2 (October 2009),
pp. 251-268
Published by: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41308326
Accessed: 11-05-2016 23:26 UTC
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia
This content downloaded from 139.184.14.159 on Wed, 11 May 2016 23:26:17 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vol . 24, No. 2 (2009), pp. 251-68 DOI: 10.1355/sj24-2e
© 2009 ISEAS ISSN 0217-9520 print / ISSN 1793-2858 electronic
Those that Urbanization Left Behind:

A Case Study of Spatial Disparities and
Rising Dependency in Coastal Areas in
Mindanao, the Philippines
Carmeli Marie CHAVES
Urban-rural disparities are exacerbated by failed livelihood projects,

declining fishing incomes, and rising poverty levels in coastal areas in
Mindanao, the Philippines. This has spurred the out-migration of young
adults from the rural to urban areas. Faced with collapsing fisheries and
a lack of income opportunities, families are compelled to abandon fishing
and farming occupations for urban services jobs that give predictable
and sustained incomes. The rural demographic picture that is emerging
is one that is characterized by a changing household structure where
the very young and the elderly stay home while the men and women of
childbearing age migrate to urban areas for work. The high dependency
in rural areas and urbanward migration have thus worsened urban-rural
spatial inequalities.
Keywords: urbanization, urban development, dependency, urban-rural disparities, livelihood,

urban areas.
Background
In the Philippines, as in many developing countries in Asia, there is a

distinct spatial shift that is often a characteristic of rapid urbanization.
As the countryside becomes urbanized, land use conversion of agri-
cultural lands to non-agricultural uses occurs at a frenetic pace. This
change was most apparent in the Philippines during the eighties,
when the Fidel Ramos administration developed industrial zones in
unproductive agricultural areas as both an employment generation
strategy and an urban development policy. With this aggressive
252 Carmeli Marie CHAVES
industrialization programme, President Ramos attempted to make

domestic industries more globally competitive. At the same time,
he sought to move development away from the traditional socio-
economic and political centre, Metro Manila, to the agricultural
areas.
However, concurrent with the changes in the rural landscape was

a massive urbanward movement of rural residents. Young men and
women moved in droves from the periphery to the centre, that is,
from farms to towns and cities, in search of employment. While
the national government jump-started decentralization by building
industrial centres in the sixteen regions of the country, the rural
working age populations flocked to major urban centres within the
region. The agricultural sector suffered a double whammy: not only
were farms sold and converted to industrial and commercial zones,
the poor, often landless, residents themselves abandoned impoverished
rural areas.
Even as the country's leadership consciously redirected urban
development away from Metro Manila, the Philippine Congress
enacted in 1991 the Local Government Code. Republic Act 7160
devolved administrative authority to local government units (LGUs)
and empowered them to generate local revenue in order to respond
more effectively to internal needs (Republic of the Philippines 1991).
The Local Government Code mandated all provinces, cities, and
municipalities to formulate their own comprehensive land use plans
and comprehensive development plans in order to spur progress
locally.1
Today, rapid urbanization is sweeping across the Philippines.
The country's urban population is growing at 3.12 per cent (United
Nations 2007), higher than its population growth rate of 2.04 per
cent. The rural population meanwhile is decreasing at a rate of
0.2 per cent per year.
The reclassification of barangays (villages) from rural to urban
can hardly catch up with the runaway urban growth rates.2 In 2000,
the level of urbanization in the Philippines was 48 per cent, but
the percentage of barangays in the country that is classified urban is
Spatial Disparities and Rising Dependency in Mindanao, the Philippines 253
only less than half of that - at 23.8 per cent (National Statistics
Office 2000). These figures indicate that nearly half of the Philippine
population is crammed in urban barangays that make up only a
quarter of all barangays in the country.
It is clear, nonetheless, that the effects of urbanization have been
lopsided. Urbanization in the Philippines has seen some of the
country's poorest agricultural regions falling behind cities in socio-
economic development. Only the urban areas, the so-called drivers
of economic growth, received serious attention from the central
government in terms of infrastructure investments.
The Philippine government has observed the unbalanced spatial
distribution of development, recognizing, for instance, in the Medium
Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-2010 that poverty is greatest
in the rural areas (National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) 2000). The government subsequently launched a poverty
reduction programme that included, among others, the promotion
of agribusiness in the countryside in order to generate employment
(NEDA 2000) and livelihood programmes for populations reliant on
agriculture and the environment (NEDA 2000).
Beginning in 2000, such livelihood programmes were established
among rural communities in Mindanao, southern Philippines. The
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) provided local peoples organizations
both technical and financial assistance in proposing and implementing
the livelihood projects.
The study, on which this paper is based, inquires whether these
rural livelihood programmes are an appropriate government policy
response to the observed spatial development imbalance. The follow-
ing questions guided the study:
• What is the effect of government-initiated livelihood projects

on household income and poverty levels in rural areas?
• Have rural livelihood projects reduced urban-rural development
disparities?
• What is the effect of urbanization on this urban-rural imbalance?
In order to address these points, a case study method was used to

generate quantitative and qualitative data in selected sites. It should
be noted that the cases are limited to coastal areas in the Northern
Mindanao and Caraga Regions, and the data set generated describes
only these particular conditions. Given this context, the study sample
and data can provide only partial answers to the research questions.
The results, however, contain policy implications that have a national
scope.
This research entailed coordinating with the DENR, which has
an existing livelihood project set-up, the Community Livelihood
Assistance Special Project or otherwise called CLASP, established in
various regions of the Philippines since 2002. CLASP was designed
to promote sustainable use and management of natural resources
while providing alternative means of livelihood to resource-dependent
communities (Department of Environment and Natural Resources
2003). By increasing household incomes, the projects sought to assist
families to break out of the poverty cycle in rural regions and, in the
long-term, eradicate the urban-rural disparity in development.
Research Methodology
Site Selection
The selected project sites are coastal provinces in Northern Mindanao

and Caraga Regions, where households are among the Philippines'
poorest. These coastal communities, dependent on the natural
environment for sustenance, were expected to benefit greatly from
countryside livelihood programmes and, thus, were identified by the
national government as priority assistance areas.
In all, nine barangays were included in the study, encompassing
five municipalities and one city, spread across three provinces. The
selection of the regions, provinces, municipalities, and barangays
was made using purposive sampling, largely based on four criteria:
coastal area, support of the LGU, presence and consent of the
peoples organization (PO), and peace and order conditions. As non-
probability sampling was used, the results of this study cannot be
Table 1
Study Sites
Study Sites Province Municipality Village
Misamis Oriental Talisayan Poblacion

Sugbongcogon Silad
Magsaysay Consuelo
Surigao del Norte Surigao City Day-asan

Nabago
Manjagao
Surigao del Sur Alegria San Juan

Barobo Dapdap
Rizal
Total 3 6 9
Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization Left Behind".
inferred to the rest of the coastal communities in the Philippines.

Rather the project sites provide case studies from which national
planning policy and programme lessons can be drawn.
Respondent Selection
Members of fisherfolk associations and their spouses comprised the
eligible respondents. A complete enumeration of the PO members
was done in all study sites.
Several revisits to households were made in order to interview the
eligible respondents, many of whom were fishing during the night
and sleeping or doing household chores at daytime. If, after at least
two callbacks, the respondent could still not be reached, he or she
was delisted from the sampling frame. The final study size is 203
respondents, composed of 132 males (or 65 per cent) and seventy-
one females (35 per cent).
Interviews and Case Studies
Face-to-face interviews were conducted with male and female PO

members and their spouses. In most households, both spouses were
interviewed; in a few households, however, only the PO member was

interviewed for such reasons as the spouse was temporarily away or the
PO member was single or widowed. The survey questions measured
key study variables such as the socio-demographic composition of
the households, employment, source of income, and involvement in
the livelihood activity.
A separate questionnaire was administered to generate the com-
munity profile and peoples organization profile. This questionnaire
included items on population, socio-economic activities, PO functions
and activities, PO membership, description of the livelihood activity,
involvement of women, and socio-economic impact of the livelihood
projects.
The case studies included observations of household dynamics,
PO operations and decision-making, and livelihood project
implementation. In-depth interviews and focus-group discussions
(FGDs) were made with PO leaders and community officials to
seek their views on previous and present government livelihood
programmes, their development needs, and their aspirations for their
families and communities.
Population Structure and Urbanization
Among the provinces in this study, Misamis Oriental shows marked

differences from Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. First, unlike
Surigao, it is growing faster, at 2.67 per cent, than the national
population growth rate of 2.04 per cent; second, it has the lowest
poverty incidence among the three provinces; and third, less than
half of its population lives in rural areas, although three-fourths of
its barangays remain rural. Both Surigao del Norte and Surigao del
Sur have more than 70 per cent of their population living in rural
barangays, which in turn make up nearly 90 per cent of all their
constituent barangays.
Majority of the barangays are classified rural. Only a few central
villages (the poblacion) are urban. Except for Misamis Oriental, the
urbanization level in these areas, measured by the National Statistics
>
-o G ~
H Cu jh
3 c2 -2 - k
0
►-I 5 l£ R 8
3
in
<u
CO
©
3
•M
CO
<u 3 e ^ VO O
-c C* &w ^ *N K
<U
c2
<U
o
o
8 o
CN
G
"13 £ s 'f' rr>
1 3
pg K X
rt ^ 00 ON
X ^
§ ^ R
*3 o
JS o
CQ <n
Uh
b
c2 o -c
■M o o
G O -C
OJ >-,<N S
u tJ <u ^ IA X K <?
<N
J3 £
6 6
£■<
Sgw
# -a
<N- O
^ G
y
-
3 I
<u "T3
■I ^
H8 !>
<L>
!
£ Q
U 2 © ~g
JS £ S «-n K ^ *r> u
b 5 T # vo oo rn -a
^ ^ ^ 2
in
I Scuri
curi 2 §u
u
8 "3
G
& o x c' <n © vo ^ x oo -a

O
© m UTn '0 vr' H m (N o »A rt

-G
0 mcsmm N^iTNCs x ^ !z
i
a
^ ^ C' H 00 (N
G SO ^ <N X - ' ^ o ^ 00
O-. V£ ^ ^ IA O
c
CU
CU rP
(N°
o <u
rt . G <-G
3
Oh t . I * o
c2 J< e & It 0 .2
c •a ^ C X ort o S
o
§ § J -II .§>U •§ s
3
ctf
•as
^ raco
3 5
5 ^^ 3
-o
oo^ <J
<J «« s13
^ G
Oh
cS 3 .2
# « '3
£ 1o§§.2
11 *fi
11 §"3
.§>z88 SJ>d
SaSa2g
is - ^ ti »-n s
P* < O CO -d CO "d
Office as the percentage of the population living in urban areas, is

less than 30 per cent.
At the household level, we find a predominantly young mem-
bership: 36 per cent of the study household members are younger
than fifteen years old, and 62 per cent are within the working age
group of 15-64 (Table 3).
Table 3
Study household members, by sex and by age group
Sex of household members
Male Female
Age group 0-14 230 216 446
15-64 375 380 775
65+ 24 18 42
Total 629 614 1243
Dependency ratio 64.63
Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization Left Behind".
Mired to the Bottom: Mindanao Fishing Communities among the

Impoverished
The fishing villages in Mindanao typify the rural face of poverty:

poverty incidence in Surigao del Norte province is almost 51 per
cent, while that of Surigao del Sur is 45 per cent. Misamis Oriental,
the centre of socio-economic activities in Northern Mindanao region,
is only slightly better off, if one may call it that, with a 32 per cent
poverty incidence (National Statistics Office 2000). These dismal
figures changed little from 1997 poverty levels, which were 36 per
cent for Misamis Oriental and 52 per cent for Surigao del Norte
and Surigao del Sur.
Fishing is the main occupation of more than 40 per cent of the

respondents, particularly among the males. The rest of the rural folks
are small store owners and farmers. There appears to be a tendency
among the villagers to rely on the government or their children
for their income or sustenance: one out of ten is dependent on a
government salary or pension or their children's financial support.
Enterprising men and women engage in buy-and-sell and food
vending activities, while a few lend temporary labour in masonry
and carpentry or provide community services, such as dressmaking,
hairdressing and traditional birth assistance. In rural households where
a single source of income is no longer sufficient, the women are
typically involved in fish and vegetable vending, providing temporary
agricultural labour, or operating a small stall. While the men do most
of the fishing, it is the women who peddle the fish in the village or
sell it in the market or at the town centre.
It is a common practice to shift to other means of livelihood,
depending on the weather conditions, harvest season, and availability
of agricultural produce. Fishing is not a year-long activity: there are
several months in a year when fishing is impossible because of strong
winds. In view of this, fisherfolks resort to farming or providing farm
labour. In fact, most fisherfolks in the community are also farmers.
The women work alongside their husbands as farm labourers during
the non-fishing season. In general, however, the income they get from
these activities is minimal.
Income
Incomes in these villages are barely enough to meet the needs of a

household of six members. The average household size in the study
sites is 6.18, which is higher than the Philippine average household
size of five. The mean household monthly income is US$122.40
(Table 4). The males reported a slightly higher income (US$124.85)
than did the females (US$117.85).
These household incomes are only about half of the average
monthly income in the region.
Table 4
Average monthly household income, by barangay
Average monthly household income (in US$)
Reported by Reported by
Name of barangay males N females N Total N
Silad 140 18 109 15 126 33
Poblacion, Talisayan 75 13 64 7 71 20
Consuelo 124 14 119 16 121 30
Day-asan 164 15 184 4 169 19
Nabago 154 12 401 2 189 14
Manjagao 89 16 88 10 88 26
San Juan 122 20 122 3 122 23
Dapdap 128 7 117 4 124 11
Rizal 128 17 114 10 123 27
Total 125 132 118 71 122 203
Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization left Behind".
Community Livelihood Projects as Attempts to Bolster Rural

Incomes
The Philippine Government directed the DENR and the DA to

develop the country's environment and natural resources and, at the
same time, provide alternative livelihood to communities that are
dependent on these reserves. Community-based resource management
and livelihood programmes such as CLASP were subsequently
established to address the intertwined issues of poverty reduction,
the need to increase rural income, and the mandate to conserve the
resources that sustain poor rural households.
Across the country, peoples organizations and cooperatives were
formed in response to this government initiative. As legal entities,
these POs were able to source government funding for their resource
management and livelihood projects. Among the livelihood enterprises
they implemented are those enumerated in Table 5.
The project proposals certainly considered areal characteristics that
support the development of the products in their natural habitats.
Day-asan village, for instance, is surrounded by thick mangroves and
Table 5
Livelihood activities of people's organisations
MISAMIS ORIENTAL PROVINCE
Talisayan Municipality Fish cage operation

Poblacion
Talisayan
Sugbongcogon Municipality Seaweed culture

Silad Fish shelter
Milkfish culture
Artificial reef-making
Fish sanctuary
Magsaysay Municipality Consumer cooperative store

Consuelo Fish cage operation
Milkfish deboning
Micro-lending
SURIGAO DEL NORTE PROVINCE
Surigao City
Day-asan Seaweed culture
Milkfish culture
Giant clam culture
Grouper culture
Lobster culture
Nabago Planting of mangroves

Hog dispersal/raising
Manjagao Fish cage operation
Alegria Municipality Piggery

San Juan Piglet dispersal
Micro-lending
SURIGAO DEL SUR PROVINCE
Barobo Municipality
Dapdap Micro-lending
Dried fish and seaweed production
Rizal Fish pen operation
Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization left Behind".
shallow sea water. Houses on stilts rise above sea water suitable for
grouper and lobster culture as a "backyard" business. The waters of
Silad village are appropriate for seaweed culture, while most coastal
municipalities can host fish cages.
Unfortunately, pollution from households and agricultural runoff
from the surrounding upland contaminated the fish cages. Families had
to replenish their fish stocks when the pollutants killed the fingerlings.
Some projects, such as fish caging, required high capitalization.
A grouper fish cage costs Php20, 000-50, 000 (US$41 5-1,000),
depending on the number of stocks and materials used. Moreover,
grouper or lobster culture requires a year for the fish to reach their
marketable size.
Not all projects considered the skills and expertise of the residents,
especially of women. Fish caging, milkfish culture, seaweed culture,
giant clam culture, and grouper culture were perceived by the
community as male-oriented livelihood projects because the work
involved is said to require "masculine" skills. The women tried to
learn the rudiments of fish caging, but their interest and efforts
waned, especially when the livelihood activities competed for their
time for household chores.
At the outset, livelihood projects were proposed in response to a
perceived market demand for aquatic products. Oddly enough, when
the products were grown and harvested, the market was difficult to
find. Seaweed culture in Silad, for instance, was considered a viable
livelihood. The initial seaweed harvest was sold to a local industrial
buyer, who could not, however, assure the cooperative of future
orders. Faced with no secure market, the discouraged fisherfolks did
not expand their business after the first production cycle.
Likewise, Consuelo village residents engaged in milkfish production
in fish cages. Milkfish deboning also started as a project primarily
intended for women PO members. However, owing to a lack of
buyers, both the milkfish caging and the fish deboning projects were
discontinued.
What appeared on paper to be workable livelihood ideas turned
out differently upon implementation. While the project proposals
predicted healthy returns on investments, most livelihood enterprises

yielded no sustained income.
A full 70 per cent of the 203 survey respondents did not get
any income from the livelihood projects. For 88 per cent of the
respondents, neither did their spouse earn any income from the
venture. In nearly all research sites, community members received no
compensation for the labour they contributed to the project mainly
because the livelihood failed to generate any income.
We find that, overall, none of the livelihood projects in these
coastal areas can be considered a success. The failed livelihood
attempts exacerbated the lack of economic security and added to the
discontent among fishing communities.
Fishing Environments under Threat
In recent years, fishing is no longer viewed by the local communities

as a dependable or profitable source of income. Fishing in municipal
waters yields a declining catch, particularly for small fishermen
using manually paddled boats. Those who can afford motorized
boats and more efficient fishing gear replace these manual outriggers
with more powerful boats that can go farther into the sea, where
they can still fish with some success. However, poor fishermen can
hardly afford motorized equipment. Faced with a meager catch, they
resort to overfishing and unsustainable fishing methods. Fisherfolks
also have to contend with the entry of commercial fishers who use
more powerful technologies, virtually depriving small fishermen of
their livelihood.
It has been observed that Philippine municipal waters are
deteriorating and its seas overfished (Trinidad et al. 2002). The fish
catch per unit effort in municipal waters has decreased since 1948,
even with an increase in effort. Various studies (Dalzell et al. 1987;
Silvestre and Pauly 1989; Dalzell and Corpuz 1990; Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 1997) corroborate this observation.
The authors noted that there were too many Filipinos dependent
on fishing and that a major cause of fisheries decline stemmed
from increased fishing effort "due to population growth, migration

to coastal areas, and the use of more efficient gear" (Trinidad et al.
2002, p. 7).
The present study of coastal communities in Mindanao portrays
a different demographic trend. While all Mindanao regions grew
from 2000 to 2007, populations in fishing areas actually grew slower
than those of nearby towns and cities. Non-highly urbanized areas
in Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions had population growth
rates below 2 per cent, markedly lower than the 2.54 per cent of
Cagayan de Oro City, the nearest highly urbanized city (National
Statistics Office 2008). Given that fertility and mortality levels are
fairly stable in Northern Mindanao, the urban-rural population
growth differentials are attributed to migration rather than to fertility
or mortality. There is apparently no migration to coastal villages;
contrary to the assumptions of Trinidad et al. (2002), migration is
towards the cities.
Migration of Men and Women to Urban Areas
Fishing has become less attractive to young men who not only have
to contend with a declining fish catch, but prefer the option of
working in urban areas to earn a steady income than to take their
chance with fishing as a livelihood. Young women are taking the
same urbanward route, eventually finding jobs as domestic helpers
or service workers in the cities and even abroad.
During group discussions, parents encourage the young to find
occupations other than fishing because the income from fishing is
lower and less reliable than the wages from employment in the cities,
even as labourers and domestic helpers. Parents dream of urban,
non-agricultural employment for their children. The driving force
for completing formal education is apparently to find work in the
city. Learning fishing skills from elders is foregone because as parents
reason out, fishing has not lifted their families out of poverty, and
therefore, there is no justification to encourage their children to take
up the livelihood they have engaged in.
This resolve has resulted in the out-migration of young adults

from the rural to urban areas, attracted to the predictable income
urban employment provides. In the cities and towns, men and women
of working age do not have to deal with the vagaries of nature and
the uncertainty of seasonal work.
The rural demographic picture that is emerging is characterized by
a changing household structure where the very young and the elderly
stay home while men and women of childbearing and working ages
migrate to urban areas for employment.
Demographic data from this research bears out this phenomenon.
The dependency ratio among the study households is sixty-five
dependents, composed of fifty-nine young dependents and six old
dependents, for every hundred persons of working age (Table 3).
This dependency ratio is higher than that of nearby urban areas,
such as Cagayan de Oro City, which has a dependency ratio of sixty
(National Statistics Office Northern Mindanao 2005). Moreover,
the median age among the coastal households in this study is
nineteen years old. This is lower than the Philippine median age
of twenty-two years and the twenty-one median age of Cagayan
de Oro.
Young Adult Children as a Source of Economic Security
An unambiguous finding in this study is the parents' reliance on

young adult children for economic security. The dependence of
older fisherfolks on adult children for their income and old-age
security overrides any reliance on government livelihood projects or
on government pension.
In villages where fishing is no longer an economically viable
occupation, families send their young adults to the cities or abroad
for employment. As expected, parents consider (more) children as a
source of economic security, giving them "more choices on whom to
ask for support later in life (Leo, male FGD respondent, forty- two
years oldj. Even among couples past the reproductive ages, there is
a desire for more children to give them security upon retirement.
The value of children among Filipino couples for old-age economic

security has long been established (among the earlier studies is that
of Bulatao, 1975). Children are perceived as a source of assistance in
old age and of help with housework. Thirty years since this ground-
breaking study, the value of children remains high among Filipino
families, although the mode of assistance from the young has shifted
from agriculture-based labour to urban employment remittances.
This research notes that rural parents prime their children for
employment in cities in the Philippines and abroad so that they can
send remittances back home. It will be instructive in further studies
to quantify the contribution of this funds transfer to rural household
incomes - an aspect that was not covered in this research. It is
important to determine in future analyses whether these remittances
indeed buoy rural incomes, and form part of the "economic security"
that children and young adults provide to ageing parents.
Conclusion
This research establishes that none of the national government-

sponsored livelihood enterprises implemented by people s organizations
in Northern Mindanao and Caraga Regions provided significant
incomes to the intended beneficiaries. The fledgling livelihood projects
fell short of their expectation to achieve economic empowerment of
the PO members. The CLASP programme foundered in its two
main objectives of providing viable income opportunities in rural
areas and weaning fisherfolks away from over-exploiting the aquatic
resources.
The absence of employment and source of income in rural villages

compel families to send their young adults to the towns and cities
for work. We find coastal villages characterized by young and old
populations: those left behind are either still in school, can no
longer compete with a younger labour force or have no interest in
leaving home to search for economic opportunities elsewhere. There
is a consequent marked decline in the number of men and women
of both working age and reproductive age in these coastal sites.
Urbanization tends to bring with it higher age dependency among

the rural households. Along with a rising age dependency ratio is a
greater economic dependence on working family members.
What future lies ahead for rural regions? Not only are rural
places losing men and women in their most economically produc-
tive ages; families left behind face greater dependence on outside
sources of support. We have seen how urbanization has heightened
urban-rural disparities. The government policy response to uneven
development should take its cue from the Local Government Code.
Local governments, not the national government, must take the lead
in rural development and in tempering the preference for urban
areas. This entails the creation of local employment, livelihood, and
educational opportunities and services outside major urban centres
and beyond the regional capital cities.
At the same time, rural communities in Mindanao and the rest
of the Philippines can gain from the monetary support sent by their
workforce from the towns and cities. Measuring the actual benefits to
the labour-sending regions and in what manner the remittances have
supported rural development are prospective research topics.
NOTES
1 . The Philippines is politically subdivided into seventeen regions (Metro Manila

is the National Capital Region), 81 provinces, 136 cities, 1,495 municipalities,
and 42,008 barangays , or villages.
2. Each barangay is categorized by the National Statistics Office as either urban
or rural based on population density, predominant occupation, and presence
of certain infrastructure such as a public market.
REFERENCES
Bulatao, Rodolfo. The Value of Children: A Cross-National Studyy Volume Two:

Philippines. Honolulu: East- West Population Institute, East- West Center,
1975.
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. 1996 Philippines Profile . Quezon City:
Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources,
1997.
Chaves, Carmeli and Chona Echavez. "Those That Urbanization Left Behind". Final
Project Report. Philippine Center for Population and Development, 2007.
Dalzell, Paul and Perlita Corpuz. "The Present Status of Small Pelagic Fisheries in
the Philippines". In Philippine Tuna and Small Pelagic Fisheries: Status and
Prospects for Development , edited by C. Pagdilao and C. Garcia. Los Banos:
Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development,
1990.
Dalzell, Paul, Perlita Corpuz, Reuben Ganaden, and Daniel Pauly. Estimation
of Maximum of Sustainable Yield and Maximum Economic Rent from the
Philippines Small Pelagic Fisheries. Quezon City: Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources, 1987.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The Community-Based Livelihood
Assistance Special Project. Quezon City: DENR, 2003.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Medium-Term Philippine
Development Plan 2004-2010. Pasig City: NEDA, 2000.
City: NEDA Northern Mindanao, 2007.

National Statistical Coordination Board. Philippine Statistical Yearbook 2000. Makati
City: National Statistical Coordination Board, 2000.
National Statistics Office (NSO). Family Income and Expenditure Survey 2000.
Mandaluyong City: National Statistics Office, 2000.
National Statistics Office Northern Mindanao. Demographic Profile of Cagayan de

Oro City. Cagayan de Oro City: NSO Region 10, 2005.
Republic of the Philippines. The Local Government Code of the Philippines. Manila:
Malacanang, 1991.
Silvestre, G. and D. Pauly. "Estimates of Yield and Economic Eent from Philippine
Demersal Stocks (1946-84) Using Vessel Horsepower as an Index of Fishing
Effort". University of the Philippines Visayas Fisheries Journal 1, no. 2 (1989):
11-24.
Trinidad, A., A. White, M. Gleason, and L. Pura. "Philippine Fisheries in Crisis:
A Prescription for Recovery". Overseas 5, no. 10 (2002): 1-11.
United Nations Statistics Division. World Statistics Pocketbook. New York: United
Nations, 2007.
Carmeli Marie Chaves is a demographer, environmental planner, and an Assistant Professor

at the University of the Philippines School of Urban and Regional Planning.

6 10.2307@41308326

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

6 10.2307@41308326

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Those that Urbanization Left Behind: A Case Study of Spatial Disparities and Rising

Dependency in Coastal Areas in Mindanao, the Philippines

Those that Urbanization Left Behind:

Carmeli Marie CHAVES

Urban-rural disparities are exacerbated by failed livelihood projects,

Keywords: urbanization, urban development, dependency, urban-rural disparities, livelihood,

In the Philippines, as in many developing countries in Asia, there is a

industrialization programme, President Ramos attempted to make

However, concurrent with the changes in the rural landscape was

• What is the effect of government-initiated livelihood projects

In order to address these points, a case study method was used to

The selected project sites are coastal provinces in Northern Mindanao

Study Sites Province Municipality Village

Misamis Oriental Talisayan Poblacion

Surigao del Norte Surigao City Day-asan

Surigao del Sur Alegria San Juan

Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization Left Behind".

inferred to the rest of the coastal communities in the Philippines.

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with male and female PO

interviewed; in a few households, however, only the PO member was

Population Structure and Urbanization

Among the provinces in this study, Misamis Oriental shows marked

& o x c' <n © vo ^ x oo -a

© m UTn '0 vr' H m (N o »A rt

Office as the percentage of the population living in urban areas, is

Sex of household members

Age group 0-14 230 216 446

15-64 375 380 775

Total 629 614 1243

Dependency ratio 64.63

Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization Left Behind".

Mired to the Bottom: Mindanao Fishing Communities among the

The fishing villages in Mindanao typify the rural face of poverty:

Fishing is the main occupation of more than 40 per cent of the

Incomes in these villages are barely enough to meet the needs of a

Average monthly household income (in US$)

Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization left Behind".

Community Livelihood Projects as Attempts to Bolster Rural

The Philippine Government directed the DENR and the DA to

MISAMIS ORIENTAL PROVINCE

Talisayan Municipality Fish cage operation

Sugbongcogon Municipality Seaweed culture

Magsaysay Municipality Consumer cooperative store

SURIGAO DEL NORTE PROVINCE

Nabago Planting of mangroves

Manjagao Fish cage operation

Alegria Municipality Piggery

SURIGAO DEL SUR PROVINCE

Rizal Fish pen operation

Source: Project Final Report, "Those that Urbanization left Behind".

predicted healthy returns on investments, most livelihood enterprises

Fishing Environments under Threat

In recent years, fishing is no longer viewed by the local communities

from increased fishing effort "due to population growth, migration

Migration of Men and Women to Urban Areas

This resolve has resulted in the out-migration of young adults

Young Adult Children as a Source of Economic Security

An unambiguous finding in this study is the parents' reliance on

The value of children among Filipino couples for old-age economic

This research establishes that none of the national government-

The absence of employment and source of income in rural villages

Urbanization tends to bring with it higher age dependency among

1 . The Philippines is politically subdivided into seventeen regions (Metro Manila

Bulatao, Rodolfo. The Value of Children: A Cross-National Studyy Volume Two: