Migration to the Slum and Squatter Communities of Cagayan de Oro City, The Philippines

Abstract

With regard to Southeast Asia and especially the Philippines there have been several social scientists who have examined squatter and slum populations in the urban centers. An overview into the urban squatter phenomenon in Southeast Asia is provided by Jackson who states that squatters now comprise between a quarter and a third of the total population of most of the regions capitals (1974:24; see also Poethig 1971). In the Philippines several social scientists have examined the socioeconomic problems and characteristics of squatter and slum areas in various cities and these studies have all been on one or only a few of the communities within the city. Thus Laquian (1969) Hollnsteiner (1972; 1973) Juppenlatz (1970) Stone and Marsella (1968) and Poethig (1969) have investigated squatter areas in Manila. Laquian (1972) and his colleagues (Carino 1971) have reported findings on an in-depth analysis of one squatter community in each of six intermediate-sized Philippine cities; the study compares the social and economic characteristics of the six communities. And the Hackenbergs (1973) and their colleagues (Feldman 1973) have carefully analyzed several of the squatter communities in Davao City on Mindanao. These studies have all examined the socioeconomic characteristics of the low-income populations under study and in this regard they are valuable for comparative purposes. After reviewing squatter and slum research completed on Southeast Asia (and Hong Kong) however there are at least three areas in which research is lacking. First there has been very little research published which discusses the migration origins trends and characteristics of the squatter and slum population. Second there have been few investigations of squatter areas in the intermediate-sized cities of Southeast Asia; in Southeast and East Asia the primate cities of Manila Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong have been given the most attention. Third and as explained above there have been no empirical studies completed which examine the entire squatter and slum population of a single city. The purpose of this paper is to begin to fill these research gaps. Specifically the paper will examine the migration characteristics of the entire squatter and slum population of one intermediate-sized city in the southern Philippines; Cagayan de Oro City the largest city on the northern coast of Mindanao Island. (excerpt)