Hometown Ethnography on the Social Production of New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac
Jerome Christopher S. Flores
University of the Philippines - Diliman
The New Clark City or NCC in Capas, Tarlac, dubbed as a “city in a farm,” is envisioned to be a smart and sustainable city of the future. As a city that is still under construction, much of what we know about the NCC is based on its conceptual masterplan, its already built facilities and their respective uses, and the different meanings attached to NCC by the national government, its developer, the local government of Capas, and the media. While these are all crucial in analyzing this space, there is still a need for a more local and grounded perspective on the implications of NCC. Drawing from the theoretical insights on the social production of space, multivocality of place, and the conceptual understanding of ‘home,’ this study aims to investigate the extent of how the locals of Capas contribute to the social production of New Clark City. By employing a hometown ethnography, I analyze narratives, meanings, memories, and aspirations attached to NCC through interviews with farmers and homeowners in a sitio beside the city being constructed. This ongoing study tentatively argues that there are multiple, intersecting, and contrasting voices representing the lived experiences of the locals of Capas in relation to NCC. With people’s various notions and understanding of home, their attitudes and perceptions toward NCC also vary, with some opposing the government’s vision for the said city in a farm, and some looking forward to its promises.
Multi-species Encounters in the Anthropocene - Engaging Perspectives of Human Intermediaries
Justine Nicole Torres​
Ateneo de Manila University
In these Anthropocene times, various approaches have been employed to confront the “the animal question,” or the in-depth study of human-animal histories. Anthropology, in particular, highlights how the relationships and categories between human and animal kind are historically and culturally contingent. Many of these have been explored through ethnographies of encounter, which consider how culture-making occurs through the interactions between human and non-human species, even as the relationship might be unequal or one-sided.
This study draws from research carried out in the context of the crocodile farm of the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center. By focusing on controlled settings as the usual contemporary locations of human-animal encounters, it frames the animal question to include the entanglements of humans and nonhumans in political, economic, cultural, and institutional systems. For this purpose, the study foregrounds the perspectives of intermediaries, or human actors who have daily direct contact with animals as part of their occupations. It submits that these intermediaries serve as go-betweens between crocodiles and humans on multiple fronts, while acting as both objective professionals and subjective dispensers of care.
The Anthropocene Age all but requires us to study and rethink what human and animal relationships entail. Ultimately, this research hopes to contribute to what Gibson-Graham and Roelvink (2009) describe as a “process of learning, involving a collective of human and more-than-human actants—a process of co-transformation that re/constitutes the world (342)," and perhaps helping us better inhabit it.
The Role of the Private Sector in Supporting Populations Displaced by Disasters: The Case of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF)
Edwin M. Salonga
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
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Considered an immediate impact of disasters, displacement is counterproductive to development as it affects human, economic, and environmental gains. With disaster displacement, private sector support becomes crucial at times when governments are overstretched. Businesses can be effective agents of change in building their own resilience and that of local communities. This paper takes a closer look at how the private sector plays a significant role in supporting populations displaced by disasters. It attempts to shed light on the experience of the Philippines by illustrating the case of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), which brings together private sector companies towards the achievement of its overarching goal of building resilience among businesses and communities in the country. This paper traces PDRF’s initiatives from inception to date. Moreover, it outlines key factors that contribute to PDRF’s success in designing and implementing development efforts to support local communities affected by disasters. Among these are its emphasis on building the disaster resilience of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), maintaining its political neutrality, building institutional partnerships, investing in emergency preparedness measures, and promoting innovative practices.
Policy achievements' national campaign as programmatic political strategy: The case of Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan
Ronald B. Bustos
De La Salle University
Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University
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This paper explored the brand of programmatic politics that the Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan exhibits. The paper attempted to answer the central question: 'how does the Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan demonstrate programmatic politics?" Through in-depth desk research, use of secondary data, and examination of news articles from the web, this paper argues that the Duterte Legacy Caravan exhibits and promotes a brand of programmatic politics and in a way distributes patronage for future electoral benefits. As a nationally directed campaign, the Duterte Legacy is a PCOO-led campaign assisted by various government agencies to inform the public of the successes and honest summaries of the Duterte's policy, infrastructure, and institutional achievements throughout his more than five years in the office. Using the indicators of Stokes et al. (2013), Cheeseman et al. (2014), and Kitschelt (2000), the paper arrived at the conclusion that the Duterte Legacy campaign fits the criteria of programmatic politics. These are: link between the politician and the constituents; public and inclusive distribution of resources; development of policy packages; and internal organization of the administration. These elements of programmatic politics are all present in my analysis of the Duterte Legacy Caravan's geographic scope, program structure, campaign components, and key players who are various government agencies collaborating to deliver the goals of the legacy campaign.
This paper forwarded that programmatic brand of politics takes many shapes and approach. What could be drawn from this analysis are: first, the Duterte Legacy Barangayanihan Caravan takes a unique brand of programmatic politics that does not necessarily result in reelection; second, the Duterte Legacy could potentially allow the return of Duterte to politics or benefit the political future of the Dutertes; and third, a combination of approaches in distributive politics allows more possible ways to court voters and gain electoral support.
Codes of Contention: Themes of Collaboration, Conflict, and Compromise in the Early 20th Century Typhoon Warning Systems of the Philippines and Hong Kong
Bianca Angelien Aban Claveria
Department of History
Ateneo de Manila University
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The histories of early 20th century colonial meteorological observatories such as the Manila Observatory (MO) and the Royal Observatory, Hong Kong (ROHK) were intertwined by shared experiences of typhoons in the Western North Pacific, and by collective networks of meteorological communications established in the region. Collaborative by nature, both observatories significantly benefited from the exchanges of meteorological information and the development of networks of communication within and beyond the confines of their respective institutions. But these same inter-colonial networks of collaboration also fostered encounters of conflict and compromise. The methods and systems employed by each observatory in the production and communication of meteorological information, typhoon warnings, and their typhoon warning systems reflected distinctions and differences rather than standardization and uniformity. Uniformity of typhoon warning signal codes in the region, for the interests of economy and safety, motivated the collaborative discussions at the 1930 Conference of Directors of Far Eastern Weather Services in Hong Kong. However, the collective resolutions of this international conference remained influenced by conflicting local experiences and contexts to typhoons, and compromises had to be made to overcome deadlocks.
This research argued that exposure to typhoons in the region motivated collaborative inter-colonial networks of meteorological communications between the MO ad ROHK. However, locally-bound typhoon warning systems influenced those networks with encounters of conflict and compromise. Through a transnational framework, it studied the histories and development of both observatories with an appreciation for varied experiences, movements of people, and connections of ideas beyond the confines of national boundaries. Through themes of collaboration, conflict, and compromise, the research perceived the MO and ROHK not only as institutions developed before to understand and adapt to the erratic phenomena in the heavens above, but also a troves of enriching historical narratives on the interactions and experiences of the people on the ground.