Law, Normative Pluralism, and Post-Disaster Recovery: Evaluating the Post-Disaster Relocation and Housing Project of Typhoon Ketsana Victims in the Philippines (original) (raw)
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This paper highlights the need for a sociological and normative pluralist theoretical framework to understand the unintended consequences of the implementation of post-disaster recovery projects for disaster victims in the Philippines. It broadly traces the conceptual development on hazard research in the the sociology of disasters and clarifies the distinction between legal pluralism and normative pluralism in socio-legal studies. Finally, it explains the significance of adopting the normative pluralist framework in post-disaster research, given the unique socio-legal characteristics of the Philippines as typhoon-prone, pluralist in legal and social normative systems, rigid and complex in regulation and bureaucratic requirements, as well as high in red tape and corruption indices. It argues that developing countries such as the Philippines with high legal and normative pluralism and complex social systems are more likely to encounter significant deviations in implementing post-disaster recovery projects such as post-disaster housing; thus, needs a more holistic and sociological framework such as the normative pluralist perspective.
Legal Pluralism, Cultural Values, and Post-Disaster Housing Project in a Philippine Municipality
International Journal of Sustainability Policy and Practice, 2020
This article argues that cultural values can act as dominant norms and subvert the state's official law in the awarding of post-disaster shelters to Typhoon Ondoy (Tropical Storm Ketsana) victims in a housing project in the Philippines. Applying some tenets of legal pluralism and some qualitative data from a case study, this article aims to show how the key Filipino cultural values of "palakasan," "sakop," and "padrino system" acted as the key unofficial laws or informal norms in the government's post-disaster housing project for Typhoon Ondoy victims, thereby sidestepping the official legal provisions on the awarding of housing units to disaster victims. Specifically, it describes how these cultural values undermined the implementation of the official law on the qualification of applicants and proper awarding of housing units to beneficiaries under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act of 2010 and the Urban Housing and Development Act of 1992 in the Southville 8 Housing Project (S8HP), a governmental post-disaster housing project in Rodriguez, Rizal. In a highly politicized environment with plurality of stakeholders and norms in S8HP, the official state regulations became colonized by some powerful groups' dominant cultural values that acted as "unofficial laws" in the distribution of the housing units as shown by this study, resulting in the awarding of shelters to disqualified beneficiaries, forfeiting the intended effects of the state law. Ultimately, it argues that the law is not what the official state law says "it is' but what powerful individuals and groups say "it is" in actual social practice. It debunks the belief of legal formalists who advocate legal positivism and centralism, claiming that the law can deliver what it promises under the "rule of law" principle.
Housing recovery outcomes after typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines: a critical realist perspective
Journal of Critical Realism, 2019
Typhoon Haiyan damaged around a million houses in the Philippines in November 2013. It especially affected the poor. Using a realist laminated ontology, this paper explains how multiple causal mechanisms triggered unexpected outcomes in the housing recovery programme in the province of Leyte. The proposed causal mechanisms were: the intentional causal agency of the Filipino power elite; the collaboration–competition dilemma among individual agents and social structures; the constraints faced by the National Housing Authority with regards to procurement and budget; unfreedoms for resilient resettlement; secondary side effects of land and resettlement policies; and the under the table practice of bribery. The combination of these multiple causal mechanisms generated emergent outcomes such as low output of permanent post-disaster housing, generic housing solutions that cannot be extended, reproduction of pre-disaster vulnerabilities, recovery of valuable land by the Filipino elite and allocation of public funding to a limited range of recipients.
11th International Conference of The International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction (I3R2)
The Tropical Storm Washi (locally known as Sendong) hit the major cities in the region of Northern Mindanao in Southern Philippines between December 16th and 17th, 2011. The flash floods brought by Washi resulted in a massive and unprecedented destruction of urban areas, causing, only in Cagayan de Oro, the displacement of 228,576 persons that represents almost 40% of the total city population, 5,801 houses were totally destroyed and 12,635 were partially damaged. Approximately 85% of the affected households were informal settlers of highly vulnerable and marginal areas located near the river banks. As a result, the post-disaster housing recovery projects focused on the resettlement of these communities as a priority for permanent housing. In the following month of the disaster, the government announced an ambitious resettlement project to build more than 8,500 houses in safer locations. The project implies a complex process in which each stakeholder has specific roles, responsibilities, and approaches. Therefore, the success of the project depends on a large extent of the relationships among stakeholders, leadership and the decisions taken independently by each stakeholder who in turn is affected by other stakeholders' decisions. This research examines the coordination mechanisms, criteria for decision making and the complex interactions among the different stakeholders involved in the housing reconstruction in Cagayan de Oro in the aftermath of Washi for a better understanding of the process which is needed for an effective management of the resettlement projects.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2018
This paper evaluates three agency-driven resettlement communities following the devastation caused by Typhoon Washi in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Our study draws insights from primary data collection using questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and field work observations in the resettlement communities and from the analysis of secondary data such as government documents and media reports. While the national and local governments as well as non-government organizations worked together in reconstruction and recovery, Typhoon Washi survivors at the three relocation sites still suffer from the effects of privation and displacement more than two years after the disaster. Moreover, the agency-driven reconstruction programs at the three resettlement sites-one was established and managed by the city government, another by the National Housing Authority regional office, and the third by an academic institution-resulted in disparate outcomes, not only in the physical infrastructures and provision of basic utilities, but in the attitudes of the residents towards the recovery process. We identify two opposing tendencies arising from said attitudes, and we propose a singular measure to address the opposing tendencies that can possibly lead to transformative recovery.
Do disaster mitigation policies really reduce the impact of disasters and create more resilient cities? Both conventional wisdom and academic literature suggest that the presence of disaster related legislation create resilient communities by institutionalizing preparation and planning as a component of day to day governance (Ndille and Belle 2014; Jiang 2013, Ye et al 2012; Shi 2012; Norio et al 2011). This view, however, is more an ideal than praxis in many states, particularly in fledgling democracies that have yet to contend with stabilizing economic and political institutions, as well as in polities with preexisting vulnerabilities such as poverty and social marginalization. This paper argues that the presence of disaster risk reduction legislation per se is not what mitigates the negative impact of disasters but the basics such as mechanisms that empower people and redistribute assets across social structures, infrastructures that spur economic activities and create livelihood, and institutions that ensure the accountability of those who create and implement policies. I show this by examining the evolution, adoption, and implementation of the Philippine disaster risk reduction framework encompassed in the RA10121 and related policies that mainstream DRRM into decision making and encourage or promote the use of modern technology such as ICT. I analyze these efforts and point out the inconsistencies and disconnects in RA10121 and extant policies—disconnects that make the whole attempt towards a holistic approach towards DRRM fall short of resilience. The paper concludes with some recommendations to harmonize and consolidate these efforts towards a more adaptive, resilient and responsive disaster framework.
User involvement in housing recovery: Cases from Haiyan affected areas in the Philippines
Doctoral Thesis 12, 2019
The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the relation between housing recovery and user involvement from a capability perspective. The thesis studies housing recovery in areas affected by typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on 8th November 2013. The focus is on three perspectives: a) approaches to housing reconstruction, b) explanation for unexpected housing outcomes, and c) user involvement. The study uses basic critical realism as metatheory, and case study is the main research strategy. Data collection techniques include observations of social settings, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, a workshop, field notes and document analysis. Fieldwork was carried out in 2014 and 2015 in several cities in Leyte. Regarding approaches to housing reconstruction, different types of partnerships, components of the reconstruction approach, housing solutions, and types of user involvement, have been discussed. Concerning explanations for unexpected housing outcomes, the study uses a realist laminated ontology to explain how multiple causal mechanisms triggered unexpected outcomes in the housing recovery programme in the province of Leyte. The Resolution Redescription Retrodiction Elimination Identification and Correction (RRREIC) method, a critical realist model of scientific discovery for applied research, was applied to the empirical data and complemented with policy analysis. Six plausible causal mechanisms have been discussed. Regarding user involvement, the study proposes two tools for user involvement from a capability perspective. The Model for user involvement in evolutionary housing recovery has been used to analyze and assess housing reconstruction carried out by two non-governmental organizations a) We Effect, and b) Gawad Kalinga. The study also proposes Freedom to Rebuild, a post-disaster housing evaluation framework, as a tool addressed to disaster survivors for self-assessing their predisaster vulnerabilities, their involvement in housing recovery, and their resilience after occupancy. The case studies on We Effect and Gawad Kalinga draw attention to how active involvement of prospective users in different stages of housing recovery has contributed to expand their capabilities. Active involvement denotes medium, high or very high levels of user involvement. The findings from the GK-Village in Tanauan show that non-involvement in the first two stages of housing recovery has been compensated to a certain extent because users had high involvement during the post-occupancy stage. However, the enhancement of capacities is limited in comparison with the We Effect project, in which users have attained medium, high and very high levels of involvement. The findings from the We Effect project in Ormoc show that multiplicity of opportunities, purposive choices and a combination of medium, high and very high levels of involvement in the different stages of housing recovery have led to disaster survivors with enhanced capacities at the individual and collective level. These users are confident in their resilience towards future natural hazards in terms of having attained safer housing solutions, experience regarding partnerships with other organizations for accessing funding, and skills for repairing their own houses. Unfreedoms for resilient resettlement should be transformed through enacting procurement and housing recovery policies that are consistent with counteracting pre-disaster vulnerabilities. Such policies should foster multiple reconstruction approaches, spatio-material conditions that allow for a multiplicity of housing solutions and tenures in-city, and involvement of prospective users in housing recovery. Hence, policies and regulations for resilient housing recovery would create conditions for building both resilient communities and resettlements.
2012
This article reviews the practice and implementation of international legislations in providing emergency housing in Malaysia. The objective is to highlight challenges and level of influence of international understanding in local circumstances. A consideration of appropriate and specific legal tools is beyond the scope of the guidelines provided by the international treaties. International guidelines only present the legal context for the implementation of emergency housing 'responses' and do not represent a law.
Seeing like a State: Land Law and Human Mobility after Super Typhoon Haiyan
International frameworks for disaster management encourage states to incorporate risk reduction into land use planning. While the language is apolitical, the recommendation may entrench disaster vulnerability as risk reduction filters through the self-validating logic of the state. The issue is most apparent in the fields of land law and land use planning. The ideation of states as sovereign entities continues to shape the governance of land even in an age of transnational disaster governance. Most postcolonial states maintain positivist myths of sovereign control over land notwithstanding the persistent reality of informal settlements. State-centric constructions of land law and planning increase disaster risk for the billion or more landholders classified as informal or illegal in the Global South. This article applies a critical perspective to under-explored issues of land law, human mobility and state sovereignty in natural disaster contexts. We identify state-centric ways of interpreting relationships with land as elements of self-perpetuating needs to construct the sovereign authority of states, and conclude that the state is a problematic translator of international disaster risk reduction standards embodied in the Hyogo Framework for Adaptation Action 2005-2015, and its successor Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Our case study considers the re-population of prohibited hazard zones after super-Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Human Rights Violation in Providing Adequate Post-Disaster Housing in Malaysia: An Updated Review
2012
An effective policy shall be able to assist an organization to achieve stipulated strategic objectives, typically to reduce disaster risks, strengthening the legislative framework, generate or distribute funds, utilise human resources and optimise available capacities without ignorance to international requirements. Malaysia is unique due to the set up of requirements that even higher in some cases such as minimum of 3 rooms is required in providing housing. This article reviews the level of compliance in implementing national and international requirements. It first offers a theoretical framework by comparing the human rights literature to comprehend relationship between infringements occurs and implementation of effective remedies. The objective is to identify the level of influence of these international and national housing policies while exploring Malaysian disaster situation which reveals the real capability of local organisations to implement laws and regulations. Malaysia is...