The Welfareville Area, Past and Present.

Spanish colonists originally named Mandaluyong City ‘San Felipe Neri’ in the 1800’s in honour of the Patron Saint of Rome. During the American regime in the 1900’s, San Felipe was raised to a first class municipality. Under the Presidential Act No.942, it was consolidated with the Municipality of San Juan del Monte and became the seat of Government. For several months in 1904, San Felipe Neri became capital of the province of Rizal.

San Felipe Neri was later separated from San Juan and became an independent municipality on March 27, 1907. It was renamed the Municipality of Mandaluyong. During World War II, Mandaluyong lost many of its people, destruction was felt over the entire area but, with the arrival of the American liberation forces on February 9, 1945, it was saved from further damages. That day became red calendar day for Mandaluyong to mark its liberation from the Japanese Imperial Forces by the Americans.

In the 60’s, Mandaluyong became a component municipality of Metropolitan Manila and together with other component cities and municipalities, it has undergone significant physical and economic transformation. Mandaluyong is now a highly urbanised city known to host most of the country’s best companies and corporations, shopping malls and hotels.

Welfareville is a part of Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City. 85% of the whole land of Welfareville is geographically hilly. Up until 1931 when San Felipe Neri was renamed Mandaluyong City, Welfareville was still a vast vacant portion of land. The land was owned by the Government and was divided into three sections, the Encomienda, the Friar Land and the Hacienda System.

During American domination of the Philippines, the ‘Land Registration Act of 1900’ was reaffirmed, wherein all the Land policies of Spain were subjected to the new American Insular Governments in the Philippines. In the 1920’s the land of Welfareville was partitioned and owned by a few rich families and these portions were given land titles.

The whole of the Welfareville compound is now Government property, under the administration of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Many of its programs were situated in this Welfareville compound, hence the name Welfareville.

In the 1960’s there were a few Government buildings scattered around the compound, the rest of the land was vacant and covered with wild grass. The DSWD employed many guards to be stationed in strategic locations in the compound. According to some of these former guards, most of the first settlers started to occupy some portions of the land during the Marcos regime. Many of his military men and their relatives and friends were authorised to build their houses in some areas of the compound.

Due to lack of supervision from the DSWD, some of the guards accepted bribes from families who wanted to occupy certain portions of the land in the compound. This primarily occurred with land close to the main gate in an area subsequently named Block 34. Because of the lack of supervision, many of the relatives and friends of the families were encouraged to settle in this area as well. By 1986 shanties began to sprout up like mushrooms all over the Welfareville compound.

The whole of the Welfareville Compound is estimated to have a land area of 100 hectares and covers the majority of the Barangay Addition Hills. Welfareville has 41 blocks and each block has a leader appointed by the DSWD as its representative.

The people of Welfareville represent the many provinces and regions of the Philippines. Many of them are originally from the Visayas and some are from Northern Luzon and the Bicol Region. However, there is no evidence of strong regionalism in the compound but there are some instances of people from the same provinces living together in clusters.

Small eskinitas and pathways connect the many blocks to one another. Welfareville also has many entrances and exits into the compound in different locations. Just like in any other urban poor community, every house maximises the small space they have and small rooms are built and used for many purposes. Sometimes they are rented out to generate income or used to accommodate their own expanding families.

There are different sources of water for the different areas within Welfareville. In Block 34 a combination of deep well and commercial water is available. The community organisation of Block 34 has their own neighbourhood deep well project. There are also families who own and sell water from their deep wells to other members of the block.

Since Welfareville is a large community situated in the heart of the Metropolis, every religious group in the Philippines can be found here. The most common religion is Roman Catholic, which is maintained by the presence of Sacred Heart Parish Church in Block 35. There are also Iglesia ni Cristo members here. Some Protestant groups are situated in Blocks 34 and 37.

As mentioned before, the Welfareville Compound is situated in the heart of Metro Manila and is accessible to the many big cities in this area. It is especially close to the commercial and industrial centres surrounding Mandaluyong City. Here many hope to find work and this is one of the main reasons why people have settled in the community.

Unfortunately, the majority of the population is either unemployed or underemployed. Most of the men who have work are working in the construction industry and do so on a contractual basis. They have no job security and are only temporarily employed if at all. Many of the men do not have work at all and fall into the trap of gambling and heavy drinking along with many other vices eg. ‘Topadas’ (illegal cock fighting) is a regular weekend past-time.

The women of the community help to earn income for their families by working as laundresses, seamstresses and sari-sari storekeepers. Only a few have jobs apart from service jobs, and they are either employed in Government offices or in private companies. Some may work in the Mandaluyong City Hall on a contractual basis.

Because of the over population and the lack of skills and education of many of the residents, many of the youth are also unemployed.

There are many livelihood projects present within the community. In all corners of the compound and in every ‘eskinita’ (narrow street) there are small sari-sari stores. These supply many of the people’s everyday needs. In Block 37 there is a small market available for the residents.

In almost any urban poor community the problem of the environment is always the reality the people must face. In Welfareville, the shanties are built with small sized rooms and normally accommodate 6-10 family members. This overcrowding easily exposes each member of the family to infectious and contagious diseases.

According to the block leader of Block 34, in the years 1989-1995 many of its residents died from Tuberculosis. In Block 36, there are 51 families occupying the ‘halfway home’; which has been subdivided into small rooms for these families. The lack of ventilation here affects their lungs and increases the exposure to contagious diseases.

Lack of a proper drainage system among the households is also a health risk in all blocks. Due to financial difficulties, many families take their sick members to Mandaluyong Hospital (a Government hospital with limited facilities for accommodating the great numbers).

There are many private hospitals near the community, but the people cannot afford them so they go to other Government hospitals, even as far as the Philippine General Hospital in Manila some distance away. Also due to financial problems most parents will only take their children to hospital for medical treatment when the infection is acute or when the disease is in its final stage, the result of this is that it is often to late for treatment and the patients die in hospital.