The poverty situation in the Philippines is widespread and extremely complex. The inhabitants in the rural regions in the provinces are victims of drought, multiple annual typhoons and corruption in almost all governing levels, right down to the neighborhood leaders.
Because of these conditions many families have a hard time making a decent livelihood in the provinces and migrate to Manila with hopes of more income opportunities and a chance of sending their children to school.
But without proper education many families end up in day to day jobs as construction workers, illegal street vendors or as garbage scavengers in one of the many dumpsites in Manila.
A lot of these families are forced to live in small shacks made of plywood and plastic and what few stones they can find. They settle as squatters in the wasteland outskirts of Manila, near the waterways, on public or private land, near the dumpsites or even at the cemeteries.
The situation for all of squatters or informal settlers is that their homes are temporary. Many are only waiting to be relocated to another part of Manila, where the opportunities of creating a sustainable livelihood are worse than before.
