CABRERA, Candice Maegan M.

2014-50089
SANTOS, Shiela Anne Marie S. 2014-05894
Date Due: 03/19/2015
Date Submitted: 03/19/2015
TITLE OF REPORT HAHAHAHA

Barangay Kapitolyo, currently headed by Barangay Captain Noel A. Pajara, is

one of the emerging barangays in Pasig City. Its streets are home to numerous
restaurants and food hubs, and service-oriented establishments that are known to
produce very good quality food and indulgences, which are visited by people coming
from all over the metro. This barangay, sandwiched in between big establishments like
malls, hotels, schools and offices of large corporate companies, has been a go to place
for a lot of people. Generally the barangay thrives with all the commerce going on within
its premises. It is even considered among the top ranking barangays within Pasig, given
the good profile of the barangay in terms of cleanliness, peace and order, etc. Most
residents of the barangay are from well-off families of professionals with good homes,
however, it also houses communities of families with lesser financial capabilities in the
effort to uplift the quality of living of the people from these families. One of these
communities is the GK-Unilab Arkong Bato Village or simply called, Arkong Bato by its
residents.
Arkong Bato is a community located in barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig CIty along San
Ignacio street right beside Kapitolyo High School. It was in the year 1973 when this old
space, owned by Ortigas and company was inhibited by informal settlers. The land
which was supposed to be used to build a recreational park of the barangay has
become a niche for these informal settlers. However in the year 2002, this space caught
fire and burned down all the houses of the families residing there. It was in that year that

Ortigas and company donated this land to Gawad Kalinga (GK) and in partnership with
Unilab and the barangay, they started the construction which turned the space into a
village. Finishing in the year 2006, with 189 houses, it was able to give about 250
families a home. After that time, more houses were built at the extremities of the lot to
house more people. Today there are about 300 families with a GK home in this
particular community, and this community continues to strive to better their homes and
their surroundings. This compound is made of houses lined up side by side tightly
packed up against one another, only roughly 3x4 meters, two floors in height, each in
bright technicolor, would house about 2-3 families. It also has an amphitheatre for
events and gatherings, such a religion classes or different lectures which contributes to
the aims of this village to make their residents productive and morally sound people
(Cabrera, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Being a project of the barangay, this community is directly under its governance,
however this group has within themselves a government, called ABaNA (Arkong Bato
Neighborhood Association), headed by Elma Dela Isla, and this group takes charge of
the different activities held within their community and this group encourages the
residents to take part in these projects (Benoy, R., personal communication March 7,
2015).
Arkong Bato with roughly 300 families, and roughly 5-7 people per family has a
generally young population with mostly young kids and teenagers. These families would
sprout from the older generations who have resided there, to their children and
grandchildren. Note however, that there are only very few significantly older residents,
who have retired from working. Most adults on the higher scale of the age spectrum,

even though these residents are considered relatively old for their population, they are
still able to work (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Generally the community has a low socio-economic status. Because of financial
constraints or the circumstances the residents were and are still faced with, such as
deaths in the family, unplanned pregnancies, and the like, some residents are forced to
stop schooling, that is why most of the population that is part of the workforce would
engage in low-paying jobs which require minimal educational attainment. Often, males
would engage in driving tricycles, trucks for different companies or private cars for
families, while women would be involved in clothes laundry in small laundry shops or
homes, or serve as house helpers for different families usually living within Kapitolyo as
well. Some families residing there would have members trained in Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) who work as parlorists in small local salons,
or those who work in the barangay as assistants or barangay tanods. If some of these
more trained residents are lucky, they would be sent abroad to work as Overseas
Filipino Workers (OFWs) as domestic workers (Benoy, R., Retardo, W., San Juan, B.,
personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Children mostly receive education primarily from public schools within the
proximity, they usually receive primary education in elementary schools or nearby
barangays, Pineda and Oranbo, and they would attend secondary schooling in their
neighbor school, Kapitolyo High School. In addition, there are also different programs
such as Sibol, Sagip and Siga (Serving in Gods Army) where younger children would
receive values education, those children aged 7-13 are exposed to different tutorials,

sports and art workshops, and those who show potential are given scholarships to attain
higher education (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Common illnesses that people from the area would extract includes cough and
colds, and diarrhea. The latter would often lead to one of the leading causes of deaths,
which is extreme dehydration. This could be attributed to the extreme weather
conditions, given the erratic shifts in weather our country undergoes. These illnesses
may also be caused by the cleanliness of their environment, and how their kitchenware
and food items are prone to different forms of bacteria because of the lack of sanitation
in the area. Lastly, their water supply may be a leading factor especially with the case of
diarrhea. The communitys drinking water source is from the National Water and
Sanitation Association of the Philippines (NAWASA), though the quality of the water
may be deemed potable, the pipelines in which it passes, or the kitchenware used to
store it may not be clean. Other than this, other causes of death would be because of
rare cases of terminal diseases, or natural death because of old age, which given in the
abovementioned data, would not occur much given the demographics of the people with
the population age (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Though these families do not live in extreme poverty, considering their income,
education and occupation, as well as adding up their living conditions in the compound,
and their vulnerability of different health issues, their socio-economic status could still
be considered low.
But despite financial constraints, the families would still be able to eat 2-3 meals
per day. The majority of the population being Roman Catholic, religion does not pose
any known effect on their eating patterns, except on days where in the practices of

fasting or abstinence must be observed. However there are about 3 families in the
community who are a part of the Iglesia ni Cristo and practice the religions eating
patterns where they are not allowed to eat food prepared during fiestas or food offered
to saints. But other than this, respondents say their eating patterns are rather flexible.
With an average of two meals a day, the food they intake would usually depend on what
is available to them (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
In the compound, one of the main sources of food would be their own minipalengke. It the first floor of a small home that sells fruits, vegetables and meat. This
stall gets its products from the wet market, and resells them to the residents of Arkong
Bato. Other than this, there are also a few sari-sari stalls around which are also set up
on the first floors of some homes there, which sell snacks to go, noodles, canned good
and the sort. Karinderiyas are also present in the compound, these sell ready to eat rice
and viands for the people in the area. For a more varied array of food items, some
residents would go to the nearby grocery store, Pioneer Center (along Brixton Street,
also within Barangay Kapitolyo), which is just a tricycle ride away, to buy their food
supplies. Food is generally available to them, and in great variety as well. There are
very minimal constraints on the availability of food, such as the seasonality of certain
fruits, or the production of certain vegetables, but over all there is a steady supply of
food. However even given the variety of food, the type of food they purchase would still
greatly depend of the budget they have for their meal consumption during the certain
time period (Benoy, R., Retardo, W., San Juan, B., personal communication, March 7,
2015).

Among the families in Arkong Bato, it is notable that most would opt for instant
food, such as noodles or canned goods, because of its availability, affordability, the
amount of time it saves in preparation, and how the people have grown accustomed to
its taste. According to them, the children would prefer these food items, and it could
ease their hunger at a very low cost (Benoy, R., Retardo, W., San Juan, B., personal
communication, March 7, 2015).
Based on the survey of the nutritional status of residents of Barangay Kapitolyo
for the year 2014 that focuses on the low-income communities of the said place 1,
Arkong Bato faces nutritional problems which is most evident in children, with two
severely underweight children in the community, while in the low-income communities
in the whole barangay, including another low-income community housed in the
barangay, Rose Marie Lane, there are a total of 27 recorded cases of underweight
children, while no recordings of overweight children. According to the Barangay Nutrition
Scholar (BNS), Rhea Samillano Benoy, who is also a resident of the GK Village, this
number is at its lowest through the years, and the goal is to completely eradicate cases
of underweight children. But although the amount of underweight children is not
significantly high, Benoy stresses that the children still face protein-energy deficiency
malnutrition, or the malnutrition wherein they lack the right amount of calorie or protein
intake. One of the causes of the malnutrition problem is poverty, wherein the family
could not afford to buy healthy food sufficient for the family. As mentioned earlier,
families would prefer instant goods, and this would limit their intake of their needed
proteins and calories as these food items have low nutritional contents. However,
1 Note that with the barangay being made up of residents with good financial capabilities, the survey
focused on these communities that cannot afford to have private health care.

residents are still lucky to have some vegetables in their diet which support their vitamin
and mineral needs, because it is still relatively cheaper than meat and also readily
available to them. This data regarding their need for more protein and calorie intake
reflects on the children of the barangay where often they are experiencing stunted
growth, most children, though not underweight are small for their age (personal
communication, March 7, 2015).
In order to address these deficiencies, a feeding program, which happens thrice
a week for three months is in existence. The food being served are mostly carbohydrate
and protein rich food, like lugaw, spaghetti, and other viands that contain meat. Once
the time period is done, the severity of the malnutrition is reevaluated. The duration
would solely depend on the budget available for the project, and once the time has
already lapsed, it would depend again on the budget if the feeding program will be
renewed (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
These programs, though coined as band-aid solutions, as it will not end hunger
and malnutrition, however, it can be called successful in the barangay because after the
two to three months time frame for each of the feeding program, the people who were
initially underweight, gained the body mass they lacked. Often times, they are able to
surpass the underweight bracket, and up to normal weight. This contributes to the goal
of ideally no underweight children in the community. Also according to our respondents,
they also consider these programs successful, because the amount of money they save
up on for food, actually helps in their financial problems. They would also respond very
positively to this program because through it, they are able to eat food that tastes good

and also has good nutritional content (Benoy, R., Retardo, W., San Juan, B., personal
communication, March 7, 2015).
Another program in action in this community would be lectures and classes,
usually targeted for mothers to orient them on the different dietary needs of different
types of people, such as children, and pregnant and lactating mothers. Basic concepts
of their dietary patterns are taught to them, including which food items are appropriate
to serve and ideas on how to prepare them, in order to try to help them apply these
lessons in their own respective households in order to uphold proper nutrition.
According to Benoy however, as opposed to the first project, this would not be as
successful as the first project because it would coincide with other external factors such
as budget to buy the required food items, or the time needed to prepare the food, and to
some extent the complacency of these mothers also play a role in the effectiveness of
this program (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
The Catholic Womens League (CWL), an organization of the church, also aids in
the nutritional problems of the village. The CWL holds their own feeding program within
the community, this happens thrice a week for two months, serving similar food items to
that of the ones stated above to the residents. During the times the government feeding
programs are idle, the group would fill in to provide this program especially when it is
deemed necessary and for maintenance of the progress of those who have managed to
normalize their weight (Benoy, R., personal communication, March 7, 2015).
Arkong Bato, under Barangay Kapitolyo, has a nutritionist-dietitian, Flor Anne
Boncay, RND, whose expertise is shared among the other barangays of the first district
in Pasig. Boncay not only surveys the overall nutrition of the barangay, she also makes

decisions on which programs to implement in a barangay. On top of this, she

spearheads the budget proposal of these projects. Among the projects are the lectures
for dietary needs of different people which was primarily intended to educate family
representatives on ways to prepare food so it will be optimal for the health of these
specific people. In this endeavor, she is also the head and speaker for each lecture. In
addition to this, she is also incharge of thoroughly training the Barangay Nutrition
Scholars of the different barangays with basic concepts on nutrition so as to adequately
carry out the task of implementing good nutrition in the community. According to BNS,
Rhea Benoy, one of the difficulties the she and the nutritionist-dietician faced with is
first, the lack of budget. This applies to both the allocation in the barangay for the
projects they want to pursue, as well as the households financial constraints which limit
their food intake. Second, in relation with the first major issue on budget allocation, is
the continuity of the feeding program. They fear that because the sporadicness of these
programs, children who may have already had progress with regard to their nutrition
may regress back to their old state. Last, is the lack of care and effort of mothers to their
children. This may be related with the first issue with regard to the budget of the family,
and how they settle for food items which are cheaper and easier to prepare, and also
with their attitude. According to Benoy, some mother are complacent when it comes to
caring for their children. They do attend these talks and lecture wherein they gain
knowledge and understanding of the different concepts of nutrition, however, they fail to
apply this to their household thus defeating the purpose of the project. As long as this
attitude remains among the different households, children, who manifest poor nutrition
might not attain a better state (personal communication, March 7, 2015).

In conclusion, the findings of the study is sound with the concept of Goldberger
where he states that the status of the community economically and the nutritional status
of the people residing in it would correspond to one another.
As explained in the previous paragraphs, the people residing in the GK-Unilab
Arkong Bato village, though not an extremely impoverished village, would present lowsocioeconomic status given the factors that affect it, such as income, educational
attainment and occupation. Among the factors, income plays an important role in the
nutritional status of the people in the area because this would dictate the budget they
have for food. That is why despite the availability of a wide variety of food to them, they
would opt for cheaper food, which also pose lower nutritional value. This leads to the
reflection of the lack of certain nutrients, which most evident in children who are stunted
and underweight, such as carbohydrates and protein which are necessary for bulking up
the body of humans.
This study would push for the barangays to pay more attention to nutrition as a
whole. If the barangay could afford to have its own Registered Nutritionist-Dietician, it
would be a good investment to have one concentrated solely on this barangay until at
least the communitys nutritional deficiencies are removed and maintained at that point,
and for stricter implementations of projects, especially those which require constant
monitoring, such as that of the lecture programs for the diets and food preparation. It
would also be advantageous for the barangay to seek organizations which could help in
different programs, similar to the CWL and their assistance when it comes to feeding
programs conducted in Arkong Bato and its other low-income communities based in the
barangay. Lastly this study challenges other researchers to create a deeper version of

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this study. It is suggested for them to look into the private homes of Kapitolyo and the
Rose Marie Lane community, those other communities that are beyond the scope of this
study, in order to also assess their nutritional status and the other factors, beyond
financial capability, which led to those results.

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APPENDIX
Interviewees
a. Resty A. Cabrera
Former Kapitolyo Barangay Kagawad and Barangay Captain and Civil Engineer.
It was during his term as Kagawad Chairman and Barangay Captain that the GKUnilab construction was in full swing, and completed.
b. Rhea Samillano Benoy
Current Barangay Nutrition Scholar who oversees nutritional affairs in the
barangay. She works closely with the district nutritionist-dietician to be able to
deliver basic nutritional concepts to whoever is in need of it, especially in the
cases of absence of the assigned RND.

Profile of Respondents
a. Wilma Retardo
She is working as a house helper in one of the homes in nearby barangay
Bagong Ilog, while her husband works as a construction worker in one of the
firms. She is a mother of 5 children, all are boys, and 6 grandchildren. However,
she has a grandson who suffers from epileptic seizures, and who is awfully small
for his age. Her children have been or are currently employed as drivers,
barangay and factory working. She has lived in Arkong Bato since its
construction back in 2002. Their family shares in Catholic beliefs, and they do not
exhibit any inhibitions when it comes to food intakes, even despite the condition
of her grandson. However, she herself does not eat beef, eggs and other types of
food that are malansa or of a fishy stench, even if her family would consume
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these products. She and her husband earn around 7,000 PhP monthly, while her
kids and their partners would earn a total of roughly 25,000 PhP (values are all
gross income).
b. Beth San Juan
She is currently a parlorist in one of the locally owned salons in the
barangay, while her husband is a tricycle driver. She is a mother of two girls, and
she already has one granddaughter. All members of which are living under one
roof in Arkong Bato for a good 10 or so years. Before she became a parlorist she
was a barangay health worker. During her stay in the barangay, she took a
course on massage therapy as offered by the barangay. She then used these
skills to find a job in Fujairah, where she found a job in one of the royal families
there. From there she learned basic salon skills. After some complications with
the family she worked with she returned to the Philippines and found employment
in one of the salons in the Barangay. She earns 6,500 PhP a month in the salon,
while her husband would earn an average of 4,000-5,000 PhP a month (values
are all gross income). Her family is also Catholic, and they also have a very
flexible eating pattern, given the employment of both heads of the family and the
relatively smaller family size.
c. Rhea Samillano Benoy
The current BNS of Barangay Kapitolyo is also a resident of the GK
Village. She has resided there for 11 years. Before she became a BSN, she
served as a health worker for the barangay, and from there she was chosen to
become the BNS. As a BNS she is given about 2000 PhP allowance from the

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barangay. She is currently a mother of one, however she, together with her
husband, lives with her mother in Arkong Bato. While she works as a BNS, her
husband on the other hand is employed in the Presidential Commission on Good
Government (PCGG). As an employee he would earn roughly 10,000-15,000
PhP a month, depending on the performance of their team (all values are gross
income).

Photos from the Community Visit

The external features of the GK-Unilab Arkong Bato Village

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The communitys 3-storey multi-purpose hall

Strolling the side streets of the village

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Initial gathering of information from the respondents

Interviewing respondents, Rhea Samillano Benoy, Wilma Retardo, and Beth San Juan
(not in photo) in their home

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