ARKITON

I. LIVELIHOOD OF INFORMAL SETTLERS

According to Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE), the data indicated that 28.5% of informal settlers have
permanent jobs with a very low income, 18.4% of informal settlers have temporary jobs, 46.3%
depends on small business, 4.2% is with remittance and 2.5% with other assistance from
relatives or friends.

Informal Settlers
4% 3%
29%

46%

18%

Permanent Jobs Temporary jobs Small business Remittance Relatives

Figure 1 Job Breakdown of Informal Settlers

Informal settlers that consider “pangangalakal” as their main source of living ranges
are within the 46% of informal settlers with a small business. People with this kind of livelihood
are subject to a much more strenuous and physically demanding work.

Food consumption of informal settlers of Philippines

According to World Health Organization, the diet of people living in informal
settlements of Philippines are consisted of food made of bananas (75%), and beans (63.9%).
In the whole household of informal settlers more than half of it consumes oil (52.8%), sugar
(80.1%), fruit and vegetables are least consumed (34.5%), meat (29.6%), milk (37.5%), fish
(23.9%), eggs (8.6%).
 Informal Settlers Diet

Eggs
Fish
Milk
Meat
Fruits and Vegetables
Sugar
Oil
Beans
Bananas

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Informal Settlers Diet

Figure 2 Informal Setters Diet Chart

Based on figure 3, the amount of food intake of people in informal settlements are less
beyond the usual intake of a regular man that must have at least 60% of each food. It is maybe
because of the factor of money, based on the chart, food that has less consuming rate are
food that are quite costly or less quantified.

Number of meals per day of informal settlers of Philippines

1 meal per day

2 meals per day

3 meals a day

Greater than 3 meals per day

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Figure 3 Meal Count of Informal Settlers Chart

As per interview of informal settlers in the Pandacan and Paco area, people living in
informal settlements are averagely fed with 2 meals per day, promptly lunch and dinner. This
can be also a cause of why people who works with a kariton are normally short and thin.
Ideal height and Weight Chart of people in Philippines
MALE FEMALE
HEIGHT WEIGHT HEIGHT WEIGHT
4’6” 28 -35 KG 4’6” 28 – 35 KG
4’7” 30-39 KG 4’7” 30-37 KG
4’8” 33 -40 KG 4’8” 32 – 40 KG
4’9” 35 – 44 KG 4’9” 35 -42 KG
5’ 43-53 KG 5’ 40 – 50 KG
5’1” 45 – 55KG 5’1” 43 – 52 KG
5’2” 48 – 59KG 5’2” 45 – 55KG
5’3” 50 – 61 KG 5’3” 47 – 57 KG
5’4” 53 – 65 KG 5’4” 49 -60 KG
5’5” 55 – 68 KG 5’ 5” 51 – 62 KG
5’6” 58 – 70 KG 5’6” 53 – 65 KG
5’7” 60 – 74 KG 5’7” 55 – 67 KG
5’8” 63 – 76 KG 5’ 8” 57 – 70 KG
5’9” 65 – 80 KG 5’ 9” 59 – 72 KG
5’10” 67 – 84 KG 5’10” 61 – 75 KG
5’11” 70 – 85 KG 5’11” 63 – 77 KG
6’ 72 – 89 KG 6’ 65 – 80 KG

Informal settlers usually doesn’t reached the required weight based to their height
and are considered malnourished. Informal settlers that works through kariton aged around
20-40 years old with approximately less than 65kgs and with their kids that aged around 7-
20 years old that has approximately less than 40kgs. These are all based through interviews
and data of WHO.

II. BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS: KARITON DWELLERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Based on DSWD 2013 statistics, there are over 12,000 street dwellers in Metro Manila.
Most of them are living in a push cart, a Kariton in tagalog term. Some of the Kariton dwellers
can be considered as nomads or drifters because they constantly moves from one place to
another instead of living in one place all the time. There are several reasons why Kariton
dwellers exist and why they roam around, one of those is adaptation. Adaptation is a process
of adjustment within the given environment; it can be simplified to a response of human beings
to survive environmental challenges.
 The following are the three aspects of human adaptation based on ecological
anthropologist. (Source: Squatting and Scavenging in Smokey Mountain: Ricardo G. Abad l
Academia.edu)
1. Adaptation to basic resources
2. Adaptation to resource fluctuation
3. Adaptation to other groups

(Photo source: http://www.fotocommunity.com/photo/kariton-kids-jojit-lorenzo/9452085)

Adaptation to Basic Resources

Shelter is the basic needs of everyone. It is our major necessity in living and yet some
can't even acquire a proper one. Most of the people from provinces that migrated and choose
to live in Metro Manila found comfort in living on streets through their Karitons.
Kariton is a multi-functional vehicle commonly made of scrap materials that found on
streets, in the junk yard in where considered as their only resource. Kariton houses was
developed in response to their needs to have a living space that can accommodate their basic
daily routines such as picking up recyclable materials or selling goods on day, and sleeping at
night, and that they can actually considered as theirs. Since they do not own a property, they
created Kariton to keep their belongings together and that they can move from time to time.
Abandoned facility, structures with canopies and covered path walks are where street dwellers
usually stay but since these spaces are habitable during daytime or monitored by authorities,
they can't built a permanent dwellings in there.
Adaptation to Resource Fluctuation
While some street dwellers can create tiny houses or barong-barong from scrap and
junk materials that they acquired, Karitons only requires few woods and wheels, and it all set.
Some of street dwellers choose to create Karitons instead of tiny houses because their work
requires roaming around. The resources at one place is very limited, most especially if they
are picking up recyclable materials to sell. Kariton dwellers are usually stayed with other
groups of Kariton dwellers, but since competition arises every time within them and the
availability of resources in that specific area are not stable and sufficient for all, they choose
to separate as they work.

Adaptation to Other Groups

The amount of street dwellers, not only in Metro Manila but also on the neighboring
cities, is undeniably growing. New comers are able to survive the way of living on streets
because of the fellow groups who been living on streets for years. They tend to copy what
they saw and considered it as standard. Their behavior also depends on the groups that they
are acquainted, they likely to adapt the way how the system works. For example, in area 1
group of street dwellers survived by selling goods while in area 2, dwellers are involved in
doing illegal works. Thus, their attitude on how they response to environmental challenges can
be determined on the group they choose to be with.

( Photo source: Inquirer.net)

A Kariton house is obviously not a habitable dwelling unit. It is not only lacking on
adequate space but also has sanitation issues. But it functions as their working place during
days, and their sleeping quarters during night. The other tasks like, eating and washing
depends on where they stop. Since they don’t have the ability to cook their own food, they just
buy food or are often eat on Carinderias where they also grab the chance to use toilets. The
 Kariton is their bedroom, living room, dining and storage/store. The small sidewalks
where they temporarily stay will function as their washing area, shower area and laundry area.
Most often, the people around them were their source of water, sometimes they are just
waiting to rain. Upon sleeping, other uses coverings like tarpaulin or anything that available to
have some privacy and protect them from cold wind or rain. If the family is too large, some –
commonly the adult ones endure to sleep on the cold ground.
Living on Karitons is very crucial most especially to children but street dwellers have
no choice but to bring their child as they roam around, it maybe also one of the reason why
they tend to settle on Karitons than Barong-barongs. Kariton is not really a conducive place
for living but they are adapting with the system.

III. EVERYDAY LIVING OF KARITON DWELLERS:

 These families usually started their day by waking up early to work. By day, they are
set off to work, collecting junks in their kariton.
 The whole day they collect junk and scrap (bottles, scrap metals and papers,
newspapers) from household and trash dumps. And later they will bring it to the nearest
junk shop and sell it for a profit. Their goal is to earn money as much as possible to
sustain their family needs.
 They use public restrooms like those in gasoline stations or any public place for their
sanitation. The alternative is to pay 15php-20php to use public showers or toilets in
public markets or any public places. If these options are not available, the streets will
be their last resource.
 During dinnertime, they will set camp using their kariton as a support along the
sidewalk or in the streets. Families with enough money will buy food in the karinderya;
families with a tighter budget will settle on kaninbaw (rice with soup inside a plastic
bag); and families with absolutely nothing will depend on leftovers.
  The usual image of families routinely living on the streets in their kariton is sleeping in
the pedestrians, covered sidewalks, and below the bridges and flyovers. There are
also other homeless families living in abandoned buildings and cemeteries.

Figure 4 Activity Flow of Kariton Dwellers

IV. SITES
Site can be the most crucial part of the study. As we go along with Rebel
Architecture of Arkiton, places and setting for them to stay, is carefully chosen.
While we make dwelling sites for the people, their timeline and the way they live is
what we aim to plan. With these, certain criteria are made for choosing the site:

 Proximity to Junkshops
As Arkiton is mainly rooted to its timeline within the day, one major part of the
day is selling their junk. After a tiring day, proximity to the program of their timeline
and livelihood is very important. We mapped out junkshops near sites for the
development:
A. Junkshop in A.H. Lacson, corner Tuazon
B. Roving Junkshop, Oroquieta
C. Dapitan Junkshop
D. JC Chua Junkshop
E. A. Villamor Junkshop
F. Eulalio Junkshop
G. Corazon Junkshop
 Availability of the lot (*not by laws but by vacancy)
The concept of Rebel Architecture lies within the realities of humanity.
Architectural services just can’t get along with poverty. Therefore we provided and
mapped out available lots for them to stay in the evening. The concept is focusing
on giving them spaces to rest. With this, two things are solved; one is giving people
place to live in, and second, is safer streets for everyone.
 Circuit of livelihood
Every kariton dwellers has their own territories on where they would collect and
sell their junks. These circuits will lessen the population of accommodated dwellers
in a specific site. Of course, the project is limited to City of Manila area only. This
system will control where they would go after a long day of hardwork, a controlled
chaos.