SAMAL ISLAND AND ITS PEOPLE: NARRATIVES OF POWER IN THE LANDSCAPES OF A NEW CITY

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Maria F. Mangahas

Abstract

In the frontier zone of Southeastern Mindanao, the general sociological observation that social reality stands “in immediate relation to the distribution of power” proves to be a much more complex and dynamic state of being. This paper outlines several recurrent conversations about a particular island location in Southern Philippines. The sizeable island of Samal in the Davao Gulf is at its closest point only 15 minutes away from Davao City. It became the “Island Garden City of Samal” in 1998, but before that surprisingly few people in Davao City were even aware that there was an island called “Samal” nearby. Traveling around the island and conducting fieldwork in 1996-1997 I encountered many kinds of people and several recurrent conversations about Samal as a place. These local discourses tell of interregional migration and movement, and reflect active local engagement with the processes of “Bisayanization” and integration within the national mainstream, globalization, capitalism, and modernization in the Davao region. The paper situates each of the different kinds of claims on the landscape within the existing ethnographic, demographic, and historical picture for the region, and ends up describing a setting that is actually many different kinds of reality at the same time. Six narratives of the landscape are discussed: Samal Island as valuable real estate; as mythic place of “giants” and “ancestral domain”; as out-of-the-way and risky, where a visitor should watch out for “poisoning”; as recently settled frontier; as a promised and prophesied land; and, finally, as a landscape also inhabited by unseen beings that are “not like us,” widely feared to be exacting taxes in human life as large scale government and multinational-led infrastructural development proceeded in 1997. The paper examines each of these in turn, as they describe and address larger issues of identity, land and power.

TOWARDS A MODIFIED BURKEAN APPROACH TO THE RHETORIC OF THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES COUNCIL FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT (SPCPD)

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Karen Joyce G. Cayamanda

Abstract

This study was conducted in view of the significance of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) not only among the Mindanaoans, but to the Filipino people as well. The study aimed at describing the rhetorical process using the Burkean approach and to determine the major issues reflected in the rhetoric. To reach this goal, a description of the rhetoric using the Dramatistic pentad with its five elements— act, scene, agent, agency and purpos—was deemed necessary. It was found out that Kenneth Burke’s dramatism or pentad was useful in analyzing the whos, whats, whys and hows in the rhetorical process.
Although Kenneth Burke’s dramatism or pentad was useful in analyzing the rhetorical process, there was a need to complement the approach with discourse analysis to be able to show the interpersonal relationship that was observed.
Since the study focussed on the Senate deliberation on the establishment of SPCPD, the rhetoric was analyzed during the height of the issue, the year 1996: focusing from the release of the draft of the Executive Order in August to the signing of the final Executive Order 371 in September, establishing the SPCPD, ZOPAD and the Consultative Assembly up to the immediate aftermath of the EO 371 in October to December. The analysis concentrated on this particular timeframe. Hence, the recent developments in the Mindanao situation was not included in this study.
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THE ETHICAL CHOICES OF GRADUATE MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

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Miguel D. Soledad

Abstract

This paper analyzed the ethical choices of two sets of graduate management students – one took an ethics course while the other did not – to determine whether formal training on ethics affected a person’s ethical choice. This was done by subjecting the two sets of students to a test on ethical choices. The study revealed that students who have undergone formal training on ethics exhibited better ethical choices than those who had no such training. Their mean score in the ethics test was lower and the difference in the mean scores between the two groups of students was significant. Also, there was a greater proportion of better than average ethical scorers among students who were enrolled in the ethics course than those who were not enrolled in the said course. As in their mean scores, the difference in proportions was significant. This researcher also observed that there was no relationship between ethical scores and age, income or work experience. Likewise, when compared as to gender, religion, position, and undergraduate education the differences in the mean scores of the students were not significant. Based on the results of this study, the researcher recommended the broadening of the ethics program of the participating schools and to enhance this by adopting the case method as the primary teaching methodology and the development of local management cases. The conduct of further studies, including “before-after” researches, using a larger size of respondents and on respondents coming from the same degree programs, is also recommended.

Keywords: business ethics, management, management education

SHELTER FOR THE URBAN POOR IN SANPASADA

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Isidoro III R. Malaque, Theresalina K. Gonzaga, Emma A. Viloan, Rommel D. Arcega, Napoleon E. Concepcion, Robert Summers, Geffren R. Bernardo, Gina R. Santos, Anna Lea A. Zapanta, Erlymar D. Corseles, Elenita E. Gian, Romeo M. Abarquez, Reycardo A. Maximales

Abstract

With urbanization comes the problem of shelter provision for the urban poor in developing countries like the Philippines. The objective of this paper is to assess the socialized housing provision for the urban poor in the local government units of the Municipality of Sta. Cruz, Panabo City, Island Garden City of Samal, and Davao City (also known as SANPASADA). The assessment of the physical stock as an indicator includes the provision of land and the housing structure.
The study shows that both local and national government units mostly assisted only in the lot acquisition of housing beneficiaries. The provision of housing structures was mostly provided through the initiative and ingenuity of the urban poor beneficiaries or with the assistance of the non-government organizations. Site development and the provision of infrastructure and utilities were done phase by phase through the initiative of the homeowners associations and from limited assistance of local government units.
It is generally recommended that to promote a comprehensive approach in the provision of shelter needs of the urban poor, both the local and national government units should encourage the active participation and collaboration with NGOs and urban poor beneficiaries.

Keywords: housing, local government units, SANPASADA, shelter provision, urban poor

PIONEERING IN THE COTABATO FRONTIER:THE KORONADAL VALLEY PROJECT DURING THE PREWAR YEARS

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Andrea V. Campado

Abstract

This study tells of the opening of the Cotabato frontier under the auspices of the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) starting 1939, and the consequent formation of a community by both the newcomers and the original inhabitants of the Koronadal and Allah Valley (now the SOCSKSARGEN area comprising South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City) during the period 1939 to 1942.
The methodology of this study is qualitative, that is, it is not guided by hypotheses but by issues and problems that the study seeks to answer. Data were obtained through varied research techniques. These include in-depth interviews of key informants; the collection and review of secondary and primary sources; and the collection of case studies as illustrative cases to establish a linkage between the stories of the individual and the wider community.
The major findings of the study include: one, that the general poverty in the country was a powerful “push” factor for migration; two, the social processes of accommodation, assimilation, and amalgamation were all involved in the formation of a “melting pot” community; and three, the success of the Koronadal Valley Project could largely be attributed to the good relationship developed between the migrant-settlers and the NLSA officials on one hand, and the original inhabitants, on the other.

Keywords: pioneering; Cotabato frontier; IP (Indigenous Peoples); Koronadal Valley Project; melting pot; migration; National Land Settlement Administration

Abbreviation: IP (Indigenous Peoples)

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