Sweeping for a Living: Metro Manila Street Sweepers

SA 21 B | Team Roquet

Oblepias, Korina

Reyes, Hazel

Patricio, Anthea

Tabusalla, Faisal

Tayag, Matthew

Gotladera, Alfonzo

Deviance Day

Sweeping for a Living:

Metro Manila Street Sweepers

Photo from Miss Emily Roque

PART 1: THE INTERVIEW

Interviewee: Zenaida Ramirez

Age: 55

Occupation: Street sweeper in Taguig for 3 years

Income: P50-P100 a day

Working hours: 5:00am-7:00am and/or 3:00pm-5:00pm

(They have no breaks. However, they have the freedom to converse with fellow sweepers)

Benefits: Philhealth, SSS (But she is already over-aged)

Gist of Interview:

1) Their merienda, or the snacks they eat after they work, usually consists of gulaman, bread, and puto. They sometimes ask water or merienda from the places or areas that they clean.

2) Supposedly, they only work for 3 hours a day. However, they sometimes work beyond their working hours since people still throw trash even after they have finished cleaning. (“Tapos na kami magwalis pero meron pa rin mga nagtatapon pa ng basura.”)

3) They usually talk about their merienda and they try to remind people to keep the area clean.

PART 2: SUMMARY OF IDENTITY

Photo  from Miss Emily Roque

1. Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did you choose this identity?

The identity we imitated is the MMDA street sweeper. We chose this identity because we often see them around the metro but we don’t really acknowledge their presence, or worse, sometimes we make their jobs harder.

2. What is your identity’s main function in the society?

They maintain the cleanliness of the streets of Metro Manila. They make sure that the roads are clean from trash and debris.

3. How does he/she look like? (clothes, gears like cellphone if any?, skin, hairstyle, nails, physical appearance—observe everything!)

The MMDA street sweepers have uniformed clothing: they wear red, black or white long sleeves underneath a yellow or green polo shirt. They usually have dark skin complexion since they spend most of their time under the sun.

4. How does he/she speak and behave? How do they talk to people? How do they laugh?

Like a typical Filipino, they interact with people in a light and cheery manner. They smile through the heat and sweat. They probably put on this kind of demeanor to lessen the exhaustion they feel due to their work.

5. What are their beliefs in life? What are their values?

According to Zenaida Ramirez, they really value hard work and discipline. Being a street sweeper isn’t an easy job. They have to stay under the sun for 3-6 hours and sweep just to receive a salary of about P150. A lot of pedestrians also ignore them and sometimes make their job harder for them by throwing trash in inappropriate places. They’ve learned to persevere because they know that they need the money to support themselves and their family or at the least add some additional income for their family. According to Zenaida, many street sweepers are part-timers since they only work 6 hours a day. They also part time as housekeepers, household helpers, and janitorial services in certain establishments. They believe in just enjoying what they do and making the most out of it. They look at the good side of things such as looking forward to the merienda after sweeping or joking around with companions. They also value cleanliness and many have learned to care for the environment in terms of keeping it “clean and green.”

6. How does his or her day look like?

A typical day for the sweepers consists of working for 3-6 hours or more with no time for breaks (except small chitchats with co-workers). Most of their time is spent under the sun, which makes their work very inconvenient. Their job is very risky since they clean along the busy streets of Metro Manila - with private cars, trucks, motorcycles, jeepneys and other public utility vehicles passing by as they sweep.

PART 3: SOCIOLOGICAL+PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

Photo from Miss Emily Roque

Sociological Interpretation

Day in and day out, we probably encounter dozens of street sweepers doing their jobs along the roads of Manila. Yet for some reason, we often fail to look beyond their pushcarts filled with trash, long broomsticks, fully covered bodies, and darkened skin, to appreciate their purpose in society as well as to discover the struggles that these men and women go through on a daily basis.  

From the perspective of Structural functionalism, we are able to discern the different roles that street sweepers play in society. For one, they are clearly able to help keep the city streets clean of trash and fallen leaves. Moreover, a latent function that we may not immediately notice is how the sweepers aid in the control of flooding. Because they clear up the litter which may eventually clog the drainage system, they inadvertently prevent the rise of flood in the event of heavy rainfall. Likewise, they obliquely assist in keeping the community healthy through the deterrence of the spread of bacteria from garbage.

Yet in spite of the amalgamation of purposes they serve, street sweepers encounter unfairness rising from class conflict on a day to day basis. Looking at it from the Marxist perspective (Social Conflict), there is tension between the sweepers and the rest of society, specifically those who have a higher social standing. Recently, there have been disputes about the incongruously low salaries (P5,000 - P7000 monthly) of street sweepers, despite their long hours and dreadful work conditions. The officials of MMDA, however, turn a blind eye to these complaints and continue to exploit these workers in order to save money. This resulted in a number of public demonstrations which served as the street sweepers’ attempt to induce a change in the imbalanced system they are trapped in. In order to mirror the ordeals that these workers go through, we attempted to stage a protest during the deviance parade, airing our “complaints” about our low salaries.    

Similarly, Symbolic Interactionism also contributes to the way street sweepers are treated in daily life. One look at their uniforms and broomsticks immediately lead us to label them as street sweepers. Our treatment towards them also changes drastically as we attempt to limit our interaction with people whom we perceive to have a lower social standing. The group was able to garner some experience on this as we tried to imitate the physical appearance and demeanor of street sweepers as best as we could.

Personal Reflections

Photo from Miss Emily Roque

“Put yourself in their shoes.”  Although it is quite cliché, one cannot help but keep that in their mind as they did the Deviance Day Parade. We were able to put ourselves in the situation that many MMDA street sweepers find themselves in everyday. We represented two kinds of MMDA street sweepers. The first type is the street sweeper who stay loyal to their jobs and do their best in order to get their duties done. The members who played this type are Faisal and Matthew. Hazel, Anthea, Alfonso and Kori, on the other hand, represented those street sweepers who were not content with the salary they were getting. Due to this discontent, they went to the streets to protest against the government.

To be honest, we did not expect that the work of an MMDA street sweeper would be difficult but we were absolutely wrong. Not only is the job of sweeping the streets hard, the different factors that surround their work that makes it so much more difficult. The heat from the sun, their heavy uniform and their surrounding make it hard to move around comfortably. It made us realize the possibilities of the street sweepers of having a heat stroke due to the intense heat and the thick clothing during this time. It made us see the risks that they were taking during their job and the amount of effort the put in their job just to make sure that they are able to successfully do their duties.

Another thing that made it hard for us to be an MMDA street sweeper is the fact that were in Ateneo. Being MMDA street sweepers in Ateneo felt weird and difficult for us given that felt alienated and ignored since we became someone whom we usually disregard. Walking from Bellarmine Hall to the Red Brick Road, people and friends would initially ignore us. The only time they acknowledged us was when we greeted them by saying “Good morning po ma’am/sir”. They respond with the usual “Good morning po” and looked at our faces when they realized who we were. They would give us a look of confusion, trying to piece together what was happening. Some of them walked away, while some people, especially our friends, would laugh, and questioned our appearances and what we were doing. It was very difficult for us, since we wanted to maintain our character as MMDA street sweepers, and we did our best to prevent chuckles and giggles.

In the first type of street sweepers, those who are working hard, Matthew and Faisal were sweeping in the MVP area of the Red Brick Road. The sweepers tried to remove the leaves from the Red Brick Road. There were more people walking in this area, and more people ignored us when we started working. In spite of this, we still tried greeting them. The people responded the same way when we were walking towards these areas. We also asked around for food and water, but each person hesitantly, and awkwardly declined. This experience was tiring since there were a lot of leaves, but we were more hesitant and embarrassed with what we were doing given that we were really doing the MMDA street sweeper’s job in front of students, faculty, and even visitors. We realized how draining this job is given that sweeping and cleaning the area requires a lot of patience and perseverance. We also realized how demoralizing it is to be in a position where people ignore you, and how embarrassing it is to lower your pride, and ask for something to eat and drink.

Hazel, Anthea, Alfonso and Korina represented those who were discontent with their salary for the job that they were doing. They went around protesting and asking people to support their cause. This was very hard for them to do because this meant that they had to get the attention of the people around them, which was something that they were not used to or did not like at all. It was very hard to let them understand completely what the cause was about and it was difficult to be able to get across our message with the process. The reactions of the people we approached were quite surprising. We expected them to be open to our ideas but this did not occur. They simply just smiled awkwardly at us and passed us without any recognition after. It was an eye opener for us because we felt what the protesters experience when their cause is ignored. It was very hurtful and disappointing knowing that other people were not open to what one strongly believed in. It honestly made us feel like we were not worthy of their time and that our concerns were not heard.

Even though we were taking on a different identity, the way people ignored us as we fought for our cause offended us. It was upsetting how little impact we made on the lives of the people we interacted with. Because of this, we realized that the response you get from the society greatly depends on your social status. The smaller you are perceived by society, the less importance they give you. Most people fail to identify themselves with the sweepers and to understand their condition; thus, more walls and boundaries between the society and these people are put up instead of taken down. If this kind of perception continues to prevail in our society, we are nowhere near to achieving social equality.

The feeling of empathy and guilt heightened as we took on their roles. Everyday, we overlook and take what they do for granted - even adding to the already heavy burden that rests upon their shoulders by mindlessly throwing more trash onto the streets. Our manner of approach toward or our interaction with them greatly affects the way they perceive themselves and the way they are perceived in society. The negative connotations that we associate with their identity intensifies the tension and widens the gap between the sweepers and the rest of the society. These people who make up only a small sector of the society actually contribute a lot to the betterment of the society as a whole. They keep the people healthy and the roads pleasing to the eyes because of their endless efforts in cleaning - risking their lives as they sweep the roads amidst big trucks, jeepneys, and other cars. These people that we perceive to be “little” should be considered as society’s modern heroes.

Being on the different side of things gave us a very unique perspective of being inside Ateneo. We saw the effects of acting out, and being different among the members of this university through this activity. From the interactions with other people, to the feeling of being an MMDA street sweeper, we can see the concepts of sociology and anthropology being present and applicable to any situation.

*We couldn't take pictures of ourselves while we were roaming around the campus because we had to stay in character throughout the whole parade.