The Urban Poor.
Hapilan - Happyland - Happy Land.
Pagpag is a Tagalog term for left over foods (particularly meat) from different fast food chains and restaurants that are thrown away in garbage bins. The urban poor scavenge these up and cook them again or sometimes eat them straight away from the garbage bag or bin. Often the food is washed in hot water to kill bacteria. However food found in garbage bins contains bacteria such as salmonella which cannot be killed through this cooking process. Yet those living in abject poverty have no other choice than to risk eating such food as dying from hunger is the only other alternative.
To learn more about “pagpag” I recommend to read the article “Pagpag: Survival Food for the Poorest of the Poor” written by photo journalist Dennis Villegas. You can find his article here in his blog.
Two very disturbing documentary videos:
.. "pagpag" what is leftover for others is a meal for these people.
Posted by: rob | January 25, 2011 at 06:40 PM
It is difficult to say anything new, very hard and sad, but great reporting Sidney.
Posted by: John | January 24, 2011 at 05:01 PM
seriously heartbreaking images. makes me feel ashamed for every time i've complained about something in my life.
Posted by: michele | January 24, 2011 at 11:57 AM
Very disturbing indeed. I wish we could do something about these terrible circumstances. Makes me realize how lucky and rich we are in "The West".
Posted by: Wim van der Meij | January 24, 2011 at 02:35 AM
What a moving report
Posted by: Calusarus | January 24, 2011 at 02:25 AM
Beautiful, yet tragic, documentary photographs that you have captured here. What's even more tragic is that the shame of looking for these leftover scraps is gone from the faces of the scavengers. I suddenly am feeling very satiated.
Posted by: Steven | January 24, 2011 at 02:07 AM
De très beaux portraits dans ce lieu si sinistre , toujours un sourire sur les visages c'est hallucinant ; ce reportage est bouleversant
Bravo pour témoignange
Posted by: larhune64 | January 24, 2011 at 01:52 AM
Et dire que notre société de consommation gaspille tant !
Bonne semaine.
Yvon.
Posted by: Yvon | January 24, 2011 at 01:34 AM
It's sad to see the next generations learning their life skills searching for food this way. You can foresee the day when they'll be teaching their kids how to do this. Your images are very compelling.
Posted by: Steve | January 24, 2011 at 12:13 AM
Excellent reportage of the resourcefulness of the poverty stricken. Sad to have to subsist on such marginal food.
Posted by: don | January 23, 2011 at 11:49 PM
Bonjour Sydney,
je suis heureux de te retrouver sur le Net.
Ta nouvelle série si riche en couleurs et en sourires sur la pauvreté de ce quartier est très touchante!
Je ne peux malheureusement plus visiter mes amis blogueurs quotidiennement car j'ai commencé un nouveau boulot en décembre dernier qui est très "time consuming" comme on dit en français...
A très bientôt.
Amicalement. Richard
Posted by: Standley | January 23, 2011 at 11:22 PM
These series of photos are so stark yet poignant. A very raw glimpse at poverty.
Posted by: The Nomadic Pinoy | January 23, 2011 at 10:09 PM
I really appreciate what you are doing to bring the very sad plight of the urban poor to the attention of the world.
Posted by: bertN | January 23, 2011 at 09:49 PM
another amazing series Sidney !!
Posted by: Petra | January 23, 2011 at 09:41 PM
Great report. It's a hard life there.
Posted by: Fokkio | January 23, 2011 at 08:28 PM
i remember seeing that documentary and like i always say, i hope irresponsible politicians gets to see this.
Posted by: dong ho | January 23, 2011 at 08:19 PM
in one of my visits to GK in Baseco, i learned about this pagpag. we had Jollibee delivered lunch to about 100 kids in Baseco and i saw some kids wrapping the chicken bones to take home. when i asked them about it, they said that their mother would boil the bones for their dinner.
Posted by: Luna Miranda | January 23, 2011 at 07:05 PM
I'm afraid I cannot understand the videos, my language capabilities don't range that far. But I read the article by the journalist.
It makes you understand the situation better, I find. I reacted to his article, hope he OK's it.
Posted by: pieterbie | January 23, 2011 at 06:43 PM
This is just too sad.
Posted by: Michael Rawluk | January 23, 2011 at 12:31 PM
So sad.. I looked at Dennis Villegas' blog too. You parallel each other in ways.. he reported on Kristong Hari as well. I think you are more of a photojournalist though.. I would love and also worry over taking the visceral photos that you do. Still I learn much and learn by reading your blog!
Posted by: Kristen | January 23, 2011 at 10:44 AM
An american once told a filipino in the US how he is terrified of the "ecoli". The filipino told the american to calm down...he told the white guy...in the philippines, we eat "ecoli".
Sad images as usual.
Posted by: TruBlue | January 23, 2011 at 09:40 AM
excellent images, and still such a sad story continues to unfold.
Posted by: Otto K. | January 23, 2011 at 06:23 AM
très beau reportage, en effet.
Posted by: Marie | January 23, 2011 at 05:32 AM
Il faut le voir pour le croire et çà ne les empêche pas d'être beaux et souriants, bravo pour ce témoignage
Posted by: Gérard | January 23, 2011 at 05:01 AM