In commemoration of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) held a forum to present the findings of the IPC institutional project “Filipino Families in an Urban Informal Settlement: Traditional and Emerging Family Forms, Challenges, Resiliency Strategies, and Aspirations.”

Titled “Filipino Women Speak: Being `Family’ in an Urban Informal Settlement,” the research dissemination forum was held on Monday, 7 March 2016, at the Faura Audio-Visual Room of the Ateneo de Manila University.

The forum was organized by the IPC in partnership with Barangay Fairview, Quezon City; Damayan ng mga Maralitang Pilipinong Api (DAMPA); Musmos-Ateneo; Social Weather Stations; and the neighborhood association of the community where the IPC study was conducted.

The research dissemination forum brought to the fore the voices of 220 Filipino women from a community (a sitio) in Barangay Fairview, Quezon City. The research team, headed by IPC Research Associate Angela Desiree M. Aguirre, found a heterogeneity of family forms and living arrangements in the community—with a good proportion of households in the community in “alternative” family forms that depart from the “traditional” family structure in the Philippines that is based on the marriage of a man and a woman. The study also looked into the residents’ views on solo parenting, living-in/cohabitation, parenting by same-sex couples (female and male), and divorce for estranged couples; their greatest sources of happiness and of unhappiness in family life; their aspirations for themselves and their family; and types of assistance their family has received from the government and civil society groups.

Select representatives gave their comments and remarks on the study’s significant findings. The neighborhood association’s president shared insights on how they can address the problems mentioned by the study’s research participants. Mr. Leo Rando S. Laroza (SWS Director of Survey Data Archives, Library, Communications and Publications Group) compared the project’s research findings to the national results from SWS’s 2014 study that had similar themes and questions. Lastly, Mr. Angel Faith Mendoza (Co-advocacy Director, Musmos-Ateneo) reflected on the implications of the study’s results on their organization’s advocacy and their action plans. Other attendees actively asked questions and raised comments on the research findings as well during the open forum.

The results of the IPC’s Filipino Families study will be published in the second half of 2016.