The residents of "Dreamland" gave this name to their place themselves. It is a shanty town besides the dump site of Rosario. Since 1998 about 500 families were squatting in this area. With the extreme population growth the amount of garbage increased enormous and it is common practice in the Philippines to trash the garbage in the sea. After a few years the garbage piles up so that it becomes a reclaimed “land”, that does not belong to anyone. This is why it attracts squatters, who also seek a source of income from collecting plastic and other raw materials from the dump site.

Interview

Polong Mariano is a tricycle driver and a guard at the municipality building, who is living in Dreamland since a few years with his wife Minda Murphy Romualdo and his son Arti. Polong is explaining about the tricycle business in this interview.

Polong has a broad knowledge about Rosario and its past. He appears in several chapters of my video documentation, because he helped me to get around in Rosario and gave me more insights into the living conditions of the city.

Interview

June Aserden worked at different factories in the Cavite Economic Zone. He has currently moved to a shanty town called "Dreamland" so that he could save the rent, because the little wages do not cover all living expenses for a family.

Tzu Chi Foundation is a buddhist non-profit organization from Taiwan. Tzu Chi focuses on community service and outreach (especially medical, educational, and disaster relief).

During my visits in Dreamland I came across this organization since they were about to start a support program with the residents at Dreamland.

Interview

Andrei Reyes is the officer-in-charge at the Rosario Waste Management. He is talking about the plans to clean up the dump site at the shore of Rosario.

This junk shop is located at the dump site of Dreamland. It is an example how business is made from the garbage.

A kiosk in Dreamland.

Tinapa (smoked fish) and Daing (dried fish) are local delicacies from Rosario.