Beyond Bayanihan : Overcoming Myths of Community Resilience in Typhoon Haiyan Post-Disaster Recovery

The common use of the term bayanihan has inspired NGOs, governments, and the media evoke this principle after major disasters to demonstrate the resilience of the Filipino people. But what is bayanihan in theory and practice, and does this Indigenous principle really serve to increase resilience in urban communities suffering from widespread poverty and frequent disasters? Drawing from two separate but overlapping case study research projects in the province of Leyte after typhoon Haiyan and drawing on the ‘insider-outsider’ dimensions of doing disaster research, we argue that despite its popular use after disasters, calling on communities to evoke bayanihan is often an inadequate policy response to the collective action problem that commonly exists in post-disaster recovery. As such, we call for a more critical examination of the potential and limitations of using bayanihan as a post-disaster response in the Philippines. In addition, echoing the concerns of others, we caution against the over-reliance on bayanihan and other Indigenous Filipino coping strategies as a source of post-disaster community resilience, particularly if doing so shifts pressure away from governmental institutions and humanitarian organizations with formal responsibilities.