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1 Introduction
We are living in a world of slums1) (Davis,
2006) and Metro Manila2) (hereinafter Manila) is
identied as one of the world largest slum popula-
tions (UN Habitat, 2012). In Manila, about 4.5 mil-
lion people are living in approximately two thou-
sand squatter areas (Garrido, 2013). The absolute
number of slum residents has been increasing since
the 1960s and this trend might continue due to
structural socio-economic inequality, inner-slums’
demographical dynamics, and environmental crisis
(Ballesteros, 2013).
In slums, the means of food production are
scarce and it provokes a situation of subordination
and vulnerability, particularly after calamities de-
rived from natural and human disasters, resulting
in food prices uctuations. By contrast, large food
corporations have the technology and operational
capabilities to produce and retail cheap food (e.g.
one-piece sachet). They are interested in expanding
their business boundaries into slums, where the Sa-
ri-Sari3) store plays a fundamental role as a micro-
retailer (AC Nielsen, 2014).
Those corporations are using the BoP (Bottom/
Base of Pyramid) business frame to sell and prot
from the poor (Payaud, 2014). Furthermore, Gov-
ernmental agencies and international organizations
are supporting BoP corporate practices under the
cover of ‘inclusive’ economy (c.f. Asian Devel-
opment Bank, 2008). Using these frameworks,
corporations are implementing actions to supply
CPF across the slum boundaries. In short, the CPF
provision is amalgamated with the corporate dis-
course of ‘share of benets’ and ‘inclusive’ market-
oriented practices, and with social entrepreneurship
programs involving slum stores and eateries (Jack-
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums:
Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores
Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
(Kyoto University)
Abstract
This paper has a twofold purpose. First, to argue that a combined research on the market and
meaning spheres claries the modus operandi of large processed food corporations in slums. In the
market sphere occurs the trade of commodities expecting a physical or objective consumption; in the
meaning sphere, the subjective experiences of retailers and consumers can be expressed in symbols,
referents, codes, identities, emotions, etc. Second, to show the results of a qualitative research of
Filipino Sari-Sari stores’ meanings about corporate packaged food (CPF); four categories of mean-
ing were found: sales-related, business facilitation, favorable attributes, and unfavorable attributes of
CPF. The ndings can be further compared by scholars or professionals studying CPF or intervening
in slums.
Keywords: corporate packaged food, meanings, sari-sari stores, slums food, fetishism
18 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
Social Theory and Dynamics Vol.2, 2018, 018-037 (ISSN 2432-8464)
son & Ruiz-Tafoya, 2015).
Despite research on Sari-Sari stores, questions
regarding CPF and its meaning remain unan-
swered. On the one hand, Silverio (1982), Chen
(1997), Bonin (2006), Nielsen and Namia (2008),
and Funahashi (2013) have studied the importance
of these stores in social and economic arenas.
They coincide with the perspective that the Sari-
Sari store is a fundamental economic institution in
the Philippines. They argue that it functions, rst,
as a source of income for their families, second,
as key examples of women-based entrepreneur-
ship, and third, as an important socio-cultural ac-
tor. Meanwhile, they omit that these micro-stores,
unconsciously, facilitate the realization of capital
(Marx, 1978), which consequently extend the peri-
ods of subordination, marginalization, and poverty
in their own neighborhoods.
On the other hand, slum food research (Awargal,
et. al., 2009; Akter, 2009; Gallaher, et al., 2013)
emphasizes the disadvantageous conditions for
proper nutritional intake and other food (in) se-
curity related issues. Albeit the relevance and the
validity of its findings, it fails to critically query
the political and economic consequences of the
food produced by large corporations. It generally
prioritizes food accessibility without questioning
how the food is produced and retailed, by whom,
and under what type of social relations.
In both groups of literature, the CPF itself, as
object of study, is absent or has a marginal role.
Furthermore, the research on CPF meanings from
slums actors’ perspective is inexistent. I claim that
until we understand what a CPF means, the spe-
cic knowledge about how the large corporations
are penetrating the slum boundaries will remain a
puzzle. To do that, I use a conceptual framework
suggested by Illouz (2009) which refers to the ex-
change spheres: the market and the meanings. It is,
respectively, the analysis of objective and subjec-
tive experiences of retail and consumption (Illouz,
2009).
The study of the CPF in both spheres of ex-
change in slums is the main contribution of this
article. It claries the modus operandi of corpora-
tions in slums. In the market sphere occurs the
trade of commodities expecting a physical or ob-
jective consumption. In the meaning sphere, the
subjective experiences of retailers and consumers
can be expressed in symbols, referents, codes,
identities, emotions, etc. The study of the spheres
of exchange sheds light on the comprehension of
how the capital is realized and what are roles of
CPF inside the slum boundaries. Accordingly, it
is possible to discuss critical aspects of political
economy such as the fetishism of the CPF and the
fetishism of retailing practice itself. This phenom-
enon is observed when micro-retailers unreflec-
tively accept a system of food provision led by
corporations and while believing in discourses of
modernity, progress, afuence, and even happiness
deriving from the extended exchange and the con-
sumption of branded food and beverages.
The paper outline is as follows. It starts with the
conceptual framework, the market and meanings
spheres (Illouz, 2009). The explanation of the qual-
itative research methodology follows. Then, using
the conceptual framework of spheres of exchange,
the ndings in Manila’s slums are explained. Next,
it is the discussion about fetishism of slums’ CPF
retailing. Finally, there is a summary and the con-
cluding remarks.
2 Conceptual Framework
The following conceptual framework has inspi-
rational roots in Marx’s theorizations of the circu-
lation phase where the capital is realized (Marx,
1978). The main argument is that the realization of
capital requires the penetration in the market and
meanings spheres, where the exchange and con-
sumption occur (Illouz, 2009). The realization of
capital succeeds when an economic actor (e.g. sup-
pliers, retailers, and consumers) simultaneously ex-
periences the objective and the subjective aspects
of a commodity, either for exchange or consump-
tion, that satises his/her particular needs.
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 19
2.1 Capital Realization and the Spheres of
Exchange
According to Marx (1976), the whole circuit of
capital has three main phases until its realization: I)
the conversion of money into capital –the capital-
ist investment in labor and means of production–,
II) the production of commodities, and III) the ex-
change of commodity capital for money, including
capitalist’s prot.4) Completing the circle requires a
consistent and dynamic coordination from produc-
tion to consumption or vice versa.
Considering that labor class require food to live
and reproduce, Pierre Bourdieu goes further and
contributes by explaining how the tastes are so-
cially constructed (Bourdieu, 1984). For example,
the popularization of consumer goods (formerly
exclusive to the ruling class) such as sugar, coffee,
chocolate, seasonings, sauces, mayonnaise, etc. is
now reaching the labor class, include those living
in marginalized neighbourhoods.
In this line of reasoning, Eva Illouz (2009) adds
elements of knowledge in order to understand
exchange and consumption. She points out that
‘objects and experiences of consumption always
bear the trace of social relationships, simultane-
ously, signal and constitute them, and these objects
circulate in different spheres of exchange’ (Illouz,
2009: 388). That is, the sphere of the market where
objects are physically traded for consumption
purposes and, meanwhile, the sphere of meanings
where experiential moments of
exchange and consumption oc-
cur (gure 1).
2.2 The Market Sphere
In the market, a key institu-
tion of the great transformation5)
(Polanyi, 1957a), take place the
product transactions between
social agents.6) In slums, the idea
of the market refers to a specic
physical location such as a street
or wet market, groceries, whole-
sale market, supermarkets, etc.
The virtual market, still, is not
a common thought. Even if television and internet
are available in slums, online trade and purchases
from TV-offering commercials are quite excep-
tional.
In the market sphere, sellers are motivated
-among several reasons- by making profits. In
slums, however, micro-retailers might also be
driven by self-consumption (Bonnin, 2006). On
the other hand, the buyer is interested in a product
that satises a personal or social need. There are
several words, situations or moments referring to
this sphere: those related to a) products: best seller,
worst seller, size, grams, quantity, brands, popular
names, etc., b) price: retail price, wholesale price,
higher price, lower price, discounts, offer, expen-
sive, cheap, etc., c) place: store, market, street,
stall, tricycle, etc.; d) revenues and profits: sales,
costs, income, earnings, margin, etc., e) time:
schedule, opening, closing, commuting time, etc,
and, f) promotion: advertisement, publicity, poster,
flyer, marketing, commercial, decoration façade,
layout, display, etc.
Finally, gifts and barter of CPF could be placed
in both spheres of exchange; however, the profit-
seeking goals embedded in their biography as com-
modities (Kopytoff, 1986) subsume the relations
of reciprocity and affection between members of
the family, and/or the community, while giving or
bartering CPF.7) Although CPF’ gift or barter have
different socio-cultural meanings, the commodity-
20 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
Figure 1. Spheres of Exchange
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Note: n=130 coded CPF meanings
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
money relation in the market sphere should be
considered as the dominant and initial point of
analysis.
2.3 The meanings sphere
The study of meanings has a long and diverse
tradition in social sciences. The basic agreement is
that in the market both sellers and buyers exchange
things in the market by physiological or psycho-
logical ends (Appadurai, 1986; Kopytoff, 1986); it
is a simultaneous combination of happenings, mo-
ments, and emotions in the market and meanings
spheres (Illouz, 2009). Facing complexity, this
research does not follow a particular category of
meaning previously developed by prominent schol-
ars.8) Instead, it goes to the root of what meanings
means (Ogden and Richards, 1946). Ogden and
Richards framed three types of relation in which
meaning is identied; it may be a symbol, a refer-
ent, and/or the connection of both -symbols and
referents- that stands for a strongest sense of mean-
ing (see gure 2).
The left side of the meaning figure represents
the combination of symbols and thoughts (symbol-
izing), a causal relation between a specic CPF and
retailer’s expressed thoughts. The right side is re-
garded as the connection of thoughts and referents
(referring) a causal relation between the expressed
thoughts and the product in action. The bottom side
is connecting a referent with a symbol (standing);
even if thoughts are not verbally expressed -but
observed- there is an ascribed relation between the
product in action and its symbols. The identifica-
tion of at least one of three types of relations gives
the conceptual foundation of what CPF means for
slum retailers.
Ogden and Richards (1946) framework allows
the identication and noting of meanings, not only
in the context of selling CPF inside the store, but
also during the moments of buying, transporting,
storing, promoting, exhibiting, etc., that might also
evoke meaningful references, symbols or stand-
ings.
3 Research Setting, Data, and Method
A combination of semi-structured interviews and
unstructured observations using a qualitative meth-
od of analysis was selected to emphasize inductive
reasoning (Creswell & Miller, 2009). In compari-
son to quantitative methods relying on surveys or
ofcial statistics, qualitative analysis gains insights
during the eldwork research process (Creswell &
Miller, 2000). For this study, qualitative analysis is
appropriate for three reasons. First, it enables us to
avoid stereotyping exclusively slum populations as
‘poor’; in reality not all are income-poor. Second,
it allows us to go further in the analysis of social
relations; there can be human relations or rela-
tions with the packaged food itself, which fulfill
the inquiry driver to comprehend micro-retailers’
meanings about CPF. Third, because investigations
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 21
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Note: n=130 coded CPF meanings
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Figure 2. The Meaning of Meanings Model and Corporate Food Retailing
in slums are rooted in a complex environment, this
method facilitates the management of the rich con-
text of the phenomenon under research.
The tunnel method of semi-structured interview
was selected considering the time limitation when
talking with slum micro-retailers. Unstructured
observation was selected to complement the analy-
sis of the structural conditions influencing slum
populations’ lifestyles, their circumstances, and
their problems to which individuals respond by
means of action, interaction or emotion (Creswell
& Miller, 2000).
3.1 Research Setting
The Philippines is ranked 8th in a list of 85
countries with inhabitants living in slums and its
capital Manila, as it was previously mention, hosts
one of the world largest populations living in slums
(UN Habitat, 2012). Ballesteros (2011) identied
four types of slums in Manila: dumpsite, coastal,
highway and oodway slums. Having this informa-
tion in mind, the research support was requested
to 23 different national and international Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Foundations
and Religious Organizations (ROs) that in their
websites or facebook page reported their interven-
tion activities in slums. In total, three international
organizations (1 NGO, 1 Foundation, and 1 RO)
agreed to support the fieldwork research in three
slums that insofar agreed with characteristics sig-
naled by Ballesteros (2011). The researched slums
are:
1. Payatas. This dumpsite and its surroundings
were declared to be government land. The total
population ofcially around 120,000. However,
it is uncertain due to the temporary immigration
and the unknown number of families living in
the dumps (Sia Su, 2007). The research oc-
curred in Sari-Sari stores established in Bicol
and Bulacan Streets, corresponding to Payatas B,
Quezon City.
2. Tatalon (Kubo and Meralco squatters). Kubo is
a squatter zone located in Karilaya Street, two
blocks south from Araneta Avenue. Meralco is
a squatter area located near the corner of Aran-
eta Avenue and Victoria Street, just few meters
from San Juan River in Tatalon.9) Tatalon is one
of the most densely populated districts in Que-
zon City and one of the most affected by oods.
Kubo land ownership is in dispute among par-
ticulars with intermediation of the local and city
government. Meralco squatter´s land belongs to
the Meralco Electric Company. In both cases,
the land occupation dates back from the 1970s.
There are approximately 275 households In
Kubo and 120 in Meralco. Correspondingly, the
populations range between 1,400-1,600 and 700
- 1,000 inhabitants.
3. Dakota. Located around 400 meters from the
coast, it is an area of approximately 19,000
square meters embedded in a core-zone of
Manila´s Barangay 704, Malate. Dakota is an
overcrowded slum, with a population of 7,816
inhabitants in 578 houses (Espana and Von Arx,
2010). Dakota hosts the largest metropolitan
group of Muslim Badjaos10), a community with
sea-related skills for living. However due to
sanitary and other regulations, National and Lo-
cal Government forbids shing in Manila Bay.
España and Von Arx (2010) report negative
perceptions and discrimination about Badjaos
due to begging and robbery incidents. About
land-property concerns, Dakota slum residents
still remain uncertain about land ownership.
The government declared control of the land in
the 1950s and since then land titles have not yet
been issued.
3.2 Data Sources
The primary data sources are semi-structured
interviews with eight Sari-Sari store owners.11)
Three stores are located in Payatas; two in Dakota
and three in Tatalon. Interviewees were selected
and introduced by organizations supporting this
study. A complementary data come from the re-
searcher’s semi-structured observations inside the
stores during different days and seasons. It allowed
22 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
the verication of slums’ retail dynamics in differ-
ent periods of social activity: Christmas holidays,
summer-school holidays, and rainy season. Obser-
vation sheets were prepared, as suggested by Ni-
chols (1991), to capture signicant circumstances
and moments that provide meaning to CPF.
3.3 Data Collection and the Analysis Method
Data was collected during 2015 and 2016: De-
cember 7th- 24th in 2015; March 3rd- 8th April and
August 17th to September 14th in 2016. As a part
of the eldwork preparation stage, a dialogue with
Filipino communities in Kyoto and Osaka, Japan
occurred since August 2015. This step was neces-
sary to gain trust and to receive recommendation
before reaching organizations in Manila.
The interviews were conducted in English. The
translation support was provided by NGOs and
ROs personnel. In total, five different languages
were identied, from which, Tagalog was the most
commonly used. The interviews was conducted
during operating hours, thus, constant interruptions
occurred and it was necessary to re-visit the stores
several times. In each visit in different seasons,
the researcher sought to verify certain informa-
tion rather than to explore the phenomenon from
zero again and to observe if other dynamics would
be emerging during the three-four months gap
between the visits. This process was in agreement
with Miles and Huberman’s basic analytic cycle of
moving from inductive to deductive, as data and
information was conrmed (Miles and Huberman,
1994).
The research plan covered the market and mean-
ings spheres. The focus for the market sphere was
put on customer segments, CPF brands, wholesale
and retail prices, sales, suppliers, partners, and
customer relations. The emphasis was put on not-
ing the grocers’ judgments about CPF in order to
find meanings. The research design and protocol
focused on the person’s opinions as grocer rather
than as consumer, but at the same time respected
the interviewee’s embedded social role as mother,
daughter, friend, etc. In fact, this was a necessary
information to understand the retailers’ mentality
and his/her socio-economic culture.
The data collection and analysis proceeded
through the following phases.
Phase 1 - the interview and observation proc-
esses. The purpose was to gather data about prod-
ucts, price, sales, daily consumption, etc, (market
sphere) and data from expressed thoughts in phras-
es, words about CPF (meanings sphere). The note-
taking format supporting the eldwork interviews
was the business model canvas.12) Data became
digital notes after the transcript in Microsoft excel
and word.
Phase 2 - construction of meaning codes. A code
represents a theme or idea about the CPF sum-
marized in one or two words. It relates to adapting
Ogden and Richards’ (1946) conceptual model
when identifying meanings. Codes arose while
transcription and analysis of the data in the text
processor. The researcher assigned individual codes
to signicant transcript phrases or words. For ex-
ample, the quotation about chocolate-powder, ‘it is
easy to storage and moms buy for their children’s
breakfast’, was given the codes ‘easiness’, ‘moth-
ers’, and ‘children´s breakfast’. These codes are
referred as CPF meanings.
Phase 3 - a new cycle of coding. It uses the re-
searcher observational notes to confirm or com-
plement the codes in Phase 2. Those notes are a
part of the researcher’s study of each Sari-Sari’s
business model. The notes may include the micro-
retailers’ ideas, habits, behaviors, anecdotes, and
spontaneous situations or happenings during the
observations. As suggested by Nichols (1991), this
iterative process enriches comprehension of the
interviewee’s opinions.
Phase 4 - categorization of meanings. Redundant
codes were grouped into ‘categories’ (or families)
and assigned a descriptive constructed name. For
example, the individual codes ‘nutrition’, ‘ener-
getic’, ‘stimulation’, ‘fast’, ‘rapid’, ‘saving time’
were all grouped into a single category which was
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 23
assigned the construct name ‘CPF + attribute’. The
meaning codes were listed and counted in each cat-
egory for visual presentation in a graph.
4 The Exchange Sphere in Sari-Sari Store
Using the conceptual framework of the ex-
change sphere, findings obtained in the research
eldwork in Manila are explained in this section.
4.1 The Sari-Sari Market Sphere
4.1.1 Corporate Packaged Food Provision in
Manila Slums
In the Philippines, the retail sector represents
more than 75 percent of the total trade in the coun-
try. It is one of the most dynamic Filipino eco-
nomic sectors with annual growth rates close to 10
percent during the 2010-2015 period (AC Nielsen,
2016). According to Romo and Digal (2009), the
retail sector has been rapidly modernizing through
changes in demand and supply conditions. In the
demand side, the followings stand out: the increas-
ing purchasing power, the dual pattern of increas-
ing local income and increasing remittances from
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), changes in
consumption patterns, growing malling13) culture,
and the constant expansion of supermarkets, hy-
permarkets, and convenience stores. In the supply
side, the expansion of retail centers, and increasing
investments in information and communication
technology for retail business were observed.
In 2014, food retail represented 43 percent of
total personal consumption expenditure, being the
most important subsector (Oxford Business Group,
2014). Large food processors and importers rely on
different channels to penetrate the slum bounda-
ries. While Funahashi (2013) indentied seven dif-
ferent channels, this research found up to thirteen
different channels of CPF. There are eight channels
for CPF as commodities: 1) local markets, 2) Sari-
Sari stores, 3) wet markets, 4) street vendors, 5)
supermarkets, 6) carinderias (eateries), 7) con-
venience stores, 8) wholesale markets. Addition-
ally, CPF is provided as gifts from: 9) NGOs, 10)
Government agencies, 11) ROs, 12) politicians in
electoral campaigns, and 13) friends and relatives
visiting a slum.
Likewise, slum micro-retailers have five main
options to obtain CPF: 1) request them directly to
corporate distributors, 2) go to a wholesale distrib-
utor, 3) go to a local market, 4) go to a supermar-
ket, usually the closest to the slum, and 5) go to a
mid-size grocery store.
The sophistication of supply chains and retail
distribution systems, including the increasing
number of supermarkets, is displacing traditional
wholesale and local markets as the main source of
CPF for Sari-Sari stores in slums. In Manila, it is
estimated that modern retail penetration is reaching
50 percent, while it is approximately 25 percent
nationwide (Oxford Business Group, 2014).
Another factor that determines the place for
their purchase of stock is distance. During the
fieldwork in Manila, a supermarket called Pure-
gold was found to be the main CPF supplier for
the Sari-Sari stores in Dakota and Tatalon slums.
Puregold is around 50-meter distance from one
entrance/exit of Dakota slum and 400-meter dis-
tance from Meralco squatter´s area. Puregold Jr is
around 600-meter from Kubo squatter´s area. The
‘Jr’ is a smaller supermarket that competes with
groceries, convenience stores, and local markets
near the slums. In Payatas, the closest supermarket
is at around 4.5-km distance. The Commonwealth
local market is located around 2.1-km distance (20-
30 minutes by jeepney14)).For this reason, mid-size
grocery stores located on the main road of Payatas
are, still, important suppliers for Sari-Sari stores.
4.1.2 CPF Retail inside Slum Boundaries
Inside the slum boundaries, there are three dif-
ferent micro-food retailers: Sari-Sari stores, ea-
teries, and street vendors. Sari-sari stores are the
main channels of CPF; these stores represent about
65 percent of Filipino retail outlets, sell 36 percent
of the fast-moving consumer goods, and each store
serves around twenty households (AC Nielsen,
2014). In the researched slums, up to 20 Sari-Sari
24 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
stores were found within 300-meters distance;
these stores are serving overcrowded squatters of
more than 1,000 people in a perimeter of around
1,200 meters. Such concentration of people means
that inside the slum boundaries CPF retail may be
surpassing national or regional averages. 15)
The Sari-Sari store activity boosts the squat-
ter neighborhood 365-days a year; no other place
could reect better the liveliness of the slum than
these micro-stores. There is a constant ow of slum
residents and casual ramblers (not necessarily to
buy, but just to meet people). About purchasing,
the estimations extracted from interviews and ob-
servations in Meralco, Kubo and Dakota slums re-
sult in 2 to 3 visits by the same person in one day,
depending on the day, with Sundays as the busiest
days.
Several p roducts are mediat ing
Sari-Sari’s interaction with the slum
community: 1) non-food products,
such as cigarettes, alcohol, shampoos,
detergents, etc., 2) food products,
such as rice –if available in the store-,
non-processed condiments, and bread,
and 3) the CPF. In the present study
of Sari-Sari stores, the profit share
from CPF ranges from 31 to 67.5
percent (Figure 3). Depending on the
store, the exchange value of the total
merchandize -as weekly circulating
capital-, goes from 2,500 to 30,000
Philippine Pesos –PhP-16) equivalent
to $50 to 600 USD.17) Stores’ average
daily sales go from 220 to 4,823 PhP
(Figure 4).
The stores’ profits18) vary from
63.1 to 1,142.5 ($1.3 to 22.9 USD)
depending on the location, capitaliza-
tion19), size, opening hours, history
in the slum, etc. Self-consumption
is generally unregistered; it reduces
stores’ profit but represents an extra
“benefit” for having a business. In
fact, self-consumption emerges as one
important reason behind a Sari-Sari store startup
(Bonnin, 2006).
CPF is the main source of profitability except
for Nonoy stores that sell rice. Inside the bounda-
ries of the squatter areas, it is not easy to sell rice
due to three main reasons: lack of capital, lack of
transportation means to move 50-kgs sacks, and
lack of space to preserve and protect these sacks
from rats, insects and so on.
Soft drinks stand out markedly as carrying the
highest profit share. Several studies explain why
soft drinks are highly consumed. Marion Nestle
(2015) points out a set of economic and political
reasons linked with groups of power in the ad-
vanced nations, particularly, United States that cre-
ated an extended market worldwide. Smith (2011)
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 25
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Note: n=130 coded CPF meanings
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Figure 3. Prot Segments in Slums’ Sari-Sari Stores
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Note: n=130 coded CPF meanings
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Figure 4. Average Daily Sales and Prot in Slums’ Sari-Sari Stores
lists addiction, habits, convenience, ubiquity, ad-
vertising, affordability, and thirst as reasons; from
the perspective of slums, it can be added that the
public infrastructure for drinking water is decient,
therefore encouraging the purchase of processed
safe drinks.
The lowest profit share corresponds to cereal
drinks –e.g. Energen, Busog Lusog-- candies, and
snacks (see Table 1). Cereal drinks are relatively
new products in comparison to choco-powder
-such as Milo- that is more positioned in tastes and
preferences. Candies and snacks are top- sold prod-
ucts, but their prices are the lowest of all the CPF
and their prot margins are the lowest ones.
Packaged milk is one of the most profitable
CPF. The average prot rate20) varies according to
the type of milk and the way it is sold. For exam-
ple, Ludivina´s store, located in one of the main
entrances of the Dakota slum, buys a big size of
swak (Bear brand powder) and sells milk with hot
water, served in a styrofoam cup. This strategy al-
lows Ludivina to have a high-profit rate (127%).
On the contrary, Ehmi’s store in Payatas has the
lowest rate of milk prot (28.54%). She only sells
sachets and cans of milk (which are one of the
priciest slum CPF products).
Canned foods are in the least profitable CPF
segment. The reasons why cans are sold in the
store, may not only be related to prots (the market
sphere). Their low profitability could be an ex-
cuse for stop selling them, but this is not the case.
Cans –as the other CPFs- have a meaning beyond
market-related elements, such as: convenience for
26 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
Table 1. Spheres of Exchange in Slums’ CPF Food Retail.
Source: Own elaboration based on eld research in 2016.
emergencies, complement, attraction, etc. These
reasons belong to the meanings sphere, the invis-
ible dimension of exchange where the realization
of capital is completed.
4.2 Sari-Sari Meanings Sphere
Micro-retailers have ideas, perceptions of sym-
bols, or references about CPF that navigate in the
meanings sphere. The analysis of meanings com-
pletes the study of the exchange spheres where
capital is realized. Accordingly, results of the anal-
ysis of micro-retailers’ judgments about CPF and
the analysis of corporate’ main efforts to bond with
Sari-Sari slum stores, is presented in this section.
4.2.1 Sari-Sari Stores and CPF Meanings
From the Sari-Sari store perspective, nineteen
CPF meaning codes in four categories were iden-
tified. The four categories are: 1) sales-related;
2) business facilitation; 3) positive perceived at-
tributes; and 4) negative perceived attributes (Fig-
ure 5).
The first category refers to the p erc eptions
about CPF as the object that fulfills the grocers’
need for money derived from sales. The CPF code
meaning of ‘requirement’ is the most important in
this category. Sari-Sari stores are pulled by cus-
tomers’ needs, wants and preferences that trigger
such mentioned requirement. It may be similar
to the general understandings of retailing outside
the slum boundaries, however, what makes the
difference are the higher uncertainty levels of ir-
regular employment and income, and permanent
risk of illness, oods, res, etc., that increases the
relevance of Sari-Sari slum stores as a channel of
CPF. For instance, in a shortage of money and after
calamities, a can or packaged food, signify a mean
for surviving. In slums, unpleasant situations are
habitual, on the contrary -outside slums-, such situ-
ations are infrequent or inexistent.
In the sales-related category, there are CPF
meaning codes such as: customer attraction, chil-
dren-related, that are essential for business, busi-
ness complements and other. CPF signies an ob-
ject for customers’ attraction, for instance, micro-
retailers deliberately allocate brands, colors, and
shapes to gain the attention of potential customers.
Children are a meaningful Sari-Sari customer seg-
ment, not only for candies and snacks but also for
powder milk, chocolate powder, and cereal-based
drinks that mothers buy for their children’s break-
fast.
Grocers’ managerial skill21) can be considered
‘elemental’ from the perspective of business ad-
ministration textbooks (Handy, 1993); however,
they have abilities emerged from common sense
and practical knowledge that compensate formal
business education and allow them
to identify CPF segments that are es-
sential and complementary to their
selling goal. For example, about
essential products, a 58-year-old
grocer in Kubo squatter said ‘soft
drinks, alcohol, and cigarettes are
my best products. It is why the deliv-
ery person comes every day.’ About
complements, she added: ‘in the case
of noodles, biscuits, and snacks, I
am buying them only once a week,
sometimes every 10 days. Maybe is
not so much, but my regular custom-
ers or the young boys playing bas-
ketball ask for them once in a while,
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 27
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Source: Own elaboration based on field research in 2016.
Note: n=130 coded CPF meanings
Source: Own elaboration (2017)
Figure 5. Slums’ Retailers Meanings Concerning CPF.
if I don’t have, they will ask in another store and
they will not buy the soft drink or cigarette here.’
A 52-year-old grocer in Dakota slum also ex-
pressed her common sense and knowledge gained
by experience: ‘Yes I sell (powder) juices but a
few in comparison to soft drinks. Juices are an
extra for my business, for example, Tang having
many avors, and many colors decorates this store
(laughs)… soft drinks are what I sell the most,
that’s why recently I bought this refrigerator in the
second-hand market’.
Other CPF meanings of the ‘sales-related’
first category include the following customers
segments: complements to mothers recipes (e.g.
seasonings, sauces, etc.), students and youth’ con-
sumption items (e.g. soft drinks, milk, chocolate or
energy-related powders).
In the second category; ‘facilitation of busi-
ness’, ‘convenience’ is the most important CPF
meaning code. It semantically connects with con-
venience stores, but from a Sari-Sari slum perspec-
tive, convenience refers to solutions –facilitations-
of business-related issues. For instance, CPF is
adequate for tiny spaces lacking store’ furniture
and home appliances. It is also convenient for
protection against insects or rats. In this respect, a
56-year-old grocer in Kubo squatter commented,
‘seasonings and sauces, and all sachets, are easy to
store and hang (display), thus, the rats can’t catch
them.’ Talking about coffee, a 40-year-old grocer
in Payatas says, ‘coffee in sachets is more conven-
ient than in the past when coffee was produced (and
retailed) only in a glass, but now we can sell only
sachets, one by one.’ Other convenient attributes of
CPF that were mentioned were the ease of acquir-
ing, storing, preserving, selling and serving.
The third category of CPF meanings; ‘perceived
positive/favorable attributes’ refers to nutrition,
time-saving, energetic stimulation, pleasure, and
comfort. For instance, concerning powder drinks,
usually for breakfast, a 58-year-old grocer in Kubo
squatter says, ‘I am selling Milo, Energen, Bear
brand, Busog, etc. My customers buy them be-
cause these products give nutrition for children,
particularly the students.’ Similarly, a 39-year-old
grocer in Meralco squatter expresses, ‘Yes I sell
milk, I have bear brand and Alaska’….. ‘I think
due to nutrition (sustansya) for students, not for us,
we are already old (laughs).’
In Payatas, where the culture of garbage collec-
tors is latent, the empty CPF packages as ‘garbage’
means also potential money. Empty plastic recipi-
ents, pet-bottles, cans and other packages have
different exchange value in junk shops and can
even be recycled or reused in several manners, -an
environmental-related meaning-.
Fourth category; perceived negative/unfavora-
ble attributes, relates to circumstances that make
slum grocers ban or avoid selling certain CPF. For
example, a 33-year-old grocer in Payatas bans
candies and snacks for being unhealthy for chil-
dren. She might be a special case due to her level
of education -bachelor degree in law-. She had to
live in a slum after having economic and personal
problems. She started a Sari-Sari store to sustain
her children’s lives, but she does not sell candies
and snacks in order to protect children’s nutrition.
Other unfavorable CPF meanings refer to the
packages that do not resist rats’ bites and to prod-
ucts with stronger smell (for example, snacks made
by sh powder) that attract ants, insects, and rats.
Those products might not be banned but have an
unfavorable perception.
4.2.2 Corporate Efforts to Penetrate the
Meanings Sphere of Sari-Sari Stores
Corporations, inherently profit-oriented or-
ganizations, execute business practices to bond
with retailers that make easier their investments
realization. In this section, two explicit corporate
tactics seeking to penetrate the meanings sphere of
Sari-Sari slum stores are described. One is façade
sponsorship, including the customization of gro-
cers’ image, and the other is the Sari-Sari focused
advertisement.
4.2.2.1 Sponsoring Facades and Customizing
Owners’ Image
In the Philippines, sponsoring facades is a clas-
sic tactic to bond with Sari-Sari stores. Large com-
28 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
panies prepare a plaque with the name of the Sari-
Sari store but using the corporate’s brand colors
and logo. The plaque is allocated in the top of the
façade (see Picture a). According to the interview-
ees, soft drinks companies were pioneers of this
advertisement activity. Other corporations (food
and not-food related) had extended this sponsoring
practice that is, now, part of the cultural identity of
the Filipino Sari-Sari stores.
Corporations, while labeling the grocers’ name,
participate in the construction of identity, self-
belonging, distinctiveness, and affection. For in-
stance, a 54-year-old grocer in Payatas expressed
‘seeing my name in the store, in the way my family
and friends call me, makes me feel good, that this
is my store. Similarly, another grocer in Payatas
said ‘I feel good to see this name in my store. It is
a combination of the name of my husband’s name
and mine, I thought in this name because I consid-
ered it original and shows the importance of my
husband in my life…. I was working in Japan and
I decided to return to marry him, then I started this
store to earn money.’
Lining the self-identity of a grocer is a deep
step made by corporations. It is the customization
of posters, a new form of connecting with slum
micro-retailers in the meanings sphere. The case of
Dionisio Paner (Picture b) facilitates the scrutiny
of a Nestlé’s marketing initiative. Among several
subliminal messages, there are three worth high-
lighting:
1) Emotions. In the center, it is the promotion
of Nescafe twin-pack. It includes the mir-
ror Dionisio´s image with the word ‘Joy’. An
emotion-related word, frequently used in daily
communication in the Philippines, also, popular
for naming children.
2) Affordability. Big and colored, it is the price ‘9
PhP lang’. An interpretation is that anyone can
afford ‘two products for only 9 Philippine pesos
(USD $ 0.18)’. Above the photography, on the
right side, the price appears again. The cups and
lang are shadowed with a yellow background,
reinforcing their visibility. Lang plays an im-
portant role, not only by its literal meaning in
tagalog as ‘just’ or ‘only’, but also, as part of
the contextual meaning, in daily-life, of ‘lang’
as: ‘oh really?’.
3) Adaptability. On the left side, there is a message
that combines Tagalog and English (a common
practice in the Philippine media). Mas Masarap;
Suki, Bili na! I-Share. The Tagalog expressions
highlight three important meanings of Filipino
common lexis: more delicious (Mas Masarap),
regular customer (Suki), buy! (Bili na!), and to
share (I-Share). The ‘sharing’ expression is the
recognition of the slum bonding culture, where
corporations want to intervene.
Based on these forms of slum advertisement,
corporations are grabbing -with the permission
of Sari-Sari retailers- personal identities for busi-
nesses’ purposes. Grocers’ identity, embedded in
their name and reputation, is part of what Bourdieu
(1984) calls social capital. For Dionisio, far from
being a concern with ethical, social, political or
economic implications of Nestlé’s practices, it in-
dicates something funny and original. A few years
ago, he was in Iraq fixing elevators and after his
wife’s death, he returned to Manila to take care of,
and support his family. He mentions that after years
of difficulties, danger and fear in Iraq, his Sari-
Sari store is something ‘to take easy and enjoy’. In
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 29
Pictures a & b. Sari-Sari Stores’ Facades and Poster
Picture (a) Picture (b)
Source: Fieldwork Metro-Manila (2016)
the meantime, it signies for the capital, a way to
penetrate in the meanings sphere that facilitates its
realization and reproduction.
4.2.2.2 Sari-Sari Focused TV Advertisement
Large food processing corporations have fre-
quent exposure through multimedia. Knowing that
slum households have television even though they
have basic infrastructural limitations and their so-
cial problems, rms use advertisements as a central
tactic to penetrate common sense and to inuence
peoples’ daily practices, such as buying and selling
CPF.
In the Philippines, albeit celebrity endorsements
dominate corporate advertisement, Sari-Sari stores
characters are habitual protagonists on TV com-
mercials, soap operas, dramas, movies, and reality
shows. Accordingly, Alaska Corporation is target-
ing low-income consumers and Sari-Sari stores-
related characters are in the core of two interrelated
commercials, the rst started in March, 2016 with
the name Otso-Otso (Eight – Eight).22) The sec-
ond was launched in August, 2016 with the name,
Magkano Yan? (How much is that?).23) A scrutiny
of these commercials facilitates the study of coded
messages penetrating in three meaning targeted
zones:
1) Women. The commercials start with two women
approaching Susan´s Sari-Sari store. These
women, identied as customers, are going to be
consenting actors in the commercials. On the
other hand, Susan, the grocer, and main actor,
has no stereotyped beauty pretensions; she is
overweight and dresses as a common housewife.
2) Emotions of joy, enthusiasm, and happiness. In
the commercial, the Sari-Sari store, decorated
with Alaska corporation colors, becomes the
scenario where Susan and the two female com-
panions –also dressing with the brand colors-,
enthusiastically dance a sticky song ’8-8-o 8
pisos lang’ (only for 8 PhP). Alaska uses a pop-
style of dancing and singing, cultural expression
of joy and fun, and socially distinctive in the
Philippines.
3) Affordability. The three enthusiastic women,
while dancing, make an eight shape with their
hands. It transmits a consistent message of be-
ing affordable for anyone because one sachet
cost only 8 PhP (USD $0.16).
With respect to Alaska’s commercials, the inter-
viewed micro-retailers identied key aspects of the
corporation’ message: affordability and elements
of joy and happiness. It is a signicant example of
the CPF symbolic power (physical and virtual) that
navigates in the meanings sphere, inuencing and
shaping lifestyles (Callebaut, Hendricks and Jans-
sens, 2002; Nestle, 2015).
5 Discussion: The Fetishized CPF Retail
Practice in Slums
In the previous section, it was explained that
in the Philippines’ market sphere: 1) the retailing
sector has been expanding due to different trans-
formations in the supply and demand sides (Digal
and Romo, 2009). One evidence is the increased
presence of CPF in slums via affordable, adaptable,
attractive sachets, packages, cans, etc., (Payaud,
2014; Jackson and Ruiz-Tafoya, 2015); 2) The CPF
is channeled into slums through 13 identifiable
ways, where the Sari-Sari slum store plays a sig-
nicant role. Their role augments during calamities
and other emergencies derived from a precarious
and unstable household income.
In the meanings sphere, it was shown that: 1)
slum grocers have different meanings codes for
CPFs; 2) corporations have been penetrating slums
through sponsoring facades and customizing post-
ers with grocers’ self-portrait.
In this section, considering the findings de-
scribed in previous sections, the CPF retail practice
is discussed. Fetishism, a key category in Marxian
thought24), is used in order to develop a critical
perspective of the slum micro-retailing economic
activities. Following this tradition, in this article, I
argue that the CPF retail practice in slum stores is
30 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
inherently fetishized and instead of providing the
‘apparent favorable benets’ of its practice, on the
contrary, the levels of dependence, alienation, and
subordination of slum populations will remain and
even increase.
For slum retail fetishism I mean the slums’ mi-
cro-retailers belief on the corporate-led process of
production, distribution, exchange and consump-
tion of CPF, and the acceptance of something as
‘normal’ as voting during presidential elections or
going to church/mosque. Furthermore, frequently
believing that is the ‘uniq ue’ way to increase
wealth, ‘progress’ and ‘happiness’ of the retailers’
families and the community as a whole.
Interviewed slum grocers share the belief that
food processing corporations and supermarkets
are bringing favorable aspects to their lives. They
coincide that selling branded food is a main way
for affluence and prosperity (imagined as mate-
rial progress and extended consumption). Their
reasoning goes as follows: Selling CPF will bring
additional family income that is required to cover
daily needs, particularly children-related education
expenses. If one of the children reaches college
education, the possibilities of getting a regular
paid job in a large corporation increase. The hope
continues, the regularly employed son or daughter
is expected to support her parents and other family
members.
Micro-retailers’ reasoning is understandable
considering several factors, circumstances, and
experiences of rural and urban poverty (sometimes
extreme), marginalization, few years of formal ed-
ucation, among other structural problems. Never-
theless, I would like to emphasize on the repeated
mainstream discourse of ‘modernity and progress’
based on wealth and consumption (including
branded food and beverages) that is encoded in
grocers’ common sense. Why does the modernity
discourse easily navigate in the market and mean-
ings sphere of CPF retail? A working hypothesis
is that CPF is becoming a modern commodity that
extends fetishism and alienation until levels never
seen before -due to the quantity of slum dwellers
worldwide. In the following, it is proposed five
reasons that relate to this question that may signal
the historical significance of CPF in the slums of
the 21st century.
First, CPF is an object that facilitates of the
commodity-money exchange and the fulfillment
of physiological and psychological needs. The dif-
ference with other forms of food retailed in slums
(for example, foodstuffs and homemade food) is
the augmented encoded technology for preserving,
flavoring, nutrients-addition, packaging, canning,
bottling, etc., embedded technologies that save
time, space, energy, resources, and knowledge to
transport, store, preserve, prepare and consume
food. Furthermore, the package design technology
and the sciences of communication increases the
effectiveness of transferring messages, emotions,
symbols, thoughts, beliefs, etc. (c.f. Callebaut
et.al., 2002).
Second, the CPF-related innovations amaze an-
yone, regardless of the social class, but at the same
time fetishizes and veils the exploitative social
relations of production encoded in the CPF pro-
duction, distribution, and exchange. For instance,
interviewed slum grocers do not know where CPF
comes from or what are they made from. Key ex-
amples of their unawareness were expressed during
the interviews in daily use products such as cook-
ing oil, soy sauce, seasonings, powder of juices,
soup noodles, and snacks.
Third, slum grocers and their families have the
figurative ‘privilege’ for being frequent consum-
ers of CPF and as premier tasters of CPF (previ-
ously observed on TV by slums residents), they
become a reference for the rest of households. TV
still plays an important role to communicate new
novelty products. Novelty and excitement for new
brands or new products (Scitovsky, 1986) strongly
echo in slums considering the awaken curiosity to
experience something different to the usual food-
stuffs. Once CPF becomes an object of desire in
the meanings sphere, it can easily trespass slum
boundaries and become a regular retail product.
Fourth, the fundamental corporate mechanism to
construct perceptions, judgments, and tastes is the
vast quantity of brands inside and surrounding Sa-
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 31
ri-Sari stores and houses. It may remind us Klein’s
(2001) ‘No logo’, a critique to excessive brands
in main avenues and squares in modern cities but
now extrapolated to their dirty and narrow streets.
Corporate’ slogans support the symbolic messages
of brands that: endorse meanings such as triumph
in sports and life (ex. Milo); construct tastes such
as coffee 3-1 (Nescafe, Great Taste, Kopiko) and
Cacao-sugar powder (Milo, Busog Lusog, etc.) that
has been changing preferences and avors of new
generations of Filipinos. In the past Filipinos used
to drink native coffee and chocolate tableya, whose
flavors are remembered by the older grocers, but
slums youth and children have infrequently tasted.
Fifth, corporate’ discourses have been praising
slum entrepreneurs as ‘successful’ cases, some of
them started as a Sari-Sari store (Nielsen & Samia,
2008). Constant messages of ‘successful’ slum en-
trepreneurs nourish the dreams of ‘modernity and
progress’ based on capitalist relations of produc-
tion. One successful case in a thousand may extend
the mystification of entrepreneurial practices that
divert the attention of slum residents, limits the
awareness of their own historical circumstances of
poverty and marginalization, and veils exploitation
and alienation in the relations of production, distri-
bution, and exchange.
In sum, it was argued that CPF retail itself is
mystified by a set of meanings and daily micro-
practices rooted in the common sense of slum
grocers. The main fetishized idea is the path: sell-
ing CPF → increased income → school payment →
better job and steady income → more consumption,
including more CPF varieties
→ symbolic reference
of prosperity, afuence, and even happiness. It is
a CPF’ retail fetishism, inherently encoded in the
spheres of exchange, having effects in the dynam-
ics of slum grocers’ lifestyles such as changes in
tastes, and changes in meanings of food itself.
Finally, one additional point that complements
the discussion on fetishism in slum CPF retailing is
the contradiction observed in micro-retailers them-
selves. They believe in ‘entrepreneurship’ as the
way of progress and foster high expectations on the
success of their children, but at the same time, they
revealed experiences of ‘failed dreams’ and sorrow.
In reality, a series of misfortune has befallen; their
children or relatives quitting school in younger
ages; unexpected pregnancy and consequent un-
wanted marriages; college-graduated children in
situation of unemployment or hired for precarious
and irregular jobs; unexpected illnesses; accidents;
slums’ calamities, etc.
Contradictions in slums’ CPF practices are
inherent to the system and those should be identi-
ed and analyzed in order to understand the social
dynamics stemming from CPF exchange and con-
sumption. The critical point is that high expecta-
tions in one daughter/son inherently includes risks
of failure that could end in a cycle of frustration,
depression, evasion of reality, vices, angriness, and
violence.
6 Conclusion
Sari-Sari stores are one of the main nodes of
connection between corporations and slum con-
sumers. In this respect, CPF plays a fundamental
role in the construction of market relations and
meanings. For micro-retailers, CPF is a source of
profitability and important part of the family in-
come. For food processing corporations, Sari-Sari
stores are key channels and means for their capital
realization.
Following Illouz’s conceptual suggestions
(2009), the market and meanings spheres where
CPF circulates was investigated. In the market
sphere, the CPF relevance of the Sari-Sari slum
stores goes from 31 up to 67 percent of their prof-
its. In the meanings sphere, the CPF-categories
carry four meanings: sales-related, business facili-
tation, positive/favorable attributes of CPF, and
negative/unfavorable attributes of CPF.
In this paper, the main contribution is the simul-
taneous study of the market and meanings spheres
in the micro-retail of CPFs through slum stores. I
propose that the research of both spheres claries
the modus operandi of food processing capital in
32 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
slums. To realize industrial capital, the dominium
of one sphere is not enough. It needs the penetra-
tion, inuence, and if possible, the control of both
spheres. In the sphere of market, supermarkets are
increasing its role as suppliers of Sari-Sari store;
they are getting closer to the boundaries of slums
and offering special loyalty programs to small gro-
cers. Besides, the corporate direct distributors and
distribution partners also facilitate the supply of
goods to micro-stores, even in small quantities.
Two signicant corporate tactics were identied
in the stores’ meanings sphere. On the one hand,
the corporations are using the social capital embed-
ded in grocers’ self-portrait and name. At the same
time, the corporations’ marketing campaigns focus
on Sari-Sari stores’ identities such as a stereotyped
housewife owning a store, colors, music, dance,
and bonding culture.
Additionally, the analysis of both spheres of ex-
change facilitates the observation of the fetishism
of CPF and its retailing. In the sphere of meanings,
slum micro-retailers shared the belief of progress,
symbolized by affluence and increased consump-
tion of goods –including branded foods. It is the
mystification of retail practices that is far from
being aware of the exploitation behind the social
relations of CPF production, distribution, and
exchange. Slum entrepreneurship is also mysti-
fied through CPF retail. The entrepreneurial path
is considered as ‘normal’ and sometimes the only
way to wealth and happiness leaving behind col-
lective or communitarian practices.
As a final remark, the historical importance
of CPF in the slums of the 21st century is still a
research topic in an early stage. Multidisciplinary
approaches and comparative studies are required to
build consistent theories of CPF retailing, not only
from political economy perspectives but also from
sociology, geography, social anthropology, social
psychology and related disciplines. In a context of
rapid urban growth, the consistent critical study
about CPF would facilitate the design of slum in-
tervention strategies that are aware of the trap of
capitalist-based economic thought and neoliberal-
based political practices.
Notes
1. UN Habitat (2012) calculated around 828
million people living in slums. Those are
contiguous settlements characterized by be-
ing overcrowded and insecure; with poor
structural quality of housing, uncertain resi-
dential status, inadequate access to safe wa-
ter, inadequate access to sanitation or other
infrastructure (UN Habitat, 2003). For this
research the emphasis will be in the study of
households living in squatter land in Manila.
Squatters are settlements under informal ar-
rangements (i.e., no formal or legal documen-
tation of arrangement) and blighted areas.
2. Manila refers to NCR region and additional
boarder municipalities/cities.
3. Sari-Sari is a Filipino expression that means
‘various’.
4. Marx conceptualizes the circuit of capital as
M – C … P … C’ – M’. Where (M-C) is the
conversion of money into productive capital;
(C…P…C’) is the production phase where
labor and means of production are combined
to obtain the commodity capital C’ that con-
tains surplus-value. C’-M’ is the realization
process, the exchange of commodity capital
for money capital, including profit. Marx
distinguished the production of commodities
-from which surplus value originates- and
the realization of capital –exchange and con-
sumption in which commodities are bought-
sold and consumed-. However, he extensive-
ly explains the interaction between these two
stages of the circulation process for capital
accumulation and reproduction (Marx, 1978).
5. Karl Polanyi, based on his long term study of
the construction of markets since Hammurabi
era (Polanyi, 1957b), explains that the market
economy reached its full stature until in the
19th century. For Polanyi, the self-regulating
market was third institution “that produced
an unheard-of material welfare... it was this
innovation which gave rise to a specic civi-
lization” (Polanyi, 1957a: 3).
6. R.H. Coase (1988) explains that markets exist
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 33
注意！！
in order in order to reduce the cost of carry-
ing out exchange transactions. He criticizes
economists (e.g. Alfred Marshall and its prin-
ciples of economics, which is of the pillars
of modern economic thought) for ignoring
the market structure that facilitates exchange.
Market structure, here, is referred to the
number of rms, product differentiation, so-
cial institutions, etc., (Coase, 1988: 7-9).
7. Gifts and barter of homemade dishes and des-
serts cannot be formally named as subsumed
by capital in the sphere of market because the
preparation (cooking) and the share (gift) or
exchange by barter depends on the will, time
and energy of women or men. However, in
the sphere of the meanings, the capital can
penetrate in the affections, in the culture, tra-
dition, etc., thus, might have higher relevance
in the study of the subordination of exchange
to capital (Appadurai, 1986; Dixon, 2002).
8. There are landmark works which developed
categories of meaning, among the most im-
portant are: false needs (Marcuse, 2013);
taste (Bourdieu, 1984); life-chances and
life-styles (Weber, 1978; Bourdieu, 1984);
collective consciousness (Durkheim, 1960);
symbols, codes, signs, identities (Bataille,
1988; Baudrillard, 1972; Bourdieu, 1984);
social space (Lefebvre, 1991); Culture and
social relations with things (Durkheim, 1960;
Geertz, 1975; Douglas and Isherwood, 1978;
Appadurai, 1986; Dixon, 2002); trust (Dixon
and Banwell, 2004); comfort and excitement
(Scitovsky, 1986); emotions (Nussb aum,
2001; Illouz, 2009), among others.
9. According to Quezon City ofce, in Tatalon
live 58,987 inhabitants in 11,840 households.
From which 20 percent are considered as
economic depressed.
10. Badjao means ‘man of the sea’. Sea nomads
by tradition, travelling from one island to an-
other for shing harvest.
11. Ownership in symbolic terms, legally, they
do not have property rights. It is informal
economy. However, proprietorship exists in
language, attitude and acceptance by the rest
of the community.
12. Osterwalder and Pigaud (2013) suggest a set
of themes for business model analysis: Con-
sumer segment, customer relationships, value
proposition, channels, key activities, key re-
sources, partnerships, costs and revenues.
13. It refers to the frequent habit of going for
shopping to the mall either, for consuming or
socializing.
14. Vehicle for public transportation.
15. Economic censuses discard sari-sari stores.
Employment surveys include micro-retail
indicators but without specifying sari-sari
stores and without mentioning the inside/
outside slums’ boundaries. Nielsen (2014)
estimates more than 1 million of sari-sari
stores but without specifying methodology of
calculations.
16. The Philippine peso (PhP), piso in Tagalog.
17. Exchange rate 1.00 PhP = 0.02 USD (7th
June, 2016)
18. Prot calculation does not include debt pay-
ments and other cost of energy, gas, water,
etc. that are intertwined with household life.
19. For instance, from OFW relatives, increasing
their saving capacity or through micronance
20. It is the proportion of the unit margin (cost-
sales price) of the unitary cost.
21. I refer to the basic management skills, such
as: inventory management, cash flow man-
agement, costing-pricing, customer and sales
management, etc. (Handy, 1993)
22. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_que
ry=Alaska+Milk+commercial+otcho+pisos+l
ang
23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo7PM
22sQCA
24. Marx, in the beginning of The Capital: Cri-
tique of Political Economy (1976), unveiled
the fetishism of: commodities in chapter 1;
money in chapters 2 and 3; capital in chapter
13; and the salary-based labor in chapter 17.
These became foundational pieces of critical
thinking during the last 150 years.
34 Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya
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Correspondence regarding this article may be sent to Heriberto Ruiz-Tafoya, Kyoto University, heriberto.tafoya.65m@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Corporate Packaged Food in Slums: Market and Meanings in the Filipino Sari-Sari Stores 37
