著者

宮川 慎司

出版者

独立行政法人 日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所

雑誌

アジア経済 (ISSN:00022942)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.61, no.3, pp.28-60, 2020-09-15 (Released:2020-10-14)

参考文献数

50

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途上国の貧困層は,生活の上で当局に認められないインフォーマルな活動を行うことが少なくない。本稿は,互いの苦境を理解するマニラ首都圏の貧困層自身が,なぜ2010年代半ばになって反インフォーマリティの規範をもつようになったかについて,スラム地域の「盗電」に関する調査から考察する。盗電を行う住民と行わない住民双方の論理から,盗電を許容しない規範が生じる理由を明らかにする。もとよりスラム住民は火災発生の恐れがある盗電に対して批判的な規範をもつ一方で,電力正規契約を得る障壁の高さから盗電を正当化していた。しかし近年の2つの法執行強化により,盗電は許容されなくなりつつある。第1に,技術的な取締りの導入により,盗電を取締られた住民が金銭的負担の不公平から盗電に対して批判を強めた。第2に,ドゥテルテ政権下における公的機関の行政手続き改善を背景に,正規契約を得る障壁低下の可能性が示され,盗電の正当化が難しくなった。

著者

宮川 慎司

出版者

一般財団法人 アジア政経学会

雑誌

アジア研究 (ISSN:00449237)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.68, no.2, pp.27-48, 2022-04-30 (Released:2022-05-24)

参考文献数

62

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In the Philippines since the 2000s, the authorities in charge of maintaining local order, such as local governments and the police, have strengthened their crackdown on informality. They have strengthened the claim that informality that deviates from the law is a problem that needs to be solved. However, previous studies on informality in the developing world have argued that authorities do not always exercise strict crackdowns. These studies pointed out that the authorities prioritized the goals they were supposed to fulfill, such as maintaining local order, and that minor deviations were tolerated to achieve these goals efficiently.In explaining the changes in the Philippines in the 2000s, this paper uses the case of electricity theft, which is the use of electricity without paying regular fees. A medium- to long-term analysis was conducted based on newspaper articles from 1986 to 2020 and parliamentary minutes on laws to control electricity theft. The power distribution companies began to crackdown on electricity theft from 1986 on and the percentage of electricity theft was already decreasing in the 2000s. Thus, the incentive for the authorities to participate in the crackdown was considered to be low in the 2000s. However, the authorities began to consider electricity theft as a problem from that period. The factors that led to a change in the authorities’ stance toward informality will be explained by examining this case.A review of the said newspaper articles and parliamentary minutes revealed the following points. From 1986 to 2000, electricity theft had been seen as a problem by the power distribution companies as it was mainly committed by industrial and commercial users and the elite, causing negative effects on economic growth and higher electricity prices. However, since around 2000, electricity theft has been seen as a problem by the authorities because it is mainly committed by the poor and causes damage, such as fires and accidents. The reason the authorities began to see electricity theft as a problem could be attributed to two factors that arose from the economic growth in the late 1990s. Firstly, the use of electricity by the poor has increased and the proportion of electricity theft by them has also increased. Secondly, the middle-income group, who are highly anxious about damage to their bodies and their property, has expanded. Before 2000, electricity theft was considered to be a problem in an economic context, which did not overlap with the objectives of the authorities. However, since the 2000s, electricity theft has been seen as a cause of fires and accidents, and the authorities that aim to maintain local order have an increased need to crack down on electricity theft to achieve their goals. In other words, it can be hypothesized that the situation discussed by previous studies on informality, where strict crackdown is not implemented as long as the goals of the authorities are achieved, has no longer applied in the Philippines since the 2000s.