Vital Linkages: A Study of the Role of Linking Social Capital in a Philippine Disaster Recovery and Rebuilding Effort

This study explores the disaster response, political transformation and community development prospects of the Philippine community of Guinsaugon, a village devastated by a 2006 landslide. Utilizing a social justice perspective, we analyze a range of qualitative data collected over a 5-year period to understand how linking capital functions following a major social disruption. An understudied form of social capital and linking capital features embeddedness, shared values and mutual goals between individuals and groups that are divided by cleavages of class, power and privilege. We uncovered three major outcomes. First, an existing village institution—Cristo Rey High School—was a principal agent of distributive justice, providing immediate material goods and social support to the survivors. This local institution was deeply embedded in the village, yet maintained extensive ties with outside groups that provided crucial resources. Second, linking capital contributed to procedural justice and political transformation. The disaster sparked many emigrants to return to the village and form The ATHena Project: Advocacy for Transparency and Honesty, a civil society organization that promoted accountability and helped dethrone a local political dynasty. Finally, our study uncovered a crucial limitation of linking capital. This powerful social resource did not help fulfill essential elements of long-term community development, such as helping secure land, sustainable jobs or infrastructural development for re-located Guinsaugon villagers. In this way, we underscore the importance of a strong developmental state in post-disaster recovery. Without it, some of the gains derived from linking capital do not endure, undermining the advances of distributive and procedural justice that followed a major social disruption.