Barrio Magdaragat was a peaceful fishing village on the shores of Manila Bay, until 1954, when the growing city of Manila began to dump its garbage there. In the decades to come the village became an ecological and human disaster – covering 40 hectares, rising upto 10 storeys high with constantly burning pockets of decaying garbage. The once thriving community – men women and children – forced to make a meagre living by scavenging the piles of disease ridden waste.

The area was nicknamed Smokey Mountain by visiting international journalist as a sarcastic reference to the piles of garbage resemblance to the pristine wilderness of the Smokey Mountains in the United States. It became a symbol of the Philippines social, political and environmental problems and was synonymous with the human and ecological cost of the excesses of the Marcos regime.

The dump was now home to not only the original inhabitants of the area but an ever increasing community of poverty stricken rural settlers and displaced persons with no other means to feed their families than scavenging the dumpsite. They lived in appalling conditions in and around the mountains of garbage and were not only susceptible to ill health and high child mortality due to disease and poor living conditions but were also in danger of flooding and garbage cave-ins burying their homes and, often, loved ones.

In 1983, Father Ben, a Filipino catholic priest, began working with the community to improve their lives and living conditions. Together they created a community cooperative, a community run organisation making bags and homewares from recycled newspaper and telephone directories. The community center is a cooperative it not only helps fund community education courses and a micro-financing programs but is also wholly owned and run by community members.