In pictures: Manila slum life

Alicia's house is a two minute walk from Estella and Cricencio's, and she is one of the lucky few who was given rights to her land by the government who once owned it.

"I have the deeds," beams Alicia, a single mother with two children. But her smile fades as she reflects on the reality of living in the slum.

"I live about 20 metres from the river," says Alicia. Every year when the typhoons come, my house gets flooded, and sometimes I am knee deep in water.