December 2011 - Filipino-American Community of South Puget Sound

14 Lifestyle-Travel
If a foreigner asks you to take her around Manila for a day, where would you
bring her? I found myself in this situation a few weeks ago, and it is difficult.
As my friend who works at an international travel agency says, Manila has the
lowest number of tourists among Asian countries, and at that moment I understood
why: it’s probably not very clean compared to the others, and the remarkable
tourist spots are in the provinces. Thankfully, there is the trusty old Intramuros,
which I rediscovered that day.
Taking the MRT and LRT to the Central station, we hailed a cab to the Walled
City, which is home to many buildings whose designs are inspired by the Spanish
tradition. We walked to Fort Santiago, which was landscaped superbly. At the center
is a huge fountain, surrounded by rows and rows of well-trimmed plants. There
are steel benches all around, and classical music played from a huge speaker, allowing
for a peaceful leisurely walk, although one can opt to ride the horse-drawn
carriage called kalesa.
Scattered all over are sculptures, replicas of cannons, the guards in the Guardia
Civil attire, and little kids running away from their parents. Yes, it is a perfect place
for family picnics, with a clean turf for playing frisbee, or simply lazing away on a
blanket. Some also fly kites, or do photo shoots. Fort Santiago, in fact, is a suki for
couples in need of pre-nuptial photos, made to look vintage-like, with the backdrop
of the bricks and stone walls.
There is also a huge pond, where there grows huge water lilies with bright
flowers. A short walk would take one to the dungeons, those dark spaces that are
By Vince Marin
Little known fact: November
is urban poor month in the
Philippines. In honor of the second
biggest Filipino sector, next
only to the rural poor (ha!), let us
take a moment to view this group
through the lens of a known advocate
of the poor during his
time, Dr. Jose Rizal.
The urban poor is one of the
least understood sectors of Philippine
society. Unlike, say, workers
or farmers, the urban poor is
not clustered based on economic
activity, hence no easily defined
economic interest. The most common
notion identifies the sector
with the slums and squatter settlements
in which most of them live,
which bears all the degradations
of poverty in plainest view.
For this, the urban poor suffers
some of the harshest of stereotypes,
which is aggravated by
their proximity to a judging media
and middle class. In the ongoing
Reproductive Health Bill debate,
for instance, much of the rhetoric
behind the need for population
control is undoubtedly driven by
the sight of tightly-packed slums,
filled with people who allegedly
"multiply like rabbits". The city's
waterways are clogged because of
the squatters who are too "hardheaded"
to move. An upper class
professional, perhaps aboard his
car or a taxi cab, will pass by a
slum area and notice shirtless
men milling about a store front,
and conclude that these people
are poor because they are lazy and
don't know any better.
December 2011
http://pinoyreporter.com
also the stuff for European historical romances. There is also a viewing ‘deck’
where one can see Manila – with its unremarkable buildings, smog and the
murky river, at least during the day. At night, though, it becomes a wonderful
sight with reflections of lights from the establishments dancing with the
river’s gentle rhythms.
And of course, the thick walls designed to protect the city from rebellion,
are a sight in themselves. This is especially true for the part that resembles a
cathedral’s façade, where the crowd is led to the museum for Philippine National
Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.
Fort Santiago also draws people because of this exhibit that pays tribute to
his heroism, with his statue, old letters to his sisters, poems, clothing and photos
on display. His final work, Mi Ultimo Adios, is translated to Filipino, English,
French, Chinese and other major languages. There is also a reconstructed
version of his cell when he was incarcerated by the Spanish for treason.
To those who would like to take home Philippine handicrafts, vendors
have in tow fans and hats, and there are also stalls that offer exquisite accessories
and home finery. Finally, hungry stomachs can come to fine dining
restaurants in the area, or to those looking for cheaper options, there’s always
Binondo’s Sun Wah or Los Ambos Mundos.
In my case, we ended up appreciating the interiors (and exteriors, too),
of the Manila Cathedral, then heading to a mall for dinner. Nonetheless, my
foreigner friend and I had a great time. �
PuertO PrINceSA uNderGrOuNd
rIver: New wONder Of NAture
rizal and the urban Poor
Once upon a time, Jose Rizal
endeavored to defend a people
who were likewise typecast as lazy
and ignorant by a judging upper
class. The result became
one of Rizal's
most important
essays, The Indolence
of the Filipinos.
Credit Rizal's
prescience, and the
still-dire economic
realities of today,
that a
Rizal argued
that, in spite of an
active and industrious
tradition, the Filipinos' productive
capacity was destroyed
because the Spaniards forced
them into other pursuits that
served the colonial interest. Today,
this translates to the interests
of the wealthy, of big business and
foreign capital.
The landowning class in the
Philippines has long resisted
agrarian reform and effected
widespread conversion of agricultural
lands, which has deprived
the peasantry from 'cultivating
their fertile plains' and driven significant
rural to urban migration.
This, incidentally, has been considered
to be at the 'heart' of the
problem of urban congestion and
poverty. The rapid urbanization
of the Philippines, especially in
the 1980s when the urban population
exploded at more than
5% annually, has largely created
the urban problem to what it is
today.
Independent think-tank
IBON Foundation argues that
the government's continued
adherence to free-market policies,
which indicates its "bias
for big profit-seeking players
and foreign investors", has
eroded domestic industry and agriculture
and brought the number
of the unemployed and in poor
quality work to record highs. Interestingly,
Rizal made a similar
observation of the "abandonment
of industry and agriculture" by
the Filipinos because of Spanish
enforcement of its colonial designs.
Rizal also pointed out: "The
sordid return the native gets from
his work has the effect of discouraging
him... the native, whom
[the Spaniards] pretend to regard
as an imbecile, is not so much so
that he does not understand that
it is ridiculous to work himself to
death to become worse off."
The same might be said of
the urban poor of today. Wage
rates have fallen far short of the
government-estimated 'family
living wage' needed to sustain decent
living standards; in 2010, the
NCR minimum wage of P404 is
less than half of the family living
wage (P957). The underemployed
and the informally-employed,
which are the majority of the
poor, are earning even less.
Finally, Rizal believed that
the primary factor that "fostered
and sustained" indolence was
government. He spoke of government
corruption, of "administrative
slackness and confusion in a
country where the officials work
scarcely two hours a day"; of "the
governor… devoted almost wholly
to trade; in his hands the high
and noble functions he performs
are nothing more than instruments
of gain."
It need not be said how true
these words still ring today. If Rizal
was alive, he would take one look at
the country’s leaders and understand
completely about the slums. �