Looking back at the debate over the monstrous squatting plague that is ravaging the Philippines’ major cities that has raged across social media like a wildfire, it is difficult not to be a nostalgic of a time when squatters where a relatively small problem. Perhaps back in a time when squatter colonies were more an unsightly blight that dotted the metropolis than the vast swaths of festering infestation that has brought Manila to its knees today, it was a lot easier to be sympathetic of these “informal settlers.”
[Image courtesy Hecho Ayer.]
So, many more people back then could find it in their hearts to be a bit more tolerant of squatters. The sorts of sentiments that ring hollow today — the calls that draw upon Filipinos’ ingrained distrust of the landed gentry and that play the victim card in favour of society’s “oppressed” — resonated more powerfully back when the charms of Manila’s esteros were still visible treats to Mañilenos; back when a lazy leisurely stroll was still possible in the Philippine capital.
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Was it difficult, if not impossible, to foresee back then what an enormous social problem squatters would go on to become? Perhaps. The Philippines back in the 1950s — when the memory of the euphoria of Independence from the United States was still fresh in the minds of Filipinos — was different. The country actually had a promising future ahead of it. And where there was a promising future, there was hope that was shared across what was then a small community of about 20-odd million in a way that transcended social class and tribal lines.
See, the thing with small problems is that they creep up on their unsuspecting victims slowly. Indeed, the manner with which squatters came to take over Metro Manila was neither something that happened in one big attack wave nor one that was contrived. It happened progressively much the same way one comes around to sporting a comb-over as I have written some time ago…
I believe that comb-over regimes happen progressively. They start as a small bald patch that can be hidden with a very minor change in the way we comb our hair. In my case, for example, a scar just above my hairline at the left side of my face predisposes me to grow a bit of an extra fringe there (and comb it down a bit) to even things out — achieve that symmetry that is so prized in the animal kingdom, so to speak.
For those of us who are unfortunate enough to possess the male pattern baldness gene, the baldness can advance in a slow enough pace as to elude awareness of the small incremental changes in the way we comb and have our hair trimmed as the shinier spots on our head advance in scope. The majority probably get it at some point and make a decisive correction in their grooming patterns.
Unfortunately, some don’t — at least not until they are way past the point-of-no-return in their emotional and social investment in their chosen hair grooming regime.
There are consequences to the decisions we make that are not readily-apparent. The squatter problem in the Philippines is so mind-boggling in its enormity that it can be considered to be an intractable problem — one that will require humanly-unacceptable decisions to be made in order to fully reverse the immense damage done and shunt the freight train that is Philippine society onto a line that will set it on a course to a better outcome. Admittedly, the show-stopper for the camp that advocates a hardline implementation of a zero-tolerance rules-based approach to dealing with squatters is what to do with the hundreds of thousands of families who will be subject to such a regime. Where do you put them? There are simply too many of them.
Those who are of the view that giving them “hope” by sparing them from absolute subjection to the law will hopefully turn them into productive citizens someday. There is a big assumption inherent in this position — the assumption that opening doors to most people will result in their walking through said door.
The Philippine squatter problem, as such, can be likened to the ever-widening budget deficit of the United States. Dealing with the US deficit comes down to the question of whether to continue spending and hoping that the hoped-for economic returns of that expenditure will eventually overtake the rate at which the deficit widens, or to stop or drastically reduce spending on the back of some kind of hope that the economy will continue chugging along despite being half-starved of the stimulus government spending provides it. It is a similarly intractable problem. The consequences have, within the domain of acceptable thinking, become permanent.
In both cases, all roads lead to the question of why we allowed things to get to this point to begin with. When such a question has become pretty much the only intellectual artifact we can reflect upon, the reality that a kind of thinking needs to be applied that is fundamentally different to the sort of thinking that created the problem to begin with becomes starkly evident.
With apologies to Albert Einstein.
[Photo of Estero de Paco courtesy Dennis Villegas.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
HHHMMMM.
“than the vast swaths of festering infestation that has brought Manila to its knees today”
or the workhorses that have buttressed your so-called privileged classes. We may look at it both ways. Most people coming from the slums (renting low-cost rooms and beds in them) are also working as your low-wage laborers without which, you wouldn’t have the spare time to sit on your posh air-conditioned room because society would be so busy filling-in all the dirty jobs these people have landed themselves in.
These people are the maggots that turn your “oh-so-sacred” poop back into something useful for the nourishment of plants so that you could brag to your shallow friends you are eating a gourmet vegetable.
These are the same people that are belabored to act as your construction workers, masons, carpenters and land-fillers, without which, you would not have greedy landlords, foreign-blood architects turned developers turned usurious leeches of society, or syndicated estafa land/real-estate/condo developers hacking Pag-Ibig by securing billions worth of loans for “ghost” borrowers or bankers waiting for homeowners to reach tipping point with their unfulfillable interest rates until you relinquish your property and they take the same like greedy vultures. Without these low-life people, the useless Pag-Ibig would not even exist at all.
We may look at them at any way you like. But I will only believe you if you try walking and living their path with videos and daily diary for a period of one year. Your opinion does not carry much weight at all, unless you prove that you have undergone the same pathos they did and have seen reality through their eyes.
To moralize behind our safety-zones and computer desks without even living their life is cheap.
Oh, please. So we’re to tolerate this situation because they’re poor victims who do oh-so-important work and we’re all rich evil elites who sit in our mansions and somehow profit from their squalor?
That’s a lot of assumptions to make. Keep assuming all you like but the fact remains that it’s illegal and that squatters areas are a haven for crime, a source of pollution, a blight on the urban landscape and a fire hazard.
Sympathy for these people is good to have but don’t let that justify the situation we are in. This is a problem and it requires a solution, preferably a humane one. But the situation has gotten so out of hand, I don’t know if that’s possible.
Lol! Mr Rob Tantoco. It’s ironic that a lot of modern-day philosophers encourage people to “walk in the shoes of the poor” when there is really a lot more to be learned from walking in the shoes of the rich. If there really is a lot to be learned from the poor, then how come people make bee-lines to Get Rich in Seven Steps “seminars” and not to inspirational talks on the topic of How to Lose Your House in Seven Days?
Come down and learn the ways of the poor.. Hokkkayyyyy. Compare that call to Come up and learn the ways of the rich. Honestly, doesn’t the latter sound a bit more sensible?
😀
“Come up and learn the ways of the rich.”
Sounds like “Ascende Superius” (that is, “Come to a Higher Place”) to me. 😉
Ok, so what can you suggest as solution to this ACUTE problem now? Will you just sit down and do nothing? As compared to an impending heart attack or stroke, a dynamic medical practitioner will start “unclogging” the arteries to improve the circulation of blood to the affected areas and restore cardiac function and blood circulation in the circle of willis in the brain. The same holds true with the squatter problem in Manila – remove the squatters, unclog the waterways, clean-up the environment, prevent the spread of diseases etc etc and as always..”Prevention is worth than cure”. So start strecthing your brain and so something worthwhile rather than “squacking and “squacking” and do NOTHING and put your mouth into ACTION rather than mouth talk.
Maybe “walk in the shoes of the poor” is actually “be poor, stop being middle class and be dumb and powerless, so you can contribute to the complete takeover of the Philippines by the corrupt members of the upper class.”
the country has already been taken over by the corrupt-as-shit elites. a long time ago.
the GIANTS of this world are not found in the circles of the corrupt. Some people think that the cream always rises to the top and it is very true of dairy products. The elites of the country, and I have met a few, are contemptible scumbags/criminals. they’re ze type that make one feel dirty after being in their company for just a little while.
That is a famous postcard of an estero in Manila. It reminds us of the floating market in Bangkok. It was said that fresh produce from Bulacan and Laguna were peddled in Manila’s esteros. Bancas would come from Laguna de Bay and go through Pasig then enter into the esteros where mansions and houses faced the water.
What I believe this article says: look at a “small” problem that is certainly growing, ignore it… soon it becomes a national problem.
Time for a paradigm shift in both cases.
There’s wisdom in the idea of “nipping things in the bud”.
Perhaps it’s not so bad discussing the problem in depth — Einstein believes in spending more time there and less in the solution. 🙂
Einstein’s dead.
Lack of infrastructure planning, over developement of Manila no jobs worth mentioning in provinces little or no incentive to allow foreign investment in country, no wonder Manila is so crowded, I’d go there to looking for work, leave the squatters alone they belong.
magnificent put up, very informative. I ponder why the other experts of this sector don’t realize this.
You should proceed your writing. I am sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!