Manila

The ferry ride from the Bataan peninsula was beautiful.  In just a few hours, we were in the heart of downtown Manila.  We had taken the ferry over once before when Hazel needed to get a camera battery that we could only find there.  We were surprised when we got to the dock that there was one ferry, one way, once a day.  That was interesting.  We hadn’t planned on staying the night, but the boat was leaving in a few minutes and we needed to decide.  So with a shrug and a laugh Vanessa, Hazel and I decided to hop on and see what happened.  When we landed, Vanessa surveyed all the boat captains, anyone wearing a uniform, and a few people who looked like they might know whether there were any private boats we could hire to get us back across.  Apparently, there were not.  Yachts?  No.  Blow-up rafts?  Nada.  Hm.  We decided we would decide later.  After a fun day of exploring and nary a private yacht offering us a return ride, we ended up hiring an off-meter taxi driver to take us the 5-hour trip home.  He agreed, but I don’t think he realized exactly how far it was… he seemed a little annoyed as we kept driving further and further into the province.  But the adventure was worth it, at least for us!

This time, the one-way ferry was fine, as we were staying in the city.  The capital of the Philippines is the densest city in the world, with over 1.6 million people calling Manila home.  It’s has one of the biggest malls in the world, multinational companies, and colossal traffic.  Driving here is an art form, requiring uses of sight, sound, gestures, and understanding the dance of the road.  Sometimes it’s a death-defying dance, but it has its own sense of rhythm and flow.  Marked lanes are fun ideas, but if there’s space, there’s a car.  The car horn is as useful as the turn-signal and is employed often.  Motorbikes weave throughout all the lanes and giving them preference would break the flow.  Their expectation of traffic keeps them safe.  On roads where there is no stoplight, cars just make their way through in a sort of automotive lattice pattern, pausing and going as they work their way to the other side.  Pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way, but sometimes will slow a bit if you give a good glare and gesture wildly.

The Philippines is developing quickly, but it’s still a transitional economy with 30% of the workforce in the agricultural sector and more than half the country living in rural areas.  Remittances from overseas workers make up 8%-10% of the national GDP, with Filipino Americans sending 43%, or $10.6 billion USD.  These statistics are easy to look at as numbers, but often represent a broken family, with one or two family members living overseas while relatives care for children.  Nurses, nannies, construction workers, engineers, and teachers are all global jobs done well by Filipino people.

Those without a good job might end up in one of the massive slum communities that house an estimated 4 million people.  The economy has been growing, but 10% still live on less than $1.25 a day and 21.6% live in poverty. 

Poverty in the Philippines isn’t just lack of money.  Corruption in government is rampant, and everything from jobs to justice is based on whom you know.  Those with powerful connections have no restrictions or repercussions.  Those without are left with little recourse except to take justice into their own hands.  Neighborhoods will organize their own enforcement codes and ally with fraternal orders that are a cross between the Elks and the MS13.  Personal retribution is the fear that keeps poor societies in line.  Riding-in-tandem shootings are the ultimate enforcement – two masked people are on a motorbike, one drives, one assassinates.  Usually violent crime isn’t random, it’s targeted revenge with no due process.  Between October and May, there were 880 of these mobile murders.

The justice system is broken, as well as the political system.  One family I met won’t travel to a vacation island during election season, after a relative was held hostage during a political exchange.  It isn’t usually violent, but being associated with the losing political party can be unrecoverable for businesses or civic involvement.  Politicians quite literally buy votes.  They’ll go into poor neighborhoods and hand out $10-$20 each in exchange for being put in power.  When there’s no hope of justice regardless of which party wins, the logical calculus is money today is better than broken promises tomorrow.  So they vote and pocket the cash.

The government will often try to separate themselves from the people they’re there to serve.  One woman was trying to get governmental approval for a project and had to make repeated visits to the official’s office.  She was surprised to observe that the official would only communicate in English, refusing to speak Tagalog, the local language.   English is an official language of the Philippines and is taught in school, but not everyone is easily fluent, especially those from poorer communities.  The lack of English fluency meant they struggled to navigate the government bureaucracy, or just failed and left. Lack of justice, again.

The slums collect people who exist on the margins.  Usually they are squatters, living on land that belongs to others.  Sometimes it’s a dump, or a former dump, or beside a dump.  Sometimes it’s by a river, or over a drainage ditch.  Sometimes it’s on empty land, or in an empty building.  There’s always a tension between the owners and the squatters, and how justice is defined.  These communities are full of bright children, tired parents, and the usual daily living you would see anywhere.  There are good people and bad people, all tied together by severe lack.

The Philippines is a large country with beautiful traditions, people, culture, and landscape.  I don’t mean to paint a despairing picture.  You should visit!  You’ll love it!  Most of my time there was not spent on the gorgeous beaches or enjoying great shopping, however.  My experiences were with a group that tourists don’t usually see.  And even in the slums, there’s beauty to be seen.