Deterioration Of Manila,why It Continues?

[Call me bubba]

another recent post  was described as "Reign  of the Idiots" 

 

this post is to help better understand why the "sidewalks"(and the things)

are the way they are

from another long term expat/reporter/PHd candidate

 

One of the more remarkable things for expats when they come here

is to observe that Filipinos in general rarely complain about anything.

 

Mediocrity is the standard, especially regarding public issues, and Filipinos seem to have gotten used to it.

 

As an example, let’s talk about something simple: SIDEWALKS, a basic public asset that facilitates mobility and the livability of a city.

Except for a few areas, sidewalks are absent. Or if they do exist, they are occupied in very different ways. Streets for pedestrians are science fiction. :thats-funny:

 

The terrible consequence is that elders, small children, and handicapped people are excluded from the streets.

 

Some years ago, Dutch anthropologist Neil Mulders published a tiny but solid book in which he depicted the Filipino mindset. According to him, the main reason for the lack of social cohesion in the country is Filipinos make a very deep distinction between two spheres:

the public and the private.

 

The private sphere belongs to the kin and friends,

and utang na loob obliges one to reciprocate help, support, favors, and even money.

The public sphere, on the other hand, becomes the jungle where anything is valid in order to bring commodities to the private sphere.

 

Therefore, Filipinos tend to distrust other Filipinos in public spaces, lack of courtesy is the rule, and the much-touted bayanihan is blatantly absent.

 

Displaying a high social status then becomes essential in order to show power and to avoid rules.

Therefore, street vendors are allowed to occupy sidewalks and sell anything there.

 

Some areas along Taft and Pedro Gil, for example, are literally NOT walkable and extremely dirty. I am not saying those people do not have the right to make a decent living. I believe, though, that they should move to proper stalls, follow basic standards of hygiene, and pay taxes.

 

Some barangay outposts and small police stations occupy entire sidewalks

, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road

 

. Do local officials have the freedom to do in the streets whatever they want?

 

What is the use of these outposts? Because young thieves are selling stolen smartphones at the corner of Pedro Gil and Adriatico St., right beside a barangay outpost and 20 steps away from a police container-like station.

 

Then we have the big companies distributing electricity: Their huge posts occupy free of charge big portions of the streets. It is time to demand from those oligarchy-run businesses to spend part of their profits for putting electricity cables underground, as what they have done in some areas of Makati, The Fort, and Alabang. The look of Filipino streets would change radically.

 

But I am not hopeful that this will ever happen, honestly.

 

We also have the eternal issue of traffic, something that is technically easy to solve, as Benjamin De La Peña has proved in a series of articles on urban planning, but is permanently delayed due to the pressure of the public transportation lobby (buses and jeepneys)

and the lack of vision of public servants.

 

I wonder if there is any urban planner in any of the city halls in Metro Manila . :89:

 

Let’s look at Pasay,

particularly the Buendia-Taft intersection:

Instead of forcing buses and jeepneys to follow the rules, authorities chose to dismantle big portions of sidewalks in order to expand the road. Bus and jeepney drivers are happier, since they have more space to do what they were already doing: loading and unloading people.

 

The same happened on Maginhawa Street in Quezon City.

 

These are clear examples of the short-sightedness of so called public servants that has had disastrous consequences over the quality of the life of hundreds of thousands of people.

 

Lastly, we have the businesses (banks, restaurants, convenience stores, etc.) using the sidewalks in front of their establishments as their own private parking lots. People are deprived of a place where they can walk comfortably. Moreover, you will not be allowed to leave your car there unless you are a client. Again, as in all examples cited above, we have a public space used as a private asset. It is taken for granted that it has to be like that, but clearly is bad for the livability of the city -- not to mention its unfairness and illegality.

 

I used to think that Philippine oligarchs would be interested in improving the sorry state of public transportation for their economic gain, but I forgot to think about those with malls.

Parking fees provide huge profits that would disappear with the implementation of a centralized and organized system of public transportation. Some of them also have investments in car factories. Moreover, one of the main reasons of the success of malls in the Philippines relies precisely in the horrible state of city streets. People in Barcelona, London, or Vienna do not choose to spend their free time in malls. What is the point of going to a secluded artificial air-conditioned box when you have nice beautiful streets with benches, trees, and cleanliness? The decay of Manila is the success of the malls.

 

The only long-term and workable solution would be the implementation of a system of city buses like the ones available in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Warsaw, Berlin, or Tokyo. Indeed, so many models to learn from.

 

Unfortunately, this will not take place because, for one, there are too many people taking economic advantage of the status quo. For another, given the current impoverishment of the population, the implementation of a quality system of transportation and its maintenance would require the total control of the government subsidizing heavily its functioning.

 

But it should not matter how much such a system cost because it would be cheaper than the millions of pesos Filipinos lose every day in the current dysfunctional situation and the priceless radical improvement in the quality of life of Filipinos.

 

Summing up, Filipinos do not show any sense of shared responsibility for public space. As a consequence of this particular feature of their mindset, the shared space has only become a place where street vendors, electricity companies, local government units, and business owners can do as they please.

 

The Republic of the Philippines should perhaps thus be referred to as the 'Reprivate of the Philippines' to reflect this apathy to the notion of sharing responsibility for public space. And this applies to education and health too. Sadly.

 

Editor’s note: Jorge Mojarro, a Spaniard, is a PhD candidate doing research on Filipiniana. He has lived and worked in the Philippines since 2009, walking its streets, taking the LRT, and even enjoying the occasional basketball game with Manilenos.

 

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/99809/the-reprivate-of-the-philippines--or-why-metro-manila-continues-to-deteriorate

 

 

I have HIGHLIGHTED some words in order to help make the post more clear and Spaced it out to make it more readable

 

added note, the BUENDIA/ TAFT intersection is where some of the buses depart for the southern provinces, as Laguna, Quezon and Batangas. 

 

 

here is a similar topic regarding "sidewalks"

http://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/19472-why-are-the-roadssidewalks-like-this/

Edited November 26, 2014 by Pittman apartments Sgn

[JJReyes]

Sidewalks are one issue. Another is the number of new buildings constructed or under construction as the country prospers. All the occupants of those new condos and offices require mobility, but the size of the streets remain the same. The result is traffic gridlock.

Edited November 26, 2014 by JJReyes

[Markham]

Editor’s note: Jorge Mojarro, a Spaniard, is a PhD candidate doing research on Filipiniana. He has lived and worked in the Philippines since 2009, walking its streets, taking the LRT, and even enjoying the occasional basketball game with Manilenos.

What he says may be true of Manila but not so of Davao. Generalisations such as the above do not lend to his credibility.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

He described every Filipino city I have seen yet.  Davao must be the exception ha ha

[jpbago]

I wonder if there is any urban planner in any of the city halls in Metro Manila

 

Now this is a highly educated society that is being referred to.

[Mike J]

I read an article in Star yesterday that also seemed to hint at part of the problem.  The mayor will declare a four day holiday for the entire city during the papal visit next year.  He will also ask the Pope to pray the city out of bankruptcy.  I thought it was a rather odd combination coming from a culture where you are expected to work your way out of financial trouble.  Although in the USA balanced budgets apply to everyone EXCEPT the US government.   :bash:   

[jpbago]

 He will also ask the Pope to pray the city out of bankruptcy.  I thought it was a rather odd combination coming from a culture where you are expected to work your way out of financial trouble

 

Not odd at all. This is a direct quote from my daughter's 1st year private college sociology:

 

"The Filipino belief in supernatural powers taught them to trust in prayers rather than hard work in the realization of their dreams. Success is considered as a blessing from above."

 

Another one that I saw was:

 

"For a Filipino, time is a succession of moments without a starting point for an end."

[jpbago]

 The mayor will declare a four day holiday for the entire city during the papal visit next year

 

Beijing shut down the city earlier this month for 6 days during the G20 to ease the pollution and traffic.

[MikeB]

I thought it was a rather odd combination coming from a culture where you are expected to work your way out of financial trouble.

Where did you get that idea? 

[scott h]

This article could be split into about 6 topics and the board would be alive for days,,as it is just to many things to comment on :1 (103):