BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
PRETTY PLAZA. PRETTY GOOD.Just when it seemed I lost all heart about losing acres of Philippine heritage districts to neglectful government/private sector attitudes, I was pleased as punch to bump into the area featured above. Located at the Maestranza in Intramuros, this former riverside squatter colony has been cleared of all it's unsightly elements and spruced up for public consumption. It's amazing how a little paving brick and flowering trees can alter a district's character. And the result is not only cosmetic. Positive effects can be felt in different parts of the walled city as well. All the unsavory characters, vagrants and beggar children who once lived in the colony and earned their keep by lurking in front of the Manila Cathedral are now gone and - from what I heard - given alternate housing in Bulacan. And although the walled city of Intramuros still lacks a cohesive vision for it's progressive development, this small but effective effort is definitely a step in the right direction.
The Maestranza Plaza is located beside the old Customs building next to Plaza Mexico, the Department of Tourism, and Starbucks.
posted by carlosceldran @ 7:28 AM
28 Comments:
I hope you could feature the Magallanes Cloverleaf makeover. For once, let's send a good word to Mayor Binay. Or is that an MMDA Metro Pogi job? For the first time in history, they are using our moeny for us, not for visiting dignitaries, not for tourism, but for us. Woot!
from what i've heard, the grand dream was to make that whole area all the way across the river to muelle de binondo a sort of revived old manila area. thats the grand dream. like a mini version of the bund probably. i really hope this is the first step.
You read my mind. My camera was on the fritz lang e. Totally will make a post. But would you believe I heard someone say about it:" "Why are they putting fountains there. Sayang lang (what a waste)the money."
I don't know what else they would want the money spent on...
My Gahd, binigyan na nga ng fountain eh! Sus! Dati nga, that area was like, Lino Brocka's melodramatic, borderline-campy "Gumapang Ka sa Lusak!" And I was wearing a tie on my way to the 23rd floor of the Citibank Towers in Paseo. There is a God who listens to prayers (in Makati). Can you imagine how many letters to the editor I sent (and went unpublished or totally ignored) just to request that area fixed. Not exactly walking the talk, but, hey, look, if no one complained, or at least wrote about it, everyone else will think everything's A-OK!
Truly.
So glad we share the same eye. To be a truly civilized city, it's all about the details.
Hi Carlos,
I don’t understand your extreme dislike of vagrants, beggars and street children. I had several opportunities to interact with them. Due to language difficulties I wasn’t able to talk much with them but I was able to connect and I learned that we should treat them with dignity. They are human beings like you and me. There are “unsavoury” characters everywhere, also in the middle class and among the rich. My guess is that “unsavoury” characters are present in those groups in the same proportion as in the Manila slums.
Before I start blaming people I always try to put myself in their shoes. What would have happened to me if I was born in the garbage dumps of Payatas instead of in a middle class family in Europe? It was a frightening exercise of the mind. I am sure you could do the same exercise, Carlos. After all you are an artist and a creative mind. Go ahead; imagine you were born in the dump of Payatas. Imagine what happened to you when you grew up…
I agree with you that there shouldn’t be squatters in public spaces. But give those people alternatives. Give them jobs, give them a future…
Don’t blame them all because of some rotten apples…
Those squatters will come back. It is not enough to relocate them outside Manila if you don’t educate their children and give them the opportunities to have jobs and earn money.
May I take this opportunity to ask you permission to use one of your posts of February 2006 called:
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Something is happening over at the South Super Highway Extension and it's warming the black corridors of my tiny heart. Etc.
(of course I will acknowledge the source of the post and make a link to your website.)
I started a series about “Life along the railway tracks” and I am trying to find the opinion of some bloggers about this topic. I couldn't find much about it yet.
sidney,
have you by any chance, when you interacted with some of these folks, encountered the words "professional squatter" and 'sindikato"?
sidney, torn and frayed's blog had something on the topic a while back.
while i of course agree with you that squatters are people too, it's a bit difficult to be sympathetic when you're walking around remedios circle and are attacked by a pack of begging street imps following you around the block with their hands out and tapping you on the hips asking for money. it's part of the third world experience but really, this sort of thing does not do much for local tourism.
Naturally, one can say that it is the govt's responsibility to sort this problem out, but the prevalent squatter/street children problem is yet one more symbol of this country's gradual and depressing slide into oblivion. (Note that beggars in Bangkok are nowhere near as plentiful, persistent [makulit], and irritating as some of our enterprising mendicants).
btw, carlos where exactly is maestranza plaza? forgive my geographic ignorance but none of the landmarks you pointed out rings a bell. (Plaza mexico? where?)
Sidney and Acidboy,
Interesting subject and I do have a first hand experience with these people. In fact, i actually live within a short distance from those "Lives along the Railway tracks"
Gonzo,
That is the river side piece of real estate when you look down from Fort Santiago. Plaza Mexico is beside the (still unfinished) Aduana building.
I agree with you. The little of symphathy one sometimes have for these people are, for most part, lost by the brazen and in-your-face acts of these people. Maybe its desperation(?) but a lot of these people look fit enough to get some form of manual labor to start with.And the way a lot of these people 'professinalize' their situation (eg: squatting or making their kids earn their keep by begging), theres something very very wrong with thats going on....
There's a lot of fakery going on in these parts. Streetchildren and stuff, I mean. You'll have to look harder for the real thing. Ah, just one of the many deceptions of Third World city living.
Sidney, Of course I consider them as people. But as a person equal to me. Good god NO. Really, my pity and sympathy will do nothing to help their situation and would probably only perpetuate it. The church and more "charitable" upper class types town "pity" them and give them free food, clothes, allow them to breed like rats and do not give them the chance to help themselves. And as you probably read from earlier posts, most of the URBAN poor - not rural - have no desire to uplift themselves unless it was given to them on a silver plate.
My attitude and actions only show that I do not tolerate this attitude. Is it their fault they are poor? Maybe not. But is it my fault either? definitely not.
My anger is actually aimed more at my own society which allows them to exist. I hate what the vagrants DO. I don't hate the vagrants themselves.
And yeah. Of course. Quote away by all means. Thanks man. And trust me, bizaare as it may seem, my harsh attitude is really for their own good.
My harsh words to them and blunt attitude is the only thing I feel is strong enough to spark/shock/inspire people to changing their situation. Whether they be rich or poor.
Carlos, I know you are not a bad guy!;-) You are a concerned and involved citizen and I like this.
Your link to Luis Liwanag's fantastic photo blog is proof.
I am aware of the professional squatters; I am aware that a lot of those people should get their act together and try to get out of the poverty circle, I know they have a lot of children; I know that some of those people might be unsavoury characters.
Your opinion is shared by a lot of the “middle class”. The underlying idea is that they (as a middle class) are also suffering, that they did the effort and the sacrifice to study and that they at least are working hard.
My point is that you can’t expect much good coming from people who are literally born in a garbage dump. It is easy to say that they should work, that they should be clean, that they should go to school and that they should work, etc. In one word, that they should act as model citizens.
Carlos, it is extremely difficult to get out of the poverty circle.
I posted some time ago a picture of an old (?) woman who is always walking around Intramuros. You must have met her already. She was there when I joined your excellent tour of Intramuros. I saw her back last Wednesday. So Intramuros is not yet “cleaned” of all its vagrants…
http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/2006/01/click_image_to__6.html
What will you do with her? Send her off to Bulacan because tourists like me will be shocked and scared to see her? Because in the end you are ashamed of her?
Educate those people. (for this old lady it is too late). Nobody believes me when I say that the Philippines is rich enough to send all their children to school. I always get the same answer: “You know we are a poor country. We can’t afford this. “
Robbed-An Investigation of Corruption in Philippine Education by Yvonne Chua (PCIJ) at http://www.pcij.org/bookshop/robbed.html is an eye-opener.
I also guess that some elements of society prefer to keep those people illiterate and feed them with Wowowee shows…
If nothing is done this situation will grow worse…
You can send your doctors, your nurses, your teachers, your engineers abroad in exchange of foreign currency but you will not be able to do this with your squatters…
Sorry for this long post. I know that I abuse the space in your blog. I am also aware that your post was about the beautification of Manila and not really about squatters. But when I read your post my blood pressure went up ! ;-)
Thank you Sidney, it is the responsiblity of the fortunate to help the unfortunate...Triple rainbows to your intelligence !
Sidney, your photographs are awesome...Thank You !
Carlos, what you mean is that you like to put firecrackers under people's asses...I can totally relate, but recently I found that it is more effective to put money where their mouths are...that shuts them up real fast !
I meant to put money down to defend the argument...amazing how they shut-up sooo fast !
Please also realize that the situation of poverty also makes my blood pressure go up to, sidney. And I am always the first to know it's the government and our extremely clueless elites that perpetuate the system. Do realize that so don't read me wrong here.
Please realize that there is a bigger picture here. My issue here was not to condemn the vagrants and unsavory elements per se, but to instead praise the fact that they are now absent from intramuros. And because of that, Intramuros is well on its way to becoming functional as a world-class tourist district. And more tourists in the Philippines mean more tourism jobs (where nobody has to go abroad). And more jobs mean more taxes paid. And more taxes paid means more economic development and construction of public schools. And more economic development and schools mean the upliftment of the lives of the vagrants and unsavoury characters that we were talking about to begin with.
Hmmm. I hope I got that idea down clearly enough. :o) In a nutshell, were on the same team here ok? Relax.
But is the old woman you are talking about the one right in front of the san agustin church (I can't find the photo)? The really short one with the wrinkled face with the daughter and grand daughters "living" underneath the tree? Yes I am very familiar with her. I am the godfather of her third or fourth grandchild (I forget). Through the past years, I have given her clothes, a wooden box, medicines, birth control, PLUS candies and cigarettes and a small loan in order to start a vending business. She never pursued it and just fed her grandchildren the candies and begged instead, while her daughter threw the pills away and got pregnant again. It figures that she would drop the business, as she earned a lot more from foreign tourists. Perhaps it was their way of assauging their guilt.
I onced watched a fat man step out of his white benz with diplomatic plates for five minutes, take a photograph of the church, then of her, then give her Php500.00, then speed away. When she spotted me looking at her, she broke out into the biggest shit eating grin I've ever seen in my life. As if to say, "See? Ain't life great." Yes, I know this woman very well. I talk to her almost every day.
She wasn't there last week of my last tour though. Apparently the priests kicked her out when they found out she really had her own house across town and didn't need to live under the tree. I got that bit of chismis from the rosary vendor girls who hate her for bothering the tourists. Which I found a rather odd thought because some tourists think that they too are bothersome as well, but that's another post altogether.
Carlos,
First of all, bravo for the fantastic work you are doing to make heritage come to life.
I read the article in the Inquirer today (that's what led me to your blog actually).
The announced restoration of the Maestranza is a great opportunity to launch a debate on how to build a cohesive vision for Intramuros.
Redeveloping the whole area on both sides of the river sounds like a great ambition.
The danger, however, would be to turn it into a cheap copy of Singapore's Clark Quay and Boat Quay, inauthentic reconstructions of a past that never was, when the Philippines have so much more history (and good taste) to offer.
You need to engage and mobilize the architects, conservationists, urban planners, and tourism professionals into this project. And you need to get the support of the business community and the Catholic church. My take is that funding will become available if only a quality roadmap can be proposed for the cohesive renovation of the whole area.
I remember how a smal group of East Germans were able to overcome initial skepticism until they gather enough momentum and funds to rebuild the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Why not dream BIG and aim for the same to happen in Intramuros? The moment has never been so favorable.
Ok, Carlos. I understand you! We are almost on the same team here ! ;-)
No, we are not speaking about the same lady.
She doesn’t even beg. I think she collects old plastic bottles.
http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/2006/01/click_image_to__6.html#comments
(copy and paste this link in your browser)
or you can look at my site under the categories ---> homeless. She is in the second picture.
I am sure you have seen her before.
I can't help myself. I give her 100 pesos each time I see her as a remembrance of our photo shoot! :-) Less expensive than a professional model! And yes I get a happy grin in return! ;-)
as cruel as it sounds, the best way to help a beggar or a street dweller is to NOT give them alms. its not that most people here are calloused with regards to them, its just that they are so irritating and they do it everyday you pass by their area. the "sige na sir, para makauwi na ho kami" reasoning. then what? you give them a good motivation to come back on the street the next day.
if you really want to help there are a lot of good organizations there that promotes education, family planning and job searches for these people. avoid the damn leftist urban poor groups- they need these people to get their foreign funding and so have no real motivation to pull them out of there.
To briefly segue away from the squatter issue, CARLOS, did you notice that there was not a single soul in the vicinity of that river park? I have been to this river park a number of times and it is very beautiful. But when I went there, just like in your pictures, there was hardly anyone there. To think that Metro Manila is very very overcrowded. What gives?
This is very different from the other Atienza beautification projects: the Baywalk, the Avenida repaving, etc, which are jam packed with people at any given point in time.
This somehow begs the question... What's the point of creating parks that nobody goes to? Perhaps we should have left the plaza to the squatters...
maybe its because half of metro manila are now in mall of asia.
Acidboy, I think we both are more on the same team on this issue. I don't believe in pandering either.
And the reason why nobody is there is because it hasn't been opened yet. But either way, yeah, the malling class of manila most likely won't go there either.
I'm hoping that it could become an extension of chinatown. I would love it if it became a riverside outdoor ihaw ihaw and dimsum row cheap enough for tourists and students.
that is a very good idea, carlos. perhaps it is time to let the capitalists come in to attract more people.
that place is yet to become the best venue for ihaw-ihaw and beer ever! (subject of course to strict sanitation guidelines)
Acidboy,
I would rather have capitalists who support heritage-based initiatives, that way, there's a balance between economics and heritage issues.
Poverty is a touchy issue among the Pinoy rich and middle-class whose wealth becomes questionable in the face of teeming beggars, homeless and squatters. Yes, one can blame the ocean of poverty in the Philippines on government ineptitude but more than half of the blame lies squarely on the Filipino well-to-do which has a history of niggardly philanthropy, exploitation, and sorely inadequate civic spirit. In other words, there is no concerted, collective effort to *really* fix the poverty problem among those who have the resources to do so.
That's the prevailing mentality of Filipino's today"Mahirap ako attitude"If we keep on saying that to ourselves,then that will be the end result.I hope the poor people and everyone for that matter will realize,that we cannot depend on our government.Because our government can't even help themselves.
alex e.
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