Dagupan’s ‘Bayani’

By Marifi Jara

The October 21 fire that razed most of Sitio Aling, a wide slum area in Dagupan with more than 100 houses, brings to the fore a gnawing problem that is characteristic of most urban places in developing countries within Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Slum colonies are more often than not a breeding ground for criminal elements; without proper utility services, they are a threat to the wider health and sanitation condition; these, in some cases, literally impede on infrastructure development plans; and the sight is, uh, unpleasant.

Beyond all that, the issue of urban squatters is one tough cookie. It is particularly complicated within the context of the Philippines’ glaringly unbalanced social structure wherein there is a very rich and very powerful minority, a largely restrained middle-class, and a very poor and almost helpless majority.

Looking at the case of the capital city, Bayani Fernando, chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority, is the man who stands in the midst of the squatter challenge.

On the one hand, the rich, the powerful and the middle class are applauding what they would call his bold and uncompromising efforts to comprehensively clean up the mess that has resulted from a city that grew with no urban planning, including getting rid of illegal settlers on some of the most prime locations within the metro, mostly public land. If the national government seriously intends to turn Metro Manila into a cosmopolitan city that is truly worthy of being the country’s hub, then Bayani is very well their hero.

But to the urban poor, Bayani could very well be the devil incarnate. Most of these illegal settlers have been pushed to the edge. Without much opportunity in the remote and rural areas, they have ventured to the city in the hope of bettering their lives. Some are displaced ethnic minorities such as the Aetas and the Badjaos. And most would find that the urban promise is a myth. They prefer to hold on to the myth than re-trace their steps to the dreary land of their past. And so they grab on to whatever space there is in a life defined by basic survival. Anyone who forces them out without presenting alternatives could be nothing but a villain.

Bayani is tasked to address the surface of the problem. For what he is assigned to do, he has been delivering excellently. But the very root of this vicious situation demands deeper structural changes, and the person to deliver that would indeed be a hero.

Bayani’s is a most unenviable role. Politicians with long-term plans of staying in elected positions would never entertain the thought of trading places with him.  Ima-gine all those votes that would be lost in the slum areas. But the politicians have the power to institutionalize system transformations.

Dagupan’s squatter problem is by no means anywhere near the scale of Metro Manila’s. But it is no different. And the city’s administration need not wait for the issue to get any worse, especially if it hopes to realize Dagupan’s potentials as an urban space.

Not just in Sitio Aling, but squatters are already mushrooming in city corners and under bridges.

At this point, who would bravely take on the Bayani role for Dagupan? And who would be its heroes?

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com . For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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