Trapped in Concrete Jungles?

BusinessWorld Column
September 21, 2014
Hansley A. Juliano
I wouldnt really call myself a fan of the singer Alicia Keys. Nevertheless, hearing her 2010 track
Empire State of Mind Part II (Broken Down) while riding to work always makes me wonder
why most cities are becoming cookie-cutter in appearance, level of access and problems . We
accept the creation of concrete jungle[s] where dreams are made of as our driver of social
mobility. Perhaps we should question this, considering the lamentable situation of
transportation and mobility in Metro Manila to date.
As someone who grew up with (and continues riding) jeepneys, tricycles and open-air buses, I
actually have a fond memory of public transportation. In contrast to most public transportation
systems worldwide (mostly Western European ones, if their citizens stories are to be believed)
where detachment and non-interaction seems enforced, public transportation in the Philippines
positively reflects Filipino openness and solidarity. Opportunities for socialization are
prioritized over open spaces. International exchange students I interact with are usually
surprised as to how brimming with life most of our public utility vehicles are flowing with the
stories of many people daily.
Nonetheless, this cannot excuse the horrendous traffic, mobility and space management
problem we have now. I would like to think I understand the frustration of our kababayans,
considering how all existing problems seem to have simultaneously dog-piled on the hapless
commuters. The daily traffic gridlock across our major expressways (both the NLEX and the
SLEX), increasingly frequent breakdowns of MRT and LRT lines, the opening and reassignment
of terminal stations for jeepneys and buses, inefficient and uncomfortable walking spaces for
many, all contribute to myriad ills plaguing employees, students and families every day.
A quick glance at government policy in the utilization of transportation lines suggest that their
priority is continued support of the transfer of goods across ports and trade spaces,
demonstrated by the recent lifting of truck bans being pushed for by Transportation Secretary
Joseph Emilio Abaya, Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Trade Secretary Gregory
Domingo.1 The belief is that access of roads for business-oriented purposes will not contribute
too much to traffic, even if the experience of many commuters at the moment suggest otherwise.
Yet the consensus that port congestion and traffic = economic growth has already been
questioned worldwide, especially by articles in The Atlantic Groups website on global urban
development CityLab.2 Adding to this, sale of second-hand cars across the metropolis continues
at a disturbingly-massive rate, considering the fact that most of these cars have been allegedly
procured via technical smuggling through our special economic zones (most notorious in recent
years being Cagayans Port Irene), and the fact that the law punishing dubious second-hand
sales, Presidential Decree No. 1612 (The Anti-Fencing Law of 1979) arguably needs updating.
Lest this be accused an Imperial Manila-centric whine, the developmental strategy almost all
local government units in the country pursue at the moment is urbanization and inviting private
investment to utilize available land and space. You will be hard-pressed to find a highly
1

See: http://www.interaksyon.com/business/92683/malacanang-drafting-order-to-temporarily-lift-manila-truckban-in-select-areas
2
See: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2013/10/how-traffic-congestion-impacts-economic-growth/7310/

urbanized city that does not have at least an Ayala Mall or SM, around three or five branches of
Jollibee, McDonalds, Chowking, Burger King, Shakeys, Mang Inasal and other major
restaurants/fast-foods. In attracting patrons, they have also become the major linchpins of
traffic flows during rush hour periods across the day.
The increasingly-privatized nature of space allocation (or its treatment as such) is readily visible
in small and vast examples. How many of us have been guilty of owning a car, parking it in a
sidewalk and thus depriving pedestrians of safe walking paths? How many of us have chosen to
bring out our family sedan or gasoline-guzzling SUVs as our protective bubbles to hellish road
conditions, subsequently contributing another vehicle to the parking-lot traffic gridlock of
every day? How many of these private establishments actually provide enough parking spaces
and not simply rely on the outside sidewalks?
The encroachment of private establishments in our day-to-day life are now normal, such that we
do not even question that almost all of the spaces we inhabit are pieces to a real-life game of
Monopoly played by our countrys richest. The fact that we take deteriorating public spaces for
granted despite our frustrations suggests we are in the dark as to how government neglect of
space management translates to negative living spaces for the lower income brackets.
This is not just neglectful policy implementation. I say most Filipinos like us have been brought
up to accept and sustain a form of urbanization obsessed by the glitz of shopping malls instead
of fostering public spaces. Subsequently, the officials we elect and appoint simply allocate most
of our lands and spaces to yet more commercial structures, even at the cost of driving off
residents or surrounding vulnerable residential areas with high-rise buildings, a looming
shadow being cast by monuments to wealth on their day-by-day subsistence.
Needless to say, private cabals of urban space at the cost of decent transit options for citizens
have to be challenged. Local officials might actually want to ask whether their existing local
economies are driven by products and businesses managed domestically and bringing in income,
or merely due outsider investments which only bring back the bulk of the profits back to their
home-bases. We must begin questioning whether hundreds of condominiums are actually being
utilized by a population whose income is growing, or merely by people who have too many
properties as it is. Our government managers will have to propose that the state take an active
part in investing and managing public systems as well as constructing the spaces for leisure
that everyone can access.
Unfortunately, our economic managers are either unwilling to lift a finger on this end or are
bad at execution (if planned selloffs of the MRT and San Miguels NAIA Expressway say
anything). As a colleague once lamented, it is impractical to expect government to pursue
regulatory policy when it does not believe it (whether on a policy level or due to personal
benefit).
Hansley A. Juliano serves as a part-time lecturer to the Department of Political Science, School
of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University. He is also engaged in research and advocacy
for various sectoral issues (such as labour rights and agrarian reform).