My Pen Mates,
Grace forwarded me an email from a high school friend and elementary school classmate. It showed pictures of Old Manila, the seaside boulevard, City Hall, major thoroughfares, sights, the Pasig river, and government buildings. Very well preserved pictures of how the city looked back when it was new, clean, and inhabited by "well dressed" and "disciplined" denizens. The pictures were accompanied with captions, snippets, commentaries, and nostalgic reminiscences of an obviously knowledgeable and presumably older observer.
The scenes were indeed pristine compared to how Manila looks now; almost foreign to someone like me who lived in the current day squalor. But for the jeepneys (not overloaded as the caption observed), the familiar bridges and buildings, and the unmistakable Filipino inhabitants and establishment signs in these shots, I would have found it hard to believe that this is Manila! Why, even the "manholes were clean" with polished covers and the streets garbage free!
What happened to this place? How and why has it so deteriorated that we all feel such a loss learning of how good it used to look? What happened to the people who were all "wearing shoes" , those uncrowded streets, and clean river water? How could such a beautiful city be allowed to reach this level of waste and decay? What sort of intervention could have kept this place in the same state as the pictures show?Oh, it's all because of corruption. No, it's corruption due to poverty. It's poverty due to overpopulation, and overpopulation is caused by lack of education. And we all know that ignorance leads to exploitation, and exploited people remain poor. And because the "have nots" need to eat and make a living, they are the corruptible minions of the "haves". And because corrupt people are greedy, their breed is perpetuated, and sadly, entrenched.
Clear, concise, and complete. No loose ends to this logic; any sociologist will affirm this formula. This concatenation of factors will allow, if not facilitate the transformation of a once beautiful city into what Manila is at present. This much we know and have come to accept -- tragically without apology. But what really lead to this can be gleaned from the same pictures that's so evocative of the the way things were and the way they should be if we all as a society just exercised some patience.
A short 50 years after our liberation from the Spaniards, history threw us a curve with WW II and we somehow managed to get a base hit. Thus the Oldsmoblies and Packards became common sights on the streets of Old Manila, because our short exposure to the "liberators" afforded us western pathways. This was manifest in the way city planners laid out the vision of a tropical metropolis reflected in the infrastructure that mirrors developments in Hawaii, Guam, Singapore and other US "occupations". But sometime in the last quarter of the 20th century, either due to nationalistic fervor or an unfounded belief in total sovereignty (perhaps fueled by images of more oppression by another foreign power and advocated by insular, insecure but proud leaders), we wanted no more foreign presence. With little to lean on other than an inherent belief in Filipino power, we were sold out on the idea that we can do without the US, its military bases, its undue influence in our politics, and its imperialist policies. The "haves" saw this as a leadership opportunity despite a lack of appreciation of what being a leader truly means. Mixed with greed and confused by a desire for lavishness as defined by the western world, the ambitious emergent leaders easily sullied themselves down the slippery slope of power and riches. Without the precious experience we could have learned from the occupiers, we gave our leaders unregulated power. Had we taken the time to truly assimilate democratic principles, forward thinking urban/contryside development, and solid market dynamic fundamentals from a country with 200 years of experience refining it, we need not have taken the backward steps and growing pains that has landed us in this quagmire.
And still we convince ourselves that it is always darkest before dawn; that these are the necessary evolutionary pains a society needs to value progress. I say that progress comes not so much from toil as from studious reflection. Had we sat down, observed, and studied on the knees of a more advanced society (yes, advanced does not equate to historical depth but to real social progress)_ long enough to learn their system even as it strengthened our resolve to be independent, we could have built on what we received and improved upon it. We could have made their presence unnecessary by matching their power of innovation in a transient symbiotic relationship. Why cut the cord when normal gestation is not complete?
It is premature desire to take the reigns that lead us astray. It wasn't a puppet dictator, greedy foreign businessmen, western culture, and exploitation that made the streets dirty, the rivers polluted, and an undisciplined, cross-the-street-anywhere-you-want population. It was the misguided belief that we can drive the vehicle despite our unfamiliarity with the road or ignorance of the normal operation of the equipment. We bought the bill of goods peddled by the few opportunists who saw riches by kicking out the educators who could have prevented what is... Now the putrescence is widespread. The riches and progress that initially drew the populace to the big city was quickly mismanaged after casting out the foreigners. The place raised poorly educated leaders who journey back to their provinces to duplicate the poor systems they saw. The few who kept their idealism lost hope and went abroad, or stayed put and presented isolated resistance to the pervasive threat of unrivaled decay.
Can we take it back to what it was? The true answer is no. Can we redirect our course and set a vision of a brighter tomorrow? The sane answer is we have to. Chances were missed and opportunities slipped away; but the future is what we all live for, and these will come full circle in due time. Then perhaps we can will ourselves to stop wearing the label of victim, and open our minds and pay closer attention, so as not to miss the opportunities once more.Mon
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