| 26
June 2003
Mega Manila
 WHEN the Spaniards
first arrived, Maynila was already a bustling settlement of about 4,000
people, mainly clustered around what is now Tondo then ruled by Rajah
Suliman.
That was in 1571. Today, "Maynila" has expanded into Metro
Manila or the National Capital Region, an administrative area that
includes 17 cities and towns. In the last government census, conducted
in 2000, the NCR had a population of almost 10 million, which is
projected to have reached about 12 million today, give or take 1 or 2
million depending on the time of day.
Four thousand people in 1571 -- that's the population today of a few
streets in Manila. As for the figure of 12 million, that's double the
total national population of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th
century.
Much more than many other countries, our national activities --
economics, politics, even culture -- are centered around the capital.
This is reflected in the population figures as well. After Metro Manila,
the next largest Philippine metropolitan urban area is Davao City with a
relatively small population of 1.1 million.
Anti-family planning groups argue that a large population is good for
the economy, fueling economic growth. Well, tell that to Manileņos, and
I mean the core city of Manila. When I wrote the other week about how
Manila Bay's famous sunsets were marred by the waters' terrible
pollution, exemplified by slippers being washed ashore, a friend of
mine, Dr. Babes Nazareno, texted in to quip about the slippers probably
coming from Baseco, a congested urban poor area in Manila. We had
visited Baseco a year ago, and listened to the stories of women who said
they had to go out of Manila just to get family planning services
because the city government does not allow artificial contraception.
But Manila probably need not worry. Long bursting at its seams with
problems of pollution and crime, many of Rajah Suliman's descendants
have long fled, the city's population dropping through the years. The
upper classes ended up in subdivisions scattered throughout Metro
Manila, surrounded by high walls and security guards. The poor,
especially new migrants coming in, have settled mainly in Quezon City
and Caloocan City.
The two cities in fact have the largest barangays in the Philippines
today. To help readers get a perspective on these population sizes,
remember that most municipalities in the Philippines have a population
of less than 50,000. Now, compare that figure to the populations of
Metro Manila's super barangays:
The largest one is Barangay 176, better known as Bagong Silang, which
had a population of 188,419 according to the last census. So huge is the
barangay that even the Catholic Church had to divide it into three
parishes.
After Bagong Silang, the three next largest barangays, population-wise,
are all in Quezon City: Commonwealth with 120,569, Payatas with 112,690
and Batasan Hills with 109,723. I suspect all these figures are actually
under-stated, since the slum colonies have large floating populations.
I intentionally cited barangay populations to underscore the gravity of
the problem-just how does one expect barangay officials to take care of
the needs of such large populations?
Looking at those Quezon City barangay figures, we shouldn't be surprised
to hear that the Diliman-Commonwealth area has become a case study for
urban blight. Name the problem and you have it there: traffic gridlock,
pollution, substance abuse and crime. Just last week, one of my students
boarded a jeep on Commonwealth Avenue, right outside UP Diliman. A few
minutes after she boarded, she and all her fellow passengers were robbed
at gun point, all this in broad daylight. When the passengers reported
the crime, the police could only shrug their shoulders in sympathy, with
this really useful advice: Mag-ingat na lang (Just be careful).
But how long can one "be careful" when the resources are just
so stretched? I'm not just talking about law enforcement but of the
basic services that could help reduce crime: jobs, education, health
services, shelter.
Anti-family-planning groups say there are enough resources to go around
and that eventually, as we achieve more equity, we will move forward
even with this large population. It's really a variation of
"trickle-down" theory, i.e., develop the upper classes first
and benefits will trickle down to the poor. I think it was the renowned
economist John Kenneth Galbraith who once compared that trickle-down
theory to a horse trudging along a highway and "trickling
down" something for the sparrows.
It's a race against time as the population continues to expand, through
both biological reproduction and migration. Quezon City's slums are
already so full, people are now invading new grounds, including UP's
Diliman campus.
We could of course boast about all these large numbers. Metro Manila is
already the world's fourth most densely populated city, more crowded
than Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Delhi. Are we aiming to be first?
The Guinness Book of World Records does list us as having the world's
largest high school, in terms of enrollment. This is Rizal High School,
which last year had 25,000 students, with 200 sections for first year
alone. I read in the papers they actually ran out of student
identification cards.
There's talk now about Mega Manila, extending as far north as Tarlac and
as far south as Batangas. It's happening: I have friends who commute
daily between school or work in Quezon City and homes in Laguna. We
better be prepared to go beyond boasting and prepare to meet the mega
problems that come with a Mega Manila.
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