"Urbanization and the resulting growth in population have brought with them a slew of problems."
"Urbanization and the resulting growth in population have brought with them a slew of problems."
The so-called “House of Man” that Metro Manila was touted to be during the martial law era, with promises of a utopia where residents were supposed to enjoy much more than the three basic needs of food, clothing and shelter to include water, power and mobility, among others, has turned out to be nothing less than a dystopian nightmare.
Today, the metropolis encompassing 16 cities and a municipality has an estimated total population of more than 14 million (nearly 13 million as of the 2015 census). With an area of 619.57 sq. km., it is the second most populous and the most densely populated region in the country. It is also the 9th ninth most populous metropolitan area in Asia and the 5th most populous urban area in the world.
And there’s the rub. Those numbers represent a dubious distinction, because urbanization and the resulting growth in population have brought with them a slew of problems.
There’s pockets of informal settler colonies with makeshift homes made of light materials cheek-by-jowl with imposing skyscrapers of concrete, steel and glass.
There’s also horrible traffic in major thoroughfares, as in EDSA, that makes motorists stew in gridlocks for hours. Commuters, meanwhile, have to contend with overcrowding and frequent breakdowns of the MRT3 during rush hours.
Urban residents are likewise vulnerable to flooding during the rainy season, forcing them to flee to the safety of government evacuations centers until the water recedes and life returns to normal.
Wonder no more that Metro Manila and other urban areas are cursed with too many people.
More than half of the country’s population of over 100 million now reside in urban areas, with four regions registering the highest levels of urbanization, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data on the Urban Population in the Philippines collected from the 2015 population census shows that as of the reference year, the level of urbanization in the country stands at 51.2 percent. This translates to 51.73 million Filipinos living in urban centers.
Compared with data from the 2010 census of population, the level of urbanization in the country was only 45.3 percent.
Across regions, aside from the National Capital Region (NCR), four regions registered the highest level of urbanization, surpassing the national level of 51.2 percent.
These were Calabarzon (66.4 percent), Davao region (63.5 percent), Central Luzon (61.6 percent), and SOCCSKSARGEN (51.6 percent). In 2010, the same five regions posted the highest level of urbanization.
Rapid urbanization in the country has been cited as the reason for various socioeconomic issues, such as the decline in productivity of the agriculture sector, and increased pressure to come up with alternative sources of electricity and water, as we have seen just recently.
This has also given rise to the need for affordable housing for the rising middle class and low-income population residing in urban areas.
The degradation of water quality in Manila Bay can be directly traced to the tributaries leading to this vital waterway clogged with solid waste and toxic effluents from factories and squatter colonies.
In the end, spasmodic and uneven development resulting from lack of centralized planning is responsible for making Metro Manila and other urban centers too crowded for comfort and breathing space—and glaring examples of decay rather than progress.
A question of credibility
The leadership of the Philippine National Police should take note of the findings of the latest survey showing that majority of Filipinos believe that some police officers are involved in the illegal drug trade, extrajudicial killings (EJKs), and often plant evidence against drug suspects.
According to the results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in December last year but released only recently, 68 percent of Filipinos believe that allegations that police officers are involved in the illegal drug trade, with 29 percent of them tagging the accusation as “definitely true” and 39 percent of them tagging it as “probably true.” Only 5 percent said the accusation was “definitely or probably not true,” while 26 percent said they were undecided.
On the issue of police officers’ involvement in extrajudicial killing of suspects, 66 percent believed this to be true, with 28 percent of them tagging the accusation as “definitely true” and 38 percent describing it as “probably true.” Again, only 5 percent believed the accusation to be “definitely or probably not true,” while 28 percent said they were undecided.
Lastly, 57 percent believed that police officers often plant evidence against arrested suspects, with 22 percent calling the accusation as “definitely true” and 35 percent tagging it as “probably true.” Only 9 percent believed otherwise, while 33 percent said they were undecided.
The survey findings contradict the official narrative that the killing of thousands of drug suspects since mid-2016 has been the inevitable outcome of the suspects resisting arrest and fighting back. Meantime, human rights groups insist that so far, no less than 20,000 alleged drug suspects have been killed under mysterious circumstances, with the police calling these as “deaths under investigation”.
Early this year, President Duterte vowed a “harsher” drug war in the weeks ahead. Will our law enforcers take this to mean as carte blanche authority to broaden the scope of the bloody war on drugs and more killings in the offing?
ernhil@yahoo.com