A scavenger feeds on what was left from a fastfood delivery.

Scavenging as a Way of Life

The above scene has become increasingly much more common during the last five years in the once sleepy town of Puerto Princesa. Feeding themselves on the trash of other people, scavengers come alone, in pairs, even together as a family. People pushing pushcarts with junks in them became a way of life for many of the poor in the city. I have never seen this scene more than a decade ago. Is this the price of urbanization?

Rapid Urbanization

I recalled the time in 1986 while I was waiting for a tricycle along a curb just downtown where I took this shot. It would take about 2-5 minutes before I could see a tricycle go by. Transportation was so sparse it would take forever to get from one place to another. Now, the city is bustling with all sorts of vehicles, many of them new. I heard from a reliable source that many of Filipino retirees come to Puerto Princesa to spend the rest of their lives, enjoying the many attractions and the relative peace in the province. They must have put in a lot of money that brought prosperity to the once isolated place of the Philippines. And of course, many tourists come to see the many wonders of nature in the province.

As any other developing city, a lot of immigrants from all over the country entrenched themselves in the ever increasing price of real estate all over the province. I once went around to scout for a beach lot for my sister’s friend. I discovered that almost all of the beaches were either bought by the wealthy foreigners married to Filipino wives or the local rich businessmen. And the price is way up more than six times its price in the 1990s. An ordinary Filipino could not afford such prices and would content themselves in either the marginal portions of the bay or in unlikely places near the sanitary landfill. Or those who have better income would content themselves in congested subdivisions with very limited space. 

Houses on stilts mark the landscape in one portion of Puerto Princesa Bay.

A Bleak Future

Many governments have tried to eliminate the ill effects of urbanization through various policy formulations that aim to curb poverty. In the process, however, almost always these measures have failed. Slums, squatters, criminality, among other ills of society have emerged and continued to stay. Is there really a solution to these problems of urbanization?

I believe that unless the issue of equity is unresolved, there will always be polarity in society. The rich will become richer and the poor will become poorer, the gap ever expanding with more “progress”. Equal opportunities should be given to everyone to be able to live a decent life. But this, I believe, will never happen as long as there are people who keep on grabbing what is not theirs and taking advantage of people who cannot either defend or assert themselves through means established by the society which appears to be designed to cater for the rich or those in position.

If the above premise is true, then a truly democratic government is not in existence. With the ongoing scenario, it would be more appropriately described as a government of the rich people, by the rich people, and for the rich people.