The closer look at the Phillipines' poor

Lourdes Didith V. Mendoza, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila

A change in perspective is needed when it comes to the way we regard the poor. In many urban areas, the poor are seen as a problem to be eliminated, an eyesore that needs to be hidden. They are a group of people we exclude socially, yet their numbers are large. One cannot go around the streets without seeing them, yet we continually ignore them.

The poor make the city come alive at any time of the day. They make each day feel like it's a fiesta. The cacophony of their voices vying for your attention competes with the toothy smile of a tired old man who cajoles you to buy that useless bobbing puppy you put on your dashboard, or wherever. The poor are also the ones who make makeshift bridges that office workers cross on when they get stuck in the flood. They also watch your car for you, even wash it at times, if you want them to.

Aside from these measly services which hardly contribute to the local economy, but which allow the poor to live one day at a time, the poor are also part of the workforce of the formal sector, however fleeting the jobs offered to them may be.

Construction works cannot push through without them, for they supply the laborers and carpenters. Stores will not run without the services of bag boys, salesladies or delivery truck drivers. Restaurants will not run without waiters and waitresses, busboys and janitors.

We also live off the generosity of the poor. They make our newspapers cost less because they scavenge for used papers in dumps and trashcans. Our homes cost much less because the construction workers who build houses are squatters and are paid a pittance. Our streets would be more dangerous if not for some policemen, who, despite being squatters and underpaid, still patrol the city to at least give us some semblance of security.

The poor also contribute to the growth of local economy by being middlemen of larger businesses. Where deliveries must be made to places with small alleys or streets, pedal cab or pushcart drivers are hired to deliver the goods. Neighborhood variety stores also sell in retail the products of big businesses. The poor widen the reach of big industries by bringing it down to their own sector.

These activities show how the poor have adapted to the reality of their poverty. The poor show us the Filipino's genius and resiliency. That despite the hard times, there are ways they can live that will be both beneficial to themselves and to their immediate society. They provide services few of us can readily give.

One evidence of how we don't see them in the proper perspective is the recent dash of many of the rich to save the trees along the islands of our major thoroughfares, while so few of them have taken up the cudgels to ease the burden of the poor who were forcefully moved from their homes or places of business. We disregard the poor so much that we drive them out to nearby provinces without thought of what awaits them in their new homes.

Earlier this year, several slum dwellers along the banks of the Pasig River were filled with fear as news of their relocation reached their shanties. A major government project was underway, and they had to get out of its way. They must relocate to a site somewhere in the fringes of Metro Manila, lest they be left homeless.

News of being uprooted from a place one grew up in will undoubtedly leave a person angry, and at times, even violent. But these slum dwellers have shown a certain kind of strength at that time of impending demolition. Most of those who were to be relocated accepted the fact with resignation, saying it would be for the good of the majority.

It was the right thing to do, they added, and they do not own the land anyway. However, they fear their new future. What will become of them now that their sources of income will also be taken away from them? One boy asked, will there be a car to watch and wash in the relocation site? An old woman asked, will there be buyers of my green mangoes there? Another questioned, will it be feasible to open another variety store there?

But of course, they all know the answer. They have heard of the experiences of other slum dwellers who were relocated ahead of them to various relocation sites. There are no jobs in relocation sites, and all their neighbors are poor like them, and the site so far, that there are no cars to watch and no customers in sight.

The problem with moving the poor is not merely about their loss of income due to relocation. The problem is, we don't see them as persons in the first place, but merely numbers that need to be transposed to another column where they "belong," out of sight, out of mind. We leave them languishing there, without jobs, with little access to basic services, after they have lived side by side with us, quietly and invisibly, for many years.