Manila Slum Walls Built To Hide Philippines Poverty

Boys walk past a wall covered with a tarpaulin poster of the ongoing 45th Annual Board of Governors meeting of the Asian Development Bank at suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines, Thursday May 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

MANILA, Philippines — Delegates attending an international conference in the Philippines capital may not see what they came to discuss: abject poverty.

A makeshift, temporary wall has been erected across a bridge on a road from the airport to downtown Manila that hides a sprawling slum along a garbage-strewn creek.

Presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang defended the wall's installation, saying Thursday "any country will do a little fixing up before a guest comes."

He expressed hope that this week's annual meeting of Asian Development Bank Board of Governors, which includes finance ministers and senior officials from 67 member states, will show the Philippines is open for business. The lending institition, which is headquartered in its own walled compound in Manila, aims to cut poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We need to show our visitors that Metro Manila is orderly. We owe it to ourselves," said metropolital Manila chief Francis Tolentino.

"I see nothing wrong with beautifying our surroundings. We are not trying to keep the poor out of the picture," he said.

There was no immediate comment from ADB.

The Philippine Communist Party recalled that former first lady Imelda Marcos – notorious for ostentatious lifestyle – was ridiculed for trying to hide squatter colonies. She erected similar whitewashed walls along the route of foreign visitors to the Miss Universe pageant held in Manila in 1974, and other international events.

"The government should face reality. If they don't, how will they know the problem, how will they solve the problem," said Renato Reyes, secretary general of the largest left-wing group Bayan. "By covering the truth, they lose the energy or intention to resolve the problem."

About a third of Manila's 12 million residents live in slums, and a third of 94 million Filipinos live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. Overall, more than half the population in Asia remains poor.

Loading Slideshow

• A child cries as she waits to receive rice porridge organized by a child rights group 'Akap Bata' at a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila on March 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• Children queue up to receive rice porridge organized by a child rights group 'Akap Bata' at a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila on March 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• Children eat rice porridge during a 'Lugaw Protest' organized by a child rights group 'Akap Bata' at a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila on March 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• Children eat rice porridge during a 'Lugaw Protest' organized by a child rights group 'Akap Bata' at a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila on March 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• A woman holds coins in her hand as she begs for money from passers-by on a street near the Malacanang palace in Manila on March 1, 2012. One in four Filipinos live on a dollar a day or less, according to a government survey in 2009. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• A child (C) sleeps under a huge umbrella amongst garbage on a street in Manila on February 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• A homeless family takes shelter in their wooden shelter as it rains in Manila on August 31, 2011. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

• A child eats rice porridge during a 'Lugaw Protest' organized by a child rights group 'Akap Bata' at a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila on March 18, 2012. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Comments

[timm0]

11:04 AM on 05/09/2012

Just got back a few days ago from spending several weeks in Manila.

As another commenter stated, there is no way to hide the poverty in Manila. Writing an article on this tarp wall is just silly and superficial - but I guess it grabs people's attention.

If the journalist wants to do something courageous, go to Manila and investigate the justice system and the corporate control of the city/country. There are reasons why poverty is so prevalent in Manila. And it's not because the people are lazy as the rightwingnuts would like everyone to believe.

So please spare us these hollow, sanctimonious scribblings. It's embarrassing.

[loveis22984]

09:11 AM on 05/09/2012

Guess who is not getting my medical tourism dollars.

[Trustfunded1]

05:27 PM on 05/06/2012

They're along every major American cities interstates.

They help hide the squalor.

[rissole]

10:48 PM on 05/05/2012

Walls built to hide slums......the GOP think this is a great idea.

[Samuel Bun]

08:05 AM on 05/07/2012

Stage II, reenforce the walls to keep them in their place.

[momofvegasgirls]

09:41 PM on 05/05/2012

And by the way, you can tell you are in a poverty stricken country the moment you come into the final approach at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. There are shacks and settlements that are so close to the runway, shocking doesn't begin to describe it. Once you arrive at the airport it doesn't get any better even in that controlled environment. The visiting conference goers will know long before they get to their hotel......

[momofvegasgirls]

09:27 PM on 05/05/2012

I am at a loss for words, when it comes to the Philippines and poverty.....

[rissole]

10:49 PM on 05/05/2012

Here's a couple of words....corruption and religion.

[Jared Jentzsch]

05:42 PM on 05/05/2012

I have been there. You have not seen poverty until you have been there. If you want little to no government, it looks like this. It is the vision of the GOP. Uncontrolled population explosions, with no education or opportunity. Roads don't even get finished in the province my wife is from. They will start it, then the next official will win the election and divert the funds for the road to a different project, only to have it pulled and diverted time and again. Mean while, the people sit helpless and starving. The meek shall inherit the earth, but the inheritance will have been plundered by the super wealthy.

[momofvegasgirls]

09:29 PM on 05/05/2012

Thank goodness you put some words to some of the things I was thinking.

[Jared Jentzsch]

09:55 AM on 05/06/2012

It is so sad. I feel especially bad when a person gets a little ahead over there only to be sued by a jealous relative or a super richy trying to monopolize and take advntage of the poplulation. The court system is totally inept, and the people have no access to justice. Reporters are slaughtered for investigating. Judges are afraid to issue decree's for fear of being killed. It keeps the entire country from moving forward.

[Progressneeded]

12:25 PM on 05/05/2012

We all sit in front of our 52 inch wall and watch how the housewives of this or that suburb live while the world crumbles around us. Out of sight, out of mind!

[robmclaughjr]

11:23 PM on 05/04/2012

Don't show this to the gops. They look up to the Philippines' wealth gap and hope to emulate their practices in the US.

[unimatrix0]

10:14 AM on 05/05/2012

That's why they want a border fence with Mexico and not Canada.

[robmclaughjr]

01:29 AM on 05/11/2012

Don't kid yourself, they work tirelessly to create a border fence with Canada. Canada has affordable drugs for the elderly.

[jenniferkizzy]

02:09 PM on 05/04/2012

you can build a wall but that won't help you in the long run your still hiding and denying your shame bye

[vergoton]

12:56 PM on 05/04/2012

Mayor Daley painted and fixed streets for president Clinton's route when he visited Chicago

[rda1911a1]

11:07 AM on 05/04/2012

Wow I wonder if Obama could do that with Chicago?

[vergoton]

12:55 PM on 05/04/2012

Chicago Mayor painted the presidential route when Clinton visited Chicago................LOL

[mpstar]

09:20 AM on 05/04/2012

They hide it coz they are so corrupt,,,,The rich get richer and the poor just ignored,,,But history showa that it willnot change,,,,,,,The Philippines have the opporuntiy to become a country like China has the population are are eager to work,,has the resources,,BUt it has always been cocntrolled by the elite and won't change,,,,,

[pinkibus]

07:28 AM on 05/04/2012

Birth control, legal abortion and empoerment of women economically and through education is the answer but the pope wouldn't like that. He lives in a palace far away and would rather see children living in garbage dumps than educated and living in decent housing. China, faced with the continuation of dire poverty, chose the one child policy and everyone eats and goes to school. But the hoo haw over Chen shows the world thinks nobody should have to be controlled re birth rates and it is okay for children to go back to hunger and pulling rickshaws for the affluent. Americans off shore industry to the overpopulated countries of the world to save money by paying labor slave wages. And Americans sink back into the poverty they escaped thanks to Roosevelt. Malthus can be beaten by lowering the birth rate.

[rda1911a1]

11:08 AM on 05/04/2012

Hey Obama has a palace and his plane is way bigger than the pope's

[pinkibus]

02:38 PM on 05/04/2012

Obama doesn't excommunicate the doctors of a nine year old girl whose father impregnated her with twins. The doctors said she'd die and so would the twins if she tried to go through with the pregnancy and the mother gave them permission to abort her. The mother was excommunicated too. The father wasn't because the pope said his sin was not so bad. Obama thinks birth control should be available to all women who want it regardless of the beliefs of their employers but the pope doesn't like that either. Obama earns a living. He doesn't take money from the poor so he can have wonderful art treasures and amazing clothes plus a pointy hat.

[gerorem]

09:27 PM on 05/05/2012

OBAMAPHOBIA: Every news article has something to do with Obama.

MONOMANIA: exaggerated or obsessive preoccupation with one thing. A pathological symptom.

Seek professional help.

[paulhunterjones]

11:45 PM on 05/03/2012

At least the Presidential spokesman had the courage to admit the obvious. He was correct in noting that all countries fix up a little when hosting an important international event. Rio de Janeiro is making arrangements to host the World Games and the Olympics within next few years. Officials in Rio are not building walls to hide the slums from the eyes of visitors to the games. To a certain degree the slums are being moved out of sight. We all fix up our homes when guests are arriving. In my opinion this one wall erected over the bridge is not going to hide the poverty that is rampant in Manila. It is best not to rush to judgment of the Philippines. I don’t know of any country, municipality or community that advertises its poverty.