Article 4 - Metro Manila Analysis

• After the revival of Philippine democracy in 1986, Metropolitan Manila has experienced dramatic physical changes in its urban landscape brought about by the country's accelerated economic growth

  
• These changes, however, have led to the worsening conditions in the metropolis. The problems of congestion, pollution and the inadequacy of urban services are approaching intolerable levels
• Evolution of Manila


  1. From a colonial capital

  2. To a modern metropolitan area

  
• Numerous attempts by government to plan the growth of the area have not been very successful
• Metro Manila's present physical landscape is a reflection of its uncoordinated and unplanned urban development
• Without the deliberate efforts at planning and managing its growth, the conditions in the metropolitan area will continue to worsen and lead to urban decay
• Primate city


  The dominant metropolitan area of a country
• Characteristics of primate cities in developing countries

  • Dominated by one main city
  • Existence of a number of much smaller urban entities
  • Functional imbalance between the primate city and the rest of the country
• The colonial capital eventually evolved into the national capital and over a period of time, expanded beyond its boundaries and became a metropolis
• Within its territory is concentrated the majority of the country's urban population, the bulk of the country's industries and economic activities, the location of most of its governmental, educational, and cultural institutions as well as the major communication and transportation facilities
• While the primate city continued to urbanize, development in the rest of the country lagged behind, remaining basically agricultural and rural
• The interdependent relationship of the primate city and the rest of the developing country's regions is inherent to its national economic structure
• Physical urban problems do not only require solutions of a technical nature but necessitate national economic growth and the political will to enforce basic changes in its environment
• Development decisions and outcomes are much more a reflection of power struggles rather than of rational planning
• Barangay


  Small, isolated communities in pre-colonial Philippines
• The Spaniards came to the islands in 1521 for three main reasons: (1) to secure a share in the spice trade then under Portuguese monopoly, (2) to establish direct contacts with China and Japan, and (3) to convert more people to Christianity
• The formation, planning and administration of towns for the new "converts" were left almost entirely in the hand of the friars
• The typical spatial pattern of urban settlements reflected the "under the bell" concept where everyone had to be within earshot of the church bells
• Intramuros, the Walled City of Manila, was built towards the end of the 16th Century. It linked the Philippines to Spain and served as a seat of the higher Spanish bureaucracy and the ecclesiastical hierarchy and as a military outpost and center for trade and commerce

  
• The creation of the capital city of Manila facilitated the unification of the Philippines under a centralized government structure under Spanish administration

  
• Spanish colonial rule introduced the concept of land as private property, evidenced by the possession of a title and retained as a form of wealth

  
• By the eighteenth century, the religious orders soon became the biggest landowners around Manila

  
• The conversion of land to private property and the rise of large friar estates exposed the native population to further economic exploitation and changed the structure of the indigenous society
• Colonial development policies fostered a dependent economy encouraging agricultural production in rural areas and stimulating commercial and industrial activities in urban areas
• The resource extractions, however, left little surplus and incentive for economic development in the rural areas, thus, economic progress was generally confined to Manila and its surrounding suburbs for many years
• In the latter half of the 18th Century, the temporary British occupation of Manila broke down the country's isolation from the rest of the world and triggered numerous revolts against the exploitations by Spanish colonial officials and friars

  
• By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Manila, as the port city, was gradually becoming a cosmopolitan center with modern urban amenities such as steam tramways, water supply lines, gas lamp streets, bull rings, theaters, etc.

  
• The organization of Manila's social and cultural life distinctly reflected the "chain of surplus extraction" which was Philippine development

  
• After 1814, the country was officially opened to world commerce and this tremendously increased demand for agricultural exports
• This demand encouraged the concentration of ownership of extraordinarily large parcels of agricultural land in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals
• A consequence of this was the growing number of landless laborers
• By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Manila, as the port city, was gradually becoming a cosmopolitan center with modern urban amenities

  
• Social and cultural life in Manila

  • Reflected the "chain of surplus extraction" which was Philippine development
  • Within the Walled City of Intramuros were European-born Spaniards, Creoles and Spanish mestizos who tried to make life in the colony resemble that of Spain as much as possible
  • Living outside the walls were foreign merchants, Chinese businessmen and native principalias
  • The rest of the population lived in bamboo houses in the surrounding suburbs
  • There were few social interactions between residents of Intramuros and the suburbs
• Continued economic prosperity during the 19th Century enabled wealthy Filipinos to obtain higher levels of education in Manila, and eventually Europe
• Illustrados


  The educated class among Filipinos during the latter half of the nineteenth century, consisting of natives, mestizos, and creoles, which articulated the beginning of Philippine nationalism
• The illustrados came from the middle and upper class or the principalia class
• With the support of the exploited agricultural laborers, a revolution was staged in Manila in 1896
• Around this time, the Americans, who were also engaged in a war against Spain in Cuba, aided the Filipinos and fought the Spaniards to gain control over the rest of the archipelago

  
• The unified Philippines was proclaimed a republic
• The Filipinos were on the threshold of self-rule when they realized that the Americans had used the revolution to install themselves in place of the Spaniards