a litmus test

January 24th, 12:25am January 23rd, 9:44pm Concept News CentralAll the news that matters

What is the local government of the country’s capital city doing about maintaining its glory?

Are they sitting in their cushy desks or noir-shaded SUVs and ignoring the fact that the streets of Manila are getting dirtier and uglier with every second that passes?

Manila, according to worldpopulationreview.com, is the most densely populated city in the world at 43,079 people per square kilometer or 111,002 people per square mile.

It is, the same source reveals, “the second-largest city of the Philippines and one of 16 cities that comprise Metro Manila, which has an overall population of 12.8 million per the 2015 census.”

During daytime, however, the population in the metro swells to 15 million, it adds.

The city of Manila is home to about 1.78 million, according to the 2016 census data.

One might reason out that the high population makes the city hard to maintain, but that is simply an unacceptable excuse.

In an article a few years ago, Skyscanner listed the five cleanest cities in the Philippines. They were Puerto Princesa City, Palawan; Bacolod City in Negros and Davao City in Mindanao.

Granted, the top three are in the regions, but runners-up Makati City and Marikina City certainly kick that sorry, overpopulated excuse out the window.

They show that cities can be clean enough even if they are densely populated or congested.

Skyscanner also noted, “Makati is the financial capital of the Philippines. The city ranked first with the most cultural and commercial ties locally and internationally, fifth as the best provider of public healthcare and second having the best infrastructure in the country.”

For Marikina, it said, “Marikina is one of the healthiest and livable cities within the Asia-Pacific, a Hall of Famer for its cleanest and greenest city, most awarded city in Metro Manila. It is ranked first by the national government for having the best environmental programs in the National Capital Region.”

The way a city looks reveals much about how its local government is running the show.

Puerto Princesa’s strong stance on environment protection, for example, has led to strict enforcement of laws in this regard. The Palaweños know that if their environment is degraded, they will feel the economic effect as tourism is a major industry of the region.

Davao has long ago been noted for being the cleanest city and even visitors to the province know how strictly the rules are enforced there.

In other words, a lack of will and authority leads to decay. If local officials neglect to push those responsible for maintaining the physical environment to do their job, it discourages the rest of the people from caring for their surroundings, too. A messy city is a reflection of the leadership quality.

President Duterte, who abhors dirt and disorder, knows this well, having led Davao to its sterling cleanliness status.

As writer Janus Isaac Nolasco writes in July 2018, “Pro-Duterte politics deploys an aesthetic that professes a devotion to cleanliness, which connotes beauty, modernity, progress, efficiency, order, goodness and discipline. Conversely, it has a marked aversion to dirt, which is associated with ugliness, poverty, crime and disorder. The anti-drug and anti-loitering campaigns have weaponized this aesthetic to deadly effect.”

Sad to say that for a country the same writer describes as “obsessed with beauty,” we are seeing horrific levels of neglect as seen in our historic places and tourist spots.