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By Rommel C. Lontayao Reporter
Today, only the faint odor of
decay and the mountain-high pile of
decomposing garbage remain as indicators of what Smokey Mountain,
which for decades served as Metro Manila’s waste disposal
facility, used to be.
Changes in the physical
attributes of the former dump are evident as medium-rise residential
buildings now shadow the garbage heap that once dwarfed shanties in
a slum area in Tondo, Manila, where it is located.
The government closed Smokey
Mountain dump more than a decade ago, not only because of
environmental issues but also to improve the living conditions of
residents there. But has life there really changed much since then?
Looking back
Previously a fishing village
called Barrio Mandaragat, the area became the Smokey Mountain when
Manila’s then-Department of Public Service began to dump garbage
there in 1954.
By the time of Ferdinand
Marcos’ presidency, the heap of garbage, coming from all corners
of Metro Manila, was already several stories high.
Everyday, thousands of scavengers
would wait for trucks to arrive and drop off fresh garbage so they
can pick from it recyclables such as plastics and aluminum, which
they can sell to junkshops.
Metal or plastic roofs,
cardboard, and tires often constitute the makeshift houses built
around Smokey Mountain by scavengers who decided to stay in the
area.
In the 1990s, the government
closed Smokey Mountain, as news images of it became the symbol of
what was wrong with the Philippines. The National Housing Authority
(NHA) was directed to transform the area into a portside community
and to plan a social housing project for Smokey Mountain residents.
But 10 years are not enough to
make people there forget how they used to live.
Salvacion Bago, a 50-year-old
Smokey Mountain resident, recalls what life there was like. People
living in the area, she said in Pilipino, lived like chickens,
acting like them during feeding every time garbage is being dumped
here. As garbage trucks arrive, scavengers would jostle for
position, sometimes hurting each other.
Back then, a small income was
enough because prices of goods were also low, she said.
But even for scavengers, garbage
does not only mean life. It can also mean death.
Bago recounted how her
then-10-year-old daughter almost got buried alive under a mound of
newly dumped trash. Fortunately, someone saw her head and pulled her
out, she said, adding that she knows of other scavengers who died.
If the garbage in itself does not
kill, then desperation can. Bago, who has been in the area since
1983, said some Smokey Mountain residents commit suicide while
others kill their own children and relatives who are sick—to thin
out the population, which means fewer mouths to feed.
Hardship prevails
Though many things have changed
since the Smokey Mountain dump was closed down, Bago said poverty
still exists in the area, prompting some to still commit suicide.
Just recently, someone jumped off
from a government-built building, she said also in Pilipino. Bago
said she heard the man was unable to pay the monthly payment on his
government housing unit.
Bago added that she also owns a
unit provided by the government through the National Housing
Authority program in Smokey Mountain. To date, 21 medium-rise
buildings, with 120 units each, have been constructed. Bago’s
family and the family of her 25-year-old daughter share a unit on
the fifth floor of Building 19.
She said she chose a fifth-floor
unit because the monthly payment is lower compared to units in lower
floors. She pays just P299 monthly for the unit, exclusive of
electric and water utilities.
Bago, who now works as a
househelper for the community’s parish priest, said she is able to
pay their monthly bills because she is lucky to have a good job.
Others who have no decent source of income, she added, just cannot
afford to pay their own bills. Instead they sublease their units to
other families.
While the new housing program has
greatly improved living conditions for some in the area, others
remain critical of it.
Ruben Asibar, another recipient
of a unit under the government program, claimed that the government
promised low payments for the units. He said he ends up paying more,
as penalties are added for his failure to pay on time.
For her part, Leonida Juntilla
said she pays P989 for her first-floor unit. She finds the housing
authority’s policy on setting the amount of monthly fee confusing,
and she questions why the age of the unit’s owner is factored into
the fee schedule.
If the occupant is older, the
National Housing Authority increases the monthly fee, Juntilla
added. She was told that elderly tenants would have to pay in a
shorter period of time. As a result, many fail to pay, because
people are unemployed, she said.
Juntilla explained they prefer
the concrete housing units over the makeshift houses they had
before. But they find it difficult to pay all the dues.
Fr. Benigno Beltran, the
community’s parish priest, said, “The problem here is that many
cannot pay the bills because the government doesn’t even have a
solid livelihood program for Smokey Mountain residents.”
Lack of employment opportunities
could be a contributing factor why they find it hard to cross the
poverty line.
Bago said companies frequently
turn away job applicants from Smokey Mountain.
Beltran said, “There can be
lots of job opportunities. However, the problem is many of these
people lack the skills or knowledge because a lot of them never had
the required training and education.”
Back to scavenging
“Because some of them knew
nothing about other jobs or never even given a chance, they went
back to scavenging in other dumps. They even go as far as Makati and
Pasay City, most of them are out-of-school youth,” said the
priest, whose parish includes Barangay 128, where the Smokey
Mountain area is situated.
Beltran said some years back, an
open dump existed near the Smokey Mountain area and was even called
Smokey Mountain 2nd.
“At the other side of the
river, there once was an open dump—an area they call Pier 18. But
when open dumps were disallowed upon approval of Republic Act 9003,
it became a transfer station. The trucks go there, transfer the
garbage to a barge, which will then be transported to Navotas,”
the priest added.
Even to this day, he said, many
of Smokey Mountain residents go to the nearby Pier 18 to scavenge
there.
Bago said garbage kept coming
even when Smokey Mountain was closed down in the 1990s. Some of her
children, along with neighbors’ kids, went there to scavenge, she
added.
The Manila City government,
however, expects that by February 2008, the dumped garbage in Pier
18 would totally be cleared.
When that day comes, Bago said,
people in Smokey Mountain will face more hardships.
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