I was learning a bit about old Manila and it went from being called the pearl of the orient to becoming overpopulated and filled with slums. What happened? Was it just always like this or something?
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The thing is the Philippines has the capacity of earn a lot of money – just the remittances from overseas Filipino workers is staggering. We’re an archipelago so it is very strategic. We have so many islands so there is potential to develop tourism.
But we incurred so much debt, there is blatant corruption, and theft make it very hard to recover. We were really on our way up and then we started electing actors and actresses in government and it just went downhill.
the philippines is not a poor country. it is even a middle income country depending on who you ask, and it is in a bordering state to be categorized as one. it is also home to a handful of the world wealthiest.
what the philippines suffers from is inequality. this is true then as it is today. there were less slums before because there was simply more vacant space and most people lived through agricultural subsistence.
so the question is not “why did things go bad”
but more “why did things not progress much?” it depends on who you ask. at one level, its because the philippines never decisively overcame its colonial history unlike its neighboring thailand and indonesia who now overtake it economically. the filipinos did not win against the spanish and the americans. the share of power therefore never really changed hands to those who were fighting for “the country”, and were kept in the hands of those who were collaborating with the colonialists (“for themseves”).
we see the results of this lack of sharing of power today through the families that occupy politics then vs now, and those who owned land then vs now, and those who are able to decide on changing those things then vs now.
They aren’t poor, wealthy people in the Philippines are insanely wealthy, it’s just there is alot of inequality and corruption.
Urbanisation meant a lot of people moved to Manilla for better pay and opportunities. The historic part is still there it’s just tons of people moved in and around the city so it’s no longer the dominant part anymore. Phillipines is still your average middle income country.
The short answer is World War 2 fucked us up pretty bad.
And then in the 70s then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. He plundered the hell out of the country until the mid 80s. Literally taking private businesses and giving them to his cronies. Taking very large loans increasing our national debt while the Marcos Family kept the cash for themselves. That set in motion a culture of corruption in the national government. IIRC the loans they took out are still being paid for by the Filipino people until today.
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