Is Manila the ‘gates of hell’?

PERRYSCOPE

Perry Diaz

The Philippines was called the “Sick Man of Asia” three decades ago.  Not anymore.  Today, the country’s capital city, Manila, is called “Gates of Hell.” While it’s debatable what’s worse – being sick or in hell – one thing is evident: Manila is a city of contradictions.  Indeed, Manila has a split – schizophrenic -- personality.  

She has a mixture of a few rich that the city is very proud of and the many poor whose existence the government tries to forget… or ignore.  Manila’s prominence – or should I say, decadence – attracted author Dan Brown when he wrote his latest fictional work, “Inferno.”  In his book, Brown referred to Manila as the “gates of hell.”

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Dr. Sienna Brooks, the story’s female character, was invited by members of a humanitarian group to join them in a month-long trip to the Philippines.  The story goes: “Sienna imagined they were going to feed poor fishermen or farmers in the countryside, which she had read was a wonderland of geological beauty, with vibrant seabed’s and dazzling plains.  And so when the group settled in among the throngs in the city of Manila – the most densely populated city on earth – Sienna could only gape in horror.  She had never seen poverty on this scale.”

The story continues: “For every one person Sienna fed, there were hundreds more who gazed at her with desolate eyes.  Manila had six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution, and a horrifying sex trade, whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom had been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed.

“Amid this chaos of child prostitution, panhandlers, pickpockets, and worse, Sienna found herself suddenly paralyzed.  All around her, she could see humanity overrun by its primal instinct for survival.  When they face desperation… human beings become animals.

“For Sienna, all the dark depression came flooding back.  She had suddenly understood mankind for what it was – a species on the brink. “I was wrong, she thought. I can’t save the world. “Overwhelmed by a rush of frantic mania, Sienna broke into a sprint through the city streets, thrusting her way through the masses of people, knocking them over, pressing on, searching for open space.

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She ran and ran until her legs finally gave out.  Then she realized that she was in a shantytown.  “All around her the wails of crying babies and the stench of human excrement hung in the air,” Sienna observed. “I’ve run through the gates of hell,” Sienna said.

But why did Brown pick on Manila?  He could have selected Sao Paolo or Mexico City or Mumbai.  Surmise it to say, Brown must have chosen Manila because he saw the abject poverty in Manila as a microcosm of the world’s social problems.

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In 2005, I joined a tour of Gawad Kalinga’s housing projects.  Originally, Gawad Kalinga 777, as it was known then, was a project of the Couples for Christ. Launched in 2003, GK777’s goal was to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities for seven years for the poorest of the poor.  Our tour group visited several “GK villages” in Metro Manila.   

Today, Gawad Kalinga, which means to “give care” in Filipino, is an independent humanitarian group officially known as the GawadKalinga Community Development Foundation, a Philippine-based poverty alleviation and nation-building movement.  Its mission is to end poverty for five million families by 2024. (Source: Wikipedia)

In my article, “Gawad Kalinga, A Miracle in Progress” (June 3, 2005), I wrote:“I truly believe that GK777 is working. I saw it in every face of the youth in the GK villages. The have clean faces with happy smiles and their eyes were aglow with hope. Yes, they’re the ones that will finally benefit from the work of Gawad Kalinga. Someday, they’ll be the leaders of their GK villages, their towns, their cities, their provinces, and their beloved Philippines.

“As we left each GK village, we drove by the neighboring shanty towns and I looked into the faces of the youth. Most of them have dirty faces with sad smiles and empty eyes. They’re the poorest of the poor. They probably feel hopeless just like the GK beneficiaries not too long ago. If they could only get donors to help them rebuild their community… and restore their faith in themselves.  Is it wishful thinking or a miracle in progress?”

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Brown’s “Inferno” tells of the chaos that is engulfing the world.  Although it is a fictional story, it was inspired by Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem,  “Divine Comedy.”  The poem is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, andParadiso.  “On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God.  At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.     Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse.” (Source: Wikipedia)

 One of Brown’s characters said, “Any environmental biologist or statistician will tell you that humankind’s best chance of long-term survival occurs with a global population of around four billion.”  Well, that number was reached in the 1970s. Last year the population was seven billion and we’re not too far from reaching eight billion, which is twice what Earth could sustain.  With quarter-million people added to the human race each day, Earth is overpopulated.

And that same character prophetically warned, “But what I fear you don’t understand is that it will affect the very soul of man.  Under the stress of overpopulation, those who have never considered stealing will become thieves to feed their families.  Those who have never considered killing will kill to provide for their young.  All of Dante’s deadly sins – greed, gluttony, treachery, murder, and the rest – will begin percolating… rising up to the surface of humanity, amplified by our evaporating comforts. We are facing a battle for the very soul of man.”  

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There is only one word to describe that – CHAOS.  And Sienna found chaos in Manila. “Amid this chaos of child prostitution, panhandlers, pickpockets, and worse, Sienna found herself suddenly paralyzed.  All around her, she could see humanity overrun by its primal instinct for survival.  When they face desperation… human beings become animals,” and so wrote Brown in his “Inferno.” 

Brown’ “Inferno” claims that Manila is “the most densely populated city on earth.”  True or not, no one could dispute the fact that Manila’s problems -- particularly poverty and overpopulation -- are in the eye of a social storm that is brewing on the horizon. 

Can man transform Inferno to Purgatorio and, eventually, Paradiso? Or is that an impossible dream?  But considering the grim consequences of inaction, man may not have a choice but to fight for his own survival.  And if he loses, he is on the road to perdition… to Hell! (PerryDiaz@gmail.com)