The People in Metro Manila Sewerage Tunnels

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Human Rats in Manila Sewers

One of the greatest secrets of the City of Manila, the seat of Malacañang, and up to Quezon City and nearby localities is that the sewers under the streets are heavily inhabited by what could be called, the counterpart of the buraku min [“tribal people” or literally, “rat men”] of Japan, who are considered as the lowest social class and have no inherent rights to occupy places over land, only under. Hence, they live in sewers over the water, amidst the floating wastes of Japanese society. Today, the Japanese government is conducting public relations to show that the buraku min have rights to live like ordinary Japanese people, which they are not.

(How the Japanese government and contractor agreed to the Philippine project, is a mystery. The Japanese have only began fairly recently to give rights to their buraku min [rat people] to live above ground. Perhaps the Japanese did not know that in the Philippines, their buraku min also have brothers and sisters, possibly we can call them, dagang tao or taong daga.)

Whereas in Japan, the buraku min, live in floating homes made of styropore material, in Metro Manila, their brethren cement whole portions of the sewerage in order for the water not to flow through and then the entire sewer becomes their exclusive subdivision.

Albeit it is an underground village, the difference between the buraku min of Japan and the dagang tao of Metro Manila is that the burakus get to live with all the stench of waste, toxins and other throw aways of the entire Japanese neighborhoods over their heads.

The dagang tao on the other hand, only has to live with his own smell and his neighbor’s. They have totally blocked the flow of the water and wastes and thanks be to God, they do not have to float, dip their bodies into or touch the shit and other garbage in the sewers.

On investigation, one will find that the end of the sewer at a particular part of Manila does not contain the small 1 x 2 square meter houses they live in inside the tunnels. The mouth of the tunnel, that is larger and roomier and has an easement from the tip of about ten meters or more, is instead used as a communal area. Some entrepreneurs cook and sell barbeque and fish balls, cigarettes and other cheap items. The tunnel people go there for rest and recreation or simply tambay. The children make noise and are mostly hyperactive. At least the tunnel people also have a park of their own and the young ones a playground.

The Forest Genocides

From before the time of the late President Marcos up to the present, unscrupulous Filipinos, Castilles (Kastila), Chinese, among a few others, have been either indiscriminately destroying the forests or indiscriminately mining the mountain ranges without considerations for preserving the country’s ecological balance.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile chastised Sen. Ana Consuelo Madrigal insinuating about her family’s illegal logging in the past that was protected by late Pres. Marcos and sent her crying for many months she developed terrible cry bags on her face. Sen. Enrile certainly knew where he was coming from.

In 1983, the forests’ denudation has threatened desertification, beginning in Pangasinan and thereabouts, in an period of 20 to 25 years starting from that point, according to my former superior in the Department of Science and Technology. It is already the year 2009, and the time period has lapsed. We are now running to nearly 30 years, about 5 to 10 years past the point of desertification.

Of course, Pangasinan today does not look like a desert, but it is extraordinarily more desert than fertile land if you look closely. The extent of daytime temperature literally compels one to swear out loud. This is the same in many other logged-over areas in the country today. If you ask the bright minds, they’ll attribute it to global warming.

It’s plain turning of our lands to desert, stupid! Click here for the rest of the post...