The cracks of the Build Build Build project are seen from afar.
These structures were built and being built for the sole purpose of showing posterity that at least there is something ‘good’ that was done in the Duterte regime. Never mind the killings, never mind the oppression of the poor. Sounds familiar?
An obvious facade of fake prosperity— too evident that the poor behind the walls and skyways continue to live a life of no alternatives— shackles the grassroots of society. One such project is about to emerge; Pasig River Expressway (PaREx) is about to “sign the death sentence” for the river, the people, and the restoration efforts.
They say the cost of building PAREX is worth taking, for it will be our national pride; that our building of road above the waterway is the next logical move to decongest Manila. But where the supply shifts, the demand follows. The market clears itself, and sooner the pride that we so long for becomes a farce— a bygone with cracking cements above the PaREx haunting the budgets for cleaning that mess.
The cost in today’s money is not a problem, but the damages to tomorrow are irreparable by any amount of money. The project counters the restoration projects done to the river. Even with the assumption that the river is dead, building an expressway on Pasig River means we are willing to pollute anew. We cannot pay for these consequences with money as the global crises do not accept payments. The day of reckoning will begin, and cracks in these projects will soon lead to more structural damages...
Atop the ones that we have now, inequality is glaring. Monopolizing the access to the river, let alone profiting off of toll fees to the river we once shared, is regrettable. Better alternatives exist and have existed in the past. Absent this project, a better tomorrow is still possible. With this project, though, one can only imagine hearing the birds again from the river— one can only dream again of a peaceful morning or chill afternoon near their residence. After this project, as we’ve seen from past ones, the human condition changes and not for good.
But opposing the project is not selfish.
True, it will bring more jobs. True, more roads are built. Those jobs will perish. The roads will be congested again. After the construction comes a short period of pride, until cracks avoid being the symptoms to become the disease.
The project is still in its conception. There is too much work before realizing these harms. Now that we have seen the cracks, it is illogical to just plaster it with another cement for the cracks run deep. Building a new one with the same material is idiocy. Without looking deep, the cracks are seen.
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Written by: Jantzen Eros Layout and Design by: Avriel Fernandez
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