Our class officially ended yesterday…and yes it was a bittersweet experience. Sweet because we have all gained so much knowledge and have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. Bitter, because when you have an experience like the one I had, it is sad to see it come to an end. I just arrived in Manila yesterday, and after sleeping for 16 hours and having eaten, I am back to thinking and writing. In this post, I want to address the similarities and the differences between Mindanao and Manila that I noticed right of the bat and some curious conversations that I had.
View of Metro Manila from the roof of my hotel.
While we were in Mindanao, there were many different versions of the imperial Manila that we heard. The first being the notion that Manila is in control of Mindanao but it doesn’t know Mindanao, this is the view that people from Mindanao have had since the Spanish were in Manila. I think the people in Mindanao are just in their thinking because for over four hundred years the government in Manila has passed laws and decrees that have affected Mindanao negatively (forced migration, rights to aggressive mineral exploration to international companies, excessive military operations, etc.) and the trickle down effect from Manila to the south does not exactly happen the way it should. After just spending one day in Manila and observing the stark difference in the amount of development that has taken place and is going on is mind blowing to put it in the most apt terms. I wondered again how someone in Manila would see someone from Mindanao and curiously enough when I checked into my hotel, the receptionist asked where I was coming from and I said Davao (I don’t mean that I am from Mindanao, she was aware that I am American but had traveled through Philippines), she retorted back with, “Why, are you a missionary?”
Another idea that I had heard from a young lady in Cotabato city regarding Manila was that people in Manila do not like people in Mindanao. She had mentioned her previous job in hospitality was in Manila and people were purposely mean to her knowing that she was from Cotabato. I, off course did not take this too seriously; I assumed it was an isolated issue. However, upon being in Manila and having had conversations with people about Mindanao, I am beginning to see what this young lady was trying to convey to me. I don’t think people from Manila dislike everyone from Mindanao that is just a gross exaggeration. I do think that there is a certain detachment between the north and south, a sort lack of concern if I may say. I don’t think this wrong either, everyone is busy living their lives, who truly has the time and energy to expend on issues that they can do nothing about but then again I am pulled towards everything I saw and herd in Mindanao and I am left wondering, why doesn’t anyone care?
View 2
Now lets talk about the superficial differences and similarities. Manila is very big in every way compared to every part of Mindanao that we saw. The buildings, the ideas, the lifestyle, and the changes are all very big. There are so many high rises that are being built and so much road construction to build flyovers to decrease traffic. My taxi driver mentioned that one flyover project can take anywhere from 2-3 years, and they are all being built by private companies, that means people will have to pay a toll. This leads me into things that are similar; the people are exactly the same, hospitable. The language, the focus on learning from others, religious fervor, the bureaucracy, and the dilapidating civil service buildings are all exactly the same. I think the difference have stood out so much for me because of all that I saw and learned in the past two weeks and I found myself getting irritated by the bourgeois society that is very much part of Manila. I still have loads to think about, may be I will come back to this as I learn more and see more in the next two days.