A resident pedals his tricycle, locally known as "pedicab", past a wall covered with a tarpaulin poster of the ongoing 45th Annual Board of Governors meeting of the Asian Development Bank at suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines on Thursday. Delegates attending the international conference of the ADB in the Philippines capital may not see what they came to discuss: abject poverty. The makeshift, temporary wall on both sides of the bridge from the airport to downtown Manila, hides a sprawling slum along a garbage-strewn creek. (AP/Bullit Marquez)
Delegates attending an international conference in
the Philippines capital may not see what they came to discuss: abject
poverty.
A makeshift, temporary wall has been
erected across a bridge on a road from the airport to downtown Manila
that hides a sprawling slum along a garbage-strewn creek.
Presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang defended the wall's
installation, saying Thursday "any country will do a little fixing up
before a guest comes."
He expressed hope that
this week's annual meeting of Asian Development Bank Board of Governors,
which includes finance ministers and senior officials from 67 member
states, will show the Philippines is open for business. The lending
institition, which is headquartered in its own walled compound in
Manila, aims to cut poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
"We need to show our visitors that Metro Manila is orderly. We
owe it to ourselves," said metropolitan Manila chief Francis Tolentino.
"I see nothing wrong with beautifying our
surroundings. We are not trying to keep the poor out of the picture," he
said.
There was no immediate comment from ADB.
The Philippine Communist Party recalled that former
first lady Imelda Marcos — notorious for ostentatious lifestyle — was
ridiculed for trying to hide squatter colonies. She erected similar
whitewashed walls along the route of foreign visitors to the Miss
Universe pageant held in Manila in 1974, and other international events.
"The government should face reality. If they don't,
how will they know the problem, how will they solve the problem," said
Renato Reyes, secretary general of the largest left-wing group Bayan.
"By covering the truth, they lose the energy or intention to resolve the
problem."
About a third of Manila's 12 million
residents live in slums, and a third of 94 million Filipinos live below
the poverty line of US$1.25 a day. Overall, more than half the population
in Asia remains poor. (nvn)
