PNR

Bicutan to EDSA

warm

crowded

unavoidable

It is seven in the morning and commuters take their ant road towards their job posts in wealthy Makati. The economic hub of Manila absorbs daily millions of people who try to meet ends by working for those who have ready money at any moment of day.

The only train line of Philippines is reduced to some central stops in Manila. Extreme weather is usually blamed for abandoning the train lines that as little as a decade ago connected the capital with the north and the south of Luzon. However, priorities being somewhere else and the wealthy being able to find comfortable alternative ways to travel, commuters in Manila are left with nothing but a small number of slow coaches where temperatures sore.

A man gets some spare coins from recycling trash in the bag of a posh international dry cleaning shop

Workers are in their majority coming from the slum areas of Manila around the big market areas of Alabang, Bicutan and on the shores of the Laguna. Thousand of them are employed in the construction sites and in the huge shopping mall complexes of the capital. As a matter of fact, contracts are temporary, salaries meager and benefits non existent. There are laws about minimum salary and lenght of employment that while meant to protect the workers are easily turned around and projected to save money in all non qualified work. Workers in Manila earn an average 300$ a month. However, sub contractors and private arrangements usually tend to translate in workers not having a proper contract if any at all.

Workers in rich neighborhoods are usually seen strolling around the alleys with a dog lash in one hand and a newspaper in the other. For as little as 150$ a month, rich dwellers can have the luxury of a maid that will care for their children, their food, their cleaning and even removing by hand the excrements of their pets. It is illegal to soil the alleys after all.

A woman in her house in a slum near Manila city jail

Houses in rich neighborhoods are usually of uncommon beauty. Orchideas and rare tropical trees are hand by hand with sophisticated bonsais and art pieces. In average a property will occupy 400sqm of land. Manila is known for its scarcity of space. However, this does not prevent the ones who can afford it from having vast properties. Ironically, a sqm of rental in a rich neighborhood costs as much as in a poor one with an average 5$ the sqm. What would look a small amount for a rental in a stylish posh house, becomes many times unafordable in a miserable 20sqm former social dwelling where a family of four live. From there, it takes almost three hours to reach the working place in rich Manila. The alternative is the slum where a piece of land can be informally purchased. There, surfaces are usually not larger than 10 sqm and walls will be made of temporary materials. The risk of expulsion for occupying illegal land is a constant threat to slum dwellers in Manila.