Civility & city streets

"I have recommended the study of civic virtues, without which there can be no redemption."– Jose Rizal

This quote comes from the title page of one of my favorite books in a small personal collection I’m building up of pre-war publications concerning city life. It’s a fascinating school textbook, Elementary Civics: A Textbook for the Fifth Grade. Written by the eminent Dr. Jose S. Reyes, the book is a manual of sorts for young citizens to understand their responsibilities, as well as those of the government’s, in building and maintaining their community and the nation.

In his preface, Dr. Reyes states: "... it is advisable to present civics to our pupils in a simple form at the earliest possible moment. Such presentation should not be didactic. It should rather lead pupils to an understanding of the ideals and the actions of good citizens."

The book does this, and in short quaint sketches that are its attractions. The first section deals with patriotism and vignettes involving historical characters, among them national heroes. These are meant to be "(not) merely biographical; incidents have been chosen that typify some special civic virtue...to make vivid the lesson of patriotism."

Poetry And Patriotism

Virtues such as determination, truthfulness, courage, perseverance, self-sacrifice, bravery and helpfulness are extolled. The author sprinkles the chapters liberally with quotations, like this one from Webster: "Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country." So help me God, civic life was more focused back then.

Short poems abound, too, like this sample from Horatius Bonar:

The Truth

Oh, give us men with vision clear;
With rugged hearts that know no fear.
Good men, who are both brave and bold,
Unshaken by the lure of gold;
Who stand by right, whate’er their faith
Such men will make our nation great.

The book was written in 1932 although civics books came out as early as the 1910s. Filipino children who went to school in that era were understandably full of patriotism and not wanting in images, painted by books such as this, of a nation that could be great. (A few decades later, one of these children wanted to "... make this nation great again.")

Civic Beauty

The more interesting section to me is the second half of the book, which deals with civic beauty. Way before NGO-led initiatives like "Clean and Green" were needed, children were taught about this aspect of "good citizenship." Dr. Reyes states, "Each day offers opportunities (for children) to observe the beauty around them. Such simple matters as caring for the streets and premises of the home and school serve to drive home the idea of civic beauty."

The section is called "Our Town: Its Beauty." The title reflects the reality of the era when most of the Philippines’ urbanized areas were towns. Only Manila and Cebu could, in those days, be called cities in terms of population and levels of urbanization.

The author begins the section by stating that the Philippines is "... one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Its broad green fields, its groves of coconuts, its deep forests of tall trees, its mountains and lakes make it lovelier than almost any other place." He then lightly admonishes Filipinos, saying, "Sometimes, we spoil the beauty of our country. We neglect to make our towns beautiful. The lessons that you read in this chapter will remind you of some of the things that every citizen should do to make his town beautiful, so that he can be proud of it. When a man is proud of his town, he is a better citizen." (The language is a little gender-biased despite the fact that education was offered equally to boys and girls, education being the main factor for the Filipinas’ liberation from traditional subservience.)

Roads Of Perdition

The chapter contains several vignettes with titles like "A Town Made Beautiful," "Home, Sweet Home," "Improving our Plaza" and "Our Streets." The last one is a continuation of "Home, Sweet Home," which tells the story of a civil servant, a Mr. Santos (a "saintly" chap), who relocates with his family to a new town to serve in the local government. He and his wife find a suitable house, then proceed to turn it into a home by fixing it up, cleaning the yard and planting it with lots of colorful trees, shrubs and vines.

In "Our Streets," Mrs. Santos embarks on a scheme to get the local (upper class) womenfolk involved in civic action. The story goes: "The ladies who were neighbors and friends of Mrs. Santos were pleased when she invited them to a party. They all assembled in her home and drank chocolate, ate cakes, and talked about many different things. It was a very pleasant party. (Later) when it was cool, Mrs. Santos said, ‘Come, let us take a walk. It will be fun to walk to the schoolhouse.’

"Some of the ladies did not like this plan, but they were too polite to refuse. So they walked together across town and out along the road to the school. One of the ladies said to her companion, ‘The party was very nice. But this walk is very unpleasant. The street is full of stones and dirt ... I wish I had not come along.’

"By the time they arrived at the schoolhouse, all of them were displeased. They had not enjoyed their walk because of the unclean and uneven streets. (After they found a place to rest) Mrs. Santos said, ‘My dear friends, is it not too bad that the streets are so dreadful? A walk at twilight ought to be a pleasure. But our walk was hard work. Why do we permit such bad streets?’

"‘They are our streets,’ replied Mrs. Santos. ‘We can do with them as we do with our homes. First of all, we can agree to keep the streets in front of our own homes as clean as our yards. That will make a big difference. We can all ask our neighbors to promise to do the same. Surely, they are as anxious to have a good street as we are. They have to be reminded of their duty.’

"After Mrs. Santos had started them thinking, the ladies discussed the plan and decided it was worth trying. When they went home that night, it was already dark. The walk was even more difficult, because there were a few lamps and these gave a very faint light. So they decided not only to ask their neighbors to ask the (town) Council to give better lights and to build sidewalks."

Sidewalks Of Shame

Today’s streets and sidewalks are a nightmare of broken pavements, countless utility poles, parked vehicles and yes, micro retailers (vendors, as they are called – forced by circumstance and failed physical and economic infrastructure to peddle in the streets and sidewalks of all our expanding cities and towns).

The upper crust of society dare not venture into the pedestrian realm – it is too jologs for them. Only a few politicians’ expensive shoes ever touch raw sidewalk concrete and only for photo-ops. The middle class only venture into certain streets either to drink overpriced coffee, to rave to techno sounds or else to topple another regime whose leaders they feel are not cool enough for them.

The streets and sidewalks of today are certainly not cool places. They are mostly tree-less, dimly-lit and devoid of anything that bears a semblance of order or reason. Civic spirit or civility is a lost attribute of our towns and cities. What our children learn now are selfishness, materialism, deception, social depravity and political hooliganism. These they learn not from civics books but from the adults around them.

Civic Redemption

But all is not lost. Filipinos of all ages need to realize what has and is continuing to happen to Philippine society and our environment. Education is the key but civic action (or what today is called "interventions by civil society") is an option that all concerned citizens can take.

We should honor the contract between our government and ourselves to take our responsibilities seriously and fulfill our duties heroically as citizens. Government, on the other hand, must deliver their end of this social contract and provide basic services and an environment for true progress and prosperity.

Sidewalks are being cleared as we speak. (Although personally, I’d use a little more restraint. The end does not justify ... the kerosene.) In similar interventions in other countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, hawker’s markets were built before the clearing was done (just as adequate public housing was built in those cities before their slums were cleared).

Clearly, something more must be done than just clearing and everyone should contribute to the effort. The MMDA is tasked to do only part of the job. Other government agencies, NGOs and resource-rich individuals should do their bit. We all have our bit to do.

Instead of depending only on one hero to keep our sidewalks clean, our streets safe and our city civilized, we should bring out the bayani in all of our government agencies, in all of us and in all our children. Better lives to live and better places to live them in will be the final reward and the best monument to all our efforts.

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephilstar@hotmail.com.