It seems to be the first thing the government does whenever something important is scheduled to take place; hide the poor people and block out the eyesores with billboards.
In Lapu-Lapu City, 66 families were relocated from a community near the Mactan Expo in that city to a resort in the neighboring town of Cordova for the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit.
The official reason was said to be “security preparations”. Well, yes, we are sure security has something to do with it too. On the plus side, those families also get to experience the resort life for a while.
In Cebu City, billboards strategically placed on the CCLEX viaduct block the view of the Pasil Fish Market and its environs, infamous for the squalor and unsanitary conditions. Tarps have also been used to the same effect in other areas.
Just to be clear about this, this isn’t anything new. Governments all over the world do this during important events.
However, we fear this sends the wrong message to those in the lower rungs of society.
It’s like we are trying to deny that they even exist. And as a result, those who are invisible in society in terms of access to basic services become even more invisible.
Yes, there is a good reason to put our best foot forward and to show the best of what we have during such an event as an ASEAN summit. But this doesn’t have to mean going te extra mile to hide our failures. Just to be clear; those poor people and those communities living in squalor aren’t failures; they are the one who have been failed.
And the fact that we are trying too hard to deny that our failures exist is telling.
In the end we must not forget that the very people we are trying to hide are the very people whose lives are supposed to be changed for the better by ASEAN.
It won’t make much sense pretending that they don’t exist while we talk about issues that are supposed to alleviate their condition.