The Self-Preserving Isolation of the Filipino Wealthy
Like all great Filipino establishments, the subdivision does not look like at that much from the outside. A high wall and a guard post, with a security guard lazily asking visitors for their IDs, separates the gated area from the traffic-clogged main road. Yet, once past the lazy guard, it seems like a whole new world really does open up. The constant honking of the outside suddenly becomes a distant memory. large trees, shielding million-peso single houses on both sides, suddenly replaces the shantytowns that are prevalent on the main road outside the subdivision.
To call it a gated community, however, maybe a bit diminutive for its actual size. The subdivision is like a city within a city, complete with its own main shopping streets, replete with spas, bars, restaurants, and supermarkets. The main roads are wide and pedestrians rare, a sign of widespread car ownership in the neighborhood. Except the rare sights of tricycles, jeepneys, and street kids, the whole subdivision seems like another world from the Manila outside, a get-away-from-the-reality sort of place where middle class consumerism is accentuated to a point of fantasy.
And as if that is not enough, there is another layer of isolation for the security-minded. The subdivision, itself a gigantic gated community, is further divided into multiple residential gated communities on the inside, with more walls and more vigilant security guards tasked with strictly monitoring all incoming and outgoing non-residents. And inside, that's where the real middle class lifestyle thrives. Beautifully designed and meticulously maintained townhouses lines both side of the streets. The streets are devoid of all trash, all unwanted people, and all ruckus of a polluted metropolis.
Our residential guide gave us a detailed idea of the kind of people that populate the subdivision. From multi-millionaire businessman with multiple Ferraris to popular actresses who moved in to avoid floods in their hometowns, and even a certain Manny Pacquiao who owns a vacation house. Some of the most high-profiled displays an outright paranoia, arguing that the gatekeeping security guards are not enough to keep out potentially unwanted visitors and resorting to hiring their own additional guards, armed with the best weaponry available in the Filipino streets' weapons markets.
In a way, the residents of the subdivision has much to be paranoid about. There is simply too much wealth concentrated within this gated community (and even more so within its component gated communities) vis-a-vis the squalor that is immediately outside of its walls. And the threats to the wealth are everywhere, the young men who can flip over the fence at night, the low-paid security guards who will cooperate for a nice bribe, and most significant of all, the nannies, cooks, and maids that live in every household in the neighborhood. It is assumed while some will ask kindly, others will just take what they cannot have.
And what is most unfortunate, in this story, is that few of the residents in the sparkling middle class neighborhood got to where they are because of sheer efforts. We sees the kids of the residents sent to the local private school (itself within the compound) where they study American curriculum in clean uniforms. They, from a young age, speak to each other in beautifully American-accented English rather than the street-level vernacular Tagalog of the general population. They grow up entirely within the peace of the gated subdivision, with only their nanny as the nexus to the street-level world.
They will see the street-level world only from the windows of their parents' cars on the way to the mall on the weekends, where they will pass by many grim local marketplaces, filled with trash, unwashed people, and vices of society. Their parents will do their best to shield them from stories of murders, unwanted pregnancies, exploitations, and poverty that plagues those places. As a result, they will grow up idealistic, unknowing, and in many ways, pure. Many will get away not needing to know about any of these "poor people problems," but for the few that falls from grace, the pain will be even harder to swallow.
Perhaps, the wealth of the subdivisions explains why Filipinos, especially of lower classes, are so religiously devout, yet at the same time, so concerned with getting materialistically rich by whatever means possible. In the few glimpses (or maybe the complete lack of such), they are able to see/imagine their version of heaven on earth. It is a paradise of environmental cleanliness, physical safety, and materialistic abundance. It is this that they pray for and for this they strive for, with whatever little opportunities they get. The appeal of the gated community is so strong that they are willing to do anything, anything, to get there.
To call it a gated community, however, maybe a bit diminutive for its actual size. The subdivision is like a city within a city, complete with its own main shopping streets, replete with spas, bars, restaurants, and supermarkets. The main roads are wide and pedestrians rare, a sign of widespread car ownership in the neighborhood. Except the rare sights of tricycles, jeepneys, and street kids, the whole subdivision seems like another world from the Manila outside, a get-away-from-the-reality sort of place where middle class consumerism is accentuated to a point of fantasy.
And as if that is not enough, there is another layer of isolation for the security-minded. The subdivision, itself a gigantic gated community, is further divided into multiple residential gated communities on the inside, with more walls and more vigilant security guards tasked with strictly monitoring all incoming and outgoing non-residents. And inside, that's where the real middle class lifestyle thrives. Beautifully designed and meticulously maintained townhouses lines both side of the streets. The streets are devoid of all trash, all unwanted people, and all ruckus of a polluted metropolis.
Our residential guide gave us a detailed idea of the kind of people that populate the subdivision. From multi-millionaire businessman with multiple Ferraris to popular actresses who moved in to avoid floods in their hometowns, and even a certain Manny Pacquiao who owns a vacation house. Some of the most high-profiled displays an outright paranoia, arguing that the gatekeeping security guards are not enough to keep out potentially unwanted visitors and resorting to hiring their own additional guards, armed with the best weaponry available in the Filipino streets' weapons markets.
In a way, the residents of the subdivision has much to be paranoid about. There is simply too much wealth concentrated within this gated community (and even more so within its component gated communities) vis-a-vis the squalor that is immediately outside of its walls. And the threats to the wealth are everywhere, the young men who can flip over the fence at night, the low-paid security guards who will cooperate for a nice bribe, and most significant of all, the nannies, cooks, and maids that live in every household in the neighborhood. It is assumed while some will ask kindly, others will just take what they cannot have.
And what is most unfortunate, in this story, is that few of the residents in the sparkling middle class neighborhood got to where they are because of sheer efforts. We sees the kids of the residents sent to the local private school (itself within the compound) where they study American curriculum in clean uniforms. They, from a young age, speak to each other in beautifully American-accented English rather than the street-level vernacular Tagalog of the general population. They grow up entirely within the peace of the gated subdivision, with only their nanny as the nexus to the street-level world.
They will see the street-level world only from the windows of their parents' cars on the way to the mall on the weekends, where they will pass by many grim local marketplaces, filled with trash, unwashed people, and vices of society. Their parents will do their best to shield them from stories of murders, unwanted pregnancies, exploitations, and poverty that plagues those places. As a result, they will grow up idealistic, unknowing, and in many ways, pure. Many will get away not needing to know about any of these "poor people problems," but for the few that falls from grace, the pain will be even harder to swallow.
Perhaps, the wealth of the subdivisions explains why Filipinos, especially of lower classes, are so religiously devout, yet at the same time, so concerned with getting materialistically rich by whatever means possible. In the few glimpses (or maybe the complete lack of such), they are able to see/imagine their version of heaven on earth. It is a paradise of environmental cleanliness, physical safety, and materialistic abundance. It is this that they pray for and for this they strive for, with whatever little opportunities they get. The appeal of the gated community is so strong that they are willing to do anything, anything, to get there.
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