40022969

Colonial Capital, Modernist Capital, Global Capital: The Changing Political Symbolism of Urban Space in Metro Manila, the
Philippines Author(s): Gavin Shatkin Source: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Winter, 2005/2006), pp. 577-600 Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40022969 . Accessed: 14/02/2014 09:42
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Colonial
Capital,
Modernist
Capital, Global Capital: The Changing Political Symbolism in Urban Metro Manila, Space the Philippines
GavinShatkin
of
of these aspirationsand ideals. They are "symbolictheaters for national a reflectionof the largernationalstancetowards a catalyst urbanism, ideology, andatleasthistorically, a bridgebetween fornationaleconomicdevelopment, local culture and the 'imagined community' of the nation-state."1 They contain monuments and museums that act as receptacles of collective memory,they play host to ceremonies and spectaclesmarkingimportant and theycontainthe spaces events,pastand present,in the nation'shistory, that representcentrepointsof politicalpower.They are also the siteswhere the forces of change contest the statusquo through protest.As such, the physicaldevelopmentof capitalcities is shapedby their politicalfunctions, and their physicalform in turn influencesthe realmof politicalaction.2 Despite the fact that many also function as capitals,the studyof Asia's focusedon theireconomicrole.As integration into citieshaspredominantly the global economy has fostered an economic, spatialand technological in these cities,analysis has particularly focusedon theirrole transformation - centres that coordinatethe integrationof national and as "globalcities" While the regional economies into global flows of trade and investment.3
1 Scott Campbell,"TheChanging Role and Identityof CapitalCities in the GlobalEra,"paper presented at the Associationof AmericanGeographersAnnual Meeting, Pittsburgh,April 2000, p. 1. 2 VictorSumsky, "TheCityas PoliticalActor:Manila,February1986,"Alternatives vol. 17 (1992), pp. 479-492;Amos Rapoport, "On the Nature of Capitalsand their PhysicalExpression,"in John Cities: International Carleton eds., Capital (Ottawa: Perspectives Taylor, Jean Lengelleand CarolineAndrew, UniversityPress, 1993), pp. 31-68. 3 FuchenLo andYue-Man Cities United Nations andtheWorld Yeung,Globalization ofLarge (Tokyo: Their UniversityPress, 1998); Roger Simmonds and GaryHack, eds., GlobalCityRegions: Emerging Forms (London: Spon Press,2000).
Introduction ideals of a nation, or at least the nationalgovernment'sinterpretation
and Capitalcitiesplayan importantrole in representingthe aspirations
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2005-2006 78, No. 4 - "Winter PacificAffairs:Volume
global cityconcept is highlyrelevantand worthyof study,the politicalrole of Asia's capitalshas also had an important influence on their form, as governmentshave imbued this form with symbolsof their aspirationsfor nation building.A numberof recent studies (as well as some older studies) havebegun to explore the role of urbandevelopmentin defining national and in projectingan imageof progressand globalcompetitiveness.4 identity, for This paperfollowsthese studiesby developingan historicalframework and the in for state strategies capital building, understanding changes relationshipbetween these changes in politicalsymbolismand changes in the use of public spacefor the expressionof politicaldissent.It arguesthat of urbanspacein a fundamentalshiftis occurringin the politicalsymbolism the global era as the privatizationof urban development has led to the for grassroots of publicspace,and thatthisshifthasimplications degradation action. political The paperwillbeginbyexaminingboth the currentandhistorical political of citybuilding in globalizingcapitalcities,where the pressures symbolism and changesfrom globalizationencounter the politicsand symbolismthat on are associated with the nation'scapital.This paperwillfocus specifically - although an effort will be made to draw the case of Metro Manila5 inferences to the largergroup of global capitalcities, it is recognizedthat between these cities. there are significantdifferencesas well as similarities AswithmanyotherAsiancapitals,MetroManiladevelopedits currentform under colonial rule, and has historically symbolizedthe country'sinterface It is the economic with the internationaleconomy and with "modernity." - whileMetroManilapropercontains and politicalepicentreof the country about 11 million people, it sits at the centre of an industrializingand urbanizingregion that containsa populationof some 17 to 18 million.This region contains a disproportionate share of the country's economic productionand culturalresources.Yetit also faces myriaddauntingsocial challenges,mostvisibleand pressingbeing the fact thatsome 40 percentof its residentslive in informal settlements.Their presence inevitablyraises aboutthe government's for economicandsocialprogress. questions strategies
4 Some of the most notable examples include: Lily Kong and Brenda Yeoh, ThePoliticsof in Singapore: Constructions Landscapes of 'Nation' (Syracuse:SyracureUniversityPress, 2003); Gerard andMarcos State Architecture Ateneo de ManilaUniversity Lico,Edifice Power, (Quezon City: Complex: Myth Press, 2003); Tim Bunnell, "Cities for Nations?: Examining the City-Nation-StateRelation in InformationAge Malaysia," International and Regional vol. 26, no. 2 (2002), Research, Journalof Urban . Dreams: and theCityscape An Inquiry intoPower, Cultural Production pp. 284-298;Beng-LanGoh, Modern in Contemporary Urban (Ithaca:CornellSoutheastAsiaProgram,2002); and Aprodicio Penang, Malaysia in Nation-Building: Politics andAdministration in Metropolitan Manila(Manila: Laquian,TheCity University of the Philippines, 1966). 5 MetroManilais a metropolitanarea made up of 17 cities and municipalities,of which the city of Manilais one. The termMetroManilawillbe used throughoutthe paperto referto the metropolitan area as a whole- where the term Manilais used it refers only to the city of Manila.
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ColonialCapital,Modernist Capital, GlobalCapital
The paperbeginsby arguingthaturbanplanningin MetroManilahas at various juncturesreflectedthe effortsof politicalactorsat the nationallevel to legitimizetheir rule, and to representtheir desiredmodel for the social transformation of the nation. As such, capital building has mirrored socioeconomicand politicalrelations.Specifically, the paper contemporary arguesthattherehavebeen threedistinctepochsin capital-building strategies in the Philippinesduring the last century:the Americancolonial period, the period of modernist planning under President Ferdinand Marcos' authoritarian rule, and the currentperiod of the Philippines'integration into the globaleconomy.Next, the paper arguesthat,in the globalera, the symbolismof Metro Manilaas a capitaland as a global city have become as the nationalgovernmenthas soughtto emphasize intertwined, intricately the nation'spreparedness for globalization, and its cosmopolitannature,as national characteristics. the Philippinegovernment has defining Specifically, in planningandfocused involvement increasingly encouragedprivate-sector less attentionon the developmentand maintenanceof publicspace.Finally, the paper examinesthe implicationsof capitalbuildingduring these three epochs for the symbolic use of urban space by oppositional political movements. It contends that, as public space has become increasingly in the globalera,citizensof MetroManila havesought degradedandmarginal newforumsfor politicalaction,and that this has importantimplications for the country'sdemocracy.
Three Phases of Capital Building: Colonial, Modernist and Global
This section examinesthe waysthatnationalgovernmentsexpresspower through capital building, how people interpret and react to such and how such representationshave changed historically. representations, of nationalgovernments, Viewedfromthe perspective the developmentof a capitalis an opportunityto expressa vision of an idealizednationalfuture, both domesticandforeignobservers, to impress and to legitimizetheirrule.6 Specifically, capitalsperform three main politicalfunctions.First,they are forumsfor nationalleadersto present an "argument" for the legitimacyof their policies and programmesby presenting the capital as a symbol of thatrepresents a templatefor the restof the nationto follow.Second, progress the spacesof the capitalcreatea forumfor ceremonialpurposes,the "stages - what have been called shrines or and props for ceremonies and rituals in countriesthathaveemergedfrom theatersof power."7 Third,particularly
6 James Holston, TheModernist An Anthropological City: ofBrasilia(Chicago:Universityof Critique Chicago Press, 1989); Anthony King, "Cultural Hegemony and CapitalCities,"in John Taylor, Jean Cities: International CarletonUniversity (Ottawa: Lengelle and CarolineAndrew,eds., Capital Perspectives Press, 1993), pp. 251-270. 7 Rappoport,"On the Nature of Capitalsand their PhysicalExpression," p. 36.
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is used to define the developmentof capitals colonialrulerelatively recently, nationalidentity,or as Kingputs it, to "knockthe nation into shape."8This or arebesieged is especially pressingwheresuchidentitiesarestillformative, and public monuments by competingsymbolsand allegiances.The spaces, to references citizens with in role providing buildingsin capitalsplaya key as their sharednationalidentity interpretedby government. Hence, as Rapoportstates, the form of capitalbuilding is intended to schemataof politicalauthority, communicateculture-specific "dramatically secure as act mnemonics, legitimate acts, compliance and reinforce the achieved This is the state."9 definition of official through the following such of publicbuildings,monumentsor facilities, the construction measures: the buildingof monumentalinfrastructure, as museums,parksand squares; exertion of control over what Kong and Yeoh10 such as broad boulevards; call "quotidian" landscapes,for example the space of housing, places of in social, and cemeteries;and effortsto makethe capitalexemplary worship economic and culturaldevelopment. Inasmuchas the visionfor nation buildingpresentedby nationalleaders forces arenain whichoppositional arealsoan important is contested,capitals seek to subvertor redefine thisvision.Symbolicspaces,such as Tiananmen Monument DC,or the Democracy Squarein Beijing,the Mallin Washington, in Bangkok,become spacesof protestas oppositionalforces use collective action to offer an alternative interpretationof their meaning. In addition, the persistenceof social problemsin capitalsservesto make the failuresof the national government'svision for national development all the more visible. The specificsof the capitalbuildingstrategiesemployedby governments of capitalsthat varyaccordingto the context. Hall developsa categorization thesecontextualfactors.11 is usefulin beginningto understand Amongother in the which discusses: he political function political capitals, categories, Canberraand include and drives development (examples predominates but are not which multi-functional cities, ; Brasilia) onlypolitical alsocultural and economic centres (London, Paris,Madrid);and global capitals,which also function as "global cities" that house the regional or national of multinationalcorporationsand businessservicefunctions headquarters (London, Tokyo,Seoul). This categorizationhelps us to understandthe audience for which the capitalis developed (which may include not only citizensbut also multinational capitaland other groups), and the degree to
8 King, "Cultural Hegemony and CapitalCities,"p. 253. 9 Rappoport,"On the Nature of Capitalsand their PhysicalExpression," p. 36. 11 Peter Hall, "The Changing Role of CapitalCities:Six Typesof CapitalCity," in John Taylor, International (Ottawa:Carleton Perspectives Jean Lengelle and Caroline Andrew,eds., CapitalCities: UniversityPress, 1993), pp. 69-84.
10 Kong and Yeoh, The Politics of Landscapes in Singapore.
580
ColonialCapital,ModernistCapital,GlobalCapital
whichthe city'sfunctionas a capitalplaysa dominantrole in shapingurban To thesecategories, thisstudyemphasizes a classof citieswhere development. global economic connections co-existwith a high density of political and culturalfunctions.The latterexert a powerfulsocialand culturalinfluence and profoundimpacton the image of the countryas a whole. At the same time, the global city function of such cities dictatesthat capitalistprojects become a new source of symbolicspaces.Nationalgovernments,including thatof the Philippines,haveconsequentlysought to developthe capitalcity in the image of a global cityboth as a means to attractcapital,and to instill in theircitizensa confidencein the powerof globalintegrationto transform their societies. Capital-buildingstrategies have also changed over time, and reflect of powerand the interaction and the governed relations betweengovernment a historical While at particular tradition,nostalgiaand historical juncture. in dictate some their form, evidenceof contemporary continuity symbolism in the built form of capitals.This paper argues relations is inscribed power thatMetroManilahasgone throughthreedistinctphasesin its development as a capital during the past century.The first phase was colonial, during colonialadministration the cityin the image whichtheAmerican redeveloped of American cities in an effort to instill in its subjects a belief in the benevolenceof colonialrule.Next wasthe modernistphaseduringthe midto late twentiethcentury,in which the Philippine government (similarto of other newlyindependentstates)soughtto legitimizeits rule governments and redefine nationalidentitythrough the use of modernistplanningand architecture. The last and contemporaryphase is global, in which the Philippine governmentseeks to use the development of Metro Manilato projectan image of an economicallysuccessfulglobalcity,both to persuade of globalization of the economyis correct,and to its citizensthatits strategy attractinvestmentand tourismin order to fullyrealizethis strategy. The remainderof this section will discuss the colonial and modernist phases, while the next section will discuss the global phase. Given space the intent is not to presentan exhaustiveaccountof the recent constraints, of the forcesaffecting of the city,but ratherto providea briefanalysis history as a each MetroManila's capitalduring phase. development
underAmericancolonialrule Manila 's development
The United Statescolonized the Philippinesfrom 1898 to 1946,a period duringwhichthe populationof Manilarosefromslightlymore than 200,000 to over 700,000.12It embarkedupon this venture with a combination of and a willingnessto make use of the idealisticzeal, economic pragmatism
12 Manuel Caoili, The Origins of MetropolitanManila: A Political and Social Analysis (Quezon City:
New Day Publishers,1988).
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2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume full force of its military might that has since become characteristic of America's foreign military ventures. Initially startled by the ferocity of the resistance they encountered, the US Army responded with brute force in the Philippine-American War,which cost over 200,000 lives.13Once peace was restored, however, the colonial administration implemented a series of political reforms, public health and educational programmes and public works projects intended to persuade Filipinos of the superiority of American institutions, and to quell continuing calls for independence. Most notable was the development of a popularly elected, decentralized form of government modelled on that of the US- elections for provincial governor were held in 1902, for national assembly in 1907, for national legislature in 1916 and for president in 1935.14 Manila was a beachhead of the US presence, and an obvious place to begin the effort to convince Filipinos of America's enlightened intentions. The US had inherited from the Spanish a city in decline, a "grand city from another era fallen on hard times."15 While the fortified settlement of Intramuros retained some of the elegance that made it one of the most celebrated colonial cities of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the moat around it was stagnant and a perennial health hazard, and infrastructure in the areas outside of the walls was spectacularly inadequate.16 One of the first tasks of the colonial government was to improve public health, and it did so through the construction of the city's first modern hospital, development of a sewage system, improvements to the water system, and a public health campaign. The results were impressive, as described by McCoy and Roces:17 sufferedone of itsperiodiccholeraepidemics From1902to 1904Manila whichleft 4386 dead. But by 1911 sanitationand public educationhad virtuallyeliminated the disease.... Smallpox,which was killing 6000 people everyyear in the greaterManilaarea,was eradicatedthrough and malaria wasreducedby mosquitocontrol. vaccination, compulsory The sum of these measurescut Manila'sdeath rate by almost halffrom 43 per 1,000populationin 1899 to only 23 in 1914. Colonial administrators next turned their attention to aesthetic concerns and improvement of the transport system. In 1904 Daniel Burnham was
13 Manuel Caoili, TheOrigins Manila. ofMetropolitan 14 John Sidel, Capital, and Crime: Bossism in thePhilippines Coercion, (Stanford:StanfordUniversity Press, 1999), p. 16. 15 Alfred McCoyand Alfredo Roces, Philippine Era Cartoons: PoliticalCaricature of theAmerican 1900-1941(Quezon City:Vera-Reyes, 1985). 16 Robert Reed, Colonial and theProcess Manila:TheContext of Morphogenesis, ofHispanicUrbanism Universityof CaliforniaPublicationsin Geography,vol. 22 (Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, Cartoons. 1978); McCoyand Roces, Philippine 17 McCoyand Roces, Philippine Cartoons.
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ColonialCapital,ModernistCapital,GlobalCapital commissioned to develop plans for Manila and the northern hill resort city of Baguio. Burnham had recently supervised the completion of Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 plan for Washington, DC, and is today considered the preeminent architect of the City Beautiful movement, a turn-of-the-century American reformist movement that sought to transformdegraded inner cities through the development of monumental neoclassical buildings, broad boulevards and parks. Burnham, who viewed the task as a patriotic act and refused remuneration, visited the Philippines for six weeks in 1904-05. He set the ambitious objective of transforming the city into "the adequate expression of the destiny of the Filipino people as well as an enduring witness to the efficient services of America in the Philippine Islands."18 His plan for Manila was a classic expression of the City Beautiful movement.19 The plan focuses on the city's most aesthetically pleasing feature, Manila Bay.Luneta, a park bordering Intramuros that was a feature of the Spanish colonial city,was to be widened, and around it was planned a major complex of government buildings that was to include the capitol and several departments of the national government.20 Groupingitself closely about the capitol building at the center, [the complex of buildings] forms a hollow square,opening out westward towardthe sea. The gain in dignityby grouping these buildingsin a single formal mass has dictated this arrangement, the beauty and convenienceof whichhasbeen put to the testin notableexamplesfrom of modern times. the daysof old Rome to the Louvreand Versailles The easternfrontof the capitalgroupfacesa semicircular plaza,from a streetsystemcommunicating whosecenterradiates withall sectionsof - an arrangemententirely fitting for both sentimental and the city reasons: becausethe centerof governmental practical, activity practical should be readilyaccessiblefrom all sides;sentimental,because every sectionof the capitolcityshouldlook withdeferencetowardthe symbol of the nation's The plazaallows power. spaceat itscenterfora monument of compactplan and simplesilhouette. The plan also included a grand boulevard along the bay to the south of Luneta that was to be lined with public buildings. To the north of Luneta, Burnham envisioned a broad boulevard lined with museums and libraries. Throughout the city,wide diagonal arteries with roundabouts were planned to ease traffic congestion. Finally, the plan proposed the development of a world-classhotel in order to tap into the growing international tourism trade and to provide a retreat for American expatriates. The Manila Hotel, located
18 Daniel Burnham, "Reporton Improvement of Manila,"in Bureau of Insular Affairs,Sixth Commission: 1905:Part1 (Washington,DC:GovernmentPrintingOffice, AnnualReport ofthePhilippine 1906), p. 635. 19 Thomas Hines, "AmericanModernism in the Philippines: The Forgotten Architecture of vol. 32, no. 4 (1973), pp. 316-326. WilliamE. Parsons,"Journal Historians, of theSociety ofArchitectural 20 Daniel Burnham,"Reporton Improvementof Manila," p. 632.
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While much of Burnham's on a lot adjacentto Luneta,opened in 1912.21 planwasneverrealized,its influenceon the city'sdevelopmentsince is quite RizalNationalPark) in the layoutof Luneta(currently particularly apparent, and the clusteringof public buildingsaroundit. notable.First,it sought Twoaspectsof the Burnhamplan are particularly in Manila inside to turnthe Spanishmodel of planning out, and to redefine fabric. Ratherthan being the urban the relationshipof public buildingsto to be placed in were in cloistered Intramuros, government buildings in and accessible deliberately public spaces, symbolizing the minds of itself was to be Americansthe values of Americandemocracy.Intramuros its walls of the as a artifact opened in places Spanishperiod, preserved quaint it to to allowfor the efficientcirculationof trafficand the moatsurrounding be were to be filled and convertedinto a publicpark.Government buildings and in form to be outward aspect, compelling an "magnificent designed attitude of respect, if not inspiring a feeling of awe" in the colonial the post-independence administration and, eventually, governmentthatwas to replace it.22The plan was thus perfectlysuited to the times, and fit well with the Americanagenda of political reform. Second, the plan focused almost exclusively on concerns of aesthetic improvement and efficient transport.The plan interpreted Manila'sprimaryfunctions in a manner - it was to be a consistentwith the desires of the colonial administration of public institutions,and an efficientmarket forum to expressthe majesty for commerce.As in other Burnhamplans,socialconcernsand the needs of the workingclassare almostentirelydisregarded.23 Burnham'splan for Manilaalso embodied the contradictionsinherent in the Americancolonial regime. The main critiqueof Americancolonial severe rule in the Philippineshas been thatit failed to addressthe country's it throughan economically socioeconomicdisparity, andindeed exacerbated opportunisticalliancewith the country'slandowningelite. In doing so, the argumentfollows,the colonial regime underminedits own tenuous efforts at political reform. Hence, while it left in place an electoral democracy, politicalrepresentationhas in fact been limited due to the dominance of the country'slandowningclass.24 As the country'sdemocracyfaltered,and concernsaboundedregardingcorruptionamong politicians,the clientelist natureof electoralpolitics,and collaboration with the colonial regime, the Burnham seemed increasingly of the symbolism grand spaces designed by hollow. The aesthetic and practical impact of the plan was gradually
21 Thomas Hines, "American Modernismin the Philippines." 22 Daniel Burnham,"Reporton Improvementof Manila," p. 632. 23 DavidBrody,"BuildingEmpire:Architectureand AmericanImperialismin the Philippines,"
June (2001), pp. 123-145. Journal of the American ArchitecturalSociety, 24 Alfred McCoy, ed. , An AnarchyofFamilies: State and Family in thePhilippines (Madison: University
of WisconsinCenter for SoutheastAsian Studies, 1993).
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overwhelmed bya numberof socialills- a housingcrisis,endemiccorruption for working-class Manilans, among the police, inadequate transportation socialissuessuch as prostitution, and populationgrowththatsoon began to In implementing infrastructure the Burnham outstrip improvements.25 plans, the colonialgovernmenthad "lavished resourceson [a] glitteringfacade."26 In the long run, however,the social inequities inherent in the colonial Manila into a symbolof the failuresof American experiencehad transformed rule.
Marcosand modernist planning
In TheModernist Holston argues that Brazilianplannershave used City, modernistarchitecture and planningas a powerfultool in forwarding their He focuses on which was as a new Brasilia, developmentagenda.27 planned and 1960s and the 1950s was modelled on the ideas of capital during modernist most Le Corbusier for architects, notably (although prominent political reasons Brasilia's planners disavowed this connection). This remarkable effort at social engineeringis perhapsthe best-known example of nation building through modernist capital building, but other less ambitiousinstanceswere occurringin other partsof the world during the mid- to late twentiethcentury.In the Philippines,the modernistparadigm reachedits apex during the yearsof FerdinandMarcos'authoritarian rule, betweenthe time of his declarationof martiallawin 1972and his overthrow in 1986. Marcoshad risen to powerbased on the skillfuluse of nationalist rhetoricand imagery,the manipulationof patronagenetworksand brute force. In an effort to solidifyhis political base, he assembleda group of technocratsand initiateda number of public worksprojects,most notably roadbuildingin the provinces. whowasappointed AlongwithhiswifeImelda, in 1975, he also created Metro Manila Commission of the newly governor attention to to the two audiences sought reshape capital,payingparticular citizens the urban middle class), powerful Filipino (particularly increasingly and the internationalcommunity.28 The redevelopment agenda had several thrusts.29 First,a number of most were constructed, notably the Cultural prominent public buildings CenterComplex (CCC),located on reclaimedland along ManilaBay.The complex included the CulturalCenter of the Philippines, the Folk Arts
25 McCoy and Roces, Philippine Cartoons. 26 McCoy and Roces, Philippine Cartoons. 27 James Holston, The Modernist City:An AnthropologicalCritiqueof Brasilia (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1989).
29 The following account draws heavily on an excellent account by Michael Pinches, and the quest for modernity:architecturalform, squattersettlements and the new "Modernization and UrbanChangein society in Manila,"in Marc Askew and William Logan*eds., Cultural Identity Southeast Asia:Interpretive Essays(Geelong: Deakin UniversityPress, 1994), pp. 13-42.
28 Caoili, The Origins of MetroManila.
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Figure 1: Cultural Centerof the Philippines
Photo: Gavin Shatkin, 2004
Theater, the Philippine International Convention Center and the National Film Center. These buildings represented the latest developments in modernist architecture, and were designed to present a type of streetscape entirely new to the city, and to impress pedestrians with their scale and grandeur. This is conveyed eloquently by Pinches in his description of his first encounter with the CCC in 1976:30 Of the severallarge buildingsthat made up the complex, the firstand most imposingwasthe CulturalCenterof the Philippines,designedby architectLeandroLocsin. ... Frontedby a large pool 'prize-winning' and spectacularfountain, it rose as a huge white concrete monolith cantileveredout over a glazed entrance hall and raised semi-circular vehicularramp.The imposingcharacter of the structure owed much to the flat,emptyexpanseof parkland thatsurrounded it, particularly given the contrastinghigh densityof building along the streetsnearbyand throughmost of the city. Here, the Marcosescould showcase their transformation of the Philippines for an international audience, and the increased international stature of the country for a domestic audience, by hosting the 1976 Miss Universe Pageant, an annual international film festival and other international events. Indeed, Imelda Marcos' rhetoric in speeches and interviews about the CCC
30 Pinches, "Modernization and the quest for modernity," p. 14.
586
emphasized its importance in "affirming[the Filipino] identity"and in the country's"shiningfutureagainstour impoverished symbolizing past."31 A secondthrustof the redevelopment agendawasa campaignto eliminate the city'sinformalsettlementsthrougha seriesof evictionsand generallyillconceived andinadequate the mostambitious housingprogrammes.32 Finally, was the proposed constructionof a new capitalin projectof the Marcoses Quezon City,on a large plot of land on the outskirtsof MetroManila.The A complexof buildings sitewasgiventhe nameNationalGovernment Center. wasto be located in a park-like setting,and severalmajormonumentswere the mostprominentbeing a largebustof President to be constructed, Marcos himself.33 The plan was never realized,and in fact partsof the area have become Metro Manila'slargest informal settlement. Severalgovernment functionsdid eventually movethere,however, includingthe SupremeCourt and the Congress. vision Hence, as withAmericancolonial plansfor Manila,the Marcoses' A persistent underminedbyits owncontradictions. wasultimately insurgency in the countryside and an increasingrelianceon industrialization-led growth fed a steadystreamof migrantsto MetroManila,and the lack of affordable evictioncampaigns exacerbated the deterioration housingand the Marcoses' of housingconditionsfor the growingnumberof poor.Rampant corruption led to economic decline, so that both domestic and multinationalexportorientedbusinessand the middleclass joined the ranksof the disenchanted. The CCC,and other expensivebuilding projects,soon came to represent the venalityand corruption of the regime. Todaythe CCCcomplex lies underutilizedand at times seeminglyabandoned. Hence the experiences of the Americancolonial governmentand the Eachsought Marcosregimein capitalbuildingare in manyrespectssimilar. to redefine state-civil society relations through master planning and yet the symbolicmeaning of the resultingspaces magnificentarchitecture, has remained contested. Such issues are to some degree inherent in the projectof capitalbuilding,as monumentsand symbolicspacesfreeze both the aspirations of politicalregimesand the contradictionsthey embodyin the built form of the city.Nevertheless,both the Americancolonialistsand the Marcos regimehaveshapedsome of the mostprominentspacesin Metro Manila,and these spacescontinue to define the image of the city,both for its residentsand for touristsand expatriates.The next section will argue that these spaceshavebecome increasingly marginalin the currentcontext of democratization and the globalizationof the city'seconomy,largelyas a of urbandevelopment. consequenceof the privatization
31 Imelda Marcosquoted in Pinches, "Modernization and the Quest for Modernity," p. 14. 32 Pinches, "Modernization and the Quest for Modernity." Manila (Quezon City:Ateneo de ManilaUniversityPress, 1997).
33 Erhard Berner, Defending a Place in the City: Localities and the Strugglefor Urban Land in Metro
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2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume Metro Manila as Capital City
The period since the fall of Marcos in 1986 has been marked by tremendouspoliticaland economic changein the Philippines.The rhetoric andinclusiveness of recentadministrations hasemphasized the accountability of public institutions,and the countryhas experienced dramaticreforms for decentralization. Integration into the global economy, which was and manufacturing hasaccelerated, exportshave encouragedunderMarcos, discussion of This section a will with grownsignificantly. begin conceptual the impactof globalization on the physicaldevelopmentof capitals,andwill then focus on the impact of these changes on the role of the national governmentin Metro Manila'sdevelopment,and the types of symbolism that are inscribedin new urbanspaces. three Hallprovides a usefulstarting byidentifying pointfor thisdiscussion "forces for change" in the global era- political, economic and - that have implicationsfor the development of capitals.34 technological Three politicalforces are of particular note. First,for reasonscomplex and varied, globalization has coincided with a wave of democratizationand decentralization andlocalgovernments haveconsequently worldwide, gained in In Metro for example, 17 city voice urban Manila, greater development. and municipalgovernmentsenjoy considerableautonomyin such areasas landuse planning,housingand economicdevelopment. Second,particularly in globalcapitalcities,politicaland economic actorsin the cityhavegained increased national political influence. Mayorsof such cities are usually Globalcapital instantlyconsideredpotentialcandidatesfor head of state.35 cities also wield significant influence through the financing of national elections. In Thailand,for example, six of the seven people named by the militarygovernment of Thailand in 1991 as the most prominent "dark or businesspeoplewho wield undue influence in the country's influences," Likewise, politicalsystem,were from the BangkokMetropolitanRegion.36 in the Philippine andpolitical nationalelectionsof 1986,the bankroll support of Makati-based businesswas criticalto turning the tide of the election in Corazon andto the post-election movementthatprecipitated favour, Aquino's the flight of the Marcosfamilyfollowingallegationsof fraud.37 the Finally,
34 Hall, "The Changing Role of CapitalCities."Hall's analysisfocuses on the case of European capitals, and the discussion here differs from his in significant ways.The categorization is useful nonetheless. 35 DavidMyers,"TheDynamicsof LocalEmpowerment: An Overview," in DavidMyersand Henry Politicsin LatinAmerica Dietz, eds., CapitalCity (Boulder:Lynne Riener,2002), p. 3. This is less so in Metro Manila than in most places because of the highly fragmented nature of the city's politics. Nevertheless,recent Metro Manilamayorswho have risen to national political prominence include Joseph Estrada,a former mayorof SanJuan who went on to be president, and Alfredo Lim, a current senator who wasformerlymayorof Manila. 36 GavinShatkin,"Globalization and LocalLeadership:Growth,Powerand Politicsin Thailand's EasternSeaboard," International andRegional vol. 28, no. 1 (2004), pp. 11-26. Research, Journalof Urban 37 Mark Thompson, TheAnti-Marcos in the Personalistic Rule and Democratic Transition Struggle: (Quezon City:New Day Publishers,1995). Philippines
588
contemporary doctrine of neoliberalism, which has been adopted by governments in many parts of the world, demands a different form of - one architecture and urbandesign than the doctrineof authoritarianism that celebratesthe power of capitalas a liberatingforce, and the spiritof In sum,thesepolitical asa facetof the nationalcharacter. entrepreneurialism changes have meant that: a) national governmentsno longer exercise as much independentinfluenceon capitalbuildingas theydid previously, and mustincreasingly collaborate withlocal governmentsand the privatesector in order to get anythingdone; b) developmentdecisions are increasingly influencedby groupswithinthe capitalitselfwhose interestsare tied to the and c) as nationalgovernments haveembarkedon processof globalization; a strategyof globalization,they have had to rethinkthe symbolicmeaning of space in the capital. Economicand technological forcesfor changearecloselyrelated.National economic fortunes rest heavily on the shoulders of capital cities with increasingglobal connections, as such cities are often central to effortsto attract multinational investment. Architecture and urban planning become toolsfor projectingan imageof economic progressto consequently infrastructure and high-speed multinationalcapital.Telecommunications as they are railare also importantcomponentsof the globalizationstrategy viewedas key to the efficiencyof the urban economy.And, of course, the increased political influence of groups whose interests are tied to - particularly both domesticand international export-oriented globalization - furthershapes urbanpolicy and planning. businessand the middle class The developments of Cyberjayaand Putrajayain Malaysiaprovide an excellent example of the ways in which national governments have soughtto harnessnew technologies,both to stimulateeconomic aggressively and to bolsterthe strengthof the nation-states.38 growth the culturalimpact Kingpoints to another"forcefor change"in capitals: he that cities are subjectto the of globalization.39 capital Specifically, argues same flows of migrantsand touristsas other global cities. As a result, the of the social groupsthat politicalsymbolsof capitalsare not representative the "monuments and the and images of the capital are capital, occupy consumedby the touristgaze."40 Manynational governmentshave responded to these changes by using their somewhatdepleted41influence over the development of capitalsto encouragethe developmentof spacesthatevokethe successof theirstrategy
38 Bunnell, "Citiesfor Nations?" 39 King, "Cultural Hegemony and CapitalCities." 40 King, "Cultural Hegemony and CapitalCities,"p. 266. 41 It is worthnoting that the decline in powerand influence of national governmentsin shaping urban spaces has not occurred uniformly in different contexts. In the city-stateof Singapore, for example, the national government owns most of the land and has profoundly shaped urban life
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of globalization.Monumentalpublic architectureof the type observedat the CCCis no longer as feasibleor even desirableas it once was.In its stead, of globality haveall seen the ascendanceof the architecture globalcapitals and the the "smart the glassand steel skyscrapers, buildings" signaturestyle of the renowned architect.42 The private sectorhas come to playan increased role in defining patterns of development, particularly through the which are often undertakenas publicimplementationof "mega-projects," seven of elevenAsianprojectslistedby Oldsin Indeed, privatepartnerships. his book on mega-projects are public-private partnerships,and seven are alsolocatedin capitals.43 national Finally, governmentsare consciousof the audiences that will consume multiple spaces in the capital, and have endeavouredto encourage forms of urban developmentthat cater to the - the middle class, interestsof the economicallyand politicallyinfluential multinationalbusiness,touristsand expatriates.Hence the symbolsof the global citycompete with the symbolsof powerof the nationalgovernment for attention,spaceand scarceresourcesin the urbandevelopmentagenda. hasaffected thatglobalization The remainder of thissectionwillexamineways the politicalsymbolism of urbandevelopmentin MetroManila.
Metro Manila and the global economy
Globalization has accentuatedthe four main economic roles of Metro Manila.First,the city has emerged as a "command and control"centre for the country's integration into the global economy. The Makaticentral businessdistrict(CBD),built and managedby the AyalaLandCorporation, of the top 1000 companiesin the contains90 percent of the headquarters country, and about 80 percent of headquarters of multinational corporations.44 Second, Metro Manila is a centre for consumption. Globalizationhas accompaniedan influx of expatriatesand touristsand, more significantly, the growthof a Filipinomiddle classthat has increased The commercial disposableincome and a strong penchant to consume.45 developmentthat has emerged to meet increasedconsumer demand has had a remarkable impact on the urban landscape.Third, MetroManilais
through the development of public housing. It therefore continues to exercise dominant influence in shapingurbanform, even as that influence is exercised through partnershipwith the privatesector. See Kong and Yeoh, ThePolitics in Singapore, for a discussionof state strategiesof nation ofLandscapes building in contemporary Singapore through interventions in historic preservation and the development of cemeteries, housing, the artsand other areas. Press,2003), specificallychapter 6, "TheFocal Point of China:Lujiazui,Shanghai,"pp. 85-106. York:Oxford UniversityPress,2001) , p. 31.
44 Berner, Defending a Place in the City,p. 18. 42 Richard Marshall, Emerging Urbanity:Global UrbanProjectsin theAsia Pacific Rim (London: Spon 43 Kris Olds, Globalization and Urban Change: Capital, Culture, and Pacific Rim Mega-Projects(New
45 John Connell, "BeyondManila:walls,malls, and privatespaces,"Environment andPlanningA, vol.31 (1999), p. 422.
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While the Philippinesis not as seeing an increase in the tourist trade.46 have risen steadily populara destinationas Thailandor Singapore,arrivals from 1.04 million in 1992 to 2.17 million in 1999. The concentrationof travel in MetroManila hotels,transport infrastructure, agenciesandamenities meansthat a disproportionate amountof the economic benefitsof tourism accrueto the capital.Finally, MetroManilahas emerged as a cityof labour export.Thereweremore than 800,000registeredFilipinooverseascontract workers(OCWs)in 2002, and their annual remittancesto the Philippines totaledmore than US$6 billion. Tynerfinds that this industryhas a distinct geographythat is highly centralized,with more than 99 percent of OCW recruiting agencieslocatedin MetroManila,and 77 percentof theselocated in just two citieswithinMetroManila: Manilaand Makati.47 These economic changes have enhanced the city's function as the and nationaldevelopment preeminenteconomiccentrein the country, plans have recognizedthe cityas a criticalengine for globalization-led economic growth.In thiscontext, the nationalgovernmenthas come to playnew roles - the in the city's development. Three roles are particularlynoteworthy in function of national growing governmentagencies establishingpublicthe national private partnerships around real estate "mega-projects"; in of role the infrastructure government's development large-scale projects; and its role in tourism-related redevelopment. real-estate developmentshavelong been a featureof Metro Mega-project the Makati CBDand OrtigasCentreas earlymodels, Manila's with growth, but this trend has expanded significantlyin recent years. Severalrecent developments, all initiated in the mid-1990s and some still under construction,are worth noting. Perhapsthe most significantis Bonifacio GlobalCity (BGC) , whichwasinitiatedwith the sale of developmentrights to a 214-hectareportion of Fort Bonifacio, a former militarybase, to a forUS$1.6 billionin 1995.48 A masterplanenvisions consortium of businesses the area eventuallycontaining enough apartmentsand condominiumsto house 200,000 residents, and shopping and office facilities for 500,000 and shoppers.49 Reflectingan impulseto projectan image daytimeworkers of global power and influence, consultantshired to master plan the city took principal investors and representatives of the Bases Conversion
46 Peter Mullins,"International Tourismand the Cities of SoutheastAsia,"in DennisJudd and Susan Fainstein,eds., TheTourist City(New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 1999), pp. 245-260;NEDA , MediumTerm Plan, 2001(National Economic and Development Authority) Philippine Development 2006 (Manila:NEDA,2001). 47 James Tyner, J., "GlobalCitiesand Circuitsof GlobalLabor:The Caseof Manila,Philippines," 4 ChrisHorwood, The Takingof Fort Bonifacio, Euromoney vol. 310 (1995), pp. 20, 22. 49 Sara Liss-Katz, "FortBonifacio Global City:A New Standardfor Urban Design in Southeast and Globalization: AnInternational Asia,"in HemalataDandekar,ed., City, Space Perspective, proceedings of an InternationalSymposium,Universityof Michigan,26-28 February1998.
52:1 (2000) , pp. 61-74. Professional Geographer
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Figure 2: Eastwood City Walk,Eastwood City
Photo: Gavin Shatkin, 2004
DevelopmentAuthority(the governmentpartnerin the project) on a tour of Paris,London and other cities,and incorporatedtheir reflectionson the formsof thesecitiesinto the finalplan.The statedintentionof the developers is to provide a city that "meetsgloballyaccepted standardsnecessaryfor economic investment and growth, where the needs of an international businesscommunitymaybe met."50 While the developmentof the site was slowed by the Asian financial crisis, the project promises to reshape the city'smarketfor prime real estate.Anothersuch projectis EastwoodCity,a 6.5-hectarecomplex in Quezon City that hosts several high-rise condoof several miniums,as well as office buildingsthat house the headquarters a economic IBM. It has been established as most special corporations, notably Yetother zone, withincentivesoffered to informationtechnologyinvestors. in include Rockwell Center which was Makati, developed on the examples 6.3-hectaresite of a thermalpower plant, and FilinvestCorporateCity,a 244-hectare complex in the cityof Muntinlupain southernMetroManila. These developmentshavehighlightedthe emergingrole of the national in facilitating the processof place makingby the privatesector. government Eachof the developmentshas followedthe MakatiCBDmodel, using land50 Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation has a Web site, available at <http://www. fbglobalcity.com/>,site last accessed 2 December 2005.
592
use planning,limitsto vehicle entrypoints, carefulcontrol of setbacksand floor-area ratios,and a varietyof other mechanismsto create an attractive environmentfor foreign investorsand consumers. Each offers potential residentsand investorsan integratedenvironmentwith opportunitiesfor corporateinvestment,shopping and entertainment,and residence. They are instantly recognizableas the most plannedand sociallyregulatedplaces in MetroManila. Second, recent nationaldevelopmentplans have placed a great deal of and particularly on infrastructure, emphasison expandingMetroManila's that is to be a the severe traffic alleviating congestion perceived significant deterrent to investment and growth. Some of the significant recent infrastructure initiatives include:the expansionof the MassRailway Transit and the LightRailTransitlines to connect areasbetween Quezon Cityand the city of Manila;the completion of the Metro ManilaSkyway along the South SuperHighway, which connects MetroManilato urbanizingregions to its south; the developmentof three additionalexpressways connecting MetroManilato its surrounding region;and expansionsand improvements to NinoyAquino International Airport.51 up"of Metro Finally, development planshavecalledfor a general"sprucing to tourists:52 Manilato make it more attractive
Services at Ninoy Aquino InternationalAirport (NAIA) and other to becomemoreefficient, international flexible, ports. . . willbe upgraded in respondingto the needs of visitors.... fast,and connectivity-friendly Traffic along major tourist thoroughfares will be decongested by traffic schemes.Clean-up andimplementing drives rerouting structuring and beautificationprogramson the routes to and from international willbe continued. airportsand other identifiedtouristthoroughfares
Historicsites that are regardedas potential touristattractions,such as havealso been the focus of redevelopmentplans. Intramuros, Allof thesetransformations havechangedthe spatial experienceof Metro - the contrast between publicly and privatelyplanned spaces is Manila one is struckby the skyline, stark.In the new citymegaprojects, increasingly and the the opulence of the buildinginteriors,the impeccablelandscaping, smooth flow of traffic.The wealthyincreasinglyexperience the city as an archipelago of carefullyplanned consumer, residential and work spaces connected by elevated,climate(malls,condominiums,gated subdivisions) A 1993 article Tadiar discussedthe impact of the controlled transport. by of of on the experience traversingthe city, as "the development flyovers
51 MoniqueCornelioPronoveand ChemerieCheng, "Metro inJames Berryand Stanley Manila,"
McGreal, eds., Cities in the Pacific Rim: Planning Systems and PropertyMarkets (London: Spon Press, 1999); NED A, Medium TermPhilippine DevelopmentPlan, 2001-2006. 52 NEDA, Medium TermPhilippine DevelopmentPlan, 2001-2006.
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- a space an aerialsight heightand distance[flyovers] providerenderManila texturesfromwhich deprivedof detailand content and reducedto abstract This description one can extracta particular kind of aestheticpleasure."53 hasbecomeall the more aptas the scaleof transportation including projects, flyovers,elevatedhighwaysand light rail, has grown.In essence, what has occurred is the privatizationof planning, with government acting as a facilitator of private-sectorinvestment in city building, providing land, local links.Meanwhile, enablingdevelopmentand developinginfrastructure to obstacles and fiscal constraints with political governments struggle Manila and the of and centres governmentpower,particularly planning, Quezon City,become ever more grittyand degradedas they are overcome by the pressuresof trafficcongestion,populationexpansionand age. Much has been said about the meaning of these changes for social area manifestation relations. Dickand Rimmer positthatthesedevelopments a middle-class fear of of a self-fulfilling of chaotic,congestedcity.54 prophesy The poor,livingand travelling at the streetlevel,bear the lion'sshareof the costsof congestionand environmental degradation.Both the poor and the a of dearth wealthyexperience trulypublicspace,spacethatis not intended to restrictsocial interactionor engage the user in a consumerexperience. Muchless, however,has been said about the implicationsof this change for national identity and political action. Yet sites of national political of planning. In Manila with the privatization symbolismare marginalized and Quezon City,many public spaces are mired in neglect, while others in Burnham's havebeen privatized. Thosestructures planthatwereeventually built seem besieged by the city around them- the National Museumand ManilaCityHall, for example, are hemmed in by the endless rumblingof jeepneys along Padre BurgosAvenue. Opposite these buildings,the moat has been convertedinto an exclusivegolf course, surroundingIntramuros and the pavementabuttingthis moat has been colonized by the homeless. surroundedor occupied by The Marcos-era structureshave been similarly the marginalof Philippine society.For example, the impressivebuildings thathouse the Congress and the SupremeCourtin the NationalGovernment Centerstandincongruously in the midstof Southeast Asia'slargestinformal settlement.Some partsof the CulturalCenterComplexare being used for the centres In sum, it is increasingly cruisingby gay men and prostitutes.55 of businessand commerce that communicatepower and wealth in Metro Manila, while public spaces communicate ambivalence about past governmenteffortsto shape the symbolicmeaning of urbanspace.
53 Neferti Tadiar,"Manila'sNew Metropolitan Form," differences: A Journalof Feminist Cultural vol. 5, no. 3 (1993), p. 154. Studies, 54 HowardDick and Peter Rimmer,"Beyondthe Third Worldcity:the new urban geographyof South-East vol. 35, no. 12 (1998), pp. 2303-2321. Asia,"Urban Studies,
55 Lico, Edifice Complex,p. 155.
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ColonialCapital,ModernistCapital,GlobalCapital Political Protest in Globalizing Metro Manila
The followingdiscussionwill addressthe question of how change in the symbolicmeaning of Metro Manila'surban spaces has been reflected in changesin politicalprotestandconflict.Thisquestionis particularly germane to the case of MetroManila, whichhas a long historyof protest.The analysis willfocuson tworecenteventsthatpropelledthe Philippines onto newspaper headlines worldwide:the "People'sPower 2" demonstrationsthat drove President frompowerinJanuary of 2001,and an armymutiny JosephEstrada inJulyof 2003,in whichrenegadesoldiersoccupieda Makati mall to protest in in the and the administration of President alleged corruption military GloriaMacapagal The use in of urban Arroyo. symbolic space these two in a was from that of many ways departure protests previous protests, Power" revoltof 1986, and this sectionwill includingthe original"People's argue that this reflectedchanges in the symbolicmeaning of urbanspaces in the global era. In an insightfularticle,Sumsky inscribed exploresthe role of symbolism in the physical form of cities in shaping political outcomes, focusing specifically on the anti-Marcosdemonstrations of 1986.56He poses the 57 followingquestions:
did the streetsandquarters of Metro Whatkindof emotionalbackground Manila createin the crucialmomentsof the anti-Marcos What campaign? andbehavior did theypromote? kindof humaninclinations Couldthere be anything about their historical past, their visual images, or the functions they perform today that supported nonviolent action or became an obstacleto it?
'sanalysis focuseson the threemostimportant sitesof the protests. Sumsky The first is Luneta, or Rizal National Park,which holds great symbolic significancefor Filipinos.It was here that the reverednational hero Jose Rizalwas executed by the Spanish,and where the Philippineflag wasfirst raisedat the end of colonial rule. Both events are markedby monuments rituals.Lunetais also the country's thatserveas a focusfor anniversary most famouspublic space, as well as a centre of public institutions.The second site is Epinafiode los SantosAvenue (EDSA) , a ring road that embracesthe core of Metro Manila.The protests reached a crescendo here, and the demonstrations areconsequently often referredto as the "EDSA revolution." - the part of the road This site was significantfor simple strategicreasons that was the epicentre of the protestswas between CampAguinaldoand baseswheretroopshad decided to backthe antiCampCrame,twomilitary Marcos movement.Protesters gatheredhere to providethemwithprotection
56 Sumsky,"Thecity as political actor." 57 Sumsky, The city as political actor, p. 479.
595
andmoralsupport.58 MendiolaBridgein the cityof Manilais located Finally, near severalvenerableeducationalinstitutions,and leads onto a road that terminates at a gateof nearbyMalacanang residence. Palace,the presidential Thisbridgehas been the site of violentand sometimesfatalclashesbetween anti-government protestersand securityforcesat severalpoints in history in 1970, 1983, 1986 (duringPeople'sPower)and duringCorazonAquino's rule in 1987. Sumskyconcludes that each of these spaces, by providing poignant political symbolismand allegories of heroism and resistance, preparedthe people of the cityfor politicalmobilization. Thispaperarguesthatthe transformations in urbanformrelatedto Metro Manila'srole as a global capitalcity have changed the meanings of these spaces,and led to the emergence of new spaces of politicalaction. This is not to say that the aforementionedspaces have been entirelydivestedof their significancehas diminished,and theirpoliticalsignificance.However, the symbolicsignificanceof new spacesof politicalaction is rooted in their proximityto new sites of powerthathave emergedwith the globalizationof the city'seconomy.
PeoplePower 2
Between 16 and 21 of 2001,a seriesof protests,popularly referred January to as"People's Estrada. Power2,"or "EDSA 2,"oustedPresident Joseph"Erap" Although the internationalpress viewed this event with some skepticism, and some perceivedit as mob rule, Filipinosgenerallyviewedit with great pride as the latest example of their abilityto safeguardfragile democratic institutionsthroughdirectaction.59 a formeractorwho went on to Estrada, be mayorof a MetroManilamunicipality and a senator,waselected in 1998 in large partdue to his popularity with the country'spoor. He immediately became the butt of jokes, particularly among MetroManila'smiddle class, regardinghis intelligence, abilitiesin English,and affinityfor women and alcohol.The proteststhat eventually led to his ousterbegan with a seriesof newsstoriesstartingin October2000 regardinghis alleged corruptionand involvement in underground gambling schemes. The anti-Estrada demonstrations were notably more divisive than the anti-Marcos demonstrations, pitting an alliance of the middle class,businessinterests, and some elementsof the left againsta core of Estrada faithfuldrawnlargely from the poor and the lower-middle class.60
58 DavidSteinberg, ThePhilippines: A Singular and a PluralPlace(Boulder:Westview Press, 1994) , p. 147. 59 Amando Doronila, "People's coup: Bloodless, constitutional, democratic,"Philippine Daily 22January2001, p. Al. Inquirer, oO CarlLande, The Return of People s Power in the Philippines, JournalofDemocracy, vol. 12, no. 2 (2001), pp. 88-102.
596
In manyrespects,EDSA2 reaffirmedthe relevanceof the sites of protest - people were called to the streetsby leadersfrom the discussedby Sumsky CatholicChurchand non-governmental and convergedon a organizations, numberof sites,includingMendiola,and most notablyEDSA.The focus of the protestswasthe EDSAshrine, a monument to the 1986 movementat a However,the increased role played by the major crossroadson EDSA.61 MakatiCBDin EDSA2 wasalso notable.AyalaAvenue,the road that runs 's businessand commercialdistrict,wasa major throughthe heartof Makati site for protests,as noted in the followingaccount of a participant:62
you could see a sea of people in blackgathering By 11 am, Wednesday, on Ayala Avenuein frontof the monumentto Senator[Benigno]Aquino [formerPresidentAquino'shusband,murderedby the Marcosregime in 1983]. The stockmarketpeople had all walkedout of theirbooths into the had called off all classesto enable students streets.Our son'suniversity and then to Edsa.The crowdkeptreplenishing tojoin the marchto Ayala itself.ByThursday, theremusthavebeen between500,000and 1,000,000 werein the people at Edsa.The youngstudentsandyoungprofessionals but you sawold people, the middle class,and the urbanpoor. majority, Manyhad their childrenin tow,whole families. It wasan unforgettable si Erap!" sight!The crowdwouldroar"Guilty . In the afternoon,a massive is guilty!") humanchainwasforming ("Erap fromAyalaall the wayto Edsa....
The human chain is particularly notable as an expressionof displeasure administration withthe Estrada Newsaccounts byAyala-based professionals. of the crisis in the major daily English-language newspapers,such as the on the decline of the peso and the PhilippineStockExchange,keyindicators of concern for the business elite and Makati-based professionals.Makati - manyoffice in the protests in numerousotherways businesses wereinvolved in woreblack,and held ralliesin the CBD.Earlier late workers on, November, Makati businesspeoplehad organizeda "PeoplePowerLunch"for a group of protesters from ruralareaswho stageda rallyin Makati.63 Since Estrada's Makati has become a focus for rallies,as these forces departure, jfrro-Estrada have also come to understandthe city'spolitical influence and symbolic importance.
and the Manila Times, Philippine DailyInquirer placed a great deal of emphasis
61 It is also worth noting that the shrine stands adjacent to Ortigas Center, a major office and commercialcomplex that has recently come to be Makati 's chief rivalin providingworld-class office space. 62 Lande, "TheReturn of People Powerin the Philippines,"p. 94. 63 Philippine Centerfor Investigative Power Uli!: A Scrapbook About EDSA , People Journalism (PCIJ)
2, withJokes, TextMessages, Photos, Digital Images and More (2001). Quezon City: Philippine Center for
Investigative Journalism.
597
2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume Another significant development was the increasing importance of information technology, as "cyberspace" emerged both as a means of organizing protests, and a forum for protest in and of itself. Of particular note was the phenomenon of text messaging, a service that allowed cellphone users to send brief text messages to each other for a minimal fee. Some have argued that the increasingly ribald and pointed jokes about Estrada sent through text messaging prior to the protests played a critical role in turning public opinion against him. As the allegations of indiscretion became more serious, however, the use of this medium began to have a 64 greater impact, as did the use of other information technologies: Asmanyas 200antiEmailand the Webwerealsothe weaponsof protest. andabout100e-mail websites groupsweresetup duringthatperiod. Erap Organized groups used e-mail to discuss position papers, reach a consensuson issuesand mobilizenumbersfor rallies.The Internetwasa andoverseas. MetroManila in the provinces, bridgethatlinkedprotesters The Webplayedhost to satire,polemicaltracts,even virtualrallies. In a very real sense, therefore, information technologies performed a function similar to that of the physical locations of the protests. TheArmyMutinyin Makati
The second movementwasan armymutinyin the centralbusinessdistrict of Makati in 2003, in which 296 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the CBD.The mutinycame Philippines(AFP)occupied a section of the Makati a after President Gloria just day MacapagalArroyo had reported that a her governmenthad been averted,and there was planned coup against that the mutineerswere a group that had broken widespreadspeculation off from this plot. At approximately threea.m.on Sunday, July27, renegade soldiersplanted bombs around Rustansdepartmentstore in the Glorietta At four a.m.,a group of shoppingcentre and the Hotel Inter-Continental.65 soldiersoccupied the OakwoodPremierapartmentcomplex, claimingits and includingthe residentsas hostages.These residents,mostlyexpatriates, ambassador fromAustralia, were releasedwithinhours.The soldiersissued statementsaccusingthe Arroyoadministration and the armyof corruption, and demanding the resignation of the president and her cabinet. They furthercalledon the people of the cityto come out into the streetsin a show of people power.Followinga tense 19-hourstandoffthe soldiersagreed to returnto their barracks. In the daysthat followed,speculationfocused on the possible role of prominent politiciansand former president Estrada, but at its core the mutiny seems to have been initiated by a group of disaffectedofficers.
64 PCIJ, People'sPower Ulil
65 KarlKaufman,"Timeline:coup attemptfoiled," Manila Times, 28July 2003, page Al.
598
interest The choice of venue for this act of armedprotestis of particular to this paper.Locateda stone's throwfrom the office buildingsthat house many of the headquartersof multinationalsand prominent Philippine in the minds the Glorietta businesses, shoppingcomplexis closelyassociated of the Philippine withthe wealthgeneratedby the globalization of Manilans economy.While the SMMegamallhas a more proletarianatmosphere,it is come to bask Glorietta wherethe middleand upperclasses,and expatriates, at the in air-conditioned dine widevariety items, opulence, purchaseluxury blockbusters. did andsee the latestHollywood of restaurants, Why the soldiers is that thiswasa suitable The mostapparent choose thislocation? explanation the owners of to address the new from which wealthy, capital,and the stage - the verygroupswhose attention and assistance internationalcommunity the soldierswould need in order to achievetheir objectives.
A changinggeographyof political protest?
Whatdo the above two accountsmean for the role of MetroManilaas a They certainlydo not indicatethat capitaland a site of politicalsymbolism? the three sites discussedby Sumskyhave been entirely stripped of their they do indicatethat theirfunction as symbolsof symbolicpower.However, national and origin is being challengedby new sites that symbolize history the global function of the city,and people's perception of the role of the global economy in the country'sdestiny.It is these sites, rather than the political centres of the city of Manilaand Quezon City,that increasingly and that, depending on one's project an image of power and prosperity, for the nation'sfuture or a a vision either provide galvanizing perspective, in the inherent the of globalizationprocess. symbol inequities
Conclusions
waveof politicalmovements The 1980sand 1990switnesseda remarkable acrossSoutheastand EastAsia. In the capitalsof Bangkok,Seoul,Jakarta, MetroManilaand Beijing,people convergedin streetsand squaresto evoke of urbanspacesin theirstruggles.These movements the politicalsymbolism assertionof the powerof publicspacesas tools of political werea remarkable progress.This paper has arguedthatwe are witnessingthe beginningsof a shift in the meaning of urbanspace in the globalizingcapitalsof Southeast and EastAsia, as developmentis increasinglyshaped by the symbolismof and globalcapital.In MetroManila,globallyconnected places globalization are Nationalgovernments havegainedpoweras sitesof politicalsymbolism. less involvedin effortsto constructUtopiasrepresentingan idealizedvision MetroManilaare being built by of the future. The Utopiasof present-day built for profit.WhileMetroManilais are and the privatesector, they being of this an extreme phenomenon,it is nonethelessindicative example perhaps of a trend that, to greateror lesserdegrees in differentcontexts,is shaping the globalizingcapitalcities of the region.
599
This paper furtherarguesthat there is a need for a shift in the focus of studiesof the politicsof urbanformin Asiancapitals.Muchof thisliterature hasfocusedon the role of governmentin exertingdirectpoliticaland social control over urban developmentin an effort to shape the nation-building process.In Singapore,for example, Kong and Yeohfind that "theworkof "nation" constructionis certainlytied intimatelyto the state'sprojectsin ideological hegemony,and . . . landscapesplay a criticalrole in this effort, not leastbyconcretizingand naturalizing preferredideologies."66 particular under the Marcos Elsewhere, Lico, in his excellent accountof architecture of the in the Foucault Panopticon to concept regime, follows employing and as a meansof surveillance describethe waysthatstatesuse architecture control of citizens.67 While this paper does not contest these analyses,it argues that these findings are specific to certain cases (in SoutheastAsia, and specific periods (notablyperiods of notablySingaporeand Malaysia) the Marcosregime), and that a gradual such as that of authoritarian rule, of MetroManilaand other cities, shiftis takingplace.Withthe globalization in a reduced role is city building and space has been government playing bifurcatedbetween the privately planned "globalcity"for the middle and and classes and the marginalized spacesof the rest of the neglected upper as arguingthat,withthe Foucault's framework Lico summarizes population. increasedpower of the nation-state,"spaceis arrangedand structuredto carry out disciplinary powers through knowledge of surveillance."68 BorrowingLico's language, we argue for a modified conception of the - in the global era, and urban space relationshipbetween the nation-state out is and to disciplinary power through space privatized commodified carry the knowledgeof exclusion. This paper has argued that past efforts at nation building through the symbolicuse of urban space have failed in the Philippineslargelybecause the idealizedimage of statepowerembodied in these symbolsprovedto be a myth. Ironically,the current ideology of capital building is that public and that a sense of identityand common purposecan spaceis unnecessary, be forged by a vibrantfor-profitprivatesector.This too is provingto be a myth, both because privatizedspaces exclude a large segment of Metro Manila's population, and because they do not provide a supportive The privatization activities. for publiclyoriented,non-consumer atmosphere of citybuildingis thus likelyto haveimportantconsequencesfor the future developmentof democracyin the Philippines.
University of Michigan,Ann Arbor,U.S.A.,August, 2005
66 Kong and Yeoh, The Politics of Landscapes in Singapore,p. 202. 7 Lico, Edifice Complex. 68 Lico, Edifice Complex,p. 3.
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Colonial Capital, Modernist Capital, Global Capital: The Changing Political Symbolism of Urban Space in Metro Manila, the

Introduction ideals of a nation, or at least the nationalgovernment'sinterpretation

and Capitalcitiesplayan importantrole in representingthe aspirations

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - "Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

ColonialCapital,Modernist Capital, GlobalCapital

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

New Day Publishers,1988).

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

of WisconsinCenter for SoutheastAsian Studies, 1993).

Chicago Press, 1989).

28 Caoili, The Origins of MetroManila.

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

Figure 1: Cultural Centerof the Philippines

Photo: Gavin Shatkin, 2004

30 Pinches, "Modernization and the quest for modernity," p. 14.

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume Metro Manila as Capital City

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

45 John Connell, "BeyondManila:walls,malls, and privatespaces,"Environment andPlanningA, vol.31 (1999), p. 422.

Pacific Affairs: Volume 78, No. 4 Winter 2005-2006

Figure 2: Eastwood City Walk,Eastwood City

Photo: Gavin Shatkin, 2004

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

ColonialCapital,ModernistCapital,GlobalCapital Political Protest in Globalizing Metro Manila

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

65 KarlKaufman,"Timeline:coup attemptfoiled," Manila Times, 28July 2003, page Al.

2005-2006 78, No. 4 - Winter PacificAffairs:Volume

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