A propitious time for ‘Balik Probinsya’

Perhaps at no other time in our country’s modern history has the need to decongest densely populated areas in the National Capital Region become so extremely urgent amid the dawning of a “new normal” wherein social distancing is key to winning the fight against Covid-19.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine how physical distancing efforts can be effectively carried among those who live in tight spaces, in airless slum colonies that have sprouted over the years in main urban areas.

Metro Manila and Metro Cebu have registered the most number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines which totaled 14,035 as of May 24. The Department of Health’s Covid-19 Tracker showed that the number of confirmed cases in the city of Manila alone was at 1,075 with a total of 90 deaths, while cases in Cebu City have reached 1,580 with 15 fatalities.

This is not surprising as the virus is transmitted faster in populous places where social and physical distancing efforts are difficult to observe and implement. Asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals are in situations where the virus can easily find a new host. And it is in populous urban areas where situations are perfect for widespread personto-person transmissions.

A published study of data – from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook of 2015 and the UN World Cities 2016 report containing population info by urban agglomerations – showed that three NCR cities were among the 30 most crowded cities in the world. These are Manila, Caloocan, and Quezon City.

The Philippine Statistics Authority, in a 2016 report, described what has become of NCR:

“Among the country’s 18 administrative regions, the most densely populated was the National

Capital Region

(NCR), with a population density of 20,785 persons per square kilometer. This figure is more than 60 times higher than the population density of 337 persons per square kilometer at the national level.”

It is not difficult to imagine how social and physical distancing can succeed in an area of 619.57 square kilometers but with a population density 60 times greater than the national level. On night time, the population of Metro Manila is 12.87 million, according to the 2015 census of population. On day time, the population can easily reach more than 15 million, as about 3-4 million people from outside the metropolis flock to Metro Manila to work and leave the place on the same day.

This reality of extreme population density is the elephant in the room. For sure, it’s the reason behind the government’s Balik Probinsya Program which is now an official undertaking, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s May 6 signing of Executive Order 114 “Institutionalizing the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program as a Pillar of Balanced Regional Development, Creating a Council Therefor, and for Other Purposes.”

EO 114 aims to bring “balanced regional development and equitable distribution of wealth, resources and opportunities through policies and

programs that boost countryside development and inclusive growth.” It was signed shortly after Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go authored Senate Resolution No. 380 which was adopted by the Senate urging the executive department to formulate and implement the Balik Probinsya Program.

The program is a welcome development as it jibes with the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 (UDHA), also known as the Lina Law which not only sought to tackle the growing need of decent housing for the poor, but also the challenges posed by rural to urban migration.

UDHA sought to monitor trends in population movements from rural to urban, urban to urban, and urban to rural areas” and to “identify measures by which such movements can be influenced to achieve balance between urban capabilities and population, to direct appropriate segments of the population into areas where they can have access to opportunities to improve their lives and

to contribute to national growth.”

With the Balik Probinsya Program, decongesting Metro Manila and even Metro Cebu can be done, as it must be, in a deliberate, well-planned, and systematic approach. New growth areas must have provision not only for infrastructure such as roads, school buildings, hospitals, government offices, houses and others, but also economic activities like manufacturing, construction, services, and even intensive and modernized agriculture. Urban planning, including zoning, must be observed to avoid mistakes in unplanned metropolis.

Massive medium rise low cost housing must be established in new growth areas. Housing construction has a huge multiplier effect in terms of job creation. Construction workers will be in demand and materials including nails, cement, roofing, door knobs, furniture and so many others go into housing construction. Those who will return to designated new growth areas in the region or

province can work in those construction activities or related to them.

The national government, through the newly-created Department of Housing and Urban Development, must posthaste come up with a blue print of this Balik-Probinsya Program. New growth areas must be identified taking into consideration where Filipinos who live in congested areas come from. Usually, they come from the most depressed areas in the country as well. They have flocked to urban centers precisely because there are no economic opportunities in their areas and dared to go to the metropolis despite uncertainties on whether they will find jobs or livelihood, but only armed with the hope that life in the metropolis will be better than where they came from.

There is renewed hope for them in the Balik Probinsya Program, and now is a propitious time indeed for its implementation.