![[OPINION] Balik-probinsya, balik-Maynila: Coronavirus and decongesting the city](https://i.headtopics.com/images/2020/4/28/rapplerdotcom/opinion-balik-probinsya-balik-maynila-coronavirus-and-decongesting-the-city-1255034523298992129.webp)
'Without taking rural and urban realities into account, the re-envisioned Balik Probinsya Program, implicitly touted as a way of preempting successor epidemics, will only generate further cynicism.' Opinion COVID19PH
has suddenly forced the authorities to take seriously the massive numbers and densities of Metro Manila’s informal settlements. At a recent Cabinet meeting chaired by the President, a move to decongest the city was proposed: poor residents should return to their home provinces. While seemingly logical, the exhortation masks certain crucial realities.
A Department of Social Welfare and Development official interviewed on television affirmed that the existing Balik Probinsya Program has faced limited success. Lack of economic opportunities and social services in the home province eventually forced many families back to Metro Manila. How then, asked the interviewer, would a revitalized program be any different?
The official explained that the DSWD would plan ahead of time together with the interested returnee families. They would be eligible for small-business loans and subsidies. Before they could avail of this financial support, however, they would have to defend the feasibility of their micro-enterprise. More information was needed: Where in the province will they expect to live? Do they have relatives and resources there? They need to prepare a budget for the transfer.
What is needed, therefore, are inviting frameworks of all-encompassing local economies that link the agricultural countryside holistically with its constituent provincial small- or medium-sized city offering manufacturing and service industry jobs. Income and employment expectations would certainly be accompanied by demands for schools, health centers, hospitals, markets, electricity, potable water, adequate transport, entertainment, small restaurants, functioning cell sites, and fresh air.
Some years ago I joined a “tripping” with 4 jeepney loads of Pasig River settlers sponsored by the National Housing Authority. They were to view and assess the off-city resettlement site in Bosoboso, Antipolo designated as their future home. After a long ride ending in Antipolo’s then-agricultural countryside, the group disembarked to hike up a challenging slope to the relocation plateau. Awaiting them was a panoramic view overlooking rice fields and the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountain.
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