MANILA (BLOOMBERG) - The coronavirus pandemic is giving Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a reason to reduce overcrowding in Manila, which in recent decades has swelled into one of the most heavily populated areas on Earth.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MANILA - The coronavirus pandemic is giving Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte a reason to reduce overcrowding in Manila, which in recent decades has swelled into one of the most heavily populated areas on Earth.
The programme is designed to help people like Joel Gortina, a 38-year-old electrician, who wants to return to Cebu province after 15 years studying and working in Manila. With work drying up amid the outbreak, Gortina planned to leave Manila in mid-March, but got stuck when much of the country was placed on lockdown.
"Manila has reached its maximum," said Marcelino Escalada, executive director of Back to the Province. Sustained migration to the capital"will not help us in this current pandemic," he said. The big challenge will be finding work in the countryside, with the programme at risk of becoming a temporary solution for many until the economy recovers.
REGIONAL TREND The Philippines isn't the only country in South-east Asia grappling with over-urbanisation. With Jakarta suffering massive gridlock and slowly sinking below sea level, Indonesia is planning to carve a new capital out of the Borneo jungle - although that's on hold for now because of the economic crisis. Before that, Malaysia and Myanmar relocated their capitals to newly built cities, partly to relieve the strain on Kuala Lumpur and Yangon.
Resettlement on a large scale requires a comprehensive plan, from ensuring adequate social services to creating jobs - and may even require new laws around land use, said Maria Ela Atienza, a professor of health politics and local governance at the University of the Philippines.
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