Baseco or Basilan?

THE sight of soldiers no longer alarm residents of Baseco, a densely populated urban-poor community of mostly migrant families and relocated slum dwellers occupying 56 hectares of reclaimed land at the South Harbor in Manila. Fully armed soldiers on patrol have become a regular fixture in the area ever since the military ordered troops deployed there back in the last quarter of 2006, along with at least 25 depressed barangays in Metro Manila.

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The deployment, which the Armed Forces of the Philippines justified then as part of its efforts to boost the government’s counter-insurgency drive in urban areas, was largely seen as an attempt to neutralize urban-poor communities like Baseco which were perceived to be strongholds of leftist party-list groups critical of the Arroyo administration that were seeking reelection in the May 2007 elections.

Despite the ordered troop pullout before the 2007 polls, soldiers have not abandoned Baseco, with a platoon-sized contingent continuing to man the barracks which they built right next to the public elementary school.

“Nasanay na kami sa sundalo (We’re already used to the presence of soldiers),” said one resident. So accustomed to such a militarized situation in fact that if given a choice, he said the people of Baseco would rather have them anytime than policemen.

Yet even with all the exposure, nothing apparently prepared Baseco dwellers for the scene they beheld a month ago when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came a-visiting to inaugurate the Baseco Reclamation Expansion Project, Phase 1 of which will reclaim 10 hectares to be used for socialized housing to benefit some 3,000 Metro Manila poor families. (more on this later) Arroyo graced the project’s groundbreaking ceremony last May 13, assisted by Andrea Domingo, general manager of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (formerly Public Estates Authority), Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, and 5th district Representative Amado Bagatsing.

What proved out of the ordinary — as depicted by the above photos contributed by Laarni Salanga, a volunteer teacher involved in the Urban Poor Associates’s tutorial program for Baseco children — was the seeming “overkill” in Arroyo’s security arrangements that residents and observers pointed out would have been more appropriate in war-torn Basilan or Sulu.

Because unless there had been new threats to Arroyo’s life, which was just uncharacteristic of Malacañang and the Presidential Security Group to have suddenly become silent about, there seemed no sense at all in her dropping by Baseco, with a couple of tanks and a busload of soldiers in full battle gear in tow. Residents said snipers were also visible in their designated positions even as one patrol boat was on standby at the back of the makeshift stage.

“Parang may giyera sa loob ng Baseco (It seemed like Baseco was in the midst of war),” said Jeorgie Tenolete, president of the Kabalikat sa Pagpapaunlad ng Baseco Compound, one of several community organizations in the reclaimed government resettlement site.

Tenolete said it was the first time in the 21 years he has been a Baseco resident that he saw tanks rolling down its unpaved and narrow streets, recalling how Arroyo’s previous visits to the community evoked none of this war-zone feel.

Still another resident remarked what probably best reflected the deep alienation suffered by the governed from those who govern this country. “Parang may kriminal na hinahanap sila sa Baseco (It was as if they were hunting down criminals who have sought refuge in Baseco),” he said, complaining how the heavy security did not allow the people to even get close to Arroyo.