Binays rule poor Makati, Ayalas own rich Makati
Credit to Author: RAMON T. TULFO| Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 16:13:35 +0000
I WAS sitting on a park bench talking with two friends — an expat from Sweden and a lawyer — at the Palm Promenade within the Ayala Center in Makati City at past 10 p.m. on Tuesday night when a security guard of the complex accosted us.
The guard, who sported “Francisco” on his nameplate, arrogantly demanded that we leave as, he said, it was already curfew time and the park was private property.
We stood our ground and asked to see his superiors in the security force.
Francisco’s superiors showed us a signboard that said that the Palm Promenade was a property of Ayala Center Estate Association.
The signboard says that the park, which has no enclosures, is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Palm Promenade is in the heart of the Ayala Center where big-star hotels, big department stores and high-rise condominiums are located.
Ayala Center is full of people, thousands of them, who shop and dine day and night.
Therefore, Ayala Center is a public place.
But the Zobel de Ayalas, after whom the Makati commercial business district is named, think that since they own that piece of real estate it is their private domain.
And since it’s their private enclave, the Zobel de Ayalas have imposed their own laws, including imposing a curfew, in a very public place.
Ayala district in Makati has its own police force the members of which are called “marshals” who patrol the territory to the exclusion of government law enforcers, the Makati police.
The arrogant guard who accosted us Tuesday night was an Ayala marshal.
It seems that the Ayala district is off limits to the Makati police; no policeman is seen patrolling the streets of the vast complex.
The Binays, who have ruled Makati City as mayor one after the other — husband, wife, son and now the daughter — and like to think that the country’s premier town is their kingdom, seem to be scared of the Zobel de Ayalas.
And they should be because rumor has it that whenever a high-rise condominium is built in the Ayala district, the Binays get one or two units for free.
That rumor was confirmed by Ernesto Mercado, former Makati City vice mayor, who fell out with the Binays.
Mercado said the Binays got one or two units or even a whole floor for each high-rise condominium built in Makati in exchange for a business permit from City Hall.
If Mercado was telling the truth, then the Ayalas hold the Binays by their balls.
And so, the Zobel de Ayalas are able to dictate to the Binays to keep the Makati police force off the Ayala Center complex.
But if the Zobel de Ayalas hold the Binays by the balls, they were scared stiff of the predecessor of the Binays, Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut.
Yabut, who didn’t ask any favors from the Zobel de Ayalas as he was himself a billionaire and considered himself an equal to the snooty Spanish Jews, once ordered the family to open their gated villages to the public.
The Ayalas complied without question.
Now that Yabut is long gone, the Ayalas and the Binays have divided Makati City between their two families.
The rich part of Makati, which belongs to the Ayalas, is not to be touched by the Binays.
The Binays rule the seedy part of the city.
* * *
The Zobel de Ayala family has apologized for the water supply shortage that was foisted on the public by their water utility company, Manila Water Co. Inc.
In a joint statement, the brothers Jaime and Fernando Zobel de Ayala accepted the blame for what happened.
They have even offered a one-time waiver on certain costs in Manila Water’s bills to its consumers.
I don’t think they should be admired for taking responsibility, as that should be expected of responsible corporate leadership. And a one-time waiver on some parts of the utility bills they charge is not enough, given what they’ve allowed to happen.
Their concession should be taken away and given to another company.
The one-time waiver, to be blunt about it, sounds like an insult. It is like they think that Filipinos are that shallow and cheap.
They should just have stayed in real estate.
* * *
Some time ago, my staff and I, who were on a medical mission in Biliran province, visited the Tinago Falls.
We were hoping, along with our friends who were doctors and nurses, for an idyllic break from our mission.
Unfortunately, what greeted us there was a lot of crap — literally. It seems that people upstream were defecating directly into the waters that fed the falls.
As it was, we had to swim among the fecal floaters.
Now, that got me thinking: Why are so many Pinoys lacking in matters of sanitation and defecation?
According to the website Water.Org, 9 million Pinoys rely on unsafe and unsustainable water sources, and 19 million others lack access to improved sanitation.
Many don’t even have toilets at home, 7 million practice open defecation, according to the World Health Organization.
And yet, 84 percent of Filipino homes have at least one mobile phone in the family, but only 70 percent have improved toilet facilities of their own. This information comes from the Department of Health.
For a culture that prides itself on being clean — some Filipinos take a bath twice a day or even more-toilet facilities seem to be not as important.
This blows away the image of Filipino homes having “clean comfort rooms.”
Even worse, a study conducted by Unilever Philippines showed that up to 90 percent of Philippine households do not practice proper toilet hygiene and sanitation!
We shouldn’t wonder, then, why public toilets are a nightmare in our country.
Without personal pride in the home to control some of our citizens’ habits, the real crap — pardon the term — comes out.
That also goes for tourist spots, like Tinago Falls, and, as we found out, the waters in Boracay island.
Perhaps we should look inward and realize that we should treat our whole country with respect. That includes our “public” toilet manners.
We can’t make the lack of toilet facilities and poverty an excuse to keep on being dirty. We should always strive to be clean, or to at least be organized about how we deal with our personal wastes.
That corny old saying “Cleanliness is next to godliness” does not apply to the Pinoy.
Being clean — in this case, being mindful of where we throw our s**t — is a step to being a better person.
Otherwise, some Pinoys deserve to be up to their necks in s**t.
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