VIDEO-Philippines: Toughest Place To Be A Bus Driver/BBC Documentary (“Pag-pag” Among Others)

Thanks to an FB link posted by an FB friend, I was able to view a very recent BBC documentary that featured London bus driver Josh West head to Manila, the world’s most densely populated city, where, with his host Rogelio Castro, he braves the chaos of the streets in a Jeepney.

Two bus drivers, both have “big” families – but live different lives. It shows nearly two weeks in the day of a life of a Filipino jeepney driver – and the community he belongs to, the neighborhood he once belonged to, his plans for the future. All recorded under the watchful cameras of the BBC.

Unfortunately BBC cannot operate their own media corporation in the Philippines because the Philippine Congress and the Philippine constitution does not allow BBC to operate in the Philippines – supposedly as a threat to “national security”. Given the Philippines state of affairs – I’d say the Philippine media is a bigger threat to “national security”.

ABS-CBN can make or unmake politicans and presidencies, even manufature a revolution. Without the competition from independent media such as the ones provided by BBC, we can’t expect to have independent confirmation by 3rd party sources – as well as alternative points of view. Filipinos deserve to be told the stark naked truth – not the gyrations of near naked bimbos on the latest wowowee variant.

25 Years after EDSA, this is what life means to Manila’s jeepney drivers.

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Observations – Work in Progress

02/26/2011, Saturday, 8:06am US EST

Individual Qualitative Benchmarks

Josh West, London – large family, bus driver, middle class.

Rogelio Castro, Manila – large family, bus driver, poor.

City Benchmarks

London

The region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres. The population density is 4,761 people per square kilometre, more than ten times that of any other British region. In terms of population, London is the 25th largest city and the 17th largest metropolitan region in the world. It is also ranked 4th in the world in number of US dollar billionaires residing in the city. London ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world, alongside Tokyo and Moscow.

Manila

It’s the most densely populated city in the world with 43,079 inhabitants per km2.[5] District 6 is listed as being the most dense with 68,266 inhabitants per km2, followed by the first two districts with 64,936 and 64,710, respectively, and district 5 being the least dense with 19,235.[28]

Manila’s population density dwarfs that of Kolkata (27,774 inhabitants per km2), Mumbai (22,937 inhabitants per km2), Paris (20,164 inhabitants per km2), Dhaka (19,447 inhabitants per km2), Shanghai (16,364 inhabitants per km2), with its most dense district of Nanshi’s 56,785 density), and Tokyo (10,087 inhabitants per km2).[29]

But when accounting for the entire urban area, Metro Manila drops to 60th place with 14,100 people/km2 in a land area of 1,425 km2, which includes the area of Greater Manila Area.[4]

World Cities by Population Density

Largest cities in the world ranked by population density (1 to 125)

Rank	City / Urban area	Country	Population	Land area (in sqKm)	Density (people per sqKm)
1	Mumbai	India	14,350,000	484	29,650
2	Kolkata	India	12,700,000	531	23,900
3	Karachi	Pakistan	9,800,000	518	18,900
4	Lagos	Nigeria	13,400,000	738	18,150
5	Shenzhen	China	8,000,000	466	17,150
6	Seoul/Incheon	South Korea	17,500,000	1,049	16,700
7	Taipei	Taiwan	5,700,000	376	15,200
8	Chennai	India	5,950,000	414	14,350
9	Bogota	Colombia	7,000,000	518	13,500
10	Shanghai	China	10,000,000	746	13,400
11	Lima	Peru	7,000,000	596	11,750
12	Beijing	China	8,614,000	748	11,500
13	Delhi	India	14,300,000	1,295	11,050
14	Kinshasa	Congo	5,000,000	469	10,650
15	Manila	Philippines	14,750,000	1,399	10,550
16	Tehran	Iran	7,250,000	686	10,550
17	Jakarta	Indonesia	14,250,000	1,360	10,500
18	Tianjin	China	4,750,000	453	10,500
19	Bangalore	India	5,400,000	534	10,100
20	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	4,900,000	518	9,450
21	Cairo	Egypt	12,200,000	1,295	9,400
22	Baghdad	Iraq	5,500,000	596	9,250
23	Shenyang	China	4,200,000	453	9,250
24	Hyderabad	India	5,300,000	583	9,100
25	Sao Paulo	Brazil	17,700,000	1,968	9,000
26	St Petersburg	Russia	5,300,000	622	8,550
27	Mexico City	Mexico	17,400,000	2,072	8,400
28	Santiago	Chile	5,425,000	648	8,400
29	Singapore	Singapore	4,000,000	479	8,350
30	Lahore	Pakistan	5,100,000	622	8,200
31	Recife	Brazil	3,025,000	376	8,050
32	Istanbul	Turkey	9,000,000	1,166	7,700
33	Dalian	China	2,750,000	389	7,100
34	Khartoum	Sudan	4,000,000	583	6,850
35	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	10,800,000	1,580	6,850
36	Monterey	Mexico	3,200,000	479	6,700
37	Bangkok	Thailand	6,500,000	1,010	6,450
38	Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto	Japan	16,425,000	2,564	6,400
39	Guadalajara	Mexico	3,500,000	596	5,900
40	Athens	Greece	3,685,000	684	5,400
41	Ankara	Turkey	3,100,000	583	5,300
42	Madrid	Spain	4,900,000	945	5,200
43	London	UK	8,278,000	1,623	5,100
44	Tel Aviv	Israel	2,300,000	453	5,050
45	Sapporo	Japan	2,075,000	414	5,000
46	Buenos Aires	Argentina	11,200,000	2,266	4,950
47	Moscow	Russia	10,500,000	2,150	4,900
48	Barcelona	Spain	3,900,000	803	4,850
49	Porto Alegre	Brazil	2,800,000	583	4,800
50	Tokyo/Yokohama	Japan	33,200,000	6,993	4,750
51	Belo Horizonte	Brazil	4,000,000	868	4,600
52	Fortaleza	Brazil	2,650,000	583	4,550
53	Warsaw	Poland	2,000,000	466	4,300
54	Tashkent	Uzbekistan	2,200,000	531	4,150
55	Naples	Italy	2,400,000	583	4,100
56	Katowice	Poland	2,200,000	544	4,050
57	Leeds/Bradford	UK	1,499,000	370	4,050
58	Manchester	UK	2,245,000	558	4,000
59	CapeTown	South Africa	2,700,000	686	3,950
60	Fukuoka	Japan	2,150,000	544	3,950
61	Taichung	Taiwan	2,000,000	510	3,900
62	Baku/Sumqayit	Azerbaijan	2,100,000	544	3,850
63	Curitiba	Brazil	2,500,000	648	3,850
64	Birmingham	UK	2,284,000	600	3,800
65	Berlin	Germany	3,675,000	984	3,750
66	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	4,000,000	1,101	3,650
67	Campinas	Brazil	1,750,000	492	3,550
68	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	2,750,000	777	3,550
69	Paris	France	9,645,000	2,723	3,550
70	Durban	South Africa	2,900,000	829	3,500
71	Vienna	Austria	1,550,000	453	3,400
72	Accra	Ghana	1,500,000	453	3,300
73	Glasgow	UK	1,200,000	368	3,250
74	Nagoya	Japan	9,000,000	2,875	3,150
75	Quito	Ecuador	1,500,000	479	3,150
76	Donetsk	Ukraine	1,400,000	451	3,100
77	Goiania	Brazil	1,475,000	479	3,100
78	Munich	Germany	1,600,000	518	3,100
79	Stuttgart	Germany	1,250,000	414	3,000
80	Dublin	Ireland	1,075,000	365	2,950
81	Kuwait	Kuwait	1,600,000	544	2,950
82	Nizhni Novgorod	Russia	1,500,000	505	2,950
83	Rome	Italy	2,500,000	842	2,950
84	Phnom Phen	Cambodia	1,500,000	518	2,900
85	Beirut	Lebanon	1,800,000	648	2,800
86	Brasilia	Brazil	1,625,000	583	2,800
87	Essen/Düsseldorf	Germany	7,350,000	2,642	2,800
88	Lumumbashi	Congo	1,200,000	427	2,800
89	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	4,400,000	1,606	2,750
90	Los Angeles	USA	11,789,000	4,320	2,750
91	Milan	Italy	4,250,000	1,554	2,750
92	Pretoria	South Africa	1,850,000	673	2,750
93	Stockholm	Sweden	1,400,000	518	2,700
94	Turin	Italy	1,350,000	500	2,700
95	Dubai	UAE	1,900,000	712	2,650
96	Porto	Portugal	1,035,000	389	2,650
97	Toronto	Canada	4,367,000	1,655	2,650
98	Budapest	Hungary	1,800,000	702	2,550
99	Lisbon	Portugal	2,250,000	881	2,550
100	Johannesburg/East Rand	South Africa	6,000,000	2,396	2,500
101	Rotterdam	Netherlands	1,325,000	531	2,500
102	Harare	Zimbabwe	1,750,000	712	2,450
103	Cologne/Bonn	Germany	1,960,000	816	2,400
104	San Francisco/Oakland	USA	3,229,000	1,365	2,350
105	Frankfurt	Germany	2,260,000	984	2,300
106	Hamburg	Germany	1,925,000	829	2,300
107	San Jose	USA	1,538,000	674	2,300
108	Arabia	Saudi	1,525,000	673	2,250
109	Brussels	Belgium	1,570,000	712	2,200
110	Lille	France	1,050,000	474	2,200
111	Helsinki	Finland	1,000,000	479	2,100
112	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	900,000	427	2,100
113	Sydney	Australia	3,502,000	1,687	2,100
114	New York	USA	17,800,000	8,683	2,050
115	Auckland	New Zealand	1,050,000	531	2,000
116	New Orleans	USA	1,009,000	512	1,950
117	Copenhagen	Denmark	1,525,000	816	1,850
118	Montreal.	Canada	3,216,000	1,740	1,850
119	Honolulu	USA	718,000	399	1,800
120	Las Vegas	USA	1,314,000	741	1,750
121	Miami	USA	4,919,000	2,891	1,700
122	Ottawa/Hull	Canada	828,000	490	1,700
123	Vancouver	Canada	1,830,000	1,120	1,650
124	Antwerp	Belgium	915,000	596	1,550
125	Denver	USA	1,985,000	1,292	1,550

Source: http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html

All the cities with the highest population densities should be among the poorest in the world. A quick eyeball of the list without having to pull economic data tells me that the most populous cities in the world count among it – the most prosperous.

Overpopulation

It is often argued that overpopulation causes hunger. Therefore, to reduce hunger overpopulation needs to be addressed. The premise however is highly open to doubt.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/205/does-overpopulation-cause-hunger

Do too many people already cause hunger? If that were the case, then reducing population density might indeed alleviate hunger. But for one factor to cause another, the two must consistently occur together. Population density and hunger do not.

Hunger is not caused by too many people sharing the land. In the Central America and Caribbean region, for example, Trinidad and Tobago show the lowest percentage of stunted children under five and Guatemala the highest (almost twelve times greater); yet Trinidad and Tobago’s cropland per person-a key indicator of human population density-is less than half that of Guatemala’s.15 Costa Rica, with only half of Honduras’ cropped acres per person, boasts a life expectancy-one indicator of nutrition-eleven years longer than that of Honduras and close to that of northern countries.16

In Asia, South Korea has just under half the farmland per person found in Bangladesh, yet no one speaks of overcrowding causing hunger in South Korea.17

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http://www.globalissues.org/article/206/poverty-and-population-growth-lessons-from-our-own-past

the link between hunger and high fertility rates: both persist where societies deny security and opportunity to the majority of their citizens-where infant-mortality rates are high and adequate land, jobs, education, health care, and old-age security are beyond the reach of most people, and where there are few opportunities for women to work outside the home.

Without resources to secure their future, people can rely only on their own families. Thus, when poor parents have lots of children, they are making a rational calculus for survival. High birth rates reflect people’s defensive reaction against enforced poverty. For those living at the margin of survival, children provide labor to augment meager family income. In Bangladesh, one study showed that even by the age of six a boy provides labor and/or income for the family. By the age of twelve, at the latest, he contributes more than he consumes.23

Population investigators tell us that the benefit children provide to their parents in most third world countries cannot be measured just by hours of labor or extra income. The intangibles are just as important. Bigger families carry more weight in community affairs. With no reliable channels for advancement in sight, parents may hope that the next child will be the one clever or lucky enough to get an education and land a city job despite the odds. In many countries, income from one such job in the city can support a whole family in the countryside.

And impoverished parents know that without children to care for them in old age, they will have nothing.24 They also realize that none of these possible benefits will be theirs unless they have many children, since hunger and lack of health care will kill many of their offspring before they reach adulthood. The World Health Organization has shown that both the actual death and the fear of death of a child will increase the fertility of a couple, regardless of income or family size.25

Finally, high birth rates may reflect not only the survival calculus of the poor, but the disproportionate powerlessness of women as well. Many women have little opportunity for pursuits outside the home, because of power relations internal to the family and/or in the larger society. Continued motherhood may then become their only “choice.”

Perhaps the best proof that the powerlessness of women can undergird high fertility comes from extensive research on the effect of women’s education. In one study after another, women’s education turns out to be a powerful predictor of lower fertility. As women’s schooling increases, fertility typically falls.26

Of course, we should guard against interpreting these findings literally-that what women learn is how to limit births. In fact, study after study has shown that people tend to have the number of children they want, regardless of whether more modern birth control methods are available or the government has a family planning program.27 Rather, the fact that women are getting educated reflects a multitude of changes in society that empower women and provide them with opportunities in the workplace.28

Epilogue

Other societies have leveraged population size and growth to fuel their prosperity, diversify the economy, innovate towards a sustainable lifestyle, provide more opportunities for prosperity, and improve the quality of life by pursuing sensible economic policies. The Philippines – however, is a textbook case in “How Not to Pursue National Development”.

Related Reads:

http://antipinoy.com/population-growth-birth-rate-death-rate-life-expectancy-of-filipinos-and-the-rh-bill/

http://antipinoy.com/revisiting-the-rh-bill-a-trojan-horse-for-increased-wasteful-public-spending/

http://badmannersgunclub.com/2011/02/misplaced-priorities/#more-1022

http://badmannersgunclub.com/2011/02/dissecting-the-rh-bill/

http://getrealphilippines.blogspot.com/2011/02/have-advocates-of-filipino-reproductive.html

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Tags: constitutional reform, Population Density, rh bill

About the Author

BongV has written 225 stories on this site.

BongV is the webmaster of Antipinoy.com.

• 
  Francis wrote on 26 February, 2011, 9:41

  Why they didn’t mention cebu and davao and other provinces, because manila is an exploited places where you see abias-cbn, gma, tv5 where people exploit from stupid shows like wowowee, eat bulaga, and other shows that doesn’t even educated you. but yayaman tayo dyan sa mga stupidong elitista na basta ginagawa nila prosti ang mga mahihirap basta sila lang kikita. wow when will ever learn all flippers that entertainment is not solution that’s why many filipinos are migrating other country para guminhawa ng buhay basta.

  [Reply]

• 
  Hyden Toro wrote on 26 February, 2011, 13:35

  “If the Leaders have no Visions; the People will Perish…” this is a qoute from the Christian Bible Old Testament.
  Thanks for the Videos….it had shown the true situation of the Filipino people, for the Whole World to see. Our people are trapped in a grinding poverty…. Eating Food Scraps from the Garbage Dumps. People in the Provinces are tied to Hopeless Poverty Lives…there is no Hope for them, for better lives. Some escape from this situations, by working as OFW slaves in foreign countries.
  While the: Political Leaders; the Oligarchs; the Feudal Lords; and other kinds of Exploiters; live in Luxuries; and Excessive Wealth…These are the Results of the EDSA Revolutions…
  “PANIG SA KATOTOHANAN…PANIG SA BAYAN!!!”…a subliminal disinformation message inculcated in the Subconscious Minds of the unsuspecting Filipinos, by a prominent a Oligarchs’ Media…

  [Reply]

• 
  Fundamentalist wrote on 26 February, 2011, 16:22

  Thank you for the videos. Learned and enjoyed it very much. Thanks, AP.

  [Reply]

  

  BongV Reply:
  February 26th, 2011 at 5:25 pm

  You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video.

  [Reply]

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  migs42 wrote on 26 February, 2011, 16:55

  remember guys. Overpopulation as the main culprit of poverty was overestimated but don’t think that overpopulation isn’t a problem.

  While food production can be multiply via technology. Resources cannot, it’s pretty much finite.

  [Reply]

  

  BongV Reply:
  February 26th, 2011 at 5:24 pm

  adjustment can be made in terms of shifting to other resources or reducing consumption in combination with other resources (i.e. from rice to potatoes, from steam to coal to petrofuel to renewables plus good economics)

  [Reply]

  

  migs42 Reply:
  February 26th, 2011 at 6:40 pm

  Until alternative energy resources became practical, you can’t really do anything.

  [Reply]

  

  BongV Reply:
  February 26th, 2011 at 6:49 pm

  there’s a lot actually:

  do you know that by unplugging the wall sockets every time you don’t need to use an appliance can reduce consumption substantially – that’s an adjustment in consumer behavior.

  retrofitting buildings with green devices – there’s an initial capital outlay – but capital assets are recovered via utility savings in a year or two.

  use of smart grids as well. of course the reaction of the coal and fossil driven power generators is akin to the reaction of the steam engine’s proponents when coal was just being introduced. when there’s a demand – the supply will be met.

  the utilities forget they are on the supply side of the equation. the companies that step up to the demand of the market – are in for prosperous times.

  

  Jay Reply:
  February 26th, 2011 at 9:41 pm

  The rice to potatoes shift is an interesting one. Kamoteng kahoy and sweet potatoes offer great and healthy alternatives as carbs compared to white rice, which been compared as unhealthy carbs to that of sugar. Brown and black rice are grown in the country, but are as expensive.

  Though if even the supposed cheap fish, round scad gets anymore expensive, the people are going to have to look for even more cheaper alternatives.

  [Reply]

• 
  The Lazzo wrote on 26 February, 2011, 23:05

  The one fear I have of allowing foreign news companies to operate here is that instead of quality news like the BBC or DW we might end up with Fox News. Filipinos love hype and xenophobia, and the FNC delivers it plenty. Doesn’t Reuters have a bureau in that new area near the AFP base at the Fort?

  Also, how can the revitalization of metropolitan areas – including the removal of economic restrictions – be pursued WITHOUT further enticing the provincials to move to metropolitan areas and compromise the development? Modern agricultural technology means less people to do the same amount of work, so there’ll be fewer people needed out there.

  [Reply]

• 
  kickapoo wrote on 27 February, 2011, 14:40

  This is good. Can you imagine if all filipinos watch this documentary? Damn, baka mamaya magkaroon pa ng facebook revolution on charter change…..

  [Reply]

• 
  ici wrote on 3 March, 2011, 3:02

  very informative mr. bongV! i think more than giving out free contraceptives, it’s important to educate people. the fact that a lot of the most progressive cities are also the most densely populated is an eye opener. thank you!

  [Reply]