The Capulong Bridge is no more than a couple of metres
above the Estero de Vitas, a trash-filled river that eventually
empties into the waters of Manila Bay next to the Harbour
Centre Port Terminal.
For Metro Manila, a city with a huge debris problem,
economically disadvantaged communities such as this are
where a large portion of the citizenry’s garbage winds up,
floating down the creeks and rivers, bobbing below the
Miradors’ one-room home.
And yet, it is this trash that provides a lifeline for Reniel
and Jerone, and for their 12-year-old cousin and neighbour,
Nilo Lumawon. A few mornings a week, before going to school,
the three boys board makeshift Styrofoam rafts, which they call
“styros”, using square Styrofoam paddles to push themselves out
onto the river.
There, among all manner of floating detritus of a society of
nearly 13 million people (21.3 million in the greater urban area),
their quarry is plastic. Loading up as much as they can, they
will then take what they have collected and sell it at one of the
neighbourhood’s many junk shops.
The 70 or so pesos (USD1.4) that they bring in once
every three days, split three ways, is used to buy food. The boys
say that they do this so they won’t have to ask their parents
for money.
Of course, boys will be boys, says Nilo’s mother, Chabeng
Lumawon. “Aside from buying snacks, they spend the money
to play games at the computer shop,” she says with a laugh.
When asked about the risks of navigating the river, the boys
are matter of fact. “I don’t think it’s dangerous. You have nothing
to fear in the river,” says Jerone. “We’re used to it,” adds Nilo.
In fact, the boys are quite cavalier about their salvaging
efforts. However, the boys’ mother, Jennifer, has her concerns,
dating back to her husband’s days of trolling the river for
recyclable refuse. “When my husband was a scavenger, he saw
a body in the water,” she recalls. “It was without arms and legs.
The skin was starting to decompose.”
The Miradors, the Lumawons, and their surrounding
community have additional challenges in withstanding the
frequent typhoons that batter Manila, which, beyond its
pollution problem and large population of impoverished people,
also battles poor infrastructure and vulnerability to storms of
devastating power. On average, eight tropical cyclones make
landfall in the Philippines each year. Moreover, in recent years,
scientists have noted that the storms have been striking the
country with increasing regularity and severity – a phenomenon
linked to climate change. The worst was Yolanda – more widely
known internationally as Haiyan – a super typhoon that hit the
city with unprecedented vengeance in 2013.on assignment