Fort Bonifacio

The area of Metro Manila that I live and work in is called Fort Bonifacio. It is named after the famous Filipino freedom fighter Andres Bonifacio and the area which today bears his name is one of the most up-market and expensive districts of the capital. The evidence can be seen all around you in the people that live here, the type of goods on sale in the shops, the extortionate price of property and the cost of eating even a basic meal here.

Imelda Marcos still dines regularly at the exclusive Chelsea restaurant in Serendra at the end of Bonifacio High Street and armed security guards are omnipresent in the Fort everywhere you go. They are even right outside my building in front of the most tacky and horrendous looking commercial outlet you can possibly conceive of. So if you're looking for incontestable proof that the Philippines was the only official US colony in history, then look no further than the Fort. Even the layout of its boulevards and the street names they bear are Americanized.

The capital city of the Philippines is certainly a unique entity. Despite having just one name, the urban sprawl known as Metro Manila is in fact 16 separate cities (consisting of Manila, Pasig, Pasay, Makati, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, etc.) which at times appear to be linked to each other in nothing more than name. During the Marcos years, in rather nepotistic fashion, Imelda Marcos was appointed Governess of the whole area of Metro Manila by her husband Ferdinand. Now in more democratic days, each city has its own municipal mayor, all of whom seem to spend a great deal of time participating with each other in the age-old popular political sport of back-biting and in-fighting.

10 years ago, the Fort was a wasteland of sorts, used as part of a military base, a remnant from the days when it was actually, as its name suggests, a fort (or Headquarters or a military camp). Friends of mine have told me that when they were offered the chance to buy real estate here at the project's outset, they declined in the belief that a place such as this could never develop a soul or indeed attract people to invest and/or live here. During the intervening decade, Fort Bonifacio has become one of the most exclusive and sought-after areas of Metro Manila. As such, it is now known under a variety of names - as simply the Fort, or BGC, or by its full name Bonifacio Global City, or indeed just Global. A stroll through its streets at night will arguably reveal the ongoing absence of a soul, but in certain areas you will nevertheless enjoy the lure of bright fluorescent lights.

Fort Bonifacio forms one part of just one of these 16 cities in Metro Manila called Taguig. This itself makes Taguig a city of contrasts, as the parts of the metropole which lie outside of the Fort but within Taguig's city limits possess a mere fraction (and arguably none) of the trappings of wealth and splendour which are in evidence everywhere you go in the Fort.

These are pictures of the housing development which is part of Taguig but on the wrong side of the Fort's boundary. It is particularly pertinent that these photos were taken about 100 metres from Global's exclusive shopping mall Market Market. Indeed, in all probability, a large proportion of the customers who frequent Market Market do so in order to escape the poverty and oppressive heat for a few hours, given that most of the goods on offer there are beyond their financial reach. This is especially true at the weekend when you can queue for anything up to 90 minutes at the checkout of the supermarket just to buy a litre of milk.

Indeed the gathering of the clans that takes place there every Saturday and Sunday is quite something to observe. Christmas songs began playing in earnest in every shop there from 1st September onwards, and you could be forgiven for thinking that every weekend is the last one before Christmas, judging by the crowds that frequent each and every store in unceasing continuation.

Those that do have money in their pockets go to the mall because it's the most convenient place to find everything you're looking for under one roof - banks, hardware stores, beauty parlours, electrical outlets, phone shops, etc. Indeed, a large number of the stores in Market Market cannot be found anywhere else.

However, shopping in such affluent surroundings, and indeed just leading the ex-pat lifestyle here, (which despite my reservations I've inevitably succumbed to), is always something of a surreal experience, knowing that so much of what the average Filipinos see around them is destined to be enjoyed by those with the right passport or social standing. Taguig is a microcosm of a country openly consisting of 'haves' and 'have nots' and spending your time here can be incredibly thought-provoking as a result.