If someone were to make a video to promote the Philippines, one would place photos or other forms of media that depict the country’s beautiful sceneries that include beaches, tourist spots, flora, fauna, and others, right? Anything eye-catching or attracting to engage more tourists to visit?
As much as the country is bountiful with natural resources, picturesque tourist spots and unique wonders for tourists to marvel and enjoy, there is also another side of the Philippines – remember this video that revealed the reality of the slums in the country? Photographer Hans Erickson Lim took it to his Twitter account how he was able to see “the other side”.
The other side of the Philippines pic.twitter.com/XwtzqVPqvg
— helswan (@MonsieurHansLim) January 30, 2018
WHEN IN MANILA was able to reach out to Lim for further details.
“I was really looking for poverty-stricken areas to shoot because I am involved in a project in the School Of Design and Arts called “Stations of the Nation” which highlights the problems in our country. It will be launching on March 26. As I was gathering intel, I remembered my professors mention the Smokey Mountain which is a dumping site that has been closed in 1996. I asked my college professors if they have been there since it was closed but none of them have.”
Lim contacted a friend if he could accompany him and luckily the former was familiar with the area too. They followed Radial Road to check out the quality of life around the area.
“Our first stop was the Vitas Katuparan Chapter. The moment I walked to the alleyway, I could already see a lot of trash. At the far end of the alley was a basketball court with children playing in them. They were all so happy, they wanted me to take photos of them. As I walked towards the halfcourt, the right side of my vision caught a push cart filled with bags of garbage with a barrel with trash inside it,” he narrates sadly. “What’s worse is that behind this push cart was an alleyway filled also with trash.”
“I went up the stairs while avoiding some feces on the ground to take a photo of the place from an aerial perspective. When I went up the stairs, I saw the roofs of their houses still having pieces of trash on them. Some residents have air conditioning in their housing. We then continued to follow the road and we saw people burning their trash, people living under pallets and some people living inside shipment containers.”
“I stopped by the bridge to take a photo of the houses near the the river only to be surprised by the amount of trash I was stepping on. Trash was also found encompassing the Filemon T. Lizan Senior High School and our last stop was a few resident areas near the Navotas area where their front entrance was filled with garbage…”
“It was absolutely sad seeing these areas yet the people living in them seem to be contented with what they have. I believe that they deserve better,” Lim shares.
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Disclaimer: WheninManila.com does not own any of the photos above. Credits go to Hans Erickson Lim.
Follow Lim and his works on his Instagram page @helswan.
