September 16, 2010
Pinkwashing
When Bayani Fernando was the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), he had the facades of the squatter areas fronting major highways painted these hideous shades of pink and blue, a color combination which he also used for many of the metro's footbridges. Pink happens to be the favorite color of his wife, former Marikina City Mayor Marides Fernando. Bayani himself used to be the mayor of Marikina too, and the color was first used extensively in that city. I wonder if the new MMDA chairman, Francis Tolentino, will bother repainting the shanties and footbridges, and what color he'll choose. And in case you're wondering what the wire fence is, they're used to block pedestrians from crossing highways.
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16 comments:
beautification of the shanties area's facades date back from the marcos era if i remember correctly.
lmao - i don't find this shade of pink hideous.
Glad that there's a bit of blue on its top as well, which helps to melt it into the sky. Wondering, if it was the fav. colour, whether he helped them to shine, improve life and its quality, just like his wife.
Please have a good Thursday.
daily athens
It certainly is an interesting color scheme.
I agree with George. The colors are very interesting. Maybe those colors were less expensive.
que ne ferait pas un homme par amour pour une femme....peindre les maisons en rose ;)
It looks like an icecream parlor! I think I like it! ;D
I always wondered who decided on these colors; hideous is right! I'm guessing the paint is the cheap kind, so the colors are not nuanced. Yet paint and color are the least of the problems of the inhabitants. What more did the Fernando couple do for them? I am a little perplexed by your image; these don't look like shanties...?
[Thank you for your kind words, Hilda. Perhaps we have started a mutual admiration club :-D - I think this blog of yours is truly outstanding. I momentarily considered doing a Daily City... but my frequent travels don't lend themselves to that. I'm tickled to follow yours.]
Thank God pink days are over, I wonder what color's next? No to violet please!
Funny angle in this picture and I think it's adorable, I like the combination with blue and pink!
hugs
Léia
haha! can;t believe we have the same wave lengths. ^0^
although in some aspects,
bayani f. can to be a pain
in the butt,
the one thing i do admire about him is his principle in life which is Discipline, but a lot of times we tend to neglect it and you know how we tend to be pasaway at times. ^0^
Arabesque was showing a pink and blue bridge of sorts yesterday. The same mayor, the same area?
The colors don't look bad at all. I think the combination of pink and light blue has some cheerfulness mood about it.
Perhaps the mayor and his wife would love to bring some semblance of cheerfulness to the neighborhood. IMHO.
Hi Ma'am Hilda! I think the new color is green. I'm not sure if that's the new official color, but I've been seeing a lot of green footbridges and green male urinals and the like. I like green, but the pink was easier to spot, especially from a distance.
Photo Cache, Eki and everyone else:
The colors of this photo were filtered through our car's window. You have to see their particular shades in person to understand why I call them hideous. But you're right, they don't look too bad here.
Mia:
The green was Bayani's idea too, just before he had to resign because he was running. If you've noticed, the repainting has stopped and I don't know if Tolentino will continue it.
Francisca:
No, they're no longer shanties. In this particular squatter area, and in the one across it, the houses are already made of hollow blocks and concrete. The communities have been there forever and I guess you can call them permanent squatters already because I don't think the government can ask them to leave anymore, not after being there for decades.
Pink? I'm not so sure about this, reddish maybe, but pink!
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