Tales of City Street Canals

Believe it or not, every street canal in the Philippines has a story to tell. A lot of them have been here since time immemorial and were witnesses to many historic events. For instance, I always wonder what the street canals in Bataan, San Fernando, and Pampanga saw during the Second World War, particularly during the Death March. 

The street canals in the vicinity of Malacanang in San Miguel, Manila must have seen a lot of historical highlights, especially when presidencies changed. The canals in Mendiola saw all the violence that happened in riots and protests in the past, particularly the First Quarter Storm and People Power Revolt in the days of President Marcos, the massacre of farmers during the Cory Aquino administration, and the violence of the Erap supporters in the first years of President Gloria Arroyo.

The street canals along Espana have always been witness to the unmitigated pollution of the street drainage there due to terrible lack of discipline. Those canals would often swell into raging rivers or seas when monsoon rains came and stopped even big trucks which were marooned right in the middle. And of course, the mass exodus of U-belt students who trek home all at the same time when classes are suspended in the metropolis.

Our own narrow street canal in our subdivision has witnessed the passing of an entire generation and the coming of a new one. Once, Project 8 was a mountain of wilderness trimmed and cleared sometime in the 1950s to give way to subdivisions and villages. The first things that were put in place were, of course, the streets and the canals, so they were the true pioneers of the place. And they saw how the entire vicinity transformed from empty streets to the gradual mushrooming of housing projects and then the renovations, the settlers that came, the rise of re-modeled houses and then  townhouses and condominiums, the kids who were born and grew up here, the time when some settlers had gone, and finally the present.

The street canals saw them all!

Like all others, they also suffer the ravages of time. Some clog and die, some are wrecked and deform, some form new routes and create ramifications, some dig deep into the earth and cause accidents, while others expand and take over streets, being blamed for massive flash floods. But actually, just like the ugly rats that live below them, they're just victims of reckless development and modernity.

If you just stop and listen intently to street canals, they'll tell you their stories on life in Manila.