Beyond What Meets the Eye

Photo by Dabet Castañeda
Bulatlat

Matched against the cloudy afternoon sky, the silhouetted figures of the men rowing across the Manila Bay, near the Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila looks like one for the postcards – a scene that would have sold like hotcakes among tourists. There is more to the arresting scenery, however. Lost to the viewer is the fact that the men with the paddles are racing against each other in delivering water: the first one to land gets the money. Beyond what meets the eye in this scene is the harsh reality of life in the slums, of which Tondo is an archetype – a daily dog-eat-dog race for survival and where something as basic as water is not readily available. (Bulatlat.com)