TONDO

MANILA, PH (2019)

Despite being the fastest growing economy in Asia, the Philippines overlooks many of its vulnerable residents in the neighborhoods of Baseco and Tondo. While condo buildings and skyscrapers pepper the Manila skyline, in their shadows hundreds of thousands of its residents live below the poverty line. It is widely believed that a corrupt government and their mismanaged finances contribute to the growing number of low-income residents living in such conditions.

Baseco, a 5,600 acres community, houses over 100,000 people who have been living there for multiple generations dating back to the 1970's. Once a white sand beach with hopes of tourist resorts, it is now recognized as the largest "squatter" community in Manila. Tondo is a neighborhood with a fierce reputation for gangs, violence, and drugs making it one of the epicenters the recent war on drugs by the Duterte administration which often times includes the extrajudicial killings of alleged drug users and dealers by the police and vigilante groups. Since the start of President Duterte's presidential term in 2016 thousands have been killed in cold blood, with many such cases in Tondo.