The Ideal Filipino Community by Glenn Bautista

“Ang Batang Pinoy” / art-photo by Glenn A. Bautista

While Glenn Bautista has devoted his entire creative imagination to the creation of ideal spaces, he is aware that real problems exist within the physical boundaries that contain his being and that of his family. Relief from the difficult and harsh situations in which most Filipinos lives can only be achieved by a truly concerted effort that breaks down traditional community policy. This is a personal cause to which Bautista has committed himself – at the creation of a practical vision that can turn the Filipino community not into an impractical arcadia but a source of inspired well-being for every Filipino.

This comprehensive solution is proffered in the hope that adequate resources may be made available to consolidate the solution into a master plan, detailed and thoroughly researched, such that even the smallest Local Government Unit (LGU) could easily adapt it to their own particular situation. – Cid Reyes

To read the complete article, “The Ideal Filipino Community” /
by Glenn Bautista and view “The Ideal Filipino Community Plans” :

 “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein

 

SOWING THE SEEDS

A farmer prepares the soil before sowing the seed and nurtures a plant or a tree until it bears fruit. Likewise, the government and the private sector can help nurture the Filipino until he realized his full potential. Thus, the premises for a concept of a Filipino community have been laid down. It is comprised of linked and caring ideas focused on the Filipino, his life and domicile – an antidote to the many problems from whence sprouted our community’s major ills.

Picking up the pieces from where others failed

New communities rise and many more are coming about. Taking closer view of each of them one can see a glaring commonality. They are nothing more but a cluster of houses with access to a main road artery, and with basic utilities like water supply and electricity. Depending on its size and affluence, some have recreational facilities and a place of worship.

These communities provide shelter but nothing beyond that. Their dwellers will have to travel to their place of work, to shopping areas, to entertainment centers, etc. This inherent conceptual weakness is the reason that despite the decongestion moves pursued by the government, traffic still continues to worsen. From this spring out other related nightmares: air-pollution, waste of resources like energy and man-hours.

 

24 Upper Class Units

Suburban subdivisions, just like all other communities, depend solely on the government for the proper disposal of garbage. From within their own groups almost nothing is done to assure that the neighborhood is freed from unsightly, unhealthy pile of stinking rubbish. Obviously, this is one of the causes of floods, diseases and environmental pollution.

And what is more pathetic is that housing subdivisions remain unproductive pieces of important resources; land and building structures resources that otherwise would be dynamic assets contributing significantly to an economy wanting to be vibrant. But no, they only house people and nothing more. They are breeding grounds for social ills. Such a pronouncement might sound illogical until one considers the additional pressures placed on economic centers to provide gainful employment for an ever increasing workforce. Joblessness, any way you look at it, can only mean poverty and increasing crime.

Triple / Double Garden Compound

Now that the signs of an economic take off are clearly manifesting themselves, it is paradoxical to expect further deterioration of the ordinary Filipino’s quality of life. Or is it?

 

 

 

 

Barung-Barong / by Glenn A. Bautista

oil on canvas
76.5 cm x 76.5 cm
1971
Eric Torres Collection