Tag Archives: smokey mountain

Crumbling little lives in Smokey Mountain

Smokey Mountain is one of the popular dump sites in Metro Manila that operates for several decades. A court ruling ordered its closure in mid-1990s (I think) sending thousands of people who live near the dump site jobless.

Several years have passed but there are still little lives that depend on the “dead” Smokey Mountain to survive. A program on a local channel featured families that struggle to eke out a living by digging and sorting out metals and plastics and sold them at junk shops. Small children even join their parents and older siblings at the dump site to collect scraps. I’m not really sure whether metal detectors sale would make slum dwellers’ metal collection easier. But the truth remains, they will stay at the dump site, the only place they learn to live life, if no one (or government agency) will help them transfer and give them a decent source of livelihood.