eyes wide open 1.0

Extreme poverty, lack of opportunities, and conflict. These are mostly the reasons why more and more Filipinos from the countryside migrate to cities and urban centers to grab a chance to get a better life. The Philippine’s urban area is already 52 percent of its total land area. Half the country’s 86 million population today live in urban areas. And the urban settlers, almost one in every four, or 22 percent, live below the poverty threshold. The government estimates that about 68 percent of the country’s population would be liveing in urban areas by 2015, as more rural folk migrate to cities to look for work. Without decent jobs, more urban poor settlers will make more crevices and spaces under bridges, riverbanks, and other public infrastructures to build their homes.