GEN YAMAGUCHI

STORIES: - Beyond the Streetlights - Philippines

In the Philippines, it is estimated that a large number of its population live in shantytowns and in poverty. The people I met living at a bus station underpass structure in Manila were among them. 

Commuters and others walk past them as if they were part of the 'scene.’ The residents of this structure didn’t seem to have much besides each other. They seemed to make the best of the situation, as they only know how to, one day at a time. 

  • Nineteen-year-old Veronica uses solvent (sniffing glue) with her husband, Eric and other homeless persons living beneath a bus terminal underpass entrance structure in Manila, Philippines.  Veronica first used solvent when she was 7.
  • Eliza takes a bath as her 1-year-old daughter, Elizabeth stands by and cries at the underpass entrance structure at the bus terminal.  Sights and smell of daily life is everywhere.
  • A security guard for the underpass comes up to the living quarters of the homeless persons in the evening and makes a radio call.  The underpass structure connects the bus terminals and is used by many.  But the homeless persons have made their living quarters right in the middle of this busy place.
  • The busy bus terminals where the homeless persons live are full of commuters, traffic and its noise and automotive exhaust.
  • Veronica, Eric, Angelica and Joven (left to right) take a nap as midday approaches.  Veronica and Angelica do not work, but Eric and Joven do odd jobs like a barker to draw and gather customers for the buses at the terminal.
  • A jail visitation scene inside the Caloocan police headquarters in Manila, Philippines.
  • Wilmar from Kanlungan Er-Ma Ministry visits homeless persons living at the underpass entrance structure of the bus terminals.  The Ministry provides help to the street children in the area.
  • Veronica and others visit the Pasig river near where they live.  High-rise condominiums and office buildings line up along the river.
  • Eric complains about money matters over a bicycle he sold to pay off his and Veronica’s food debt.
  • Homeless persons Veronica tries to talk to Eric as he slumps over at their living quarter at a bus terminal structure.
  • One-year-old Elizabeth eats some food off the ground while others eat their dinner.
  • While a security guard stands behind her, Veronica gathers her belongings as she wakes up in the early morning.
  • Everyday people use the underpass structure at the bus terminals, often passing by the homeless person’s living quarters right by.
  • Mark, a homeless person walks the busy streets and sells water bottles under the scorching sun.  He buys 60 bottles at a time, 5peso per bottle and sells for 10.  Mark says business is good when traffic is busy and hot, but that makes it difficult for him as well.  He sold 60 bottles this day.
  • The homeless persons and passerby’s toilet facility is just few steps away in the open.  The smell of human waste, carbon monoxide from the automobiles and the traffic noise surrounds the bus terminals and the underpass structure day and night.
  • Joven works as a barker, rallying customers to the buses (jeepneys.)  He earned small change by doing this and spent it on solvent.
  • Mariana holds her 6-month-old daughter, Angela as the night falls at the underpass structure connecting the bus terminals.
  • One of the homeless person’s well-used crutches lie in the dark at the underpass structure of the bus terminal.
  • Veronica and Eric comfort each other as the night falls at the underpass structure of the bus terminals.
  • Buses roar and pass by the underpass structure of the bus terminals at night.
  • Local police, media and curios bystanders gather to witness a homicide victim in Quiapo, Manila Philippines.
  • Mark 19, and his wife Mariana 19 eat dinner at the underpass entrance structure of the bus terminals.
  • Many foreign men gather at the night clubs which are filled with young girls in Angeles City, Philippines.
  • A man looks over the Subic Bay as the sun sets in Olongapo, Philippines.
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  • The busy market in front of the Quiapo church is situated across the Pasig river, 5 minutes drive from the bus terminals where the homeless persons live.  Philippines has a population of 90 million, but a source say 40% live in poverty.
  • A man paddles a boat through garbage out to the shore in Baseco shanty town in Manila, Philippines.
  • Mark walks the busy streets and sells water bottles under the scorching sun.  He buys 60 bottles at a time, 5peso per bottle and sells for 10.  Mark says business is good when traffic is busy and hot, but that makes it difficult for him as well.  He sold 60 bottles this day.
  • People use the underpass structure at the bus terminal and cross “into” the homeless persons’ living quarters.
  • Some of the homeless persons wear sandals, but others walk around barefoot.
  • Locals gather at a small roadside market in a rural village in Castillejos, Philippines in the late evening.
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  • People ride the jeepney, a common local transportation in the Philippines.
  • Veronica lies on top of Eric as the night falls at the underpass structure of the bus terminals.
  • The underpass entrance structure of the bus terminal is situated near the Manila central post office.  The walls on both sides of the frame are the road partitions, where heavy traffic is visible everyday.
  • MOMENTS
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    • - Aftermath - Great East Japan Earthquake 2011
    • - Beyond the Streetlights - Philippines
    • - Calmness of the Night
    • - Claudia
    • - Shadows behind the Wall- Afghanistan
    • - Silent Cry - autism in a family
    • - Powwow - Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
    • - Special Olympics Montana Bowling Championships
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