"SILO"
Writeup on Pasig's Flour Silos
and the failed Industrialization experience
It was last week when this writer went to Pasig for some pictorial.
He simply took some pics of these edifices not as a mere objects of curiosity but rather to reflect how Pasig before was one of the industrial components of the country, especially that these edifices are serving as monuments, if not rotting graves with a purpose such as storing wheat and flour and likely to be demolished in favor of building condominiums and commercial complexes in that city.
Sadly to say, one silo, owned by General Milling Corporation, end up demolished and paved way to a condominium owned by Rockwell, a Lopez affiliate. And according to one source:
The company is launching this year a 5.5-hectare themed development in C5 which was the former General Milling Property in Pasig City to be called “The Grove". The project will take about five to seven years to complete.
The Grove will have five towers and will also have retail and commercial spaces and will have a total development cost of P12 billion.
“With this project, we are aiming to make Rockwell Land more affordable," Cordero said, adding that the units will be old at 20 percent to 25 percent lower than Rockwell Center’s condominiums in Makati City.
Well, to others, it is nice indeed to have new edifices to be build such as "The Grove" that replaced the familiar Silo in Pasig. For sure some would reminisce the scent of wheat and seeing trucks full of sacks waiting to be delivered and distributed all over so to speak. Yes, some companies tend to sell their lands for developers thinking that there's nothing to gain nor loss in having properties once they benefited from it.
And to think that as one building being demolished in favor of building a new complex geared by commercialization, this writer thinks that yes, commercialization includes deindustrialize everything the way the Philippines failed to achieve industrialization thanks to the policies stunting efforts to create a self reliant economy and society.
However, despite seeing the examples of a vision that the rotten system tend to fail. There were grain and flour silos, owned by Wellington Flour Mills, Universal Robina, and Morning Star Milling remained standing as the landmarks of industrialization specialized in the production of Flour and its by-products made unto it. Some even tend to put advertising billboards to the extent of having its silo, such as from Morning Star be put ads unto it. To others, seemed to be nice to see an industrial edifice got a "makeover" by placing ads, an examplar of "Advertecture" so to speak (paraphrasing Afoyren Paulo Alacazaren).
And to think that as one building being demolished in favor of building a new complex geared by commercialization, this writer thinks that yes, commercialization includes deindustrialize everything the way the Philippines failed to achieve industrialization thanks to the policies stunting efforts to create a self reliant economy and society.
However, despite seeing the examples of a vision that the rotten system tend to fail. There were grain and flour silos, owned by Wellington Flour Mills, Universal Robina, and Morning Star Milling remained standing as the landmarks of industrialization specialized in the production of Flour and its by-products made unto it. Some even tend to put advertising billboards to the extent of having its silo, such as from Morning Star be put ads unto it. To others, seemed to be nice to see an industrial edifice got a "makeover" by placing ads, an examplar of "Advertecture" so to speak (paraphrasing Afoyren Paulo Alacazaren).
And thinking that most people blamed the presence of industry over the city as those who made Pasig river dirty, this writer would see that yes, some companies failed to stress sanitation and being reluctant to develop in averting the problem such as making the river clean as possible despite increasing profits in it. Lucky that Pasig river nowadays is still in the process of getting cleaned from its murky past thanks to some institutions and companies getting concerned over the matter.
Yet most rather treated it as charity or a corporate social responsibility, in other words a Public Relations (PR) act to do so.
Truth hurts as this writer may've say.
But despite contradictions, dreams of massive National development continues to inspire everyone's mindset, in other words creeping over despite system's means to reinterpret (like favoring tourism over industrialization) the idea of it. But also to think that efforts in undermining Industrialization continues to prevail, this writer would say that it underestimates total National Development through Agricultural and Economic reforms such as these edifices of progress that would utilize labour and material to provide everyone's need.
Hilarion "Larry" Henares, former Government official and advocator of Domestic-centred National Development, said:
"We welcome foreign assistance, primarily as foreign loans, secondarily as joint ventures, as partners not masters, to supplement not to supplant Filipino capital, to stimulate not to overwhelm Filipino businessmen, and only in areas where Filipinos are unable or unwilling to invest".
Henares's words simply fell into deaf ears as the policy, even until today tied under agreements sponsored by the west regardless of what the constitution stated (such as 70-30 and other similar matters involving foreign companies and Filipino representatives.).
And still, this writer would say that there is still a need for self improvement the way this nation needs to recover its identity and modernize it. These edifices served as examples the way we see churches and old houses in Intramuros.