The Other Side of the Fence: Investigating the Motivations behind the Metro Manila Development Authority’s Pink Fences

ABSTRACT

This investigative thesis studied and analyzed the motivations behind the construction of the Metro Manila Development Authority‟s (MMDA) Pink Fences. The road structure – 6-foot pink wire mesh fences – emerged during Bayani Fernando‟s term as MMDA chairperson in response to the disorderly traffic situation in Metro Manila. Guided by the assumptions of Rational Choice Theory, Public Choice Theory and Biopolitics, this study explored the background and motivations that sparked the project and analyzed the involvement of public officials in its construction and implementation. In order to accomplish the study‟s objectives, the researchers followed the investigative “people trail” and “paper trail” by conducting focus interviews and archival research and employing textual analysis to analyze relevant data. The investigation showed that (1) the process undergone for the procurement of the project‟s materials was flawed and not uniform; (2) the pink fences, and other MMDA projects, were used by the administration party to advance its own interests; and (3) the construction of the pink fences served private interests and favored companies to a point of disadvantage to the government and disservice to public interest.

Cabreros, R.A., De Jesus C.P. (2010). The Other Side of the Fence: Investigating the Motivations behind the Metro Manila Development Authority’s Pink Fences, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.