The stretch of Nuvali has already covered 3 towns in Laguna—Sita. Rosa, Calamba and Cabuyao—as it continues to expand.

One thing that really impressed with this large piece of Ayala land is its value for space—well at least for now.

Based on its masterplan, there will be a strip of untouchable space dedicated only to trees, plants, grass in the 2,090-hectare landscape.

Nuvali also took initiative of making its new town “green.” The 2,090-hectare mixed-use “eco-city” features a bird sanctuary, hiking trails and buildings that comply with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) standards.

Talk about cohabitation of urban development and preservation of nature.

Read more: What to do in Nuvali

After a two-day press tour at Nuvali, I was asking myself a lot of questions going home, including “what the heck is our government thinking when it comes to the issue of housing, especially for the Filipino urban poor?”

In the case of Nuvali, it is a town within three towns in Laguna—a towering middle-finger in the face of the provincial government—a mighty FU raised in all its glory to show how incapable Laguna’s local officials are to come up with a development such as Ayala’s.

A couple of years ago, the Filipino urban poor—the informal settlers—living in the so-called “danger zones” and facing demolition of their makeshift homes, made it to the headlines.

There was a clash and the settlers won’t give up their homes that easily—who would?

The government’s answer? Relocation.

On 2013, Local and Interior Secretary said the government is already preparing the relocation sites for the squatters of the metro. It will be finished within years.

Roxas said he and VP Jejomar Binay—rivals during the 2010 elections—will be teaming up the address the issue of the urban poor in need of houses (of course, Binay being the housing czar).

Politics aside, going back to the main issue, just where would informal settlers be relocated anyway?

According to the DILG, there are relocation sites, large enough to accommodate informal settlers in nearby provinces.

There are also in-city relocation sites but the space isn’t enough.

Have talked to some taxi drivers who live in squatters’ areas. They said relocation sites for them are located in Taytay and Tanay, Rizal; Calauan and Nagcarlan in Laguna; and in Calumpit and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

It was the same old problem—some wouldn’t want to relocate because the place is too far for their respective jobs, and the government has been relocating them into houses alone, not a town, not even a community capable of sustaining itself.

Houses in the middle of the desert.

I have Googled the location of Calauan, Laguna:

See how far it is from the metro? See Nagcarlan, another relocation area, just an ass way behind Calauan?

Look at the map again and see Sta. Rosa City north-west of Caluan, a heck lot nearer to the metro.

And what is it again in Sta. Rosa? Ayala’s Nuvali.

So what the heck was out government thing? Is the government still thinking?

Of course, government officials aren’t as dumb as they look like. They are businessmen!

And that is exactly my point.

See, there is a reason why a 2,090-hectare land near the metro, full of potential, was sold to Ayala. And there is a reason why relocation sites are located kilometers behind this sprawling heck of a development.

Of course, squatters, who could be driving a tricycle or taxi or selling vegetables or pirated CDs in the market for a living, wouldn’t have the financial capability to buy an Ayala land.

I just have to repeat this. Government officials, in one way or another, are businessmen. And because oligarchs such as the Ayalas are much powerful than they are, it will always be business before service.

See, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and the Light Rail Transit (LRT)—a public mass transportation system—is not even wholly-owned by the government.

Highways and skyways, supposedly public too, have been increasing toll fees.

Oil and power, for Marx’s sake, is not even public property.

Public hospitals—the refuge of the sick urban poor—are gearing up for “corporatization,” whatever that is.

What’s left for the public? With SM Malls spreading itself like a cancer throughout the country, and Ayala acquring lands such as that of Nuvali, we can never tell. Maybe one day, the whole of the Philippines will be private property, and the public, abandoned by its government, will be living in the sea.