In Cebu, Philippines, most people would agree that Ayala Corporation “owns” a major part of the city, even calling these places by the company’s name. Ride a jeepney (minibus) with outsourcing workers, and there’s a good chance some of them will say “manaog lang ko sa Ayala”—I am dropping off at Ayala.
What does it mean when real estate developers start creating projects that span entire urban districts? How does the concentration of capital in business parks affect local communities? In The Diacritic’s first Think-piece, Joshua Vargas opens a two-part series to investigate this phenomenon….