“This is why we can’t have nice things, darlin’, because you break them.”

Heard beyond the many interpretations of the famous Taylor Swift lyric is the resonance of voices protesting against the P32 billion, ‘Eras Tour’-ready stadium to be built in Clark, Pampanga.

Laced with woe, the voices echo to condemn the rotten cycle of capitalist interests overshadowing the common good.

On July 12, the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) announced their plans to establish a 37-hectare ‘Entertainment and Events Center” within the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone (CFEZ) by 2028, with the central aim of boosting economic tourism in Clark through courting international artists the likes of Taylor Swift.

As part of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s Build Better More program, the project will operate through a public-private partnership setup with prospecting investors from the Philippines, Singapore, the United States, according to CIAC president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arrey Perez.

While being deemed as a herald of progress, the somber truth behind the project stabs: economic growth that paralyzes the best interest of the public is more a degradation than a development.

Distorted priorities

Under the Code of Corporate Governance for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC), the State is mandated to ensure that CIAC, being a GOCC and thus vested with functions relating to public needs, is using resources efficiently.

In light of that, there is an outrageous error in the system if the absence of a stadium big enough to hold a Taylor Swift concert is deemed a concern warranting urgent allocation of resources, despite the enormity of pressing national issues.

Set against the backdrop of President Marcos Jr. ‘s 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA), the initiative draws parallels to the emphasis put on grandeur infrastructure projects as emblems of success. It inflames the vile normalization of capitalist ambitions taking precedence over national concerns such as low minimum wage, contractualization, higher costs of living, human rights violations, insufficient public service infrastructures, and many more.

In response to concerns regarding inadequate transportation systems, CIAC plans to incorporate a “multi-modal terminal” that can accommodate 200,000 passengers via “diverse transportation modes,” although no concrete details have been divulged. However, this would simply exhaust immoderate resources just to address traffic congestion and its consequent perils—which will inevitably emerge in a place that is not yet fully equipped to hold massive events of that kind

So, the critical question stands: Why not just enhance existing infrastructures, rather than starting from scratch?

And from that question, a more bitter one materializes: Is the planning of the project rooted in incompetence, or is it a deliberate scheme calculated by capitalist greed?

Indigenous people in jeopardy

Beyond implications on skewed priorities, there looms the shadow of urban sprawl—a phenomenon where rapid expansion of urban areas is driven by sudden increased wealth. The project, as intended by the proponents, will create more attractions in the area to boost revenue.

Hence, while for now it is just one stadium, it will serve as a stimulus to build more establishments and commercial areas–magnifying the threat of the displacement and encroachment of indigenous communities nearby.

To add fuel to the fire, Clark’s notorious history tarnished with infringing on indigenous rights renders displacement and land impingement an actual aftermath rather than a mere threat. The Clark Special Economic Zone’s (CSEZ) New Clark City (NCC), for instance, stands on the ancestral lands of 500 forcibly displaced Aeta families who were given a mere seven-day notice to vacate the premises in 2019.

And even in the face of homeless indigenous peoples (IPs), the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), overseer of the NCC project, remains adamant in their claim of the land due to the absence of Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles – documents which were not given by the National Commissions of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to Aeta tribes despite the IPs many repeated attempts of obtaining so.

The marginalization of IPs enkindled by the rise of the CSEZ illuminates the long-standing problem of market-oriented concerns and corporate interests being favored over social justice and human development. If they are willing to sacrifice public welfare at the altar of ‘development’, we have every reason to be afraid.

Pleasing the Western gaze

While it is undeniable that the allure of Swift’s concerts will generate substantial revenue and magnetize similar global music icons, this ambitious venture raises critical questions about the socio-economic implications of such high-profile investments in developing regions.

Inadvertently, the initiative speaks multitudes regarding the unchecked power that Western capitalism holds to shape not just the distorted priorities of the government, but also the greater landscape of how Filipinos have a deep-seated inclination to kneel at the feet of foreign interests, products, and markets–even in ill-suited circumstances.

What a despicable loss that instead of allocating resources and leveraging investment opportunities to enhance current infrastructures, the focus is diverted to projects catering to foreign investors and American allure.

Ultimately, the fascination with western celebrities and grandiose projects plying to their allure mirrors a broader pattern of how pleasing the Western gaze is held over local well-being. This trend is not unique to the country—it is a global issue where the spectacle of celebrity-driven capitalism often eclipses more pressing local concerns.

Defining genuine progress

The stadium puts the nation at the crossroads of capitalist pursuits and human development. Whichever path is traversed, it is guaranteed that its soundwaves will reverberate through the course of history–ultimately unfolding whether the country becomes a bulldozer or a champion of the common good.

The challenge lies on the people to thunderously voice out rejection towards the railroading of such projects without a comprehensive grasp of the broader consequences. More importantly, let it be heard that as long as the definition of progress is confined within economic metrics, social justice will always be dampened by capitalist forces.

Let the looming risks of the project serve as an impetus to cultivate harmony between economic aspirations and local realities in the pursuit of progress. After all, we are, first and foremost, Filipinos—the triumph of our welfare is what defines genuine progress.

The views and opinion of the writer do not necessarily reflect those of the publication.