The Philippines’ biggest container terminal operator, International Container Terminal Services , faced an unusual problem when it wanted to expand its Manila International Container Terminal.
The land beside the facility’s existing perimeter fence, although legally owned by the company, had been taken over before the terminal’s 1988 privatisation by a squatters’ shanty town. The operator – whose smart, well-maintained facility still contrasts sharply with the surrounding scenes of poverty – had to negotiate delicately with government agencies, voluntary organisations and others to have the squatters moved to decent homes, which they should end up owning.
