Mga Kumbati ng Pagbalikwas: Mga Salimbayang Naratibo ng Pagtanggi sa Planta ng Koryente sa Mauban, 1996–2004

Places are imagined in different ways by different people and the imagining that dominates constructs the place and permeates it with the logic of its own imagining, in a way, whoever wins designs the landscape to his desire. The vanquished imaginings are parlayed and relegated to the margins, often forgotten and buried under the rubble of their own defeat. But that deprives places of their dynamism, of multi-layered narratives that characterise their very fabric of existence. That is the reason why there is a need to recuperate the ‘unforgotten’ voices of places because they too matter in the construction of their existence. If not salvaged and totally forgotten, the processes and spaces of opposing forces that did battle in producing places are muted and rendered invisible, giving the impression that in essence places are never a site of contestation but rather a peaceful arena of mutual understanding and cooperation. In a sense, by looking at a particular place, a power plant in Mauban, Quezon in this instance, we get to understand how creation of places are fraught with struggle. It tells us how places are more than structures, they are also geographies of resistance, and as such, and this we always take for granted, a place is more than a place, it is also a narrative about its people and their take on their imagining of their own role in history and place-making