Pittsburgh and Iligan: A tale of Two Cities

They were once called the steel cities, Pittsburgh in the US and Iligan in southern Philippines.They were cities built by steel. Iligan started in the 1950's and Pittsburgh a century before that. As steel is considered the backbone of the nation, they have contributed tremendously to the progress of their countries and heavily impacted on the lives of many citizens. People from all over flocked and migrated in these cities. They were then the boom cities. Sadly, not anymore today.

I was part of that history. I spent the best years of my life in Iligan. We lived and breathed steel then. Like many who came before and after us, I was a migrant hooked up to the world of steel. I joined National Steel Corporation in the mid 1970's right after earning my chemical engineering degree. I thought I would eventually retire there. We were then the toast of the company. We dominated the social and economic life of the city by our sheer number and financial capability and our youth's adventurous activities. True, there were other major industries there: cement plants, coconut mills, refractories, power plants, chemical industries, etc. But Iligan was National Steel country. When NSC sneezed, Iligan caught pneumonia so to speak. That was the roaring 70's and the 80's, our time.

Is there life after steel? While Pittsburgh is undergoing a successful transition from its fabled steel past, Iligan seemed to live still with its past. Now owned by the Ispat group of India headed by the "other" Mittal, NSC was renamed Global Steel. But it is only in name that it seemed global. It is only a shadow of itself; a far shadow in fact. Gone are the hustle and bustle of men, machineries, equipment, transport both land and sea, etc. Hundreds of its best and brightest are now in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and the Midlle East. A significant number settled in Manila and neighboring cities and those who remained in Iligan can do only so much.
It was a lost glory.

Sadly, its present state reflects the state of the steel industry in the Philippines. Instead of moving forward like what our neighboring countries did, it went the opposite. The dream of an industrialized Philippines via iron and steel integration appeared hopeless and lost. The steel industry in the Philippines is and had not been a priority in the country's state of affairs. Quo vadis?