I knew it would be hot and humid, but I went with my wife to visit Manila by the end of March. After all, it had been almost three years since I last sauntered upon its streets — to see again the places that had been mute witnesses to my frivolities in the early years of my adult life.
A few days after our arrival, we began exploring the districts of Santa Ana, Paco, Ermita, and Malate, as well as portions of Intramuros (the “Walled City” during the Spanish colonial period) and San Andres (formerly part of the Santa Ana district).
The main stretch of Pedro Gil Street (formerly Herran), from Roxas Boulevard to its dead end at the historic Santa Ana Church, where it continues as New Panaderos Street heading towards Mandaluyong City, offered me a snapshot of what the entire city had gone through over the years.
As always, the area offered a mix of déjà vu, fascination, sadness, and desperation — I had known almost the entire vicinity since I was still an elementary student at nearby Malate Catholic School in the late 1960s.
Not much had changed in the heart of Paco and Santa Ana. Jeepneys, cars, and tricycles, compounded by the narrow streets, continue to choke the area, while numerous patches of urban blight seem to haunt these places perpetually.
The current mayor of Manila has made an effort to give the entire city a fresh look by opening up most of the city parks—the “Paraiso ng Batang Maynila” (Paradise of the Child of Manila)—and installing old, Spanish-style lampposts (ala-Intramuros) throughout the main streets. However, they, too, had become victims of what afflicts the entire archipelago – very poor (if any) maintenance of these improvements and the short-sightedness in planning and design of its overall infrastructure.
Malate and Ermita have seen the most changes due to the construction of new high-rise buildings along Roxas Boulevard, A. Mabini Street, M.H. del Pilar Street, and Taft Avenue, as well as the redevelopment of the bayfront from Vito Cruz Street (near the Cultural Center of the Philippines to Rizal Park (Luneta Park), which Manilans fondly refer to as “Baywalk.”
At the back of the Manila City Hall, along Arroceros Street, I saw the rise of a big mall. However, its overall design – resembling a large piece of hollow block – made the entire vicinity appear less appealing than it once did. Who knows what happened to the small business establishments that once abounded in the area before the mall was built? Gone were the genteel shops and the post-war YMCA that once thrived when the GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) and the DECS (Department of Education, Culture, and Sports) were still located in the same area. Even the improvement of the park (part of Mehan Garden) along Concepcion Street did little to counter the bland look the mall gave to the area.
The sad state of the entire place says a lot about how city managers (present and former) interacted with businessmen and prospective investors to make the place not only commercially vibrant but also to ensure that these establishments blend beautifully, without neglecting its history, with the entire area.
A few days later, I was sweating it out in the districts of Quiapo, Santa Cruz, and Binondo, as well as passing through the San Miguel, Sampaloc, and Santa Mesa districts via jeepneys and the newly built LRT 2 (Light Rail Transit 2 – the “MegaTren”). I had already seen the changes made by the incumbent Manila mayor in the Quiapo-Plaza Miranda areas back in 2002, which, at least, sanitized the Lacson Underpass of vendors, pickpockets, and petty crimes.
While the traffic situation in the vicinities of Manila may have improved because of the LRT 2 -which runs all the way from Recto Avenue to Santolan Road in Quezon City-, the entire city still need a lot of changes in its overall infrastructure (majority of its sidewalks are dilapidated), for it to become at par with its already-modern Southeast Asian counterparts.
Starting from Quinta Market underneath the Quezon Bridge (also known as Quiapo Bridge), we meandered our way to Escolta via Carlos Palanca Street (Echague), passing by the statue of the late Manila mayor, Arsenio Lacson, as well as the nearby Santa Cruz Church, located within the renovated portion of the plaza.
We ambled towards Binondo via Tambacan Street, stopping briefly at Ongpin Street to buy some “machang” (steamed sticky rice with cooked pork or chicken at the center, wrapped in banana leaves) and “siopao” (steamed buns with braised pork/chicken inside) as “pasalubong” (household presents).
Then, it was time to acquire some affordable hardware/home furnishings along Tomas Mapua Street (Misericordia), for which the street is known. We ended our ‘mini-Chinatown tour’ on one of the tables at the ‘Pinsec Noodle House’ (wow, it’s still there!!) along Claro M. Recto Avenue (formerly, Azcarraga), where we enjoyed my old favorites: “beef asado” noodles (braised beef w/ noodles) and “siopao asado”(steamed BBQ pork buns). After washing these down with our favorite soda, a few steps away on Rizal Avenue (Avenida Rizal), we were surprised by one of the most notable changes in the vicinity.
The stretch of Rizal Avenue from Plaza Lacson (near Carriedo) to Claro M. Recto Avenue was ‘pedestrianized.’ The old cement road and the sidewalk were replaced with bricks, and assorted, colorful plant boxes were placed along the sides. Benches made of wood and stainless steel were placed in the center for promenaders to sit on. Lampposts were added to complement the dim lights underneath the LRT 1 (Baclaran to Caloocan City) tracks.
The pedestrianization project, indeed, brightened up the area, and with the ongoing construction of a mall (hopefully, with a design that could recreate the grandeur or ambiance of the place after WW II) where the former Odeon Theater was located -as well as the timely opening of the modern, 4-story, LRT 2-Recto Station nearby-, ‘Avenida‘ as it was more popularly called, may well have found the recipe for its rebirth.
We almost walked the entire length of the ‘new’ Avenida, from where we veered left towards Gil Puyat Street (formerly Raon Street), the ‘electronics capital‘ of the country. Here, scores of vendors offered us an assortment of goods, ranging from the cheapest electronic parts and equipment to counterfeit audio CDs, VCDs, DVDs, and almost anything related to the fake mobile phone parts industry (very few were legitimate).
I also got a new pair of eyeglasses for only US$25 in this area. Time was well spent, as we also ambled to nearby Quiapo Church (we had come full circle), where we saw the popular sculpture of the “Black Nazarene” (“Jesus Nazareno” –and devotees hold a procession for it yearly). I wished that it would grant us more time on our next visit.
We also got a few bags of freshly-made “hopia” (round, flaky pastry with different fillings inside – very popular of which is the ‘mongo‘ (mung) beans made into a paste), “chorizo Macau” (Macau pork sausages), as well as a cheap CD case (less than a dollar) as we headed back to pick up the eyeglasses at the optical shop located along Pedro Paterno Street.
We were exhausted now, so we ambled back to the LRT 2-Recto Station via Evangelista Street and took one of the lovely, roomy, and air-conditioned trains to V. Mapa Street in the Santa Mesa district, which also passed through the Sampaloc district.
In Santa Mesa, we took a quick -and very cheap at about $2 for the two of us- lunch of pork BBQ-on-a-stick, “menudo“ (diced pork and potatoes in tomato sauce), a dry version of the “papaitan“ (sauteed goat innards with lots of onions and chili), free “sabaw” (soup), lots of rice and a bottle of cold Coke to cool-off the noonday heat that had built-up on our bodies. In this area, we took one of the two jeepney rides that brought us back to Barangay Hulo, Mandaluyong City, where I spent most of my month-long odyssey.
I might miss Manila occasionally as I continue to toil in another country for my livelihood. But the place, much less the entire country, had slowly progressed to miss it longingly.
Corruption, apathy, and the perverted sense of nationalism among the majority of the people have been the bane of the country, and reaching the next important step to becoming a truly progressive nation remains elusive for Filipinos.
It’s still challenging to enjoy living in luxury in a country where most people struggle to make a living. Part of it may be their fault, but the greater blame lies squarely on a government that perennially fails to deliver on its fundamental purpose — to uplift the socio-economic status of its constituents to the next level.