Steve and Cathy's Blog

Originally, our itinerary called for us to arrive here at 8:00am and leave at 6:00pm.  So we had booked an eight-hour excursion, Old and New Manila, for 9:00am.  Peter Croyle has prepped us about the city with his Enrichment Lecture on the subject.  Two significant things that he has pointed out: 1) it is the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia, 2) it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and 3) because of 1) and 2), the city is choked with traffic all day long. So it will take eight hours just to be introduced to this busy, thriving metropolis.

Our tour actually begins at 8:45, and as we disembark from the ship, a Filipino band is playing. What a great start!

We hop on our bus and meet our tour guide Angelo and our driver Floretto.  (Quick aside: we don’t often get the name of the bus driver, but we do make note of this one.  Given the reputation of Manila’s traffic, we expect him to be the hardest working of the two).  As we pull out of the port area where Insignia is docked, Angelo points out the five-star-rated Manila Hotel.

Angelo explains that this is a “religious” hotel: When you enter it and check in, you exclaim “Oh my God! What a beautiful hotel!”  And when you check out and get the bill, you say “Jesus Christ!  This is so expensive.”  Already we know that this is going to be a fun day.

Angelo explains how the city is divided.  The city itself – just the city Manila – is divided by the Pasig river into north and south sections.  The north section is ‘old’ Manila and used to be the main shopping area.  However, because there are several giant malls in ‘new’ Manila, the south section is where people – especially tourists and young people – go to shop.  The city of Manila has 1.6 million people packed into 15 square miles (as a comparison, I believe Wallingford CT is 23 square miles).

However, the area designated as Metro Manila is 239 square miles and has a population of 12.8 million and includes 16 towns.  This still equates to an astounding population density of 53,556 people per square mile.  I quote these stats to give you an idea of how busy this city is and the frenetic atmosphere that it has.

What makes the Philippines somewhat unique as an Asian country is its colonial history.  While the English, Dutch, French and Portuguese certainly influenced history in most of Asia, the Philippines was a colony of Spain from 1571 until 1898.  In that year, the Spanish-American War had ended, ceding Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam to the U.S.  The United States ruled the area, sometimes with an iron fist and significant conflict, until 1935, when it was declared a Commonwealth, with the plan being to give it full independence in ten years.  WWII saw Japanese control until it was liberated after a month-long Battle of Manila that began on February 3 and ran until March 3^rdof 1945, during which Japanese military massacred an estimated 100,000 civilians. On July 4, 1946, the Philippines became an independent nation.

Okay, let’s get back to this wonderful excursion we are on.  There are to be these stops: La Loma neighborhood, Chinese Cemetery, Manila American Cemetery & Memorial, Lunch at Diamond Hotel, Rizal Park and, finally, the Intramuros section to tour Saint Agustin church and Fort Santiago.  We are going to intersperse descriptions of these places with general information and comments from our excellent guide that will cover many subjects.  (These will be bullet points)

On our way to La Loma, we pass through a neighborhood dotted with dozens and dozens of outdoor flower shops. Street after street is lined with these small shops.  Our guide mentions that this neighborhood is rocking around 2-3am in the morning, as the wholesale market opens at that time.  By the time we pass through, it is much quieter, although certainly we can see how the neighborhood is thriving.

La Loma: This is an old neighborhood in northern area of Manila (I think it’s actually in Quezon City) that features a large marketplace specializing in Lechon (accent mark over the o), roasted suckling pigs on skewers.  Here is a mouth-watering description from Wikipedia: “Lechón is a pork dish in several regions of the world, most specifically Spain and its former colonial possessions throughout the world. Lechón is a Spanish word referring to a roasted suckling pig. Lechón is a popular food in the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, North Sulawesi province of Indonesia, other Spanish-speaking nations in Latin America, and Spain. The dish features a whole roasted pig cooked over charcoal. Additionally, it is a national dish of the Philippineswith Cebu being acknowledged by American chef Anthony Bourdain as having the best pig. It is also the national dish of Puerto Rico.

“In most regions of the Philippines, lechón is prepared throughout the year for any special occasion, during festivals, and the holidays. After seasoning, the pig is cooked by skewering the entire animal, entrails removed, on a large stick and cooking it in a pit filled with charcoal. The pig is placed over the charcoal, and the stick or rod it is attached to is turned in a rotisserie action. The pig is roasted on all sides for several hours until done. The process of cooking and basting usually results in making the pork skin crisp and is a distinctive feature of the dish.”  Below we provide a couple of photos to complete the picture.

We spend about twenty minutes walking up and down the street. In this case, we are too early (around 9:30am), way before the many restaurants are due to open. Nevertheless, it is a real eye-opening introduction to Manila.

• The most prevalent and certainly unique to the Philippines public transportation vehicle is know as a Jeepney. After then end of WWII, the US Army had to get rid of thousands of jeeps. According to our guide, the jeeps were snapped up by locals, and were modified to carry passengers.  Actual jeep bodies and other components were used until 1953 when a factory opened to assemble Jeepneys from scratch.  There are thousands of these privately-owned ‘buses’ running throughout Manila and environs.  Each one requires a government license to operate and is restricted to a very carefully-defined, fixed route.  The cost for a ride is about 8 pesos for a 4-kilometer ride (chump change, believe me).  It is the cheapest – and least comfortable – transportation in town.  Our guide jokes that the capacity of most Jeepneys is 21 Filipinos or 10-11 Europeans/North Americans.  Each one of these vehicles is uniquely decorated, many with Mercedes emblems. Most are powered with enormous, noisy Isuzu diesel engines.  Steve fell head over heels in love with these vehicles, and you are going to see many photos of them.  Oh, here are some now!

• As we pass through central Manila, Angelo points out that there are many buildings that look like they belong in Washington DC. Because the US administered the country from 1898 through 1935, there are many examples of such architecture, all used as government buildings.
• One legacy of the long Spanish colonization is that 94% of the population of the country is Christian. More specifically, 85% of the population is Roman Catholic.  A very small percentage is Muslim, and most of them live in the island of Mindanao.
• Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines. This is obviously a result of American presence in the country.  Yes, football (soccer) is played internationally, but because it is so easy to build a basketball court, and the sport requires so little equipment, basketball is far and away the most popular.
• We pass through some old neighborhoods, and our guide mentions that the old building material for residences was wood. But wood cannot stand up to the average of twenty typhoons that annually visit the Philippine area, five of which will be very serious. So buildings are made of concrete block now.
• The biggest problem with typhoons now is the flooding it brings.Manila is pretty flat, and the storm surge and rain is sometime devastating.

Chinese Cemetery:  There has been a Chinese population in Manila for centuries. In fact, the first Chinatown as such in the world was established in Manila in 1591.  The Chinese were quite successful as merchants in the Philippines.  However, because they were not Roman Catholic, they suffered significant discrimination, including being denied burial in a Catholic cemetery.  (This is obviously no longer the case.)

So in 1861, the Chinese Cemetery was built, and it is now the second largest in Manila (where there is a population of 103,000 ethnic Chinese).  What makes this cemetery so well worth visiting is how elaborate many of the mausoleums are.  Many include kitchens, living rooms, air conditioning and/or caretakers.  It is customary for Chinese to visit these mausoleums two or three times a year out of respect to those buried there.  They spend an entire day, eating meals and holding ceremonies.  As we drive down the streets, we pass one after another of these two-story buildings, one more elaborate than the next.  It is an amazing sight.  There are hundreds of them; one built only a few feet from the next.  One “neighborhood” in this cemetery is named Beverly Hills.  These are all leased for twenty-five years at a time.

After passing many of these structures, we come upon a beautiful Chinese temple and get out of the bus for around a half hour to tour the temple and the surrounding neighborhood.  This place is a work of art.  Here is some of what we see:

We are back on the bus, heading for our next stop.

• Many of the streets in Manila are quite narrow. This is on purpose.  Narrow roads are cooler than wider ones as the buildings shut out the hot sun.
• As we pass by one of the many universities, Angelo mentions that nursing is an extremely popular profession in the Philippines. A nursing degree, combined with the ability to speak fluent English, gives a graduate extensive mobility.  Many emigrate to countries with a shortage of nurses, such as the United States, Canada, England and, recently, Australia. (Quick aside: our guide in Kyoto, Japan also mentioned that Japan is in desperate need of nurses. The problem is the language. Candidates are required to pass exams that are in Japanese.  This results in an enormous failure rate, a problem the government has yet addressed).
• Two other forms of transportation in Manila, besides the millions of motorbikes, are what are termed Tricycles (motorized three-wheel vehicles) and Pedicabs (same thing except human propulsion). Up to three Filipinos will fit into the sidecar … but only one European/North American!

• The national language of the country is Filippino. Some will tell you that it is Tagalog, but that is not true. The difference is that Filipino has many Spanish and English words, as well as grammar.  Tagalog, from which Filipino is derived, is strictly an Asian language.  Many official documents and procedures are written in or conducted in English, such as court records and proceedings.
• There was a time when English was the only language taught in schools, but now both English and Filipino are taught.
• Because so many people are fluent in English, and the country has had so much contact with the United States, the Philippines has a growing and large Call Center industry. There is a move, therefore, to revert back to teaching English only so as to better to compete with the other Call Center country, India.

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial:  It is difficult to put into words the impact that being in this place had on both of us, from the minute we arrived until way, way after we had left.  First of all, we were sort of ashamed of ourselves that we did not know this place existed.  Neither did we know much of anything about how we retook the Philippines, the Battle of Manila or much about the Southeast Asian theatre during WWII.

Hopefully these statistics will give you some idea of its impact: As it states in the brochure we received, “The government of the Philippines granted its free use as a burial ground in perpetuity without charge or taxation.”  The brochure also lists this Useful Information.  The cemetery and memorial is 152 acres.  17,097 headstones are there (16,933 Latin Crosses and 164 Stars of David).  The remains of 3,740 Unknowns are buried there.  The memorial commemorates the lives of an additional 36,286 Missing in Action including Americans and Filipinos).

Besides the acres and acres of graves, there is a Wall of Missing building where the names of the 36,286 Missing in Action are written, as well as the names of 21 Medal of Honor recipients.  There is the Memorial itself, a Chapel and an Altar within the Chapel.

In the Memorial are 25 expertly detailed mosaic maps portraying important campaigns during World War II in the Pacific.

We spent an hour there, and could have spent four.  If our schedule the next day had allowed, and had the Memorial been closer to downtown Manila, we would have returned.  No American should ever set foot in Manila, Philippines without paying a visit to this place and paying respect to the many, many thousands who are memorialized here.  Pictures won’t do it justice, but we share some with you below:

We leave this quiet, tranquil, beautiful memorial and are soon back in the thick of Manila traffic.  To reach the memorial, we have passed through much of ‘new’ Manila, including the City of Mikati, one of the sixteen cities making up Metro Manila. This 10.5 square-mile area is described in Wikipedia thusly: “In 1851, Don José Bonifacio Róxas (an ancestor of the Zóbel de Ayala family) purchased the Jesuit estate of “Hacienda San Pedro de Macati” for 52,800 pesos.  [Quick note from our guide: ‘makati’ meant ‘itchy’ or ‘scratchy’ because the whole area was plagued with mosquitoes] Since then, the development of Makati has remained linked with the Zóbel de Ayala family and their company, Ayala Corporation….Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration of multinational and local corporations in the country.Major banks, corporations, department stores as well as foreign embassies are based in Makati. The biggest trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange is situated along the city’s Ayala Avenue. Makati is also known for being a major cultural and entertainment hub in Metro Manila.”

In other words, this entire cityof over a half million people was built by the Ayala family and their company, the Ayala Corporation.

We then pass through Bonaficio Global City, another enormous development controlled by the Ayala family.  Our bus even has to pay an $11 toll to use the streets in this immense park-like area.  It is full of high-rise apartments, office buildings, as well as a 600-home private, gated residential development.  I mention all of this only to point out my suspicion that the development of Manila probably only goes forward after the Ayala Corporation has its say.  It makes American crony-capitalism look like a kid’s lemonade stand in comparison.

On our way to our lunch at the Diamond Hotel in downtown Manila, many more random subjects are covered by Angelo:

• School vacation is in April and May. The reason is that, from 1901 through 1935, the entire school system was supplied with American teachers, and these are the months they preferred not to be in the Philippines (I cannot remember the reason, if the reason was given to us at all).
• Road signs in the Philippines have taken on the colloquial name of “road suggestions.”
• There is a golf course in the middle of Manila.When the Americans took over in the beginning of the 20^thcentury, the area was a moat surrounding an old Spanish fortress.  It was full of sewage.  To eliminate the mess, a golf course was built on the land.
• There are three existing heavy rail commuter lines in Manila. As mentioned before, the traffic is horrendous, so a subway system is being built – Manila’s first.  Angelo notes: “It is being built by the Japanese, so we know it will be built well and be earthquake-proof.”
• Insignia’s shuttle bus takes us to the Robinson Mall in the heart of Manila. This was once the largest mall in the Philippines, but has since been eclipsed by the Mall of Asia located on Manila Bay not far from the cruise pier.  And guess who owns it?  Yes, you guessed it.  The Ayala Corporation.

We arrive at the Diamond Hotel, a huge 4 or 5-star edifice.  We are treated to a wonderful buffet lunch featuring about anything you could possibly want to eat.  It is very busy and crowded as there are several Oceania busloads of tourists. Fortunately we have plenty of time. There is even time for Steve to go out to the corner and take more photos of Jeepneys.  This won’t be the last time that he indulges his newfound passion for photographing these unique vehicles.

• On our way to our next stop, Angelo points out quite a few pedestrian overpasses. He warns us: “Don’t cross the roads.  You may die! Use these overhead bridges!”
• There is a huge local fast-food outfit called Jollibees (their signs have a smiling bee) that competes with McDonalds.
• When McDonalds started in the Philippines, they just couldn’t figure out why they were unable to lure customers away from this Jollibees outfit … until they spent a bit of time ina Jollibee restaurant observing the favorite meal of Philippine children: spaghetti.  And not just spaghetti like you and I know.  Spaghetti with a special sweet sauce, not Italian-style tomato sauce. So now the only place in the world where McDonalds serves spaghetti in the Philippines, and their sales are doing better.

Rizal Park was our next stop.  This is also known as Luneta Park because the park has a crescent shape.  It was named after “José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, widely known as José Rizal  (BornJune 19, 1861 and executed on December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist duringthe tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the Filipino Propaganda Movement which advocated political reforms for the colony under Spain.

“He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the crime of rebellion after the Philippine Revolution, inspired in part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its goals, which eventually led to Philippine independence.

“Rizal was skilled in both science and the arts. He painted, sketched, and made sculptures and woodcarving. He was a prolific poet, essayist, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli Me Tángere and its sequel, El filibusterismo.  These social commentaries during the Spanish colonization of the country formed the nucleus of literature that inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike. Rizal was conversant in twenty-two languages.”  (Quotes are from Wikipedia)

First we visited the Rizal Monument at the entrance of the park, which consists of a bronze statue of Rizal, an obelisk and a stone base under which his remains are interred.

Then we walked to another area and viewed a dramatic set of bronze statues depicting the execution of Rizal.

Our guide gave us a great deal of information on the execution itself as well as the statuary itself.  Rizal himself insisted that he be shot in the back so that he would fall forward.  Not all of the rifles that the soldiers used were loaded so that no one of them would know who actually fired the shot that killed him.  This monument was based on a photograph found by accident in a home in Massachusetts.  It really was something to see. Very impactful.

Our last stop was in the Intramuros.  Once again, I shamelessly borrow from Wikipedia: “Intramuros is also called the Walled City, and at the time of the Spanish Colonial Period was synonymous to the City of Manila. Other towns and arrables (suburbs) located beyond the walls are referred to as “extramuros“, the Spanish for “outside the walls”.  It was the seat of government and political power when the Philippines was a component realm of the Spanish Empire. It was also the center of religion, education and economy. The standard way of life in Intramuros became the standard way of life throughout the Philippines. The Manila Galleons which sailed the Pacific for 250 years, carried goods to and from Intramuros (Manila) and Acapulco, Mexico.

“Construction of the defensive walls was started by the Spanish colonial government in the late 16th century to protect the city from foreign invasions. The Walled City was originally located along the shores of the Manila Bay, south of the entrance to Pasig River. Guarding the old city is Fort Santiago, its citadel located at the mouth of the river. Land reclamations during the early 20th century subsequently obscured the walls and fort from the bay. The Battle of Manila in 1945 devastated Intramuros. It is the place where the occupying Japanese Imperial Army made their last stand against Allied soldiers and Filipino guerillas. The battle destroyed its churches, universities, houses, and government buildings, most of which dated back to the Spanish Colonial Period.”

We also walked around Fort Santiago: “The fort is one of the most important historical sites in Manila. Several lives were lost in its prisons during the Spanish Colonial Period and World War II. José Rizal, one of the Philippine national heroes, was imprisoned here before his execution in 1896. The Rizal Shrine museum displays memorabilia of the hero in their collection and the fort features, embedded onto the ground in bronze, his footsteps representing his final walk from his cell to the location of the actual execution.” (quote lifted from, of course, Wikipedia)

Part of our visit there included a quick tour of San Agustin church built in 1606.  The most notable aspect that our guide mentioned was that this is the only church in Manila that has survived every earthquake since its construction, as well as the Battle of Manila in WWII.  Especially noteworthy is the ceiling of the cathedral painted by two Italian artists.

Our last stop was a shop where lots of Filipino handicrafts were for sale.  Cathy sat this out, and Steve took photos of adorable pony carts and yet more jeepneys. We boarded the bus and made our way back to the ship.

Enroute to Insignia, Angelo spoke quite candidly about President Rodrigo Duterte, the very outspoken current president.  The subject arose because of the Executive Order closing the beaches in Boracay Island.  He has been criticized for doing it so hastily and not having a game plan as to how to clean up the pollution.

He has also been criticized by the world media for the severity of his anti-drug program.  Human rights groups contend that 1,400 drug users, petty criminals and “street children” have died at the hand of the Davao Death Squads.  Duterte comes from Davao City on the island of Mindanao, and has made some very strong comments on the subject.

I will paraphrase how Angelo addressed this criticism of Duterte: The media in the Philippines is run by the oligarchy, and they oppose many of the reforms he is proposing, such as allowing foreign partial ownership of businesses in the Philippines.  The oligarchy has gotten rich doing nothing because of the law limiting foreign ownership of businesses to 40%.  The other 60% of a business must be owned by a Filipino company, and the few mega-rich people in the country do none of the heavy lifting to run these businesses. They leave it all to the foreigners, and just sit around and collect money.  Duterte wants to allow foreigners to own 60% or even 70% of a business that operates in the Philippines.  This cuts into the oligarchy’s money flow.  Duterte said this change would also encourage more competition, which is another thing that the current establishment certainly does not want.

Duterte also is proposing other changes in the constitution, including a change to a parliamentary system of government.  He feels that the presidential system as it is now structured is based too heavily on personality rather than competence.

Angelo notes several times that Duterte receives very high marks from the people.  He said that a poll taken from January through March of this year gives Duterte a 70% approval rating.  That says to him that President Duterte is moving in the right direction.  We should not be listening to the international media because they get all their information – misinformation – from dubious sources with an axe to grind.

Well, that certainly was interesting to hear.  Not sure our media isn’t just as complicit, eh?  It was a pleasure to hear from an articulate, educated spokesperson for the average Filipino.  It was a most fitting end to a very interesting and enlightening day in Manila.

We arrive at the dock around 5:30pm and are greeted with wide smiles from five enthusiastic young Filipinos.  At dinner that evening, we are speaking to our waiter whose home is India and we comment about how hot it is in Manila.  He agrees wholeheartedly, and adds: “If an Indian guy says it’s hot, then it is HOT!”

Tomorrow will be our “extra” day in Manila, and it will be just as hot as today, so we agree to forego any tours and just take the shuttle bus to the Robinson Mall, the air conditioned Robinson Mall.