Having been away from Manila the last 7 years and by then knowing very little about it first hand, I silently suffered the 22-hour ordeal of the plane trip, confident in the belief that the experience of rekindling the ties that bind me to what was my home for the first 33 years of my life would be worth it. True enough. Over the almost two and a half weeks I was there, never was I, even for the briefest moment, disappointed.
Over the few months immediately preceding our trip, my wife and I received consistently positive feedback on the newly inaugurated and heavily promoted Newark-Manila via Vancouver PAL flight (promo period ended the 30th of Nov 96) so we booked and took the PAL flight PR113 (Newark-Vancouver-Manila) on the 20th of December. My carrier of choice is normally United but, just as with many other Filipinos, we wanted to patronize our own. So PAL it was for this trip.
Since the travel agent from whom we purchased our tickets advised us that we should check in 3 hours prior to scheduled departure basically to allow for heightened airport security checks, we obediently did so. Upon check-in, we were advised that there would be a 5-hour delay in the time of departure and that there would be a technical stop in Tokyo for maintenance. Facing therefore an eight-hour wait at the airport, I put on all the charm I could muster and requested the ramp manager to give us complimentary access to the Mabuhay lounge reasoning that we were not advised by phone of the 5-hour delay. I was told that everyone was advised by phone and received a quick though courteous denial on the Mabuhay lounge request. I wondered though whether the situation would have been handled differently were ramp operations handled by PAL personnel (who would address the situation from a marketing standpoint) instead of a local handling agent (who I conclude responded to my request from a purely fee/cost standpoint). So, after having received a US$15.00 meal voucher at 7:00 pm, having received the advice that there was no more need to make the technical stop in Tokyo and having further undergone an additional hour of delay, we were finally on our way to Manila. The cabin crew of PAL were very professional and very solicitous and responsive to the passengers' requests. In-flight food and refreshments on this leg of the journey were pretty much standard and on a par with those of other international carriers. In-flight entertainment consisted of marathon in-flight movies - about 5 or possibly six in all (can't be certain on this since I fitfully slept through each and every one of them).
Contrary to the comments of many both at the SCF and elsewhere, I found the NAIA to be clean (the restroom I went to which was located right before the Immigration stalls was, in fact, squeaky clean and better than a number of restrooms in other international airports), well maintained and orderly enough considering the passenger traffic it was bearing at the time of my arrival. I found the ariport personnel to be plentiful (NAIA must have the highest staffing rate compared with other airports) courteous and some even pleasant. The decor in the arrival areas had a native theme to it though the items on display could have better chosen. I'm almost certain Airport Management could have hired a better interior designer. The NAIA Duty Free shops were the busiest I've seen - certainly much busier than those in the East and West Coast airports or Heathrow. The cost of using a baggage cart at NAIA is ridiculously low especially when one considers that a porter comes along with each one.
Clearing Immigration and Customs was somewhat slow (due to the heavy passenger traffic) but for the most part uneventful (not much opening of luggage). Again, I saw very little of what many have complained about clearing Philippine Customs. On our return trip to the US, a fellow passenger, Ming Roxas (whose PAL flight on the 23rd of December was delayed for 15 hours in Vancouver), commented that when their flight arrived in Manila at 3:00 am, the passengers very easily breezed through Immigration and Customs.
Getting to the area outside NAIA (the arrivals ramp's "sunduan" area as the driver referred to it) was somewhat disconcerting due to the hoards of people around it, the noise, the jostling movements in the area all of which contributed to the general feeling one got that no one was in control of the situation here. I am told though that the airport authorities are in full control of the situation and that all comings and goings via taxicabs and other for-hire vehicles are lengthily documented.
Against normal expectations, I discovered that Manila traffic was not as bad as I was made to believe. While moving around the traffic in Metro Manila, I could see where the fly-overs and the construction of the circumferential highway called the C-5, both of which I saw for the first time, greatly improved things. The trip from the NAIA airport to my in-laws' home in Loyola Heights where we were to stay for the rest of the trip took a little more than an hour during the middle of the daylight hours which I presume would have taken longer had the flyovers and the C-5 not been there. During my infrequent sorties out of the Quezon City and the Pasig/Mandaluyong areas where my "barkada" lived, I found the traffic to be, on average, tolerable. My notion of Manila traffic was tempered by my friends' comments that the patterns I encountered during my trip did not represent the normal non-holiday back-to-work traffic patterns of everyday Manila life. I also discovered that among the worst vehicular traffic was in the business district of Makati. I was advised to cluster my appointments based on location; i.e., I would be in Makati on Tuesday and all my business and social appointments were to be scheduled thusly. Movements within the area would be by cab which I discovered was the only really practical way to move around the city. Cabs, most of which are air-conditioned, charge ridiculously low fares and are generally easy to flag down. A recent innovation introduced by a number of public vehicle operators is the use of the Toyota Tamaraw FX, an Asian version of a very spartan though air-conditioned minivan with a passenger capacity of about seven. It plies a fixed route and charges between Pesos 10 and Pesos 15 per passenger. The fare structure and operation of the Tamaraw FX is somewhat of a cross between a taxicab and a jeepney. Someone at SCF can probably provide the details on how this form of public transport is operated.
Manila has changed. Manila has remained the same. In the last two and a half weeks of my vacation, I discovered both statements to be true.
Manila continues to be the ultra cosmopolitan metropolis that it has always been. Virtually any consumer item available in New York, London, Paris and Rome (except possibly winter things) are available in Manila - though not necessarily at prices affordable by the general public. These include upscale consumer items such as exotic automobiles (I saw a Ferrari 355 beside a Lotus Esprit and a Range Rover 4.0 in a dealer's showroom), Dolby Pro-Logic Surround, THX and AC-3 A/V systems as well as other major consumer electronic items. In a MegaMall consumer electronics shop, I saw Karaoke systems much more sophisticated in size, features and fidelity than anything currently available in New York.
Gun stores have sprung up in different parts of the city offering a fairly impressive range of both long and short firearms. Unlike the times when I was still in Manila, these gun shops now include assistance in the registration and licensing of the firearms as part of their services. A plain jane 9 mm Czech handgun costs upwards of Pesos 48,000.
It is, however, probably the restaurant and fast food industry that experienced the greatest explosion in terms of number of industry participants, variety of cuisine and sales volume. There are many world-class restaurants in Manila. The two I frequented during my stay which I recommend wholeheartedly are: La Primavera (Italian Continental) and Sukhothai (very authentic Thai and very reasonable prices). These two restaurants have Makati and MegaMall locations. At the other end of the culinary spectrum are the oldies which I have now reclassified as my nostalgic favorites; mami, siopao and siomai at MaMonLuk (this particular choice of mine is beyond my wife's understanding), sate babi with javanese rice at the Aristocrat, Savory chicken, halo-halo (innards and sweetbreads) at Carvajal, Juanchito's bibingka and puto bumbong, La Paz batchoy, pancit canton and chicken pie at M Y San in Escolta and the many others I am unable to fit into this space. No other city in the world - NONE - compares with Manila when one's mindset and gustatory inclinations are focused on food. This has been so in the past, it is so now and that is the way Manila will always be. And that's a perpetual truth.
We have all heard of the property boom in Manila. Metro Manila, together with other urban centers and outlying provincial areas, has undergone a tremendous increase in real estate values in both the residential and commercial sectors. This real increase in asset value has translated into newfound wealth specifically among individuals, families and companies owning sizable real estate properties. Traditional factors, including a burgeoning population and a slack in housing construction during the previous years have interacted with foreign money brought into the country thus arbitraging Philippine land values. This has resulted in prices closer to what they cost in neighboring countries within the ASEAN region. The real estate development, engineering and construction industries as well as other related and complementary industries are currently enjoying brisk business and experiencing growth rates not attained during the historical peaks of previous economic cycles.
Construction of new residential units in the Quezon City/Pasig/Mandaluyong areas of Metro Manila now cost upward of Pesos 3.5 million for condominium units and townhouses, while detached single family units sell at upwards of Pesos 5.0 million. Construction costs average at Pesos 27,000 per square meter.
It gladdens me that my friends who decided to make it in the Philippines stuck it out, hung in there and have actually made it. I am very happy for them and I am proud of them for their entrepreneurial as well as professional achievements. A number of them have created wealth not only for themselves but also for others and I am doubly proud of them for having done so. Still, a few of them have gone into the service of others and the community at large, foregoing their personal and their respective families' material rewards and it is they whom I admire deeply and it is, of them, that I am most proud.
At the same time, it saddens me to see that the boom and prosperity in Manila that we so often hear of still have not benefited a substantially large part of the population. The squatter population and the squatter problem is bigger and less manageable than it ever was. There are more street children than when I was here last. The average working man in Metro Manila still toils at wage levels which provide their families a living standard not much higher than the poverty line. So, as in the past, the rich continue to enjoy the income differential of Metro Manila's growing economy while the poor grow only in number.
It is also true that while socialization in Manila has not changed, neither has it remained the same.
Scheduling and arranging a family's day in Manila is much more complicated than I remember it to be. It is certainly much more complex than how we, who live overseas, do it. Life in Manila, it appears, doesn't lend to being translated into a routine. Among the factors to consider on a typical day: which car is not available for use (there are days in the week when a car bearing certain plate numbers cannot be used), which driver has reported and on duty for the day, who will have to ride with whom on which trip to which place, where each family member's activity is scheduled to be at which time (since activities must be planned and consolidated in certain areas based on known traffic patterns), and estimates on how long the car will take to move from one point to another. What I have observed though is that, in the end, possibly by some divine will or intervention, everything works out eventually. It is truly amazing that this situation works itself out everyday.
Ballroom dancing and having one's own DI (dance instructor), as everyone probably is aware of, is now de rigeuer among the socialites, the beautiful people and the not-so-beautiful people of Manila. La Jota in Greenhills and the Intercon in Makati are among the places for tripping the light fantastic. DI rates range from a low of Pesos 500 for a 3-hour session to upwards of Pesos 5,000 per night for the DI equivalent of General Norman Schwartzkopf in Operation Desert Storm. I am told that Manila socialites, whose husbands do not approve of their wives going out in the evenings with their DIs, normally schedule their ballroom dancing (with their DIs, of course) in the early afternoon -- at around 3:00 pm -- immediately after their regularly scheduled prayer meetings. Same people, same values, new recreational fad. Or, to paraphase a Gary Lising line, "you continue to see the old faces but with new teeth."
Just as with ballroom dancing, golf among the men is still enjoying a tremendous following. Driving ranges have sprung up in different parts of the city. One drives into the range and after popping the lid of the car's trunk/boot, a young lady, usually no taller than your golf bag, with a trained tug of her arm easily removes your golf bag from within your trunk and brings it to one of the tees in the driving range. She squats in an area opposite you and starts placing the golf ball on a tee fashioned of moist clay. She continues to do so as you hit the balls in succession. When you tell her you are through with your driving session, she waits for you to take off your golf shoes and she cleans them together with your golf clubs. You pay (I believe it was Pesos 100 per 30 minutes but I could be wrong since I didn't pay) by time instead of by bucket in the driving range. You tip the girl when she loads your golf bag back into your car's boot. There are, in addition to the traditional golf courses in Manila, new ones that have been recently developed as well as a number of others still on the drawing board. Many consider shares in the new golf clubs as good short term investment instruments. Of course, when you play in Manila's golf clubs, you have, walking close beside you on the fairways, the umbrella girls -- the counterpart of the tee girls in the driving range.
During one of the old high school barkada get-togethers which included the respective sons and daughters, I queried a teenage nephew about how the young people in Manila have their parties and what discos are currently "in." He very respectfully replied, "Tito Pietro, wala nang mga disco. They're now called clubs. Parties normally start at around 8:00 pm and end before 1:00 am. Not too much dancing and there's always booze. You normally stick to your girlfriend the whole evening. Or if things get boring, you just drive somewhere else and chill by yourselves." As my nephew continued to talk, I continued to listen even while feeling the chasm between him and me slowly widening and I held back the urge to describe how we, his parents and his titos and titas, used to have parties, hold soirees and go to discos. Somewhere in my gut, I felt he would not appreciate what I was talking about even if he tried.
During my time, we could use the pulse-dialled analog phone as long as we wanted. Then we got to operate CB radios. Finally, we graduated to working the amateur bands on HF, VHF and UHF on radio circuits and antennas that we built with the ARRL's amateur handbook and antenna book and local materials bought in Binondo and other parts of Chinatown. Big deal! Now, among the youngsters in Manila, having one's own e-mail address and internet access on a recently upgraded Pentium PC are the new status symbols. These are, of course, in addition to the text pager and the cell phone.
There are also a few practical lessons I have learned from this trip. I discovered that the best time to visit and spend a vacation in Manila (or anywhere else in the Philippines) is the Christmas season and these are my reasons why:
It is during this time when the temperatures are nearly at its coolest during the year. Also, rains are infrequent and short lived at this time of the year. A few have commented that pollution is at its lowest during this time of the year (except, of course, for New Year's Eve where suspended particulates are at its highest due to excessive explosion of fireworks).
Traffic is not as bad since school is out and many decide to take their unspent vacation days from work at this time. This also means that the vehicles (and drivers) normally used for school and work can be made available to you during these times.
There is a surplus of food and beverages all around so that it is less straining to the family's and friends' budgets to arrange for welcome parties and other get-togethers for you.
Friends and relatives are on a holiday schedule and, equally important, in the holiday spirit, and therefore more inclined to spending quality time with you.
Being in Manila at Christmas time also means bringing home Christmas gifts. Since you eventually bring pasalubongs anyway, why not spend a few dollars more on a thoughtful (thoughtful as in really thought out and I thank God that my wife is gifted with this valuable skill) Christmas gift instead of a mere "pasalubong para hindi masabing nakalimutan." Also, it helps one's pocketbook to consolidate gifts on a per-family basis. However, this rule obviously does not apply when a child below high school age is one's godchild or "inaanak" since this entitles the child to his/her own gift.
It is important that only the people you really intend to see during your vacation in Manila know that you are going there. If you intend to simply rest or stay home with the family by yourselves for the most part of your vacation, then you must travel incognito.
Avoid successive out-of-town excursions unless you enjoy riding in the car for extended periods. In accounting for time spent during your entire vacation, you may come up with a lot of time spent on just travelling from one place to another.
I have barely returned and I am now looking forward to my next Christmas vacation in Manila.
Back to PNB New York's Cyberlounge