As usual...Manila's Perpetual Horrendous Traffic Situation

As I arrived from Tacloban City to Manila, I was, as always, thinking of the traffic bottleneck that would inevitably engulf me as I make my way to my hotel. No surprise then that from the steps of NAIA Terminal 3, the image of a snail's paced traffic revealed itself in all its irritating implications right before my eyes.

Fortunately, I found a taxi driver that has a sense of decorum and delivered me to the best of his ability to my hotel, a mere 30 minute drive on a steely wee hour traffic, in an hour and 45 minutes more or less! And by the standards of a rush hour Manila situation, I guess that was in fact fast!

For all the inglorious accolades Manila has deservedly gotten for its inability to solve its traffic mess, not much has been done, or if something has been done, it's effect has been so minute that it might as well seem nothing has been done. Typically the cross of third-world capital cities, Manila's traffic mess is irritatingly perennial, exacerbated by poor urban planning among the different cities that comprise the Greater Manila area, not to mention the endless road works, repairs, constructions and the like that are not only an eye sore, they are in fact road hazards, a sure-fire trip that could be your last.

Manila's hellish traffic situation is one of my most hated aspects of being in Manila. I actually consider the city as the worst in the Philippines, not only based on traffic congestion, but also in such respects as peace and order, ease of mobility, and oh, air quality.

I could never really live in Manila, at least until I have to absolutely do so, such as in two years time to take the BAR exams. It's a city that is gloomy, noisy, chaotic, filthy to say the least. It represents everything the Philippines should do away with, and really, an embarrassment to the country. No wonder Dan Brown's latest book "Inferno" describes Manila as "the gates of hell."