I'm Going Home

After three days in Manila to attend a seminar on election law sponsored by LENTE, I sure am glad to be going home. As I left our hotel, rain greeted me along EDSA, even though it was just a trickle, I could clearly see the torrent of water flowing through a high graded part of EDSA just in front of my hotel. I knew then that Manila and EDSA in particular will become a warzone! Traffic would be its usual worse, and there is a possibility that I could miss my flight.

Anyway, as my taxi navigated through the potholes of EDSA and get "washed" by the water dripping from an MRT station with the bravado of an F1 racer, I finally reached NAIA 3. Since taxi's are only allowed to park on an adjacent road from the terminal building, we had to cross over to the main building under the increasingly heavy rain. Since that part is not covered by anything, tourists and locals alike had to get wet as they navigated the road separating the taxi stand and the building. Upon reaching the door of NAIA 3, we had to fall in line to enter the building, while waiting, a flush of water coming from the roof above was dripping with ferocity just beside us, again, we had to catch the splashing water, further soaking our already wet clothes!

This is Manila, from the airport to its roads to its overall infrastructure, everything is a mess. Chaos reigns all over the damn place. It is really a trashy, dirty, filthy city - I would say the worst in the Philippines. It does not even compare to the sophistication of Cebu City, the orderliness and cleanliness of Cagayan de Oro City, the historicity and mystique of colonial Laoag, even the quiet peace of my own town, Tacloban City.

Conventions and seminars, even international ones, should never be held in Manila. It's the sublimest example of truly embarrassing your guests, not to mention the organizers. Puerto Princesa City would be good for a relaxed feel, Baguio City would be best for intellectual, urgent ones, Cebu City would be for the business sort, Davao City would do well with governance and peace topics, while Cagayan de Oro City would be perfect for environmental types.

Manila? Nahh! It should be used only as an example of what a city should not be - perpetually flooded, dirty, filthy, chaotic and crime ridden! A city which should indubitably have the distinct dishonor of being a poster boy of third world incompetence, corruption and lack of political will and prudence.

I'm glad I am going home. The last time I was in Manila was in 2008 to attend a family friend's wedding. And I am not looking forward for whence I will go back next.