Metropolitan Manila: a dream unfulfilled (an Urban Roamer editorial)

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As I am writing this entry, heavy rainfall for the past 2-3 days thanks to Typhoon Maring (international name: Trami) has submerged much of Metro Manila under floods…again. While in a way, this highlights how serious climate change has affected the global climate, especially here in the Philippines, there is also another issue that lingers in the horizon that few seem to take note of:

Manila is a badly planned metropolis.

What’s heartbreaking is that this has been foreseen decades bacl, even more than a century ago when Daniel Burnham first laid out his plan for the city. Over the years, we have seen competent planners like Harry Frost, Juan Arellano, Felipe Mendoza, among others who strived to make this metropolis a livable city that has the necessary aesthetics and room for growth.

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Four and going on for more

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It felt like yesterday since I decided to cut on my procrastination and blog about something I’ve long wanted to write about: the city and the metropolis I grew up in.

Back then, I never really thought about getting much following. I never intended to beat the number of followers of online celebrities like Carlos Celdran, Ivan Henares, Anton Diaz, the Professional Heckler, and others. All I wanted to do was to be able to have an outlet where I can share my interests and advocacies, no matter how non-mainstream or unpopular they may be.

And throughout those four years of blogging, I am thankful for the thousands of people who appreciate the humble work I have been doing, who shared with me and the others their knowledge and nostalgia of the old metropolis some of us never got to experience. That in itself is a big honor for me. Again, my sincere thanks to all of you!

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Quiapo and its Golden Mosque

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On the occasion of the recent Muslim holiday of Eid’l Fit’r, I decided to take a break from my “Capital Dream” series to write this longstanding article

Apart from the Basilica of the Black Nazarene, Quiapo is also well-known for another religious structure that has become an area and city landmark as a whole. Of course, I am talking here of none other than the Masjid Al-Dahab or the Golden Mosque, purportedly the largest mosque located in the metropolis.

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The mosque was originally built in 1976 as a project of then First Lady Imelda Marcos in time for a planned visit by the leader of Libya back then, Muammar Gadhafi. (or whatever his surname is spelled) Unfortunately, the Gadhafi visit did not push through for some reason. Nevertheless, the mosque remained as the symbol of the city’s thriving Muslim community, many of whom belonging to various ethno-linguistic groups like the Maranaos, Tausugs, and Maguindanaons.

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The Metropolis and its Capital Dreams (Part III)

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After the end of World War II in 1945, Manila was in a state of total devastation. With most of the city’s infrastructure in near-complete ruin, the first task at hand for a recovering nation was to start anew, in the midst of meager resources the government faced at that time. Thus, the dream of a national capital had to be put on a wayside.

the Legislative Building after the war (from John Tewell’s Flickr)

Also as a result of Manila’s destruction, those who were fortunate to survive were too traumatized to continue living in the city premises. Thus the trend was for many families to move away to the suburbs, trying to escape the nightmares of war that still haunt the city that was trying to get back on its feet. Thus, the wide open spaces of Quezon City became a viable option as a place of residence for them, where they can start anew in a postwar environment.

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