Manila, Philippine Islands

                                            

Upon arrival, our ship was greeted by music and dancing girls.  Very enthusiastic despite the heat.  They stayed at the gangplank for hours greeting each person as the debarked.  Note the skyscrapers of a modern city in the background.

This is one of the entrances to the old walled city.

We were in the walled city (created as a fortress for protection from pirates) standing at the edge of a polluted river with a ghetto full of shacks on the far shore.  Two young boys evidently found a piece of wood which they could use as a raft and were paddling across the river using their hands.

The Philippine Island group includes more than 7,000 islands; we spent one day in Manila.  Thus, my impression has a very limited basis, although, I did spend time at Subic Bay on my way to Vietnam many years ago.  I still remember talking with a young woman working as a server at the enlisted club on the American Navy base, even though she had a college teaching degree, because the pay was better.  Our current visit was during Holy Week; cathedrals were mobbed with worshipers.  The people here are highly religious and 86% Catholic.

Our excursion visited several cathedrals (and avoided a few because of massive crowds).  These people are awaiting their turn to enter the nearby cathedral.

The interior of the hotel that General MacArthur used as his headquarters in the latter states of WWII.  Still a very luxurious hotel today.

Manila is large; the number I read is 14 million people, and it is the capital city.  As such, it includes many tall buildings and other first world trappings.  But overall, it is a poor country; I was told 60% are below the poverty line, whatever that level means.  The Catholic church encouraged large families.  Today, that would mean 4-5 children, but it previously was much higher (10-14).

Our tour included a cathedral, museum, historic hotel, park, and fortress.  Prior to independence in 1946, the country was sequentially controlled by the Spanish, British, United States, and Japan.  In 1945, the Battle of Manila was fierce and bloody with US troops, both Army and Marines fighting building-to-building expelling the Japanese.

We were shown a crowded dungeon where 600 mainly civilian prisoners were left to die of starvation and suffocation by the Japanese forces.  This, however, was only a very small part of the estimated 100,000 Philippine citizens who were systematically killed by the Japanese during the battle for Manila.

Today, it is not unusual to find Philippines serving in the US military.  There is a general positive attitude toward the United States.  That was more true back in 1967-8; I remember having that discussion when I first visited, but memories of the US liberation were stronger at that time.