Manila: Jewel of the orient - before Pinoys took over, that is

Written on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 7:08 am | by benign0

I stumbled across this ten-minute news reel of Manila taken in the 1930s. Check it out. I think it is a real treasure. I found the link in Senor Enrique’s blog entry Old Manila. It shows that Manila was an already bustling city before the war yet somehow there was an order order in the chaos no longer seen today.

Even as recently as the 1960’s, Manila was a pleasant city. Here is an old photo of Quiapo.

Yes, that IS Quiapo you see there. A bit more work and it could almost pass off as a street in Paris, couldn’t it? Today, that bit of work would require more like a nuclear warhead to turn Manila into something that remotely looks like a habitable city.

Indeed, Pinoys seem to have the opposite of the Midas touch. Everything we lay our hands on turns into crap. I think there was also a blog entry here once lamenting the steady-eddie degeneration of Baguio city (another jewel of the American colonial era) into another tropical cesspool.

Maybe one day future generations will also look back at old photos of Subic Bay port and wonder at its beauty when the Americans first left it in our care.

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About The Author: benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.COM and has once been described as "one of the most enthusiastic hecklers of the politically-passionate" by a respected journalist.

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5 Responses to “Manila: Jewel of the orient - before Pinoys took over, that is”

  1. cvj on July 7th, 2008 9:56 am

    I didn’t expect you to be a fan of Jeepneys.

  2. The Mad Hatter on July 7th, 2008 10:42 am

    I don’t think we’re that bad. I heard Russia is worse.

  3. nash on July 7th, 2008 5:08 pm

    Re: subic.

    the aetas were taking well care of that area, taking only what they needed for centuries before the US cemented acres upon acres of forest…of course, that is not to say that had the US base not been there that the Pinoy politicos will not do the same (or even worse..)

  4. AdB on July 23rd, 2008 11:33 pm

    Looks to me like the old Quiapo could’ve been a twin of the old Kota Kinabalu.

  5. Bencard on July 24th, 2008 12:38 am

    when was this photo taken? i see a vintage 40’s chevy (or was it ford?). the scene reminds me of my first car (a renault) which i drove in 67 right there from malate to quezon blvd. ext. (first-time driver with a license but no formal training). it was hair-raising experience which i miraculously survived unscathed.

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