Yearning for the Old Manila

In spite of the breathtaking backdrop the mesmerizing sunset makes, Manila Bay is now surrounded of condos, corporate buildings, restaurants, shopping centers, residential areas and any kind of structure or establishment you could think of. It is like a “plague” that infects the rest of Manila all for the sake of modernization. It makes the future promising and erase in our memories the past entirely. Past is in the past, right? This article was brought to you by: http://www.admiralbaysuites.com.ph/ - a leader in real estate manila. 

How this modernization changed the city we used to adore or admire? Manila was once dubbed as the “Paris of Asia” or the “Pearl of the Orient Seas.” Unbelievable because the Manila today is always jammed with traffic, crowded, full of commuters, and polluted. Sad but true, it is incomparable of how Manila looks like in the past. The terms pristine, clean and spacious were the adjectives you could describe the Old Manila.

You still can’t imagine it, I bet. Well, I can’t blame you as I also witnessed it, lived with it, and breathe the very air during my childhood days. I remember the musky odor of books in Recto to buy something secondhand or “new”. The monthly visits at the Manila Post Office to send a mail for our late grandma who then lived in the US. The birthday celebrations my sister and I had while we dine in with my mother at Jollibee Blumentritt.

The intense fascination I had (until now) whenever I took a glimpse of those places because of its grand architectural design. The wonderment sprung up in my chest as I observed the different landmarks and derelict buildings we passed by during our train rides on the maroon or red-painted LRT. I didn’t know then the significance of each structure and how it stood proud during the glory days of Manila. I am just simply amazed.

If only the government has funds and void of corruption, restoration would be possible but it isn’t enough to revive the original “Paris of Asia”. Why? The dirty and polluted environment must be eliminated as well. As Palaisip pointed out, “There were no Metro Aides, Bayani Fernando Cleaners, and stores cleaned their areas. Pedestrians were also very disciplined. Very little “hukays” and manholes were clean and were clearly visible to pedestrians. People were so disciplined… The streets were shiny, much like the streets of Singapore now”.

The claim sounds fiction but it is true, was true. The blogger also said that we could beat Paris of what we had during 1950s to the mid-1970s. I saw the pictures and mistaken it as a scene in an old movie, then I backtracked a bit, this was Old Manila with an air of formality and sophistication. It is unlike the deteriorating city we lived in now. Perhaps flood, clogged esteros, and litters were non-existent. So, what happened? When did it start going down the hill? All right, stop the blame game. The big question is how much political will and concern each of us must have to restore the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”?