One of the most beautiful countries is also one of the most dangerous.
Not only have decades of unsteady leadership followed centuries of foreign occupation,
but its capital is the most vulnerable urban area to natural disasters on Earth.
Conditions have become so challenging that the national government may leave.
But most of the 25 million people living here will stay and carry on, as is their way.
Fortunately, some major improvements are in the works.
This is Metro Manila, the island megacity.
The national capital region of the Philippines comprises 16 cities on the island of Luzon.
It’s situated between hills and mountains where multiple rivers from the fertile interior
flow into one of the Pacific region’s most sheltered harbors and has supported societies
and travelers from throughout this archipelago for thousands of years.
Four hundred and fifty years ago Spanish conquistadores arrived, destroyed a small Muslim settlement,
and founded the fortress city of Intramuros–from which they explored, evangelized, and colonized
the seven-thousand-island chain they named after their king, Philip II.
More than three-hundred years later, in the late 1890s, a brilliant Filipino student named
Jose Rizal was studying medicine in Spain’s capital, Madrid.
This gave him unique insight into the evils of Spanish rule, which he shared in a series
of passionate novels.
Dr. Rizal wanted peaceful reform, but the Spanish falsely convicted him of inciting
a violent revolution upon his return to Manila and executed him.
His martyrdom fueled an insurrection that spread throughout the Philippines and in less
than two years, independence fighters had gained so much territory that Spanish control
was confined to Intramuros and their ships in the port.
But before the Filipinos could finish the job, a newly rising foreign power swooped
in from across the ocean and stole their glory.
In the predawn hours of May 1, 1898, an American squadron of protected cruisers sailed into
Manila Bay and easily destroyed the outclassed Spanish ships still at anchor.
After a similar victory in Cuba, and a prenegotiated mock battle at Intramuros to save the Spanish
from the perceived embarrassment of surrendering to the Filipinos, the United States had won
its first overseas war to become an emerging empire.
Suddenly it had a stronghold to defend US interests across Asia.
Though in reality, the forces of Filipino General Emilio Aguinaldo, who led the revolt
after Rizal’s death, controlled much of the archipelago outside of Manila and had already
seized this opportunity to declare Philippine independence.
Instead of reaching a diplomatic solution, the two sides fought a brutal, multi-year
guerilla war that the US eventually won at the steep cost of some 4,300 American troops
and 220,000 Filipino soldiers and civilians killed.
Once the Philippines was firmly in hand, the US government got to work trying to create
the country it wanted: a reliably pro-American democracy.
They established government institutions in Manila and gradually handed them over to elected
Filipinos.
In 1903, Americans formed 51 percent of the civil service but represented only 6 percent
in 1923.
Hundreds of schoolteachers came from the US and were able to train Filipino teachers so
quickly that by 1927 locals constituted nearly all of the 26,200 public school teachers.
Unfortunately, just five years before the agreed-upon date for its full independence,
and just one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines was invaded by Japan.
Before long Manila was under Japanese control.
Four years later, the US and Filipinos battled Japan to retake Manila.
It was the fiercest urban fighting seen by the Americans in the entire Pacific theater
and left 100,000 civilians dead and much of Manila a smoldering pile of rubble.
But the Japanese were gone, and the Philippines was finally free.
Although Manila was quickly rebuilt and has undergone periodic bursts of modernization
in the decades since, local and national politicians in the capital have largely failed to implement
a consistent urban plan, deliver reliable services, or build a modern economy that benefits
everyone.
Part of their failure is due to a trend we’ve seen in this series, that primary cities are
often the only place in the entire country where significant economic opportunity exists.
New arrivals to Manila - with little money in their pockets and no officials stopping
them - have built improvised homes wherever they find space, out of whatever materials
they get their hands on.
These informal settlements now exist all over Metro Manila.
As a result, those who do own property erect walls and gates to keep squatters from filling
every free nook and cranny, to block them from view, and for obvious security reasons.
This cycle has made it probably the most privatized city in the world with jarring divides between
rich and poor on display everywhere.
With so many people focused on navigating day-to-day life, it is really hard to build
and maintain investment and uniformity in communal assets like parks, safe sidewalks,
and transit.
There is no subway here, only very limited above-ground rail, and a bus network that
mostly consists of these: uncomfortable Jeepneys.
So everyone who can afford to drives, creating the most gridlocked city in Asia, if not the
world.
Daily commute times can reach an unfathomable six hours roundtrip.
That’s how long it takes Emico to navigate the multiple stages of her commute into her
office in Metro Manila each morning and back home to Rizal each night, even though they
are just 19 kilometers apart.
“It’s really not efficient.
We’re wasting a lot of time just because of the traffic, the lining up.
People’s lives are getting messed up.
On the weekends I just sleep, watch videos, read a book, and sleep.”
The situation - thankfully - is improving.
Thousands of electrified Jeepnys have hit the road, and construction has begun on what
locals call the “Project of the Century”--the Metro Manila Subway.
When fully operational in 2028 it could serve more than 1.5 million passengers a day.
As we saw in the episode on Jakarta, one challenge engineers in the tropical pacific face is
flooding.
Metro Manila sits below sea level and is sinking.
Up to half of its land can be submerged now during heavy rains.
In fact, Manila is threatened by more types of natural disasters than any other city on
earth.
According to the UN it is the only metropolis with serious vulnerabilities to all six classifications.
Because of this, just like in Jakarta, the capital may be relocated
to higher, less crowded ground.
Unlike Jakarta’s Nusantara though, the Philippines’ main candidate site - New Clark City - is on the same island
as Manila, rising about 100 kilometers to the north.
But not all developers have abandoned Manila.
The new Bonifacio Global City (BGC) that has gone up over the last two decades provides
a safe, clean bubble for foreigners and wealthy Filipinos.
By looks and design, it seems to rival many of the world’s other new luxurious steel
and glass cities.
Of course, similar to Delhi’s Gurgaon, it is mostly walled off from the extreme poverty
existing just meters away.
Honestly though, after learning about the rough history that still scars Manila, it
is impressive that it functions as well as it does.
That’s a testament to the resilience and promise of the Filipino people.
Hopefully, they can build up enough trust in each other to begin tearing down the walls
holding them back.
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Last time I profiled Chengdu, China’s greenest megacity, and I’ll explore Mumbai, India
next.