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Published: September 4th 2011
Uodate January 2013: As I expected, my recent post (Jan 2013) extolling the virtues of Mindanao has been COMPLETELY ignored by Pinoys and others alike. Over 99,000 hits on this negative comment on Manila, but less than one hundred on a post that is very positive about another part of the Philippines. Says something about human nature, doesn't it.
I am NO LONGER ACCEPTING COMMENTS OR MESSAGES ABOUT THIS POST. IT's DEAD!!!!
I considered deleting it completely, but what the.... Anyway
DO NOT BOTHER WRITING ABOUT THIS ONE ...because I won;t read your comment and will delete it immediately.
If you want to read about the
positive side of the Philippines, go read that post. Happy to hear from you.
Update 12th October 2011:
This post seems to have gone viral. I've had nearly 500 comments.... most still unreviewed because I read EACH ONE before accepting them. Please bear with me.
I delete ONLY the incoherent, wholly illiterate and actually defamatory or gratuitously insulting - they are often funny, but say more about the writer than than my post - no Anonymous, I'm not a "racist faggot" and I do use my real name, LoL. However one or two are included so you can see what I mean. These insults represent about 1%!o(MISSING)f the comments, the majority of which, even when they disagree with me, are rational. Thanks for that.
I even got one comment from
George Clooney (really?) - he apparently didn't get the bow to his excellent TV advert for Nescafe.... mmmh...... was it really from you George? If so, please verify and I'll publish it. I suspect someone of your eminence wouldn't bother to comment on a casual blog like this, and would also have understood the respect shown by the post. Whoever that was using his name in vain, lighten up!
I'm happy if people criticise coherently; I might (and have) learned some things. Bring it on. This blog is NOT politically correct and will never be; it is an honest reflection of my opinions...... whatever they are worth. Post your comments in similar vein and I'll publish them.
The text of the post below is unchanged, but I want to say this about my experience of the Philippines overall: I've worked there off and on since 1991. I've visited almost every part of the country, including NPA territory and Islamic parts of Mindanao. I've eaten rice with people so poor this is all they have to offer and hiked through places like Aurora. So I probably know the place fairly well, I suspect. As someone says, it is a hugely diverse country, beautiful in places, but with astounding poverty compared with many of its neighbours. I've enjoyed almost all my time there - but I DID NOT ENJOY THIS VISIT nor the Discovery Suites, and this blog reviews specific visits and my experience of them.
People have written about the good things in Manila - folks, Makati and Greenbelt are about as representative of Manila and the Philippines as Silom Road is of Bangkok and Thailand. I've visited every part of Manila, so please don't kid me.
Specifics: NAIA Terminal 3 is NOT open except to very few international flights and some domestic. It's been in this position for YEARS and is an absolute example of the failure of the government to deal with critical problems.
Discovery Suites: I kept going back because it was always good value - duh! It no longer is good value, and I won't go back. By the way, I've stayed at the EDSA Plaza and I've stayed at the Peninsular.... in fact I've stayed all over the city. DS was good and convenient. Pity.
Racist? Ha ha! LoL I'm actually married to an Asian and have lived in Asia for well over 20 years - love it. But Asians are the most racist folk in the world - ask a Thai their opinion on Indians (khon kak - don't ask for a literal translation) and they call me "farang", which isn't so polite..... or the Chinese what they think of all the rest of the world......I'm a Big Nose (dai bize)......or in Japan a "gaijin"......like, whatever. I am indeed culturally aware and critical...... yes, opinionated. By the way, lots of folk detest Brits... so what? Get real and get over it.
Sorry if Filipinos are insulted, that wasn't my intention - but this is what I felt at the time of my visit and my OPINION, not "the truth"........ Read on:
I honestly do really HATE to write negative posts. If you check through this blog you’ll see that even the posts on Afghanistan have a few positive things to say…….
But my GOODNESS the Philippines!!! Or more precisely
Manila, because you cannot and should not generalize about such a large country spread over thousands of islands. Manila -
what a dump!
The city has got to be the disgrace of South-east Asia, all the more so because twenty years ago when I used to come through here en route to Papua New Guinea it was THE place in the region to come to for shopping and R&R. How the mighty are fallen!
Let’s start with the international airport.
Ninoy Aquino International is exactly the same as it was all that time ago; the same awful green lino when you arrive, the same over-crowded Departure Hall, nowhere to sit if your check-in desk isn’t open. Once through security you find the same down-market shops, toilets that don’t work or are “under repair” and very few F&B places.
I pay the extra $15 to go up to the Sampaguita Lounge just to get out of the crush of people. No, despite the fact that I’m an inveterate traveler I DO NOT LIKE crowds of people! The travelling public en masse is a necessary obstacle that has to be endured and overcome.
The coffee in this over-priced lounge is awful…. Over-boiled and they don’t have a modern machines (which these days can be purchased even for home use) to produce fresh coffee from beans. NO ONE uses this old filter method anymore, at least no one that likes good coffee. Where is George Clooney!!???
As for the hotel downtown: I have stayed at the
Discovery Suites in Ortigas Center for the last 15+ years ever since it opened. It used to be very good and remains convenient for my business meetings. But the owners have invested nothing in upkeep and I stay in a room that has the same furniture, same carpet as it has always had; it smells musty. The TV is years old. The water heating system provides limited hot water for my bath. My room is not cleaned until I have to go and ask. The internet (OK, free wifi in the room) is dreadfully slow and the room service food lukewarm.
Frankly at $119/night the Discovery Suites is no longer the good deal that it once was and I shall change to another hotel if I have the misfortune of coming back here.
Manila itself is a shambles. The traffic is AWFUL (I seem to be using a lot of capital letters in this post) and nothing has been added to shops or other amenities (whereas e.g. Bangkok has transformed itself into an almost livable city).
Look: people will say the Filipino people are nice, and indeed they are polite – we Brits might say “smarmy” – obsequious or ingratiating are maybe less pleasant words. But they do try. That does take the edge off the sheer misery of a crumbling, filthy, depressing city and an economy that exists only on the remittances of the smart ones who have left.
Sorry folks. I know there are many people who love the Philippines, but its economic development has been a disaster; the irony is that Manila is the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank (the reason I come here) and it has the WORST growth history of any of the ASEAN countries – Cambodia which was torn apart by civil war up until 1997 has a first-class airport (fresh ham and cheese sandwiches on foccacia, freshly brewed cappuccino , clean lounges) and some great restaurant food and hotels (see my next post). But the Manila, where the intelligentsia sneer at their Asian brothers and sisters for their lack of English, is beaten hands down even by little Phnom Penh and left standing by every other mega-city in the region.
There seems to be a theme here: the Philippines has many natural advantages and in fact a talented people who provide services everywhere in the world. But there has been no re-investment in the country, neither by the public sector (hence the terrible airport facilities), nor by private industry. People might build a hotel, but they run it into the ground rather than trying to build a long-term institution. Philippines can be described as an extractive or exploitive economy, not one where people want to build sustainably long term. As I say, the smart one’s all want to leave.
My suggestion if you want to see the Philippines: get through Manila as quickly as you can, it has nothing to recommend it. Go out to the islands, Cebu, Mindanao, up to the cool of Bagio and see the people in the countryside and some of the spectacular scenery. That’s probably worth the trip. Otherwise pick almost anywhere else in Asia and you’ll get a better deal.
Final note: for those that wonder, I’m NOT backpacker and I’ve travelled so much that the novelty or “exciting local colour” of dirt, disease and bad food no longer fills me with wonderment; I stay in decent hotels and expect good service, anything less is patronizing the people in these emerging countries. For most of Asia I get it in spades – better value overall than travelling in North America or Europe - but not the Philippines.
For the Philippines the question is surely will it ever emerge from the mire into which it has sunk? Very frankly based on my very long experience of the place I really doubt it, in fact it is a “disappearing” country if there is such a thing.
Discovery Suites
25 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center
Pasig City 1600
Philippines
P.S. No pictures because there's nothing worth photographing in Manila, it's drab and dirty.
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AJ Linao
non-member comment
Hi! I admire you for your honesty and applaud you for speaking your mind. As a Filipino living abroad for so many years now, all you have said are true. I couldn\'t have agreed more. It is so depressing to know that the country has already been left behind by its neighbouring countries and yet the government don\'t do anything about it. Most Filipinos seem to have trouble in accepting the fact how awful Manila is and they are blinded by false patriotism. All they see are glittering shopping malls, skyscrapers in some areas, some fancy hotels, but they forgot to scratch beneath the surface. Poverty is rife, population growth is alarmingly high, a lot of areas are grimy where you wouldn\'t dare go in them let alone get out alive. When will Filipinos learn how take criticism without reacting violently? That\'s a hard question, but then again, that\'s how democracy should be all about, which the Philippines is.