The Gates of Hell

The Metro Manila Development Authority and all the social media justice warriors are up in arms and full of outrage at Dan Brown's latest novel. In the book Inferno, Manila is described as such; “Manila has six-hour jams, suffocating air and a horrifying sex trade whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom have been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed.”

They can whine and shout "Unfair!" all they want at a fictional novel but the truth hurts doesn't it? Honestly, are they implying Manila is some sort of perfect paradise? I've been to Manila and it isn't that great. I thought it was horrible actually. 

Manila is a concrete hell with traffic jams that add an hour to what would normally be a twenty minute drive. The urban sprawl and grime is near post-nuclear apocalyptic and the squalor of the shanty towns and slum areas makes one wonder how those poor wretches resembling human beings can even survive let alone reproduce as much as they do. Pollution is everywhere; in the streets, in the rivers and in the air. It's positively dystopic with advertising billboards exhorting the masses to consume while people starve outside the gated communities of the rich.

I don't know the ins and outs of the sex trade but it's not totally unbelievable parents would pimp their children for money. Sad to say but poor people will do anything (except stop having children) to get a good meal.

People getting mad over a book instead of the actual problems facing the city really need to get their heads examined. Better yet, why don't they step outside their favorite air-conditioned Starbucks and take a fucking look around.

But I'm trying to be an optimist, right? Things can change for the better. I'm sure it will now that the Manilenos have elected an alcoholic, philander, two-bit actor who also dropped out of school and was actually convicted of plunder. Way to go, you morons... er I mean, Pinoy Pride! Democracy! People Power!

I hope Cebu never goes the way of those geniuses up north.