The Philippines- Manila and Subic Bay

March 23-24, 2024

$1 = 55 Pesos

This was my first time in the Philippines. It will not be my last. I’ve known many people from here: nurses, medical technicians, doctors and others the US tempted away for good paying professional jobs. The number one export from the Philippines is its people. They even have a term – OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) – 1.96 million of them in 2022, or close to 10% of the entire population. (The Anthony Bourdain episode from Manila he filmed before Christmas in 2016 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kq1x8yRGJI&t=15s )

The main port for cruise ships – Pier 15, is close to the museums in Riza Park, about a mile walk, so we dodged the touts and tuktuk drivers to check out The Museum of Natural History – free to enter, you show an ID per group and turn in any bags at the free check stand. (It is open on Sundays – this time Google was right- despite what some of the drivers tried to tell us, the other 2 museums were closed and we almost gave up until we walked near it and saw people going in). 

Our main “event” for our day in Manila was a street food tour taking place in the adjoining city of Mandaluyong. Manila is really made up of 16 cities (and one municipality) all joined together in one place, with terrible traffic every day. Public transportation is minimal, and the little jitney buses typically remain in a route within each district. Grab, a rideshare company now owned by Uber, or a taxi are your best bets if going any distance. It cost about $8 for our 40-minute ride to Mandaluyong. When we arrived, we laughed as we found 6 others from our ship – and one man on a business trip – getting ready to start the tour. 

Chloe introduced us to an interesting variety of foods – many for the adventurous diner. After a quick tricycle ride (3 blocks, cost of 30 pesos),

we started with steamed dumplings called siomai (chicken for 2 of us, pork with shrimp for the others) – then on to the skewers. It’s amazing what people will put on a stick, and Filipinos do not waste ANYTHING. 

Dessert #1 & 2 were made from cassava. Pichi-pichi is a steamed dough made with cassava flour, sugar, and a few other ingredients sprinkled with a grated sweet cheese creating a chewy- gooey dessert. It’s – interesting, not bad, but the consistency is difficult to get around. The cassava cake has similar ingredients plus coconut and baked – reminiscent of a lemon square- and the favorite of the tour group.

Then the deep fried goodies: spring rolls made with bean paste, breaded and deep-fried quail eggs, and fried bananas.

For another dessert, Chloe picked up some Putong Ube (Putong is not a bad word here – it means rice cake – these had sugar and flavorings added). We all loaded into a WWII era Jeep jitney (50 pesos pp) to our next stop,

where John and Steve tried the infamous balut (the 17-day duck egg).  A stop into a neighborhood bar for our last savory part of treats– jalapenos stuffed with either cheese or pulled pork and deep fried – and the promised local beer!

The restaurant also had karaoke rooms – I didn’t have any other takers, but I got photos. (According to Chloe – karaoke is so popular in Manila that they don’t do open karaoke – it can get very personal and occasionally violent).

We capped off the evening with some sweet treats – ice cream flavors that would seem odd to us are common- I tried the cheese ice cream (very smooth, creamy – similar in flavor to a mozzarella, John tried the avocado – we liked both). 

A massage spa was conveniently located across the street from the end of the tour– for 1100 PP – (about $20US) – we both had 90 minute massages, then headed back to the ship.

We woke the next day sailing into Subic Bay, famous for WWII battles and an American Navy Base until the 1992. We started our day at All Hands Beach a mile from the cruise port. It costs 700 Philippine Pesos pp, and provides a nice area to swim, several floaties, and an area to snorkel a 19^th century wreck. John reported seeing several cannons along the sunken remains (I could not find anything that states the name of the ship). I swam a bit and played on my phone using their (not great) wifi (my only complaint – lousy wifi).

We walked back to the ship, dropped off our beach stuff and grabbed a taxi (500pesos) into town to eat at Jollibee!

Jollibee is the Philippine favorite fastfood – known for fried chicken and spaghetti with hotdogs, and the sauce is made with pureed banana and tomato sauce. It is the fastest growing fastfood chain in the world. We wandered a bit and I got a pedicure for 80 pesos (with tip – $2 US) and John had another massage. Then to the mall, where most of my fellow cruisers hung out for the day.

Next time I visit – I will definitely be doing karaoke!

History lesson:

The Philippines have been inhabited by hominids for over 100,000 years (Homo luzonensis – the Callao Man dated from 67,000 years ago), and by humans for about 50,000 years (The Tabon Man dated at 47,000 years). Despite trading with other islands, the archipelago never adopted Buddhism or HInduism, and had no universal religion and no archeological evidence of violent death, nor any mass burials indicating war, famine or other event that created mass death in the pre-colonial times. 

Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521, and named the island chain for King Philip II of Spain. In 1565, the conquistadores established a capital in Cebu, but quickly realized that Manila had a more strategic location and moved it in 1571. With the Spanish came missionaries, and the population adopted Catholicism (79% of the citizens today refer to themselves as Catholic) and Spanish names (most common family names are: Santos, Reyes, Cruz, Garcia and Gonzales). After 377 years as a Spanish colony, the Spanish ceded the islands to the US in 1898 as part of the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War. The Filipinos were not exactly thrilled, they wanted independence. For three years, the Filipinos fought for freedom, losing 20,000 soldiers and close to 200,000 civilians to war, disease and famine from the war. The American forces prevailed and maintained control until July 4, 1946, when the Philippines were granted Independence. The law deciding on this date passed in 1934, and despite some efforts to derail the process as the date approached, the US’s largest colony was released on schedule.  

Under American rule, the US established a public education system mirroring that found in the US, making English a requirement. Institutions of higher education, including nursing and medical schools, were created under the American model and maintained to this day. This is partially why US and English medical systems commonly recruit nursing and medical graduates. 

Like most early democratic governments, there have been growing pains. For almost 10 years, Huk rebels battled with government forces trying to gain control. Violence was common after elections, approximately 500 people lost their lives from political violence between 1955-1969. Ferdinand Marcos was first elected President in 1965, then re-elected in 1969, after which he suppressed anti-government protests, by 1972 he declared martial law due to “anti-government forces”- mainly the NPA (New Peoples Army). A new Constitution was created in 1973. Martial law continued until 1981. Marcos continued to be re-elected, but election fraud was rampant. Finally, with international and internal pressure mounting, Marcos fled to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1986 (and most remember Imelda’s infamous closet full of shoes). President Corazon Aquino was sworn in and a new Constitutional Convention drafted the new document by the end of the year. Not all was at peace, the NPA continued to harangue government forces, and the government survived attempted military coups in 1987 and 1989 and 1990. Throughout the 1990’s-early 2000’s, European powers helped negotiate peace between the NPA/NDFP and other rebel forces and the Filipino government, though skirmishes continue to occur – especially around the time of elections. Despite all of this, the country continues to prosper. Average monthly income is about $800/month and low unemployment.