Manila By Night Quotes

Any shameful habits? Hobbies?” “Donuts.

The hidden master of the Filipino-style Chinese donut is Benito Taganes, proprietor and king of the bubbling vats at Mabuhay. Mabuhay, dark, cramped, invisible from the street, stays open all night long. It drains the bars and cafes after hours, concentrates the wicked and the guilty along its chipped Formica counter, and thrums with the gossip of criminals, policemen, shtarkers and shlemiels, whores and night owls. With the fat applauding in the fryers, the exhaust fans roaring, and the boom box blasting the heartsick kundimans of Benito’s Manila childhood, the clientele makes free with their secrets. A golden mist of kosher oil hangs in the air and baffles the senses. Who could overhear with ears full of KosherFry and the wailing of Diomedes Maturan?

Many of us, the children of middle-class Manila, were fed on Catholic guilt and raised under the bright sun of the American dream. We went to church. We went to school. We recited the rosary every night and ate no meat on Good Friday. We hung tinsel on plastic Christmas trees, studied John Steinbeck, memorized the beatitudes, and measured our skirts a polite three inches below the knees. Money was tight, but there were books. When my mother’s girlhood collection ran out, she sent me to my grandfather and his numbered bookshelves. I lived for most of my adolescence on rafts floating down the Mississippi, inside little houses on prairies, and around wood fires in the New England and Chicago and London of my imagination. I was Meg Murry. I was Jo March. I was Scout and Mowgli and Anne Shirley and Lyra Silvertongue and for one glorious summer Sherlock Holmes, with my father playing my indulgent Watson. My

When the construction of Skyway Stage 3 started, I was a freshman at law school. Almost every day, I’d pass by the same alignment which, if completed, would cut travel time from North Luzon Expressway to South Luzon Expressway from 2.5 hours to only 30 minutes. At the time, I was still working for United Nations and our Manila Office was located at the RCBC Plaza on HV dela Costa on Ayala Avenue. There were many days I hoped they’d fast-track the construction. The promise of reduced travel time from Makati to QC meant more time to study, dine, shower, or sleep. Little did I know that I’d be part of the project about two years later.” - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition (p. 116, Right-of-way reforms critical in stage 3 completion)

Allow me to say — if you are reading this, and you’re part of the Build, Build, Build team - without you, we wouldn’t have been able to build 29,264 kilometers of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 classrooms, 214 airport projects, and 451 seaport projects. Philippines is in a much better place because of your skill, work, and sacrifices. If it weren’t for your help in building Pigalo Bridge, farmers in Isabela who wanted to take their agricultural products to Manila or Tuguegarao, would still have to take the 76-kilometer detour via the Alicia-Angadanan-San Guillermo-Naguilian Road. Now, farmers are able to reach the same market within a 10-minute time frame. - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition (p. 1, To the 6.5 Million Build, Build, Build Team)

Back in 2016, when Build, Build, Build was just starting, a lot of people had doubts. One friend looked me in the eye and said, “This was another campaign promise meant to be broken.” We were likened to ardent suitors prepared to say anything. We could not blame them. At that time, it did seem impossible. Traffic in Metro Manila was costing us ₱3.5 billion a day. EDSA has exceeded its capacity by over a hundred thousand vehicles. Government projects were delayed for years — with some projects implemented only after several decades. But while we were all very familiar with this reality, it was not a reality we were prepared to accept. The Philippines was far from its full potential. To many of us, it was a chance to realize a dream. It was a chance to shape history and usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure.” - Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo , Night Owl: A Nationbuilder’s Manual 2nd Edition (p. 112, Build, Build, Build Projects CAR Region)

Noong 2016, nag-uumpisa pa lang ang Build, Build, Build. Marami ang may duda na kaya itong isakatuparan. Tinitigan ako ng isang kaibigan sa mata at sinabing, “Isa na naman itong pangako sa kampanya na sadyang hindi tutuparin.” Inihalintulad kami sa masugid na manliligaw na handang ipangako ang lahat. Hindi ko sila masisi. Noong panahong iyon, ₱3.5 bilyon ang nawawala sa atin kada araw dahil sa trapik sa Metro Manila. Nalampasan na ng EDSA ang maximum capacity nito. Ang mga proyekto ng gobyerno ay naantala ng maraming taon o dekada. Bagama’t pamilyar tayo sa katotohanang ito, hindi kami handang tanggapin na lamang ito. Malayo pa ang Pilipinas sa buong potensiyal nito. Ito na ang pagkakataon upang matupad ang isang pangarap na hubugin ang kasaysayan at ihatid tayo sa “Golden Age of Infrastructure.” - Night Owl: Edisyong Filipino (p. 112, Ang Solusyon sa 3.5 Bilyong Pisong Pasanin)

Igor, one night drunk in a Manila strip club does not make you a Chippendale. It just makes you a little sad,

When the construction of Skyway Stage 3 started, I was a freshman at law school. Almost every day, I’d pass by the same alignment which, if completed, would cut travel time from North Luzon Expressway to South Luzon Expressway from 2.5 hours to only 30 minutes. At the time, I was still working for United Nations and our Manila Office was located at the RCBC Plaza on HV dela Costa on Ayala Avenue. There were many days I hoped they’d fast-track the construction. The promise of reduced travel time from Makati to QC meant more time to study, dine, shower, or sleep. Little did I know that I’d be part of the project about two years later.

Heading to Pangasinan to visit the Manaoag Church and the Hundred Islands of Alaminos? The 7.17-kilometer Urdaneta City Bypass Road traverses eight barangays namely Nancayasan, Sto. Domingo, Sta. Lucia, Nancamaliran East, Mabanogbog, San Vicente, Camantiles, and Anonas. It serves as an alternate route to the existing Manila North Road, Urdaneta Dagupan Road, Urdaneta-Manaoag Road, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan- La Union Expressway. Now, travel time from Villasis to Binalonan has been reduced from one hour to only 30 minutes.

Critics of the administration recently pointed out that over 180,000 families will be displaced in Metro Manila should the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) Project push through. This claim is fictitious, inaccurate, and misleading. For example, based on the census and tagging conducted by the National Housing Authority, the government agency mandated to relocate and resettle Informal Settler Families (ISFs) affected by the construction of national infrastructure projects, the estimated number of likely affected ISFs in the NLEX – SLEX Connector Road Project is only 1,700.

the commanding officer took to the barracks loudspeaker one night and began calling out names. “Everybody’s looking at one another, like, What the fuck?” One by one, he called each woman into his office and asked her to name who they thought was gay. When Laura refused, he said that someone had identified her. “It was 1993. Bill Clinton had just signed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ I said, ‘We’re in a barracks with twenty-eight women. We’ve had no days off. What are you talking about?’ ” He didn’t care. Based on one accusation, Laura was charged with an Article 15 offense and thrown into the stockade. She was given an ultimatum: Accept a dishonorable discharge or face court martial and up to five years in jail. “I chose the latter. Because one, I’m bullheaded, and two, I had no place to go. They gave me one phone call a week, and I didn’t even use it, because I could never call my family.” Still imprisoned two months later, Laura changed her mind. She signed a confession, was stripped, given civilian clothes, and handed a manila envelope with the word homosexual stamped on the front.

Critics have said it cannot be done and yet the output of 6.5 million workers involved in the Build, Build, Build program has proved them wrong. Another misconception was that most projects are only situated in Metro Manila or are operated under the modality of public private partnership. This is far from the truth. In fact, less than five percent of the Build, Build, Build projects charge toll or operate under a concession agreement.

The EDSA Decongestion Program, which is composed of 23 projects amounting to over ₱383 billion is well underway. Secretary Villar is confident that President Duterte’s promise of decongesting EDSA will be delivered before the end of his term. Five years after, major road and bridge projects have already been completed including the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, the Radial Road 10 Exit Ramp, the Mindanao Avenue Extension Segment 2C, the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, the Fort Bonifacio-Nichols Road (Lawton Avenue) Widening, the Estrella - Pantaleon Bridge and the Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas Center Link Road Project, among others.

Prior to the term of President Rodrigo Duterte, average infrastructure spending for the past five decades was only at 2.5 percent of the country’s GDP. The 2015 IMF report found that the Philippines had a lower public investment in comparison to other members of ASEAN. We all know that Build, Build, Build is a program that is not only necessary but is in fact long overdue. If the Philippines is to achieve its full potential, then it must do something to cut losses due to traffic congestion in Metro Manila, which has gone up to ₱3.5 billion a day. It was at this point that Secretary Mark Villar presented the plan to decongest the 90-year-old EDSA, a 23.8-kilometer circumferential highway, which has long exceeded its maximum capacity of 288,000 vehicles a day.

In 2016, when we started Build, Build, Build, critics said that the EDSA Decongestion Program is mathematically impossible, that it could not be done, that President Rodrigo Duterte was overpromising, and that Google Maps did not support such assertion. They failed to see the bigger picture — the possibility of a 90-year-old EDSA back to its original 1930s form, a future where Filipinos do not have to debate about Metro Manila’s “true midpoint” and a reality wherein every city in Metro Manila can be accessed within a 20 to 30 minute time frame

For the first time in decades, Filipinos may opt to bypass EDSA and C5. Soon, Filipinos would be able to travel to any city in Metro Manila within a 20 to 30-minute time frame. In a few more months, we will effectively connect the 16 cities and one municipality of Metro Manila — Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Quezon City and Valenzuela — seamlessly via a network of high standard highways and bridges.

Back in 2016, when Build, Build, Build was just starting, a lot of people had doubts. One friend looked me in the eye and said, “This was another campaign promise meant to be broken.” We were likened to ardent suitors prepared to say anything. We could not blame them. At that time, it did seem impossible. Traffic in Metro Manila was costing us ₱3.5 billion a day. EDSA has exceeded its capacity by over a hundred thousand vehicles. Government projects were delayed for years — with some projects implemented only after several decades. But while we were all very familiar with this reality, it was not a reality we were prepared to accept. The Philippines was far from its full potential. To many of us, it was a chance to realize a dream. It was a chance to shape history and usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure.

This is not New York. He does not need to fold in on himself to fit in a studio. He does not need to fend for himself. He does not need to go home to a dark place, where he needs to switch on the light upon arrival every night, and where no hot, homecooked meal awaits him. This is Manila, his home of luxury.

At night, touching himself, he would imagine her in every carnal detail, always determined he would see her at last, on Erzèbet Square, but always, once he was done, he would be consumed by guilt, which would not replace the fantasy, only dissipate it, and he would decide she was just an itch he could scratch away so easily without harming her or himself.

Only on an island like this could these many stars appear at night, like they had been poured into the sky from a giant container, Katherine observed. Feeling childlike, she couldn’t stop being amazed at the scene above her. She had stared at it for minutes now, not minding that her neck had started to strain. In Manila, the atmosphere was so polluted that the skies were so gloomy at night, making the stars invisible to human eyes.