You could blame WWII for that.

• The city was destroyed by both the Japanese and American forces during WWII and it never fully recovered after that. The city was hastily built with ugly buildings after the war, which explains why the city is so “disorganized”… but to be fair, most of the damaged properties were privately owned and their owners were either killed or fled the city, those who couldn’t flee stayed in the city, because they became very poor after the war, they couldn’t even construct a “proper structure” to serve as their “home”, so what happened is that they became “informal settlers”… and from there, the slums of Manila grew into what they are today. This is also the reason why most of the structures in the city were not reconstructed to their original state, basically owners of private property became too poor to restore their own homes. It was mainly just the government buildings that were restored.

Before and After Images

• Manila Post office and Jones Bridge.

• Legislative Building

• Manila City Hall

Sto. Domingo Church, Intramuros.

• Luneta Hotel

• Escolta

• Several other districts of Manila.

• An average street in Manila.

Other historical photos of the city and its inhabitants.

When foreigners say that Manila is “ugly”, remember that the only thing you know about the city is what you’re seeing right now in the present, but you really have no idea about what happened here in the past, that contributed to what it is today.

Videos

• Manila Nostalgia, Queen of the Pacific.

• Manila War Crimes

• Battle of Manila, DW