Baho't Bantot!
river adventure along the filthy Pasig,


If you just ride this ferry boat expecting a romantic river tour of Manila, you will be disappointed, it's a 45 peso gyp. Suerte ka lang, naka aircon.

But if you take this ferry with the intention of identifying old favorite spots and seeing the ride as the daily adventure of other river commuters --for actually, you are the strange one, you are the tourist on their commuter boat! and if you take this as a trip to some place like Intramuros or Chinatown, then it becomes fascinating.

Students ride the ferry everyday from Guadeloupe to PUP station. They buy or bring their own baon, reduced student ticket is 20 pesos one way.

Personnel are well dressed, very polite and welcoming. They take their work professionally. Contrary to expectations, these are large modern diesel ferry boats run by the Manila Nautical Transportation Administration. They are air-conditioned and roomy (no snacks or duty free aboard, sayang, but that will come one day).



In contrast, while the Pasig Ferry meanders up and down the river, little ferries cross the river. These are run by private operators and are much smaller boats for a 3 to 4 minute crossing. They are picturesque in yellow and red colors.


Soon, along the shores, one notices almost everywhere the cracking dikes, streaking cracks that run for several metres, others with big gaping holes a jeep could run through.


Why does Pandacan, Santa Ana, Mandaluyong flood regularly every year? Look at the shores of the Pasig.

In the same vein, the pilot has to navigate carefully between the large clumps of water lilies that freckle the river with bright green and in some seasons, white lily flowers.



Little do some of us realize perhaps that these are the deadly debris that block the river passages and esteros, causing flash floods in the interior of the city of Manila. One also spots along the river, giant cranes and mechanical 'grabbers' that at some time in the history of this venetian city of canals, were used to pull out the water lilies and dispose of them.


Alas! no more. It should be recalled that Manila is actually an estuary city like Louisiana, composed of silted land dragged from mountains higher up and dumped by the river at the mouth of the Pasig. Like Louisiana, floods could one day overrun the city and plunge it underwater. The same is true of the delta of the Ganges River and the lowlands of Bangladesh.


You will find major industries parked along the shores of the Pasig, especially petroleum and coconut oil depots, some with barnacled rusted barges also used as depots. Several companies engage in transporting wheat, sand, gravel, and similar products that can be stored in river barges with drafts up to 2 metres.


In contrast, this is the back of La Ignatiana, the Jesuit residence in Santa Ana and at one time a retreat house. Behind to the left, one should be able to see the bell tower of Santa Ana Church a domineering sight when you pass it in your car, unfortunately a disappointing miss on the ferry! Note that all shorelines of sea and major rivers are property of the state by law and this for reasons of national security but also, in most places, to ensure public access to the shores.


The river has since encroached upon the shoreline residents, and now many squatters have taken advantage of lax implentation to make their homes here, of course, the river now becomes their sewer and dumping ground.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Santa Ana was the Sunday picnic spot for Manilenos, an hour's drive or so by car or horse and buggy and a swim in the then still muddy but clean Pasig. You might not think of doing that now.


Yes, there are still some worthwhile tourist sites, a broad view of the Post Office building and the arch of Jones Bridge at the Escolta stop, gateway to Chinatown.


Gaily painted kalesas trot by hurriedly under Jones Bridge heading towards Chinatown.


Once off the ferry, it is a fifteen minute walk to Ongpin, and the corner of Binondo Church.

Leading right are all the stores full of hopia, bean curd noodles, tsampoy and dikiam, candles and incense. Strange, but you can also find here all the freshest fruits, local or imported (big mangoes from Zambales and China, high quality 'soft' kamote, vegetables galore) and likely cheaper than at Fort or Makati markets. Famous restaurants are here too, some of them catering to very localized dishes from the regions of their cooks. For general chinese cuisine, one could try the President where one might even bump into Mayor Alfredo Lim.

A real hole in the wall is Po Heng Lumpia House. One enters a narrow passage between two building that lean threateningly towards each other. And after passing several security guards and other 'holes' in the wall enterprises, one ends up in a large inner court with a cool breeze, but all the noise and dirt of the streets kept out. A rich menu of mixed Chinese and Philppine cuisine, but specialising in lumpia.

This trip was proposed by pinsan, Mar, a lover of gourmet adventures and an explorer of inner Philippines.



After all that walking, time for a refreshing coffee. Hope you enjoyed he trip.
But if tourism is to be built on the logistics of this ferry, one has to dredge the river, build up the banks, inspect the shoreline factories for possible dumping of pollutive chemicals and waste, inspect private residences for legality of land use and possible pollution dumping.

That donem could you imagine a series of chic shoreline restaurants built along side the pantalans, extending into the river for lunch on the Pasig or a medium altitude hotel with rooms holding a river view? In Chinatown, modern retaurants and hotels built over clean, flowing canals with tourist boats to gondolay visitors by water? Even little bancas for selling drinks, food and souvenirs?

Are we missing a tourism opportunity here? But it would be uttlerly useless without a firm ecological policy, for it would be totally dead in less than a decade. On the other hand, a regulated tourism industry could pay the costs of ecological restoration.

Choy Arnaldo