A Glimpse of Manila Manila is a city of many striking contrasts. Glass and steel skyscrapers stand alongside the concrete images of heroes past.
Sleek cars drive past horse-drawn carriages.
Ancestral churches are a stone's throw away from the poshest of shopping malls. A city plunging head on towards the 21 st century with a healthy respect for spirits past. Manila took its name from a white-flowered mangrove plant, called the nilad. A small tribal settlement along the Pasig River, Manila was then ruled by Rajah Sulayman. By the 16 th century, the Spaniards invaded Manila, built a wall around it, and claimed it as their own.