Erap: Dan Brown’s descriptions should serve as wake-up call

MANILA, Philippines - Manila mayor-elect Joseph Estrada yesterday agreed with Dan Brown the city is overpopulated and plagued by traffic jams.

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Estrada said Brown’s description of Manila should be taken by Filipinos, including him, as a wake-up call.

The former president said there is some truth to Brown’s fictional descriptions of Manila as a city plagued by mammoth traffic jams and overpopulation.

“That is the very reason why I ran for mayor because I was born in Tondo, Manila. Manila has the highest level of poverty incidence,” he said. “Manila has become the car theft and kidnapping capital of the country. Police are involved in criminalities. Vendors are subjected to extortion by bad cops and Manila is suffering from worst traffic and overpopulation.”

In Brown’s novel “Inferno,” one of the characters goes through “the gates of hell” in Manila. The city was also described as having “six-hour traffic jams,” “suffocating pollution” and a “horrifying sex trade.”

“I want to rehabilitate Manila. That is a wake-up call for all of us,” Estrada said.

He said a University of the Philippines (UP) study submitted to him showed that Manila has the highest level of poverty incidence in the country.

“There are many poor in Manila. There are also many jobless in Manila. It is overpopulated, the density is second to Bangladesh and it is the second densest city in the world,” Estrada said.

Meanwhile, Brazilian Paulo Coelho, author of the bestseller “The Alchemist,” told Filipinos that their souls “lead to the gates of heaven.”

Coelho sent his message to Filipinos on his Twitter account, which  has almost eight million followers, yesterday, adding that he is “sure” Brown “unintentionally” gave Manila the gates of hell moniker.

“Dear Filipinos, your souls lead to the gates of heaven,” he tweeted, adding the hashtag “#fact” after the tweet.  

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino, who had written to Brown to complain about the description of Manila,  said the author has yet to respond to his letter.