
BGC and Makati exist side by side but impossibly divided. BGC is one of Manila's most exclusive, and wealthy, neighborhoods.

The towers of BGC gleam in the distance, an impossible dream for the residents in the low income neighborhoods next door.

A low income neighborhood sandwiched in between two of Manila's most famous areas - Bonifacio Global City, or BGC, and the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Housing upgrades being conducted in one of Manila's least privileged areas, near the port. Long concrete buildings are being demolished, one by one, to make way for improved housing in a bright spot in the city's otherwise most blighted areas.

Dense tangles of electrical wires (called "Spaghetti" by the locals" are a ubiquitous, and dangerous, appearance in Manila's low income areas.

The gleaming towers of BGC next to South Cembo.

An informal ferry transports residents across the Pasig River to the gleaming towers of Makati.

The Pasig River divides Malanday from Loyola Heights, in east Manila.

Upgrading housing near the port in Manila.

The road to the port traversed by heavy trucks and endless spaghetti wires, through one of Manila's densest and poorest neighborhoods.

The port.

Floating homes next to the container terminal, Manila.

Extreme crowding near Manila's port.

Heavy truck traffic is constant, with the port entrance accessible via the the road which bisects the adjacent neighborhoods.

The Church of Christ in Manila's port district. The Philippines is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, with some 78% of the 108 million people in the country identifying as such.

Division in Mandaluyong, Manila.

A chicken coop in the thin, liminal neighborhood between BGC and Makati.

Mandaluyong, looking toward Makati.

The Manggahan Floodway, choked with water lilies.
On September 26, 2009, at about 6:00 pm PST, the 50-mph "Tropical Storm Ketsana" (called "Ondoy" in the Philippines) hit Metro Manila and dumped one month's rainfall in less than 24 hours, causing the Marikina River system, including the Manggahan Floodway, to burst its banks very rapidly. It is thought that blocked pipes and a poorly maintained sewer system, along with uncollected domestic waste, were major contributory factors in the speed with which the flood waters were able to engulf the surrounding area. The illegal settlers especially were blamed for flooding since their houses reduce the effective width and blocked the flow of the floodway.

The Pasig River, artery of Manila, is heavily developed, much of which is low income or informal homes built alongside the river banks.