You will notice soon frequent brownouts and blackouts, sometimes no water and electricity, and also flood during heavy rain, all what you see on your monitor screen is obviously a main street next to a city hall, shopping center, hotel, church or private school or something like that - but you have to look 50 meters away, enter a side lane - look in such so-called 'houses' and see what is inside....how people are living there...Johnny1975 wrote: They're shitholes? They seem like normal places to me. Although some areas are a bit scruffy, there's mostly normal looking houses, clean streets, and everything looks normal, although it's very densely packed. And there's lots of little businesses and people hustling
Rock speaks out of his experience. As Rock said already, be prepared in such places as a foreigner to live in a guarded housing community and you need your car, otherwise after passing the community entrance gate you are in a 'nobody land', many kilometers around there is 'nothing'. It's dangerous there especially during night time. Security remains a major concern.
I can speak more about Cebu area than about Manila, as I spend most time there because of my Filipina fosterdaughter and I often use only direct flights - however ask Filipinos, any Filipino, if you don't believe me and others like Rock and Mr_S, and they will assure you that Manila is by far worse than Cebu.
I agree with the comment of Mr_S to consider as a foreigner to buy or rent a room inside a condominium building in the city center area. It might cost you some money, but at least you are safe inside, usually such buildings have swimming pool, parking for car/motorcycle, generator, water tanks and pumps - they are often nearby a shopping center and clinic.