When Manila’s airspace went dark on New Year’s Day and left some 65,000 people stranded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, talks of privatizing the airport and critical services like air traffic control quickly circulated.

A new Chinese legal requirement demands that multiple classes of foreign vessels traversing waters claimed by Beijing must provide detailed information to state authorities and take aboard Chinese pilots. The new maritime law, which came into legal force today (September 1), threatens to inflame South China Sea disputes pitting China and Southeast Asian nations and stoke already rising tensions with the United States in the contested waters.

Eeeyyauugghhhhh! … Ah-Ah-Ahhhh! … Uh-Uh-Uh … No-no-no-nooo!!! Agh! Agh! Moans, imprecations and squeaks emanate in jerky spurts from my North American business partner. He grimaces, rolls his eyes, arches his back. The knuckles of his clenched fists turn so white I can see the bone. Sweat, initially only beading his brow, suddenly breaks free and rolls down to pool in his ears. His lips alternate between dropping open as if to vomit and abruptly clamping shut as if to hold his teeth in.

Metro Manila will have a subway by 2025 – eight years from now. The first phase of the project will run from Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City to the gateway to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City. It takes about three hours to travel this distance by car in today’s traffic. In a subway, it would take just 30 minutes, according to the planners.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metro Pacific Toll­ways Corp. will open this month the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) Harbor Link Segment 10. The elevated highway runs from the NLEX in Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, to a new interchange at C3 Road in Caloocan City.

Traffic conditions in Mindanao are often chaotic and driving does not necessarily mean arriving in time at your destination or getting there at all. The lack of respect and consideration for fellow travellers is bringing a whole new meaning to the word traffic.

Many locals advise foreign visitors to leave Metro Manila out of their itineraries and to head straight for the islands instead. This advice is due, in large part, to the unbearable traffic situation that everybody must work around, day in and day out. But should you find yourself having to deal with Metro Manila traffic, it might help to ask, “How do the locals do it?”