Bridges lighted up to rival a Roman candle, their reflection on the Pasig shining like polished onyx. More lights in colorful disarray dotting the unassuming parks, or strewn like a rhinestone trinket along Roxas Blvd. A hospital, new or newly renovated, in every district. Schoolbuildings, to keep pace with a burgeoning population.

There is no time to lose. Manila Mayor Fred Lim is lunching with this or that group, but in the middle of the main course he stands up to go, because indigent children somewhere are waiting to receive their food packages; or because a meeting has been scheduled for the signing of some MoA or MoU; or because a concerned citizen has sent an urgent text message.

The mayor had wanted to honor the National Artist for fashion design, Pitoy Moreno, a Manileño all these years, with a lunch “just among us girls” in the press who have followed the designer’s career from threads to riches. But Pitoy meekly demurred, if only to avoid the fallout from the controversy surrounding two other National Artists.

As a longtime resident of Manila, Pitoy is one of the “oldtimers” who made Malate the showcase of the city, being cleaner, prettier and brighter, more respectable than some shady parts of the inner city. But, outside of the context of Manila Cathedral, Manila Hotel, Intramuros and the LJC bistros that started it all, the ordinary business of special events could just as easily be carried out elsewhere.

Except that today, brides-to-be, debutantes, belles of the prom night, wedding sponsors and ladies who “don’t have a thing to wear” to a formal affair come to Manila from faraway Alabang, Makati or Greenhills to seek an appointment with Pitoy, or Ben, Aureo, Inno, Auggie, Mike or Frederick, who work on the fringes of Remedios Circle.

Manila is still Manila.The rest of Metro Manila has no bay with a sunset. Their roads may be wider and newer, but the photogenic residential houses with plenty of stories to tell are in Manila. The city is crowded, but it has kept some of the green that seems to have vanished from Pasay and Mandaluyong. All it lacks now is a zone of chic, or something to that effect, such as “Malate, fashion district of Manila.”

How about it, Mayor?