Venturing into the old city of Manila

I decided to go to the old city of Manila although the weather was sunny, cloudy, and scattered showers throughout the day. I took some pictures on the way as we went from the newer part of Metro Manila which is Makati City where I live into Manila and some of the poorer areas of the city on the way to the historic older part of the city. The historic part has a wall surrounding it where the Spanish first established their colony and it was of course protection for the government and their families. There are some old areas and some that were rebuilt from the ruins. The area was bombed out during the war, first by the Japanese and then by the Americans to defeat the Japanese. The whole Gen. MacArthur thing of "I will return". There were 2 older cathedrals both first established in the 1500's but destroyed a few times along the way but the last Cathedral St. Augustine was used for the internment of prisoners of war and was not destroyed in 1945. During the war over 150,00 Filipinos died in Manila often fighting alongside the Americans vs the Japanese. Of course many of them were civilians caught in the crossfire. In the churches historical museum I saw quite a few paintings of the Jesuits who tried to convert the Japanese in Japan getting their heads lopped off for their efforts. I think the Filipinos held some grudges against the Japanese. I saw a wedding taking place in St. Augustine's and at the other church was also a wedding taking place so I was not allowed in. I came on a Sunday because it is the best day to travel in the city but not a great day to try and look inside cathedrals. It was interesting go through the museum part. It reminded me of other countries such as Mexcio, Columbia where the Catholic Church and the Spanish Empire went into convert the locals. In the imagery, statues, and paintings there is a vivid theme of suffering throughout. The Philipines is still a very Catholic country. You cannot obtain a divorce if you were married here and if you go away and get divorced and remarry when you return you could be charged with bigamy because in the eyes of the law you are not legally divorced in the Philipines.
I started to use the camera more and I shot some movies. I wished I would have practiced a little more at home before I came here so I could perfect my technique a little more. My cab driver, Manny, has a wife who has been in Toronto the last 8 months working as a nanny. He hopes to have his children immigrate. His daughter is now training to be a registered nurse and the other daughter is going to university to become a human resources specialist. The Filipinos are considered ideal immigrants because many of them who have attended post-secondary education speak fluent English (or getting close to it), they tend to be co-operative and self effacing, and the country is poor plus they are anxious to leave although a lot of them are well educated.
Back to my historical tour. The first area is Fort Santiago and within it is the Rizal shrine for J.Rizal who is a national hero. He was executed by the Spanish just prior to the Spanish American war. You can see in some of the pictures how hard it was raining at times.