5 Reasons Why There is Some Truth to Dan Brown’s Description of Manila as Gates of Hell (VIDEOS & PHOTOS)

When Imelda Marcos was governor of Metro Manila in the 1970s, while First Lady at the same time, she was notorious for her mantra that only "the true, the good and the beautiful" should be seen by the world about the Philippines.

Thus, when there were international visitors due to Manila's hosting of major international events like the Miss Universe 1974, meetings of the International Monetary Fund or state visits of dignitaries, she had the numerous squatter communities boarded up so that the foreigners would not see poverty at its worst.

Fast forward to 2013, about 35 years later, Mrs Marcos is still in politics, but the agency she once headed that oversaw the 17 cities and town comprising Metro Manila is now called Metro Manila Development Authority and its head, MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, is bristling at author Dan Brown's description of Manila in his latest book, Inferno - released on May 14 - as the gates of hell.

However, based on the reaction of many netizens from the Philippines, a good number are not angry at Mr Brown for while certainly the national capital region and the rest of the country has a lot of beautiful places and the country is counting on tourist income, some of the things described in the book are factual.

In the book, Mr Brown described Manila as the most densely populated city on Earth through one of the main characters, Sienna.

"Sienna could only gape in horror. She had never seen poverty on this scale.

"How can one person possible make a difference?

"For every one person Sienna fed, there were hundreds more who gazed at her with desolate eyes. Manila has six-hour traffic jams, suffocating pollution, and a horrifying sex trade, whose workers consisted primarily of young children, many of whom had been sold to pimps by parents who took solace in knowing that at least their children would be fed."

Official data and a tour of many places in Manila will confirm Sienna's observations.

1. Poverty - Despite the three ratings upgrade enjoyed by the Philippines under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, many say that the gains are not felt by the ordinary Filipino. The latest survey by the Social Weather Stations for the first quarter of 2013 found that families who said they have experienced having nothing to eat was at 19.2 per cent or 3.9 million families, up from 16.3 per cent in December. Ironically, the same survey said self-relate poverty went down to 52 per cent of 10.6 million families, from 54 per cent in the previous quarter.

2. Traffic - Trips average 6 to 8 kilometres an hour, resulting in a trip that should only take 20 minutes to stretch to an hour or more during rush hour. Part of the blame is on the growing number of vehicles outpacing population growth, with a 6 per cent annual increase from 2000 to 2008, the bulk of which are in Metro Manila, worsened by poor driver discipline.

3. Pollution - Data from the Air Quality Management Office said that total suspended particulates (TSP) in different parts of Metro Manila was 119 microgrammes per normal cubic metre (ug/NcM) and particulate matter 10 (PM 10) was 74 ug/Ncm, versus annual benchmark of 90 ug/NcM of TSP and 60 ug/Ncm of PM 10.

4. Sex Trade - There are different numbers on the extent of prostitution in the country, with one study estimating there are 800,000 women prostitutes throughout the Philippines. A significant number are in Metro Manila. An International Labour Organisation survey of female workers in massage parlors said more than half of them carried their work with a heavy heart. While real and accurate statistics are hard to come by, a walk through the streets at night would confirm how rampant the situation is.

5. Crime - A report by the Philippine National Police said crimes in Metro Manila went up 36 per cent for the first quarter of 2012 to 10,560, while for the first half of 2012 jumped to 29,231.

Certainly, Manila does not have a monopoly of these ills of society, but it has a sufficient number of them that officials could not deny by simply pointing to the faith of the people in the city as proofs that it is actually the gates of heaven.