In romantic comedies, novels, love stories, sitcoms, etc. there are always places wherein the featured couple would be alone, and they'd talk between themselves, and they'd kiss, and it'd be romantic, because no one would bother them.

Usually, it'd be by the foyer of some house in a good neighborhood, or by the beach, at a nice park, or a place where you can see the city lights, like a make-out point they apparently have a lot of in the United States. There are lots of places in the movies where people go on dates, and they can always be alone to be able to have a 'moment' and say the romantic lines people would quote over and over and use to apply to their own romances. Even in books, that's always how it is.

But in a place like the Philippines, in the city of Manila (or even the whole region of NCR), it's a bit difficult to believe that something like that could ever happen.

So sure, we have parks. But because they're so close to main roads, it's not just the noise of the cars that pass by that can interrupt romantic moments, but also the pollution. And in malls (which are slowly being considered as the modern parks), although there are places which would be romantic (i.e., Greenbelt complex - the place with the fountains, the bridge near the chapel; Glorietta 4 garden...), it's almost impossible to find those places with only a few people there. And crowded places are definitely not romantic. Not to mention the fact that if a couple actually starts kissing there, people would give them a funny look, roll their eyes and say things like, "Of all the places..." and judge them for being so immoral by showing their affection in public. But then if you think about it, where can they show their emotions, really?

The Philippines has a lot of beaches, and nearly all of them are beautiful. But they're all so far away from the city that the only chance of going there with your boyfriend/girlfriend is, like, if you've already been going out for a long time--since trips out of the city, usually need very careful planning, and you can't very well do that with someone you just met and have just begun dating, can you? As for light houses, well, aside from their being prohibited to be in for unauthorized people, they're located in the weirdest, unaccessible places. So scenes like those in Jim Carrey's 'The Majestic', are definitely not an option here.

Regarding houses, there are a lot of nice houses in the Philippines, and lots of nice neighborhoods, too, but almost all the houses have metal gates in front. Unlike the ones they always show in Hollywood movies, where there are foyers, and just short paths to the front doors of houses, here, before you reach the front door, you'd have to go through a gate. And it can be tall, short, grills, solid, or combinations of those. But it's always there. One of the questions an operator even asks whenever you order pizza, aside from your address is, "What color's your gate?". Now, the relevance of this whole 'having-a-gate' thing would be about that supposedly inevitable good-night kiss they always have in movies after dates. It's almost like a tradition in the movie-universe that a couple kisses by the front door when their date's about to end. But just how romantic is a kiss by the front gate? Let me tell you, it doesn't sound romantic at all. Plus, even if a couple kisses, after it, the girl would have to open the gate, and then walk all the way across a garage or a garden to the front door, which she'd have to wait first for someone to open before she can go in, leaving the guy with a lot of time to see her after they kiss. Now, I don't know about you, but I just find that weird, if the girl doesn't disappear inside her house right away after a good-night kiss. It just seems different, and less romantic.

So if parks, malls, beaches, and foyers are out, are there any romantic places in Metro Manila left?

I can only think of one. In school campuses.

There used to be a show in a local channel called 'Campus Romance'. It was a 1-hour show that told different love stories, and it was shot in different schools in Metro Manila. My high school's been featured in it once or twice, and the only reason I watched the episode was because my school was in it, because seriously, the love stories sucked. But the cliches and predictability of the love stories didn't really lessen the level of romance that was present, had they been actual events, because the locations were just right for what was happening, and it was plausible.

After school hours, couples could really have certain places in school to themselves. And not to make out of course, but to have the romantic private conversation they would surely probably want to have. Since there aren't any more students, and they have the school benches to themselves, and the view of the school's football field, or swimming pool. Or, if they stay at the balcony of the school building, it'd be okay since they're students anyway and they're allowed to be there. Or inside the library. In the main campus of the state university, there's even an entire garden that's a popular spot for couples to hang-out in, because it's really romantic. And since it's inside a campus, it's not as polluted as the parks outside, or as crowded, when class-hours are over. Same goes for the other places in school.

That's why I say that the only place you can find romance in, or be romantic in, is in school campuses. But ironically, when you think about it (or when I think about it), meeting somebody from school, isn't at all romantic. Like, if somebody asks how you and your guy met, and you'd answer, "Oh, we were classmates in this one subject," or "We're both members of this organization in school," it doesn't really sound all that romantic, like, it was just a matter of circumstance how the two of you knew each other, and fate or other cosmic forces had no hand in it whatsoever. It's not as interesting (or as romantic) to hear as, "I bumped into him in the bookstore," or "I accidentally spilled my drink onto him at the coffee shop."

I don't know, maybe it's just me thinking this, and to some people it doesn't really matter how they meet the person of their dreams, and where they'd go on dates, because any place with that person becomes romantic, etc. I'm just frustrated because every time I try to write a love story set in the Philippines, I always end up with writer's block whenever I think of a nice place that the featured couple could call their 'special place' where they'd go to and make up after a fight, or where they'd finally tell each other their true feelings... And I haven't even mentioned yet how unsafe the streets in the city here get at night, even for grown men and women, or how dangerous it is also to meet people, strangers, on the street or in coffee shops...

So, with all this reality so obvious in Metro Manila, honestly, where can one find romance?