Manila is a beautiful place to visit with both family and friends. It was my first time in the Philippines, and I went with school for the Drama Festival known as ISTA. It wasn't any normal stay. Forget the hotels (which I'm sure are pretty nice) there were 15 kids hosted by filipino families around Manila. Our family was very nice. They lived in a sub-divison in a nice house with four kids, grandparents and helpers.
The experience is what really counts. Manila is filled with buildings every where and the school that was hosting the festival was ISM (International School Manila), With a big, outdoor campus with amazing food - it was very hard to leave. Manila was a trip of firsts, This was my first time in the Philippines, first time eating mangos, first time at Krispie Kremes, first time drinking Jamba Juice, first time being hosted by another family, first time eating rice for breakfast. There was many more firsts I could tell you about, but Manila was a great place to start. You met kids from all over the place. But what truly got to you was service on the second day.
Even though it was super hot, and you would of sweat like crazy, you were taken to local programs that helped poor families and kids. We went to PCF, a school located in only the poorest of Manila that took in kids that needed help, schooled them and put them into colleges. We helped the kids and played with them such as, paint masks, sing songs and played games. The were very grateful, a little scared at first but within three hours all of us had made new friends.
So yes, we didn't stay in hotels, we didn't lead the luxurious life there like pools, and showers with heaters, but it was more of the new friends and experiences that would cherish forever. On the last day, we preformed the bayanihan ( community in tagalog) play, where we made a three minute skit on what community really meant to us. We learned new dances such as the tinkiling dance involving just the mere company of bamboo sticks.
Manila is a definite place to go back and make many more first experiences. Even though, the airport system was crappy, you got closer to people you might have not known, including friends from different schools and your school. Check for the Philippines.