The warm breeze of 1963 swept through the marble halls of the Imperial Palace in Manila, carrying with it the scent of sampaguita and the distant hum of progress. Governor-General Fernando Martinez stood before the towering windows, his reflection ghosting against the panoramic view of a cityscape that rivaled the greatest metropolises of the West. Manila, the crown jewel of the Oriental Empire, had transformed beyond recognition under Emperor Alfonso's vision.
Below, sleek automobiles glided past art deco buildings that housed the Empire's central bureaucracy. The city's elevated railway system – the first of its kind in Asia – snaked between skyscrapers like silver ribbons, while merchant ships from across the Empire's vast territories dotted the horizon of Manila Bay.
