i never felt Manila is not a safe place.
In all my previous visits, i used to stay in Makati in the hotels near the P,Burgoes areas and visited the bars along the stretch and never really had any issues.
Now shifted my playground to the Malate/ Ermita area because i enjoyed going to the places the locals frequent like Padi's Point, Cowboy Grilles (or green).
Even visited LAC many times and picked up alot of girls from there before and never encountered any troubles for me. But have met a Korean guy who was duped into paying almost P20000 for a pinay he picked up at LAC when he was road blocked not 50 meters from LAC entrance after getting into a taxi with the girl he had. Obviously the girl/ taxi driver had ganged with the police to set the road block to catch unsuspecting visitors like the Korean guy.
For me i always ask my girl to take her own taxi to the hotel i stay and i will get my own taxi..in this way with road blocks there's nothing the police can do with me because there's no lady in my taxi with me.
I always try to keep a low profile when i m overseas. As they say, dress like locals and try to be like locals and dont flaunt needlessly and things should be ok.
Its true if u hang around the Greenbelt areas you feel safer because the security officers there carry real guns...well isnt it the case in many places in Manila...eg Banks; Malls or even Hotels
Just my 2 cents.
Cheers
Ronsee