theurbanhistorian:

Plans for the Port of Manila

Since Manila’s seafloor is naturally shallow, it would be too dangerous for ships to anchor in Manila directly, so Cavite served as the seaport of the Philippine Capital.

Great advances in engineering in the later half of the 19th century initiated the plans for an artificial seaport in Manila. The Spanish initiated to have the seafront of Intramuros reclaimed but the Americans finished that job for them. Too bad for the Spanish because the Americans took credit for the whole port area of Manila.