At 80, the jeepney is still King of the Road, but for how long?

The colourful vehicle is a symbol of Filipino creativity and the country's traffic challenges. The age of EVs will be a test of its days on the road.

- Roberto Coloma

When World War II ended 80 years ago, Manila was one of the most devastated cities in the world. Bombings and street-to-street fighting between American and Filipino forces on the one hand and Japanese troops on the other left the once beautiful coastal capital of the Philippines a wasteland.

Out of the smoking ruins emerged what is arguably the most recognisable symbol of the Philippines today: the jeepney.

Colourful, noisy, polluting and big on personality, the jeepney is a bundle of chrome-plated contradictions. Essentially a World War II relic reconfigured into a mass people carrier - it speaks of both adaptability and resistance to change. Eighty years on, the jeepney is still King of the Road, but the bigger question is where does the road lead to?

The jeepney had its start as a legacy of the American war machine. As US troops left the Philippines, they left behind their jeeps yes, the ones you see in World War II movies and documentaries - that enterprising Filipinos converted into private transport.

Variants of the American jeep now serve as the main form of cheap urban transport across the Philippines. Modern jeepneys are now made of rainbow-coloured steel bodies powered by truck engines imported from former enemy Japan, the ultimate irony.

Millions of Filipinos take a jeepney every day, whether it's in the posh Makati business district or mountain villages.

There are about 235,000 registered and unregistered jeepneys around the country, with 54,800 registered in Metro Manila, which has 14 million residents, according to a study by the government and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

One of the most venerable jeepney brands is Sarao Motors, located in a suburban Manila compound stretching out across 1.5ha.

"I grew up here. This used to be my playground," said architect LJ Sarao, the third-generation boss of the company.