Philippines upset with author

MANILA, Philippines – Dan Brown’s description of Manila as “the gates of hell” in the American novelist’s latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital.

The book “Inferno,” which is being sold in the Philippines, describes a visitor to the city who is taken aback by poverty, crime and the sex trade.

The chairman of metropolitan Manila, Francis Tolentino, wrote an open letter to Brown on Thursday, saying that while “Inferno” is fiction, “we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis.”

Tolentino objects to the “gates of hell” description, and to Manila being defined by what he calls terrible descriptions of poverty and pollution.

He said the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos’ good character and compassion.

“Inferno” is already a best-seller a little over a week since its debut. The story, drawn partly from Dante’s epic, again features Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, the protagonist for Brown’s blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code” and its follow-up “The Lost Symbol.”