History UsefulNotes / Manila

Metro Manila as a political entity came to be in 1975 when then-president UsefulNotes/FerdinandMarcos created the Metropolitan Manila Commission (now the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, or MMDA). The original four cities (Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, and Pasay), were joined by 14 cities and towns excised from the province of Rizal along with Valenzuela, which was taken from the province of Bulacan. Most of the former towns would eventually gain cityhood in the 1990s and the 2000s, with San Juan (2007) being the most recent of them. For statistical purposes, the entities in NCR are grouped in districts based on the said original cities.

* '''Diliman:''' the site of the new planned capitol complex, it is a flat plateau delineated into a quadrangle by four avenues running parallel with the cardinal directions: North Avenue, West Avenue, East Avenue, and South Avenue (renamed Timog Avenue, [[ShapedLikeItself which means "South Avenue" in Filipino]]). In its center lies the Quezon Memorial Circle, which was originally planned as the site of the legislature, long since converted into a public park and memorial for the city's namesake, President Manuel Quezon, with the large pylon in the middle marking his tomb. Today, it is the site of many government offices (encircling the Quezon Memorial Circle, as weas originally planned,), two Government Hospitals (occupying the sites of what were supposed to be the Executive Residence and the Supreme Court Complex), the Quezon City Hall (housing offices of the city mayor and the local council) and the main campus of the University of the Philippines after it relocated from Manila in 1949. \\

An economic-industrial city, majority of whose residents hail from provinces north of Metro Manila. Unlike the rest of the local government units which are formely part of Rizal, Valenzuela was taken from the province of Bulacan when the NCR was formed.

Originally a residential area, with many of its residents being soldiers and their families living near Fort Bonifacio, headquarters of the Philippine Army, Taguig got its big break when the Army sold large portions of its (mostly unused) land to businessmen, who developed the area into a viable alternative to Makati City [[note]]Fort Bonifacio is subject to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bonifacio_boundary_dispute three-way territorial dispute]] between Taguig, Makati, and Pateros, though is ''de facto'', and in a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, ''de jure'' administered by the first.[[/note]] Taguig is also the site of two UsefulNotes/WorldWarII cemeteries: one for the Americans (the largest of its kind in the Pacific front), and the other for Filipinos. Currently home to the national stock market, which relocated from Makati and Pasig in 2018.

Once a Muslim kingdom on the banks of the Pasig River (which drains from nearby Laguna de Bay) ruled by rajahs and trading with the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Malays, Manila never went unnoticed by an island-hopping Spanish fleet, whose leader, Miguel López de Legazpi, personally led its [[UsefulNotes/SpanishConquestOfThePhilippines conquest in 1571]], and upon the ruins of the old Muslim kingdom he founded Manila as it is known today.

* '''Batasan Hills:''' the site of the ''third'' planned Capitol complex, the brainchild of then-President Ferdinand Marcos, who was unfettered by the failed implementation of the Daniel Burnham (designating Ermita as the Capitol site) and Henry Frost (designating Diliman as the Capitol site) city development plans. Situated atop the highest hill in the city is the Batasang Pambansa Complex, the seat of the eponymous short-lived unicameral legislature, nbw the office of its successor, the House of Representatives.

* '''Kamuning and Kamias:''' Composed of mostly residential communities, Kamuning was the site of the original ''Barrio Obrero'' (Workers' Village)

A highly parochial city taking pride of its self-sufficiency. The first shots of the Philippine Revolution were fired on a Spanish armory atop the hills of Pinaglabanan. The city's eastern side also hosts its only major shopping center in the upscale Greenhills area; coincidentally, many wealthy Chinese-Filipinos and their descendants also live around that vicinity.

* Manila is a playable city in ''VideoGame/MiniMotorways'', where you develop it by building motorways across Pasig River.

* Manila is a playable city in ''VideoGame/MiniMotorways'', where you develop the city by building motorways across Pasig River.

* ''[[Series/{{LastResort}} Last Resort]]'': Two episodes were set in Manila. Notably, the scene where the two protagonists walk in a Manila neighborhood was merely a conspicuous CGI. The rest of the establishing shots used stock footage of pedestrians and traffic in the city.

* ''[[Literature/{{Invasion}} Invasion]]'' by Eric L. Harry mentions that the Chinese invading forces "raped" Manila. Judging by the use of the word, it can assumed what happened was a repeat of Dresden and Nanking combined.

-->--''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEJjaHeSsB4 Manila]]'', by the Hotdogs

Once a Muslim kingdom on the banks of the Pasig River (which drains from nearby Laguna de Bay) ruled by rajahs and trading with the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Malays, Manila never went unnoticed by an island-hopping Spanish fleet, whose leader, Miguel López de Legazpi, personally led its conquest in 1571, and upon the ruins of the old Muslim kingdom he founded Manila as it is known today.

** '''North Triangle:''' site of the [=TriNoMa=] Mall (built above the depot of the city's main rapid transit system), the main campus of the Philippine Science High School, and the Office of the Ombudsman, it is the only part of the quadrangle to remain underdeveloped, and exponential urban migration in the 60's and 70's caused it to be populated by large shantytowns However, it is the the focus for a new development named "Vertis North" aiming to transform the area into a mixed-use financial, commercial and entertainment complex.

A mostly residential city, Pasay stands out by being the site of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Philippines' principal airport (with some parts sticking out into Parañaque City), as well as a Marcos-era reclamation project (also extending to Parañaque City) to the west facing Manila Bay, including the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the national senate, and SM Mall of Asia, the fourth largest mall in the Philippines, and the 11th largest in the world.

Originally a residential area, with many of its residents being soldiers and their families living near Fort Bonifacio, headquarters of the Philippine Army, Taguig got its big break when the Army sold large portions of its (mostly unused) land to businessmen, who developed the area into a viable alternative to Makati City [[note]]Fort Bonifacio is subject to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bonifacio_boundary_dispute three-way territorial dispute]] between Taguig, Makati, and Pateros, though is ''de facto'' administered by the first.[[/note]] Taguig is also the site of two UsefulNotes/WorldWarII cemeteries: one for the Americans (the largest of its kind in the Pacific front), and the other for Filipinos. Currently home to the national stock market, which relocated from Makati and Pasig in 2018.

A middle-class city whose eastern end is an extension of Ortigas Center, and hosts its three malls -- SM Megamall, the second-largest in the nation (and fourth-largest in the world); Robinsons Galleria, site of a peaceful 1986 protest that ousted Marcos from power; and Shangri-La Plaza Mall, the branch of a high-rise hotel. Mandaluyong is also home to the nation's largest psychiatric institution, the National Center for Mental Health.

One thing notable about Manila is that unless Manila City proper is invoked, it has virtually no main city center, as each of its seventeen cities has its own functioning government. As a result the NCR is something of an urban planner's worst nightmare, with mayors frequently disagreeing on basic issues concerning the metropolis. The major thoroughfares linking the region include C-5 and EDSA (formerly Highway 54), remnants of the earlier American-era city plans. Its extensive urbanization also frequently leaves most of the metropolis at the mercy of floodwater and typhoons (as hurricanes are called in the Asia-Pacific region), not to mention parts of it sitting on top of a still potentially dangerous fault line.

South of the Pasig River are:

North of the river are:

* '''Valenzuela City''' (Pop.: 714,978 / 2 Districts)

Metro Manila as a political entity came to be in 1975 when then-president Ferdinand Marcos created the Metropolitan Manila Commission (now the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, or MMDA).

Population figures are based on the 2010 Census, while the congressional districts are based on the upcoming 2013 batch of the House of Representatives.

!!'''City of Manila'''

The oldest of the area's seventeen local government units, and the only part of Manila to be a city since the start (the other sixteen are formerly part of the province of Rizal, until urbanization stepped in). The city itself is generally divided into 16 districts:

* '''Intramuros''', the Spanish-era city and the ''original'' City of Manila [[note]] The other districts of Manila were formerly designated as ''Arrabales'', or "suburbs" [[/note]]. Intramuros is Spanish for "inside the walls", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a perfect description for the heavily-fortified city]]. It used to be the seat of civil, military and ecclesiastical power in the entire Philippines for much of the Spanish colonial period and is thus home to many historical buildings, including the Manila Metropolitan Cathedral, San Agustin Church (a centuries-old baroque church declared as a UNESCO Heritage Site), ''Palacio del Gobernador'' (where the chief executive used to reside before transferring to Malacañang Palace), the ''Ayuntamiento'' (the City Hall, where the ''Cabildo'' or city council of Manila regularly met) and Fort Santiago, an old military garrison and prison.

* '''San Andres''', a middle-class suburb connecting Manila to Makati City, characterized by the presence of run-down tenement housing which makes it sorts of a middle ground between {{Gangsterland}} Tondo and the upscale Ermita-Malate area.

* '''Tondo''': notorious {{Gangsterland}} and site of an extension of the Port of Manila. Despite its reputation as a WretchedHive, Tondo is once the oldest and most prosperous settlement in the region.

* '''Quiapo''', the real heart of Manila, both geographically and economically. This is the site of a Catholic shrine to a reputedly miraculous statue of Jesus carrying the cross.
* '''San Miguel''': the location of Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the national executive. Also was home to San Miguel Brewery, the oldest and largest brewery in Asia, before they relocated their offices in Ortigas and their beer brewery in Valenzuela.

!!'''Quezon City'''

* The largest city in the metropolis both in terms of geographical size and population, Quezon City was established in 1939 to replace Manila as the national capital, as the then-President and namesake of the city, Manuel Luis Quezon, as he thought that Manila is very susceptible to a naval attack due to its proximity to the shore [[note]] it turned out, however, that the invading Japanese attacked ''by air'', making his whole argument moot, as Quezon City wasn't spared from the invasion [[/note]] and remained the ''de jure'' national capital [[note]] Most Government Offices remained in Manila before and after the War [[/note]] until President Ferdinand Marcos reinstated the title to Manila in 1975. ''While building a new Capitol and Government Complex in Quezon City.'' Vestiges of its past role remain in the form of most government agencies still holding office there.

* '''Diliman:''' the site of the new planned capitol complex, it is a flat plateau delineated into a quadrangle by four avenues running parallel with the cardinal directions: North Avenue, West Avenue, East Avenue, and South Avenue (renamed Timog Avenue, [[ShapedLikeItself which means "South Avenue" in Filipino]]). In its center lies the Quezon Memorial Circle, which was originally planned as the site of the legislature, long since converted into a public park and memorial for the city's namesake, President Manuel Quezon, with the large pylon in the middle marking his tomb. Today, it is the site of many government offices (encircling the Quezon Memorial Circle, as weas originally planned,), two Government Hospitals (occupying the sites of what were supposed to be the Executive Residence and the Supreme Court Complex), the Quezon City Hall (housing offices of the city mayor and the local council) and the main campus of the University of the Philippines after it relocated from Manila in 1949.

** '''South Triangle''': A middle to upper-class commercial and residential area, the South Triangle is home to the broadcast facilities of two of the largest television networks in the Philippines, and Timog Avenue, a large dining/entertainment strip.

!!'''Other Component Cities'''

* '''Marikina City''' (Pop.: 424,150 / 2 Districts): A city situated on an earthquake-prone valley around the Marikina River, the city is most famous for contributing to 70% of the nation's shoe-making industry and its environment-conscious policy.
* '''Pasig City''' (Pop.: 669,773 / 1 District): A residential-industrial city whose western end was transformed into the finance and commerce-oriented Ortigas Center, with upscale residences to the east.
* '''Mandaluyong City''' (Pop.: 328,699 / 1 District): A middle-class city whose eastern end is an extension of Ortigas Center, and hosts its three malls -- SM Megamall, the second-largest in the nation (and fourth-largest in the world); Robinsons Galleria, site of a peaceful 1986 protest that ousted Marcos from power; and Shangri-La Plaza Mall, the branch of a high-rise hotel. Mandaluyong is also home to the nation's largest psychiatric institution, the National Center for Mental Health.
* '''San Juan City''' (Pop.: 121,430 / 1 District): A highly parochial city taking pride of its self-sufficiency. The first shots of the Philippine Revolution were fired on a Spanish armory atop the hills of Pinaglabanan. The city's eastern side also hosts its only major shopping center in the upscale Greenhills area; coincidentally, many wealthy Chinese-Filipinos and their descendants also live around that vicinity.
* '''Caloocan City''' (Pop.: 1,489,040 / 2 Districts): A city divided into two by nearby Quezon City (which was carved off some of Caloocan's territory) -- a southern half, where the local government is situated, and the mostly residential northern half. Much of the city's commercial activity is centered in Monumento, a roundabout crossing in southern Caloocan surrounding a monument to Andres Bonifacio, leader of the Filipino Revolution.
* '''Malabon City''' (Pop.: 353,337 / 1 District): A low-lying city known for long periods of flooding and a noodle dish delicacy ("pancit") named after itself.
* '''Navotas City''' (Pop.: 249,131 / 1 District): Malabon's neighbor and site of the Philippines' largest fishing market.
* '''Valenzuela City''' (Pop.: 575,356 / 2 Districts): An economic-industrial city, majority of whose residents hail from provinces north of Metro Manila.
* '''Makati City''' (Pop.: 529,039 / 2 Districts): The Philippines' premier business zone and home to the national stock market; surrounded by a middle-class area to the west and north (site of the local government) and a lower-middle-class area to the east, the financial district is a zone of hotels, skyscrapers, shopping malls and upper-class subdivisions built around a former American-era airport.
* '''Pasay City''' (Pop.: 392,869 / 1 District): A mostly residential city, Pasay stands out by being the site of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Philippines' principal airport (with some parts sticking out into Parañaque City), as well as a Marcos-era reclamation project (also extending to Parañaque City) to the west facing Manila Bay, including the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the national senate, and SM Mall of Asia, the fourth largest mall in the Philippines, and the 11th largest in the world.
* '''Parañaque City''' (Pop.: 588,126 / 2 Districts): A mostly quiet area of subdivisions and suburbs, and site of the southern half of a Manila Bay reclamation project, and home to the Philippines' largest casino complex, City of Dreams.
* '''Las Piñas City''' (Pop.: 552,573 / 1 District): Another quiet suburb, this time bordering Cavite province. Its main claim to fame is its principal Catholic church, which boasts an organ with pipes made of bamboo.
* '''Pateros''' (Pop.: 64,147 / 1 District, shared with western Taguig City): The odd one in Metro Manila, Pateros is the only municipality in the region, as well as the smallest both in population and size. Its name alludes to either its duck-raising or shoemaking businesses that date back to the Spanish era.
* '''Taguig City''' (Pop.: 644,473 / 2 Districts, one shared with Pateros): Originally a residential area, with many of its residents being soldiers and their families living near Fort Bonifacio, headquarters of the Philippine Army, Taguig got its big break when the Army sold large portions of its (mostly unused) land to businessmen, who developed the area into a viable alternative to Makati City. Taguig is also the site of two UsefulNotes/WorldWarII cemeteries: one for the Americans (the largest of its kind in the Pacific front), and the other for Filipinos.
* '''Muntinlupa City''' (Pop.: 459,941 / 1 District): The southernmost city in the area, Muntinlupa is something of an odd mix. The eastern area, facing Laguna de Bay, is a middle-class zone (with the southern part being the seat of local government), the northwest area is a bustling commercial-corporate zone centered around Festival Supermall, the west-central area is host to Ayala Alabang, an exclusive upper-class village, and the southwest area is a middle-class zone and site of New Bilibid Prison, the nation's largest penitentiary, built in January 1941 to replace the one in Santa Cruz, Manila (now Manila City Jail).

* ''Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle'' and its [[Series/TheManInTheHighCastle TV series]] has Manila is part of the Japanese Empire, which have incorporated much of East Asia in this alternate 1962 where the Axis won WWII. [[spoiler: In the TV Series, the German High Command planned to hit Manila with a submarine-launched nuclear missile during the first phase of attacking the Japanese Empire.]]

* '''Pandacan''': the home of Spanish-era playwright Francisco Balagtas, this largely residential area also where the city's main petroleum fuel depot is located.