Quezon City. The Former Capital City of the Philippines. Incorporated, October 12, 1939. Quezon City is one of the cities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines, on the island of Luzon. It is the most populous city in the country, and the largest city by area in Metro Manila. Quezon City was named after Manuel L. Quezon, second President of the Philippines, who founded the city and developed it to replace the City of Manila as the national capital for 28 years from July 17, 1948 to June 24, 1976. Quezon City is not located in and should not be confused with Quezon Province, which was also named after the president. Having been the national capital for almost three decades, Quezon City is the site of many government offices, including the Batasang Pambansa Complex, which is the seat of the House of Representatives (the lower chamber of the Philippine Congress). The main campuses of two premier educational institutions, the state-funded University of the Philippines Diliman and the Catholic Ateneo de Manila University, are located in the city. Before Quezon City was created, it was composed of small individual towns of San Francisco del Monte, Novaliches, and Balintawak. On August 23, 1896, the Katipunan led by its Supremo Andrés Bonifacio, launched the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire in the house of Melchora Aquino in Pugad Lawin (now known as Bahay Toro, Project 8). In the early 20th century, President Manuel L. Quezon dreamt of a city that would become the future capital of the country to replace Manila. It is believed that his earlier trip to Mexico influenced his vision. In 1938, President Quezon created the Peoples Homesite Corporation and purchased 15.29 km2 (6 sq mi) from the vast Diliman estate of the Tuason family; this piece of land became known then as Barrio Obrero (Workers Village). The National Assembly of the Philippine Commonwealth passed Commonwealth Act 502 known as the Charter of Quezon City originally proposed as Balintawak City, Assemblymen Narciso Ramos and Ramon Mitra, Sr. successfully lobbied the assembly to name the city after the incumbent president. President Quezon allowed the bill to lapse into law without his signature on October 12, 1939, thus establishing Quezon City. After the war, Republic Act No. 333 which redefined the Caloocan–Quezon City boundary was signed by Elpidio Quirino on July 17, 1948 declaring Quezon City to be the republics capital, and specifying the citys area to be 156.60 km2 (60 sq mi). The barrios of Baesa, Talipapá, San Bartolomé, Pasong Tamó, Novaliches Población, Banlát, Kabuyao, Pugad Lawin, Bagbag, and Pasong Putik which belonged to Novaliches and had a combined area of about 8,100 hectares, were taken from Caloocan and ceded to Quezon City. This caused the territorial division of Caloocan into two, non-contiguous parts, the South section being the more urbanized part, and the North half being sub-rural. On June 16, 1950, the Quezon City Charter was revised by Republic Act No. 537, changing the citys boundaries to an area of 153.59 km2 (59 sq mi). Exactly six years after on June 16, 1956, more revisions to the citys land area were made by Republic Act No. 1575, which defined its area as 151.06 km2 (58 sq mi). The website of the Quezon City government states that its present area is 161.12 km2 (62 sq mi) On October 1, 1975, Quezon City was the actual site of the Thrilla in Manila fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. On November 7, 1975 the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 824 of President Ferdinand Marcos established Metro Manila. Quezon City became one of Metro Manilas 17 cities and municipalities. The next year, Presidential Decree No. 940 transferred the capital back to Manila on June 24, 1976. On March 31, 1978, President Ferdinand Marcos ordered the transfer of the remains of President Manuel L. Quezon from Manila North Cemetery to the completed Quezon Memorial Monument within Elliptical Road. On February 22, 1986, the Quezon City portion of the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (between Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo) became the venue of the bloodless People Power Revolution that overthrew Marcos. On February 23, 1998, Republic Act. No. 8535 was signed by President Fidel V. Ramos. The Act provided for the creation of the City of Novaliches comprising the 15 northernmost barangays of Quezon city. However, in the succeeding plebiscite on October 23, 1999, an overwhelming majority of Quezon City residents rejected the secession of Novaliches. Quezon City is the first local government in the Philippines with a computerized real estate assessment and payment system. The city government developed a database system that now contains around 400,000 property units with capability to record payments. In 1938, President Quezon made a decision to push for a new capital city. Manila was getting crowded, and his military advisors (reportedly) told him that Manila, being by the bay, was an easy target for bombing by naval guns in case of attack–a real possibility in the late 1930s. Military advisers, however, did not anticipate aerial bombardment. Quezon railroaded the idea of anew city at least 15 km (9 mi) away from Manila Bay (beyond the reach of naval guns). He contacted William E. Parsons, American architect and planner, who had been the consulting architect for the islands early in the American colonial period. Parsons came over in the summer of 1939 and helped select the Diliman (Tuason) estate as the site for the new city. Unfortunately he died later that year, leaving his partner Harry Frost to take over. Frost collaborated with Juan Arellano, engineer A.D. Williams, and landscape architect and planner Louis Croft to craft a grand master plan for the new capital. The plan was approved by the Philippine authorities in 1941. The core of the new city was to be a 400 ha central green, about the size of New Yorks Central Park, and defined by North, South (Timog), East and West Avenues. On one corner of the proposed Diliman Quadrangle was delineated a 25-hectare elliptical site. This was to contain a large capitol building to house the Philippine Legislature and ancillary structures for the offices of representatives. On either side of the giant ellipse were supposed to have been built the new Malacañan Palace on North Avenue (the present-day Veterans Memorial Hospital), and the Supreme Court Complex along East Avenue (now the site of East Avenue Medical Center). The three branches of government would finally and efficiently be located close to one another. Quezon City is also home to various government agencies, such as the House of Representatives, the Office of the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan, the Commission on Audit (COA), and 6 Cabinet departments. On this day, Quezon City celebrates its 75 years of Founding and Cityhood.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 06:05:25 +0000
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