Information about Quezon City, MNL

The city was intended to be the national capital of the Philippines that would replace Manila, as the latter was suffering from overcrowding, lack of housing, poor sanitation, and traffic congestion. To create Quezon City, several barrios were carved out from the towns of Caloocan, Marikina, San Juan and Pasig, in addition to the eight vast estates the Philippine government purchased for this purpose. It was officially proclaimed the national capital on October 12, 1949, and several government departments and institutions moved out of Manila and settled into the new capital city. This necessitated the expansion of the city northward, carving out Novaliches from Caloocan which divided it into two non-contiguous parts. Several barrios were also taken from San Mateo and parts of Montalban. However, on June 24, 1976, Presidential Decree 940 was enacted, which reverted national capital status to Manila while the whole of Metro Manila was designated as the seat of government.[16][17] The city was also chosen as the regional center of Southern Tagalog, which was created in 1965, along with Quezon Province and Aurora, the birthplace of Manuel L. Quezon; however, its status of regional center became ineffective when the region was divided into Calabarzon and Mimaropa, through the effect of Executive Order No. 103 in May 2002 under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Aurora was transferred to the authority of Central Luzon, with Southern Tagalog limited to being a cultural-geographic region.[18]

Quezon City is known for its culture, entertainment industry and media, and is aptly called the “City of Stars”. Major broadcasting networks have their headquarters and studios in the city. It is also known for its commerce, education, research, technology, politics, tourism, art and sports. Several national government branches including the Batasang Pambansa Complex, the seat of House of Representatives of the Philippines, calls the city home.

Quezon City is a planned city. It covers a total area of 161.11 square kilometers (62.20 sq mi),[5] making it the largest city in Metro Manila in terms of land area. It is politically subdivided into Six Congressional Districts, which represents the city in the Lower House of the Congress of the Philippines. The city has 142 barangays under the City Government. National government departments and agencies are mostly situated at the National Government Center I (NGC I) in Diliman, and the National Government Center II (NGC II) in Batasan Hills, where the Lower House of the Philippine Congress is located. Most of the city’s northern part lies at the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range, including the La Mesa Watershed Reservation, the largest watershed in Metro Manila and a designated protected area.

On September 28, 1939, the National Assembly approved Bill No. 1206 as Com-monwealth Act No. 502, otherwise known as the Charter of Quezon City. Signed by President Quezon on October 12, 1939, the law defined the boundaries of the City and gave it an area of 7,000 hectares carved out of the towns of Caloocan, San Juan, Marikina, Pasig, and Mandaluyong, all in Rizal Province.

The City’s territorial boundaries were revised four (4) times since its creation on October 12, 1939. Originally, Quezon City had only about 7,000 hectares extending from La Loma to Marikina River and from Pasong Tamo River down to (and including) Wack Wack Golf Club in Mandaluyong. The final amendment was made on June 16, 1956 by virtue of RA 1575 with the City’s area, 15,106 hectares. This is the present official territorial boundary of Quezon City. However, graphical plots made on this present boundary of the City gave an area of 16,112 hectares, about a thousand hectares more than its officially declared land area.

The original physical plan of the City was prepared in 1940 by Harry T. Frost, an architectural adviser of the Commonwealth. He reflected a big quadrangle in the heart of the City from which four (4) avenues radiated toward the outskirts with rotundas placed on the four (4) corners, the largest being a 26–hectare elliptical center, now known as the Quezon Memorial Circle.

The enactment of Republic Act No. 333 on July 17, 1948, made Quezon City the capital of the Philippines. The Act created the Capital City Planning Commission which was tasked to prepare the general development plan and supervise the improvements to be done in the Capital City.

Quezon City was formally inaugurated as the national capital of the Philippines on October 12, 1949. President Quirino laid the cornerstone of the proposed Capitol Building at Constitution Hills. The Welcome Arch (now Mabuhay Rotunda) at the boundary of Manila and Quezon City was built;

For twenty-seven (27) years, Quezon City held the distinct status of being the nation’s capital. However,
on June 24, 1976, then President Marcos issued Presidential Decree (PD) 940, which effectively conferred back the role of the nation’s capital to the City of Manila and mandated the area prescribed under PD 824 as Metropolitan Manila, now known as the National Capital Region (NCR), to be the permanent seat of na¬tional government.

Indeed, even as Quezon City is no longer the nation’s capital city, it has proved to be a vast and teeming city with a steadily increasing income and occupation of one-third of Metro Manila’s total land area. It now serves as the Philippines’ government center with the legislature and other important government offices located in its area. All of these are reminiscent of the same noble dream that brought forth the creation of the City.