Quezon City Part 1
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Wikitravel: https://wikitravel.org/en/Quezon_City


Quezon City Part 1


Quezon City, also known as QC or Kyusi, is a highly urbanized city and the most populous city in the Philippines. It was founded by and named after Manuel L. Quezon, the 2nd President of the Philippines, to replace Manila as the national capital. The city was proclaimed as such in 1948, though a significant number of government buildings remained in Manila. Quezon City held status as the official capital until 1976 when a presidential decree was issued to reinstate and designate Manila as the capital and Metro Manila as the seat of government.

It is the largest city in terms of population and land area in Metro Manila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Quezon City is not located in, and should not be confused with the province of Quezon, which was also named after the president.

Quezon City hosts a number of government offices, the most important of which are the Batasang Pambansa Complex (the seat of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Philippine Congress), and the Quezon City Reception House (the current seat of the Vice President of the Philippines). Quezon City also serves as home to the University of the Philippines Diliman—the national university—and Ateneo de Manila University.

Also located in Quezon City is the Quezon Memorial Circle, a national park. The park is an ellipse bounded by Elliptical Road. Its main feature is the Quezon Memorial Shrine, a 66-meter-tall mausoleum containing the remains of President Quezon and his wife, First Lady Aurora Quezon. The shrine is considered Quezon City's foremost landmark and is depicted in its city seal.


History


Before Quezon City was created, its land was settled by the small individual towns of San Francisco del MonteNovaliches, and Balintawak. On August 23, 1896, the Katipunan, led by its Supremo Andrés Bonifaciolaunched the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire at the house of Melchora Aquino in Pugad Lawin (now known as Balintawak).

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 in Mexico CityMexico influenced his vision.

In 1938, President Quezon created the People's 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 Philippines 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.

When Quezon City was created in 1939, the following barrios or sitios: Balingasa, Balintawak, Galas, Kaingin, Kangkong, La Loma, Malamig, Masambong, Matalahib, San Isidro, San Jose, Santol, and Tatalon from Caloocan; Cubao, the western half of Diliman, Kamuning, New Manila, Roxas, and San Francisco del Monte from San Juan; Balara, Barangka, the eastern half of Diliman, Jesus de la Peña and Krus na Ligas from Marikina; Libis, Santolan and Ugong Norte from Pasig and some barrios from Montalban and San Mateo were to be given to the new capital city. Instead of opposing them, the six towns willingly gave land to Quezon City in the belief that it would benefit the country's new capital. However, in 1941, the area within Wack Wack Golf and Country Club was reverted to Mandaluyong, and Barangka and Jesus de la Peña to Marikina. In addition, the land of Camp Crame was originally part of San Juan. On January 1, 1942, President Quezon issued an executive order from the tunnel of Corregidor designating Jorge Vargas Mayor of Greater Manila, a new political entity comprising, aside from Manila proper, Quezon City, Kalookan, Pasay, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Parañaque. Greater Manila would later be expanded to include Las Piñas, Malabon, and Navotas.

Imperial Japanese forces occupied Quezon City in 1942 during World War II. In October of that year, the Japanese authorities divided the City of Greater Manila into twelve districts, two of which were formed from Quezon City: Balintawak which consisted of San Francisco del Monte, Galas, and La Loma; and Diliman which consisted of Diliman proper, Cubao, and the University District. In 1945, combined Filipino and American troops under the United States ArmyPhilippine Commonwealth Army, and Philippine Constabulary, with help from recognized guerrilla units, liberated and recaptured Quezon City in a few months, expelling Imperial Japanese forces. Heavy fighting occurred near Novaliches, which at that time was in Rizal Province and New Manila which was a strongpoint. Toward the end of the Battle of Manila, Pres. Sergio Osmeña dissolved the Greater Manila Complex, which included the Japanese-created districts of Balintawak and Diliman which had been formed from the prewar Quezon City.

After the war, Republic Act No. 333, which redefined the Caloocan–Quezon City boundary, was signed by President Elpidio Quirino on July 17, 1948, declaring Quezon City to be the national capital, and specifying the city's area to be 156.60 km2 (60 sq mi). The barrios of Baesa, Bagbag, Banlat, Kabuyao, Novaliches Proper, Pasong Putik, Pasong Tamo, Pugad Lawin, San Bartolome, and Talipapa, 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 city's boundaries to an area of 153.59 km2 (59 sq mi). Exactly six years after on June 16, 1956, more revisions to the city's land area were made by Republic Act No. 1575, which defined its area as 151.06 km2 (58 sq mi). According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and Geoscience Australia on their study earthquake impact and risk assessment on the Greater Metropolitan Manila Area, the total area of Quezon City stood at 165.33 km2 (64 sq mi).

On October 1, 1975, Quezon City was the actual site of the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, which took place at the Araneta Coliseum. It was renamed as the "Philippine Coliseum" for the event.

On November 7, 1975, the promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 824 of President Ferdinand Marcos established Metro Manila. Quezon City became one of Metro Manila's 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 Marcos ordered the transfer of the remains of President 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 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 in 2015 that contains around 400,000 property units with capability to record payments.

The city and the entire metropolitan Manila was placed under community quarantine for one month starting March 15, 2020 due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Master plans

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 supported the idea of a new 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-hectare (990-acre) central green, about the size of New York's 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 (62-acre) 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 the new Malacañan Palace on North Avenue (site of 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 were to be finally and efficiently located in close proximity to each other.


Geography


The city lies on the Guadalupe Plateau, a relatively high plateau at the northeast of the metropolis situated between the lowlands of Manila to the southwest and the Marikina River Valley to the east. The southern portion is drained by the narrow San Juan River and its tributaries to Pasig River, while running in the northern portions of the city is the equally-narrow Tullahan River.

Quezon City is bordered by Manila to the southwest, by Caloocan and Valenzuela City to the west and northwest. To the south lie San Juan and Mandaluyong, while Marikina and Pasig border the city to the southeast. To the north across Marilao River lies San Jose del Monte in the province of Bulacan, while to the east lie Rodriguez and San Mateo, both in the province of Rizal.

The city can be divided into a number of areas. The southern portion of the city is divided into a number of districts including Diliman, Commonwealth, the Project areas, Cubao, Kamias, Kamuning, New Manila, San Francisco del Monte, and Santa Mesa Heights. The northern half of the city is often called Novaliches and contains the areas of Fairview and Lagro. Most of these areas have no defined boundaries and are primarily residential in nature.

Climate

Quezon City features a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classification Aw/Am), with prominent dry season from December to May, in which in turn, divided into cool and warm dry seasons, and a prolonged wet season from June to October that brings heavy rains in some areas.

Published at 2017-03-20 by Puerto Parrot
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