Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 1,902,590 people. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is classified as a highly urbanized city. With , Manila is one of the world's most densely populated cities proper. Manila is considered to be part of the world's original set of global cities because its commercial networks were the first to extend across the Pacific Ocean and connect Asia with the Spanish Americas through the galleon trade. This marked the first time an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circling the planet had been established.
By 1258, a Tagalog-fortified polity called Maynila existed on the site of modern Manila. On June 24, 1571, after the defeat of the polity's last indigenous ruler, Rajah Sulayman, in the Battle of Bangkusay, Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi began constructing the walled fortification of Intramuros on the ruins of an older settlement from whose name the Spanish and English name Manila derives. Manila was used as the capital of the captaincy general of the Spanish East Indies, which included the Marianas, Guam, and other islands, and was controlled and administered for the Spanish crown by Mexico City in the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
In modern times, the name "Manila" is commonly used to refer to the entire metropolitan area, the greater metropolitan area, and the city proper. Metro Manila, the officially defined metropolitan area, is the capital region of the Philippines, and includes the much larger Quezon City and the Makati Central Business District.
The Pasig River flows through the middle of Manila, dividing it into northern and southern sections. The city comprises 16 administrative districts and is divided into six political districts for the purposes of representation in the Congress of the Philippines and the election of city council members. In 2018, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network listed Manila as an "Alpha-" global city, and ranked it seventh in economic performance globally and second regionally, while the Global Financial Centres Index ranks Manila 79th in the world. Manila is also the world's second most natural disaster-exposed capital city after Tokyo. The name Maynilà was probably bestowed because of the indigo-yielding plants that grew in the area surrounding the settlement rather than because it was known as a settlement that traded in indigo dye.
May-nilad
thumb|left|Plate depicting the "nilad" plant ([[Scyphiphora hydrophylacea), from Augustinian missionary Fray Francisco Manuel Blanco's botanical reference, Flora de Filipinas]]
This etymology arose from the observation that, in Tagalog, nilad or nilar refers to a shrub-like tree (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea; formerly Ixora manila Blanco) that grows in or near mangrove swamps. However, Baumgartner explained that it is unlikely that native Tagalog speakers would completely drop the final consonant /d/ in nilad to arrive at the present form Maynilà. Linguist Vic Romero contends that it is actually not impossible for final consonant /d/ to shift into a glottal stop such as in mapalad to pinagpalà and hangád to hangà.
The earliest known reference to this etymology was in the third volume of John Ray's Historia Plantarum in 1704, originally lifted from the Herbarium aliarumque Stirpium in Insula Luzone Philippinarum primaria nascentium... by Fr. Georg Josef Kamel, and he mentioned that:
:Nilad arbor mediocris, rarissimi recta, ligno folido, et compacto ut Molavin, ubi abundant Mangle, locum vocant Manglar, ita ubi nilad, Maynilad, unde corrupte Manila (Nilad is an average tree, very rare straight, leafy wood, and compact like Molavin, where Mangle abounds, the place is called Manglar, so where nilad (abounds), Maynilad, whence the corruption Manila).
Maynila, along with Tondo, were active trade partners with the Song and Yuan dynasties of China and flourished during the mid to later period of the Ming dynasty. According to a Japanese encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue, Luzon or Lusong (Maynila) was referred to as a "kingdom" south of Taiwan.
During the 12th century, then-Hindu Brunei called "Pon-i", as reported in the Chinese annals Nanhai zhi, invaded Malilu 麻裏蘆 (claimed by various scholars to be the present-day Manila) as it also administered Sarawak and Sabah, as well as the Philippine kingdoms of: Butuan, Sulu, Ma-i (Mindoro or Laguna), Shahuchong 沙胡重 (present-day Zamboanga), Yachen 啞陳 (Oton), and 文杜陵 Wenduling (present-day Mindanao, Bintulu or Mindoro). In the 13th century, Manila consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter on the shore of the Pasig River. Upon the conversion of Brunei from Hinduism to Islam, Manila also followed, as the Bruneian royal family also intermarried with Manila's royal family, as can be gleaned by the personage of Rajah Matanda who was simultaneously king of Manila while being a great-grandson of Sultan Bolkiah of Brunei.
Spanish era
left|thumb|Statue of [[Rajah Sulayman in Manila, Sulayman was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Maynila was the commander of the Tagalog forces in the battle of Manila of 1570 against Spanish forces.]]thumb|left|1734 map of the [[Intramuros|Walled City of Manila. The city was planned according to the Laws of the Indies.]]
thumb|left|[[Ayuntamiento de Manila served as the City Hall during the Spanish Colonial Period.]]
On June 24, 1571, conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Manila and declared it a territory of New Spain, establishing a city council in what is now Intramuros district. Inspired by the Reconquista, he took advantage of a territorial conflict between Hindu Tondo and Islamic Manila to justify expelling or converting Bruneian Muslim colonists who supported Manila while his Mexican grandson Juan de Salcedo had a romantic relationship with Kandarapa, a princess of Tondo. López de Legazpi had the local royalty executed or exiled after the failure of the Conspiracy of the Maharlikas, a plot in which an alliance of datus, rajahs, Japanese merchants, and the Sultanate of Brunei would band together to execute the Spaniards, along with their Latin American recruits and Visayan allies. The victorious Spaniards made Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies and of the Philippines, which their empire would control for the next three centuries. The city was founded by several European Spaniards and Mestizo Mexicans and even was garrisoned by 400 Native American Tlaxcalans who accompanied Salcedo from Cebu and were given pensions. In 1574, Manila was besieged by the Chinese pirate Lim Hong, who was thwarted by local inhabitants. Upon Spanish settlement, Manila was immediately made, by papal decree, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mexico. By royal decree of Philip II of Spain, Manila was put under the spiritual patronage of Saint Pudentiana and Our Lady of Guidance. After the conquest of Manila from its Muslim aristocracy; the Spanish-Mexican conquistadors were awarded encomiendas with Esteban Rodríguez de Figueroa holding an encomienda near Manila; tribute figures not recorded. The other one is Juan Maldonado, another Mexican an early encomendero; of whom limited data survives. In the meantime, the Muslim aristocracy of Manila converted or fled, one such was Datuk Manila who fled to the Sultanate of Malacca where he became a Wali or Islamic Saint.
Manila became famous for its role in the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade, which lasted for more than two centuries and brought goods from Europe, Africa, and Hispanic America across the Pacific Islands to Southeast Asia, and vice versa. Silver that was mined in Mexico and Peru was exchanged for Chinese silk, Indian gems, and spices from Indonesia and Malaysia. Wine and olives grown in Europe and North Africa were shipped via Mexico to Manila. Because of the Ming ban on trade leveled against the Ashikaga shogunate in 1549, this resulted in the ban of all Japanese people from entering China and of Chinese ships from sailing to Japan. Manila became the only place where the Japanese and Chinese could openly trade.
The Manila Synod of 1582, the first Catholic Synod in the Philippines laid out the moral foundations for the incorporation of the archipelago into the Spanish Empire. Therein, the people had argued that native Filipinos already possess inherent dignity and sovereignty due to the precepts of Natural Law. And that any temporal power Spain has in incorporating the Philippines under the Spanish Empire is merely a servant to Spain's obligation or Supernatural Duty, mainly that is to save souls through faith in Christ; in which case they argued that it was just and moral to convert the Pagan (Hindu, Buddhist, and Animist) as well as Muslim; kingdoms of the Philippines into Christianity, in order to save their souls and that care should be taken to respect natives' rights and sovereignty, the best way of doing so, was to gently impose a more just and humane society under Christian Law which the Spanish did; by abolishing slavery, polygamy, polyandry, and infanticide, often practiced by the native Pagans and Muslims. Furthermore, Philippine society was materially enriched via trade with Latin-America, and if any other power were to serve as obstacles for the increased progress and cultivation of the Philippines, the Spanish are morally bound to wage Just War Theory against them. As a result of pacification campaigns, religious conversions, colonizations, and settlement by the Spanish in cooperation with the local natives, the proceedings of the Manila Synod of 1582 guaranteed native and Spanish rights and obligations amidst the Spanish-Mexican colonization of the Philippines and the later 1599 Philippines sovereignty referendums were proclaimed, and therein, assent was given by the governed Filipino peoples, in accepting Spanish sovereignty.
In 1606, upon the Spanish conquest of the Sultanate of Ternate, one of monopolizers of the growing of spice, the Spanish deported the ruler Sultan Said Din Burkat of Ternate, along with his clan and his entourage to Manila, where they were initially enslaved and eventually converted to Christianity. About 200 families of mixed Spanish-Mexican-Filipino and Moluccan-Indonesian-Portuguese descent from Ternate and Tidor followed him there at a later date.
The city attained great wealth due to its location at the confluence of the Silk Road, the Spice Route, and the Silver Way. Significant is the role of Armenians, who acted as merchant intermediaries that made trade between Europe and Asia possible in this area. France was the first nation to try financing its Asian trade with a partnership in Manila through Armenian khojas. The largest trade volume was in iron, and 1,000 iron bars were traded in 1721. In 1762, the city was captured by Great Britain as part of the Seven Years' War, in which Spain had recently become involved. The British occupied the city for twenty months from 1762 to 1764 in their attempt to capture the Spanish East Indies but they were unable to extend their occupation past Manila proper. Frustrated by their inability to take the rest of the archipelago, the British withdrew in accordance with the Treaty of Paris signed in 1763, which brought an end to the war. An unknown number of Indian soldiers known as sepoys, who came with the British, deserted and settled in nearby Cainta, Rizal.
thumb|[[Parián (Manila)|Parián, or Parián de Arroceros was an area outside of Intramuros built to house Sangley (Chinese) merchants during the Spanish rule.]]
The Chinese minority were punished for supporting the British, and the fortress city Intramuros, which was initially populated by 1,200 pure Spanish families and garrisoned by 400 Spanish troops, kept its cannons pointed at Binondo, the world's oldest Chinatown. The population of native Spaniards was concentrated in the southern part of Manila and in 1787, La Pérouse recorded one regiment of 1,300 Mexicans garrisoned at Manila, and they were also at Cavite, where ships from Spain's American colonies docked at, and at Ermita, which was thus-named because of a Mexican hermit who lived there. The Hermit-Priest's name was Juan Fernandez de Leon who was a Hermit in Mexico before relocating to Manila. Priests were not usually alone too since they often brought along Lay Brothers and Sisters. The years: 1603, 1636, 1644, 1654, 1655, 1670, and 1672; saw the deployment of 900, 446, 407, 821, 799, 708, and 667 Latin American soldiers from Mexico at Manila. The Philippines hosts the only Latin American established districts in Asia, with the Malate district hosting buildings mixing Mexican Baroque and Filipino Muslim Mudejar styles. The Spanish evacuated Ternate and settled Papuan refugees in Ternate, Cavite, which was named after their former homeland. In 1603, Manila was also home to 25,000 Chinese and housed 14,437 native (Malay-Filipino) families, as well as 3,528 mixed Spanish-Filipino families. A Spanish Jesuit priest commented due to the confluence of many foreign languages in Manila, the confessional in Manila was "the most difficult in the world". Juan de Cobo, another Spanish missionary of the 1600s, was so astonished by the commerce, cultural complexity, and ethnic diversity in Manila he wrote to his brethren in Mexico:
thumb|[[Manila Cathedral by Fernando Brambila, a member of the Malaspina Expedition during their stop in Manila in 1792.]]
After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the Spanish crown began to directly govern Manila. Under direct Spanish rule, banking, industry, and education flourished more than they had in the previous two centuries. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 facilitated direct trade and communications with Spain. The city's growing wealth and education attracted indigenous peoples, Negritos, Malays, Africans, Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Europeans, Latinos and Papuans from the surrounding provinces, and facilitated the rise of an ilustrado class who espoused liberal ideas, which became the ideological foundations of the Philippine Revolution, which sought independence from Spain. A revolt by Andres Novales was inspired by the Latin American wars of independence but the revolt itself was led by demoted Latin-American military officers stationed in the city from the newly independent nations of Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Costa Rica. Following the Cavite Mutiny and the Propaganda Movement, the Philippine revolution began; Manila was among the first eight provinces to rebel and their role was commemorated on the Philippine Flag, on which Manila was represented by one of the eight rays of the symbolic sun.
American era
After the 1898 Battle of Manila, Spain ceded the city to the United States. The First Philippine Republic based in nearby Bulacan fought against the Americans for control of the city. The Americans defeated the First Philippine Republic and captured its president Emilio Aguinaldo, who pledged allegiance to the U.S. on April 1, 1901.
Upon drafting a new charter for Manila in June 1901, the U.S. officially recognized that the city of Manila consisted of Intramuros and the surrounding areas. The new charter proclaimed Manila was composed of eleven municipal districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Sampaloc, San Miguel, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, and Tondo. The Catholic Church recognized five parishes as parts of Manila; Gagalangin, Trozo, Balic-Balic, Santa Mesa, and Singalong; and Balut and San Andres were later added.
thumb|[[Jones Bridge in the 1930s]]
Under U.S. control, a new, civilian-oriented Insular Government headed by Governor-General William Howard Taft invited city planner Daniel Burnham (Founder of the "City Beautiful Movement") to adapt Manila to modern needs. The 1905 Burnham Plan of Manila recommended improving the city's transit systems by creating diagonal arteries radiating from the new central civic district into areas at the outskirts of the city. It included the development of a road system, the use of waterways for transportation, and the beautification of Manila with waterfront improvements and construction of parks, parkways, and buildings.
The planned buildings included a government center occupying all of Wallace Field, which extends from Rizal Park to the present Taft Avenue. The Philippine capitol was to rise at the Taft Avenue end of the field, facing the sea. Along with buildings for government bureaus and departments, it would form a quadrangle with a central lagoon and a monument to José Rizal at the other end of the field. Of Burnham's proposed government centers in Luneta, only three units—the Legislative Building, and the buildings of the Finance and Agricultural Departments—were completed before World War II began, with the war's onset, also destroying the former gracefulness that was the fruit of the City Beautiful Movement.
<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" heights="120" perrow="3" caption="Gallery of Manila during the American era">
File:Plaza Moraga Manila Philippines.jpg|Plaza Moraga in the early 1900s
File:Central facade of the Legislative Building.jpg|The Old Legislative Building featuring a Neoclassical style architecture.
File:Manilastreetcar.jpg|The tranvía running along Escolta Street during the American period
File:Philippine Island - Manila - NARA - 68156635.jpg|Aerial view of Manila, 1936</gallery>
Japanese occupation
thumb|A [[TBF Avenger|TBF-1 Avenger from USS Essex dropping a bomb over the Pasig River in Manila, targeting the dockyard, November 14, 1944]]
thumb|295x295px|Manila destroyed during the [[Battle of Manila (1945)|Battle of Manila of the Americans and Japanese during World War II.]]
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, American soldiers were ordered to withdraw from Manila and all military installations were removed by December 24, 1941. Two days later, General Douglas MacArthur declared Manila an open city to prevent further death and destruction but Japanese warplanes continued bombing the city. Japanese forces occupied Manila on January 2, 1942.
From February 3 to March 3, 1945, Manila was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific theater of World War II. Under orders of Japanese Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, retreating Japanese forces killed about 100,000 Filipino civilians and perpetrated the mass rape of women in February. At the end of the war, Manila had suffered from heavy bombardment and became the second-most-destroyed city of World War II. Manila was recaptured by American and Philippine troops. The destruction the war wrought against Manila, made National Artist, Nick Joaquin Lament:
The postwar and independence era
After the war, reconstruction efforts started. Buildings like Manila City Hall, the Legislative Building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts), and Manila Post Office were rebuilt, and roads and other infrastructures were repaired. In 1948, President Elpidio Quirino moved the seat of government of the Philippines to Quezon City, a new capital in the suburbs and fields northeast of Manila, which was created in 1939 during the administration of President Manuel L. Quezon. The move ended any implementation of the Burnham Plan's intent for the government center to be at Luneta.
When Arsenio Lacson became the first elected Mayor of Manila in 1952, before which all mayors were appointed, Manila underwent a "Golden Age", regaining its pre-war moniker "Pearl of the Orient". After Lacson's term in the 1950s, Manila was led by Antonio Villegas for most of the 1960s. Ramon Bagatsing was mayor from 1972 until the 1986 People Power Revolution.
During the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, Metro Manila was created as an integrated unit with the enactment of Presidential Decree No. 824 on November 7, 1975. The area encompassed four cities and thirteen adjoining towns as a separate regional unit of government. On June 24, 1976, the 405th anniversary of the city's founding, President Marcos reinstated Manila as the capital of the Philippines for its historical significance as the seat of government since the Spanish Period. At the same time, Marcos designated his wife Imelda Marcos as the first governor of Metro Manila. She started the rejuvenation of the city and re-branded Manila the "City of Man".
The Martial Law era
Many of the key events of the historical period from the first major protests against the administration of Ferdinand Marcos in January 1970 until his ouster in February 1986 took place within the city of Manila. The first, the January 26, 1970, State of the Nation Address Protest which kicked off the "First Quarter Storm", took place at the Legislative Building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts) on Padre Burgos Avenue, and the very last saw the Marcos family flee Malacañang Palace into exile in the United States.
The beginning weeks of Ferdinand Marcos' second term as president was marked by the 1969 balance of payments crisis, which economists trace to his first term tactic of using foreign loans to fund massive government projects in an effort to curry votes. In protest, protest groups led mostly by students decided to picket Marcos' 1970 State of the Nation Address at the legislative building on January 26. The protesters were initially bickering amongst themselves because both moderate reformist and radical activist groups were present and fighting to gain control of the stage. But all of them, regardless of advocacy, were violently dispersed by the Philippine Constabulary. This was followed by six more major protests which were violently dispersed, from the end of January until March 17, 1970.
Marcos' declaration of martial law in September 1972 saw the immediate shutdown of all media not approved by Marcos, including Quezon City media outlets, including the Manila-based Manila Times, Philippines Free Press, The Manila Tribune and the Philippines Herald. At the same time, it saw the arrest of many students, journalists, academics, and politicians who were considered political threats to Marcos, many of them residents of the City of Manila. The first one was Ninoy Aquino who was arrested just before midnight on September 22 while at a hotel on UN Avenue preparing for a senate committee session the following morning. At least 11,103 of them have since been officially recognized by the Philippine government as having been extensively tortured and abused. and in April 1973 Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila student journalist Liliosa Hilao became the first of these detainees to be killed while in prison - one of 3,257 known extrajudicial killings during the last 14 years of Marcos' presidency.
In 1975, Marcos formalized the creation of a region called Metropolitan Manila, incorporating the four cities of Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan, Pasay, and the thirteen municipalities of Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela. And then he appointed his wife Imelda Marcos, who had been angered by the revelation of his dalliances during the Dovie Beams scandal, Governor of Metro Manila.
Despite Marcos' declaration of martial law, poverty and other social issues persisted, so even with the military in his control, Marcos could not hold back the unrest. A major turning point was reached in Tondo in the form of the 1975 La Tondeña Distillery strike which was one of the first major open acts of resistance against the Marcos dictatorship which paved the way for similar protest actions elsewhere in the country. From then, Manila continued to be a center of resistance activity; youth and student demonstrators repeatedly clashed with the police and military.
Another major protest was the September 1984 Welcome Rotonda protest dispersal at the border of Manila and Quezon City, which came in the wake of the Aquino assassination the year before in 1983. International pressure had forced Marcos to give the press more freedom, so coverage exposed Filipinos to how opposition figures including 80-year-old former Senator Lorenzo Tañada and 71-year-old Manila Times founder Chino Roces were waterhosed despite their frailty and how student leader Fidel Nemenzo (later Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman) was shot nearly to death.
The People Power revolution
In late 1985, in the face of escalating public discontent and under pressure from foreign allies, Marcos called a snap election with more than a year left in his term, selecting Arturo Tolentino as his running mate. The opposition to Marcos united behind Ninoy's widow Corazon Aquino and her running mate, Salvador Laurel. The elections were held on February 7, 1986, an exercise marred by widespread reports of violence and tampering of election results.
On February 16, 1986, Corazon Aquino held the "Tagumpay ng Bayan" (People's Victory) rally at Luneta Park, announcing a civil disobedience campaign and calling for her supporters to boycott publications and companies which were associated with Marcos or any of his cronies. The event was attended by a crowd of about two million people. Aquino's camp began making preparations for more rallies, and Aquino herself went to Cebu to rally more people to their cause.
In the aftermath of the election and the revelations of irregularities, Juan Ponce Enrile and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) - a cabal of disgruntled officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) - set into motion a coup attempt against Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Enrile and RAM's coup was quickly uncovered, which prompted Enrile to ask for the support of Philippine Constabulary chief Fidel Ramos. Ramos agreed to join Enrile but even so, their combined forces were trapped in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, and were about to be overrun by Marcos loyalist forces.
Discovering what was happening, the forces which had been organizing Aquino's civil disobedience campaign went to the stretch of Efipanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) between the two camps, beginning to form a human barricade to keep Marcos loyalist forces from attacking. The crowd grew even larger when Ramos telephoned Manila Cardinal Jaime Sin for help, and Sin went on Radyo Veritas to invite Catholics to join in protecting Enrile and Ramos. Seeing what was happening, multiple units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines defected Marcos, with air units under the command of General Antonio Sotelo and Colonel Charles Hotchkiss, even performed calculated operations which included strafing the grounds of Malacañang palace with bullets and disabling gunships at nearby Villamor Airbase. Because the victory had been won by the civilians on the streets rather than the military, the event was dubbed the People Power revolution. Ferdinand Marcos' 21 years as President - and his 14 years as authoritarian leader - of the Philippines was over. In 1992, Alfredo Lim was elected mayor, the first Chinese-Filipino to hold the office. He was known for his anti-crime crusades. Lim was succeeded by Lito Atienza, who served as his vice mayor, and was known for his campaign and slogan "Buhayin ang Maynila" (Revive Manila), which saw the establishment of several parks, and the repair and rehabilitation of the city's deteriorating facilities. He was the city's mayor for nine years before being termed out of office. Lim once again ran for mayor and defeated Atienza's son Ali in the 2007 city election, and immediately reversed all of Atienza's projects, which he said made little contribution to the improvements of the city. The relationship of both parties turned bitter, with them both contesting the 2010 city elections, which Lim won. Lim was sued by councilor Dennis Alcoreza on 2008 over human rights, he was charged with graft over the rehabilitation of public schools.
In 2012, DMCI Homes began constructing Torre de Manila, which became controversial for ruining the sight line of Rizal Park. The tower became known as "Terror de Manila" and the "national photobomber", and became a sensationalized heritage issue. In 2017, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines erected a "comfort woman" statue on Roxas Boulevard, causing Japan to express regret about the statue's erection despite the healthy relationship between Japan and the Philippines.
left|thumb|[[Santa Cruz, Manila|Santa Cruz district]]
In the 2013 election, former President Joseph Estrada succeeded Lim as the city's mayor. During his term, Estrada allegedly paid in city debts and increased the city's revenues. In 2015, in line with President Noynoy Aquino's administration progress, the city became the most-competitive city in the Philippines. In the 2016 elections, Estrada narrowly won over Lim. Throughout Estrada's term, numerous Filipino heritage sites were demolished, gutted, or approved for demolition; these include the post-war Santa Cruz Building, Capitol Theater, El Hogar, Magnolia Ice Cream Plant, and Rizal Memorial Stadium. Some of these sites were saved after the intervention of governmental cultural agencies and heritage advocate groups. In May 2019, Estrada said Manila was debt-free; two months later, however, the Commission on Audit said Manila was in debt.
Estrada, who was seeking for re-election for his third and final term, lost to Isko Moreno in the 2019 local elections. Moreno has served as the vice mayor under both Lim and Estrada. Estrada's defeat was seen as the end of their reign as a political clan, whose other family members run for national and local positions. After assuming office, Moreno initiated a city-wide cleanup of illegal vendors, signed an executive order promoting open governance, and vowed to stop bribery and corruption in the city. Under his administration, several ordinances were signed, giving additional perks and privileges to Manila's elderly people, and monthly allowances for Grade 12 Manileño students in all public schools in the city, including students of Universidad de Manila and the University of the City of Manila. <!--UNSOURCED The city government also undertook infrastructure projects such as the restoration of Jones Bridge to near-original architecture, cleaning the city's parks and plazas.-->
In 2022, Time Out ranked Manila in 34th position in its list of the 53 best cities in the world, citing it as "an underrated hub for art and culture, with unique customs and cuisine to boot". Manila was also voted the third-most-resilient and least-rude city for the year's index. In 2023, the search site Crossword Solm utilizing internet geotagging, showed that Manila is the world's most loving capital city.
thumb|View of Manila along [[Roxas Boulevard in 2023]]In August 2023, President Bongbong Marcos suspended all reclamation projects in Manila Bay, including those in the City of Manila. However, the city has no objections and is willing to pursue the suspended reclamation projects.
In 2024, Manila, as the nation's seat of government, witnessed the launch of the Fourth Philippine Human Rights Plan, aimed at advancing social justice, inclusivity, and human rights protection in line with international standards.
Geography
thumb|left|[[Manila Bay sunset]]
thumb|[[Manila Dolomite Beach during the International Coastal Cleanup Day in September 2020]]
thumb|A map showing the territorial extent and assets or properties of Manila, including its territorial exclave [[Manila South Cemetery, and Manila Boystown Complex, which is a property in Marikina owned by the Manila city government.]]
The City of Manila is situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay, on the western coast of Luzon, from mainland Asia. The protected harbor on which Manila lies is regarded as the finest in Asia. The Pasig River flows through the middle of city, dividing it into north and south. The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of the natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation.
Almost all of Manila sits on top prehistoric alluvial deposits built by the waters of the Pasig River and on land reclaimed from Manila Bay. Manila's land has been substantially altered by human intervention; there has been considerable land reclamation along the waterfronts since the early-to-mid twentieth century. Some of the city's natural variations in topography have been leveled. , Manila had a total area of . and Horizon Manila (). Of the five planned projects, only Horizon Manila was approved by the Philippine Reclamation Authority in December 2019 and was scheduled for construction in 2021.
Another reclamation project is possible and when built, it will include in-city housing relocation projects. Environmental activists and the Catholic Church have criticized the land reclamation projects, saying they are not sustainable and would put communities at risk of flooding. In line of the upcoming reclamation projects, the Philippines and the Netherlands agreed to a cooperation on the ₱250 million Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan to oversee future decisions on projects on Manila Bay.
Barangays and districts
thumb|upright=1.15|Manila is divided into six congressional districts.
thumb|upright=1.15|A district map of Manila showing its sixteen districts
Manila is made up of 897 barangays, which are grouped into 100 zones for statistical convenience. Manila has the most barangays of any metropolis in the Philippines. Due to a failure to hold a plebiscite, attempts at reducing its number have not succeeded despite local legislation—Ordinance 7907, passed on April 23, 1996—reducing the number from 896 to 150 by merging existing barangays.
- District I (2020 population: 441,282) covers the western part of Tondo and is made up of 136 barangays. It is the most-densely populated congressional district and is also known as Tondo I. The district includes one of the biggest urban-poor communities; Smokey Mountain on Balut Island was once known as the country's largest landfill where thousands of impoverished people lived in slums. After the closure of the landfill in 1995, mid-rise housing was built on the site. This district also contains the Manila North Harbor Center, Manila North Harbor, and Manila International Container Terminal of the Port of Manila. The 1st District also covers Manila's borders with Navotas and a part of the southern enclave of Caloocan.
- District II (2020 population: 212,938) The 4th District also covers portions of Manila's borders with Quezon City and San Juan.
- District V (2020 population: 395,065)
! scope="col" colspan=2 | Density
! scope="col" style="border-bottom:none;" | Barangays
|-
! scope="col" style="border-top:none;" |
! scope="col" style="border-top:none;" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" style="border-top:none;" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" style="border-top:none;" |
|-
! scope="row" | Binondo
| 3
|
| 20,491
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 10
|-
! scope="row" | Ermita
| 5
|
| 19,189
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 13
|-
! scope="row" | Intramuros
| 5
|
| 6,103
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
|-
! scope="row" | Malate
| 5
|
| 99,257
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 57
|-
! scope="row" | Paco
| 5 & 6
|
| 79,839
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 43
|-
! scope="row" | Pandacan
| 6
|
| 84,769
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 38
|-
! scope="row" | Port Area
| 5
|
| 72,605
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 5
|-
! scope="row" | Quiapo
| 3
|
| 29,846
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 16
|-
! scope="row" | Sampaloc
| 4
|
| 388,305
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 192
|-
! scope="row" | San Andres
| 5
|
| 133,727
| 80,000 || 210,000
| style="text-align:center;" | 65
|-
! scope="row" | San Miguel
| 6
|
| 18,599
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 12
|-
! scope="row" | San Nicolas
| 3
|
| 42,957
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 15
|-
! scope="row" | Santa Ana
| 6
|
| 203,598
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 34
|-
! scope="row" | Santa Cruz
| 3
|
| 126,735
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 82
|-
! scope="row" | Santa Mesa
| 6
|
| 111,292
| 43,000 || 110,000
| style="text-align:center;" | 51
|-
! scope="row" | Tondo
| 1 & 2
|
| 654,220
|
| style="text-align:center;" | 259
|- class="sortbottom"
| colspan="8" |
;Notes
|}
Climate
thumb|upright=1.2|Manila's annual temperature and rainfall
Under the Köppen climate classification system, Manila has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am), closely bordering on a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw). Together with the rest of the Philippines, Manila lies entirely within the tropics. Its proximity to the equator means temperatures are high year-round especially during the daytime, rarely going below or above . Temperature extremes have ranged from on January 11, 1914, to on May 7, 1915.
Humidity levels are usually very high all year round, making the air feel hotter than its actual temperature. Manila has a distinct dry season lasting from late December to early April. A relatively lengthy wet season that covers the remaining period, with slightly cooler daytime temperatures and slightly warmer nighttime temperatures. In the wet season, rain rarely falls all day, but rainfall is very heavy for short periods. Typhoons usually occur from June to September.
Natural hazards
Swiss Re ranked Manila as the second-riskiest capital city to live in, citing its exposure to natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, and landslides. The seismically active Marikina Valley Fault System poses a threat of a large-scale earthquake with an estimated magnitude of between 6 and 7, and as high as 7.6 to Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Manila has experienced several deadly earthquakes, notably those of 1645 and 1677, which destroyed the stone-and-brick medieval city. Architects during the Spanish colonial period used the Earthquake Baroque style to adapt to the region's frequent earthquakes. The Taal Volcano located to the south of Manila also poses a threat when it erupts.
Manila experiences between five and seven typhoons each year. In 2009, Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) struck the Philippines, leading to one of the worst floods in Metro Manila and several provinces in Luzon with an estimated damages worth ₱11 billion (), and caused 448 deaths in Metro Manila alone. Following the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, the city began to dredge its rivers and improve its drainage network.
Parks and green spaces
thumb|The [[Arroceros Forest Park is considered as the "last lung of Manila".]]
Metro Manila is situated in a variety of ecosystems including upland forests, mangrove forests, mudflats, sandy beaches, sea grass meadows and coral reefs. Metro Manila is home to urban parks, nature parks, plazas, nature reserves, and an arboretum. However, according to the Asian Green City Index, in 2007 Manila contained only an average of of green space per person, well below the index average of and below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended minimum of per person.
The Arroceros Forest Park is a nature park situated in the heart of downtown Manila along the south bank of the Pasig River. Considered as the "last lung of Manila", the park was professionally planned in 1993 with its secondary growth forest of 61 different native tree varieties and 8,000 ornamental plants providing a habitat for about 10 different bird species.
Pollution
thumb|[[Smog in the Quiapo-Binondo area]]
Air pollution in Manila is due to industrial waste and automobiles. Swiss firm IQAir reported in December 2020 Manila experienced an average PM2.5 concentration of , which is classed as "Good" according to recommendations made by the World Health Organization.
According to a report in 2003, the Pasig River is one of the most-polluted rivers in the world in which of domestic waste and of industrial waste are dumped daily. The city is the second-biggest waste producing metropolis in the country with 1,151.79 tons () per day, after Quezon City, which produces 1,386.84 tons () per day. Both cities were cited as having poor management in garbage collection and disposal. A 2021 report by Oxford University's Our World in Data estimated eighty one percent of global ocean plastic comes from rivers in Asia and the Philippines itself contributes one third of that number, and the Pasig River is one of the main contributors.
Rehabilitation efforts have resulted in the creation of parks along the riverside and stricter pollution controls. In 2019, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources launched a rehabilitation program for Manila Bay that will be administered by different government agencies.
Cityscape
thumb|The [[Roxas Boulevard skyline at night along Manila Bay.]]
Manila is a planned city. In 1905, American architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham was commissioned to design the new capital. His design for the city was based on the City Beautiful movement, which favored broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles. Manila is made up of fourteen city districts, according to Republic Act No. 409—the Revised Charter of the City of Manila—the basis of which officially sets the present-day boundary of the city. The districts Santa Mesa, which was partitioned from Sampaloc, and San Andres, which was partitioned off from Santa Ana, were later created.
Manila's mix of architectural styles reflects its, and the Philippines', turbulent history. During World War II, Manila was razed to the ground by Japanese forces and the shelling of American forces. After the war ended, rebuilding began and most of the historical buildings were reconstructed. Many of the historic churches and buildings in Intramuros, Manila's historic core, however, had been damaged beyond repair. Manila's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture. Manila's historic sites under the entry of The Walled City and Historic Monuments of Manila is currently being proposed to the tentative list for future UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription.
Architecture
thumb|left|The façade of the [[Manila Metropolitan Theater, designed by Filipino architect Juan M. Arellano]]
thumb|left|[[Jones Bridge was redeveloped in 2019 to "restore" it to its near-original design using Beaux-Arts architecture.]]
Manila is known for its eclectic mix of architecture that includes a wide range of styles spanning the city's historical and cultural periods. Its architectural styles reflect American, Spanish, Chinese, and Malay influences. Prominent Filipino architects including Antonio Toledo, Felipe Roxas, Juan M. Arellano and Tomás Mapúa have designed significant buildings in Manila such as churches, government offices, theaters, mansions, schools, and universities.
Manila is known for its Art Deco theaters, some of which were designed by Juan Nakpil and Pablo Antonio. The historic Escolta Street in Binondo has many buildings of Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architectural styles, many of which were designed by prominent Filipino architects during the American colonial period between the 1920s and the late 1930s. Many architects, artists, historians, and heritage advocacy groups are campaigning for the restoration of Escolta Street, which was once the premier street of the Philippines.
thumb|right|upright|The [[Luneta Hotel, an example of French Renaissance architecture with Filipino stylized beaux art]]
Almost all of Manila's pre-war and Spanish colonial architecture was destroyed during the 1945 Battle of Manila by intensive bombardment by the United States Air Force. Reconstruction took place afterward, replacing the destroyed historic Spanish-era buildings with modern ones, erasing much of the city's character. Some of the destroyed buildings, such as the Old Legislative Building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts), Ayuntamiento de Manila (now the Bureau of the Treasury), and the under-construction San Ignacio Church and Convent (as the Museo de Intramuros), have been reconstructed. There are plans to refurbish and restore several neglected historic buildings and places such as Plaza Del Carmen, San Sebastian Church, and the NCCA Metropolitan Theater. Spanish-era shops and houses in the districts of Binondo, Quiapo, and San Nicolas are also planned to be restored as a part of a movement to restore the city to its pre-war state.
Because Manila is prone to earthquakes, Spanish colonial architects invented a style called Earthquake Baroque, which churches and government buildings during the Spanish colonial period adopted.
Demographics
thumb|Manila population pyramid in 2021
thumb|left|People flocking to the [[Binondo|Binondo Chinatown during Chinese New Year]]
According to the 2020 Philippine census, Manila has a population of 1,846,513 people, making it the second-most-populous city in the Philippines. Manila is the most-densely populated city in the world, with 41,515 inhabitants per km in 2015.
Manila has been presumed to be the Philippines' largest city since the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement, and eventually became the political, commercial, and ecclesiastical capital of the country. Since colonial times, Manila has been the destination of peoples whose origins are as wide-ranging as India and Latin America. Practicing forensic anthropology, while exhuming cranial bones in several Philippine cemeteries, researcher Matthew C. Go estimated that 7% of the mean amount, among the samples exhumed, have attribution to European descent. Research work published in the Journal of Forensic Anthropology, collating contemporary Anthropological data show that the percentage of Filipino bodies who were sampled from the University of the Philippines, that is phenotypically classified as Asian (East, South and Southeast Asian) is 72.7%, Hispanic (Spanish-Amerindian Mestizo, Latin American, and/or Spanish-Malay Mestizo) is at 12.7%, Indigenous American (Native American) at 7.3%, African at 4.5%, and European at 2.7%. However, this is only according to an interpretation of the data wherein the reference groups, which were cross checked to the Filipino samples; for the Hispanic category, were Mexican-Americans, in that, when the reference group for "Asian" was Thailand (Southeast Asians) rather than Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese; the reference for "Africans" included West and East Africans, along with Black Americans; and the reference group for "Hispanic" was Colombians (South Americans) rather than Mexicans, During the Philippine Revolution, the term "Filipino" included people of any race born in the Philippines. This explains the abrupt drop of the proportion of Chinese, Spanish, and Mestizo peoples across the country by the time of the first American census in 1903, as the foreign and mixed descended peoples identified solely as pure Filipinos. Manila's population dramatically increased since the 1903 census because people tended to move from rural areas to towns and cities. In the 1960 census, Manila became the first Philippine city to exceed one million people – more than five times of its 1903 population. The city continued to grow until the population stabilized at 1.6 million and experienced alternating increases and decreases starting in the 1990 census year. This phenomenon may be attributed to the higher growth experienced by suburbs and the already-very-high population density of the city. As such, Manila exhibited a decreasing percentage share of the metropolitan population from 63% in the 1950s to 27.5% in 1980, and 13.8% in 2015. The much-larger Quezon City marginally surpassed the population of Manila in 1990 and by the 2015 census it already has 1.1 million more people. Nationally, the population of Manila was expected to be overtaken by cities with larger territories such as Caloocan and Davao City by 2020.
Language
The vernacular language is Filipino, which is mostly based on the Tagalog language of the city and its surroundings, and this Manilan form of spoken Tagalog has become the lingua franca of the Philippines, having spread throughout the archipelago through mass media and entertainment. English is the language most widely used in education and business, and is in heavy everyday use throughout Metro Manila and the rest of the Philippines.
Philippine Hokkien, which is locally known as Lan-nang-oe, a variant of Southern Min, is mainly spoken by the city's Chinese-Filipino community. According to data provided by the Bureau of Immigration, 3.12 million Chinese citizens arrived in the Philippines from January 2016 to May 2018.
Crime
thumb|[[Manila Police District officers in Rizal Park.]]
Crime in Manila is concentrated in areas that are associated with poverty, drug abuse, and gangs. Crime in the city is also directly related to its changing demographics and unique criminal justice system. The illegal drug trade is a major problem of the city; in Metro Manila alone, 92% of the barangays were affected by illegal drugs in February 2015.
From 2010 to 2015, Manila had the second-highest index crime rates in the Philippines, with 54,689 cases or an average of about 9,100 cases per year. By October 2017, Manila Police District (MPD) reported a 38.7% decrease in index crimes from 5,474 cases in 2016 to 3,393 in 2017. MPD's crime-solution efficiency also improved; six-to-seven of every ten crimes were solved by the city police force. MPD was cited as the Best Police District in Metro Manila in 2017 for registering the highest crime-solution efficiency.