1 Title: City Growth & Patterns of Change: City of Manila

Author: Alvin V. Santos

2000

Page 11
The land-use pattern of any urban area is not an exact reflection of the
immediate & current space requirements. Rather, it is a reflection of the cumulative
space requirements. Rather, it is a reflection of the cumulative need over a period of
time which has arisen from the differing requirements of the various uses with
regard to the accessibility and complementarity advantages of sites.

2 Title: Landmarks of Manila: 1571-1930

Author: Visitacion R. de la Torre
Copyright 1981 by Visitacion R. de la Torre & Filipinas Foundation, Inc.

Page 13
Manila Post Office is the perfect model of neo-classis architecture. Juan
Arellano, one of the foremost pre-war Filipino architects, left a number of landmarks
in the City, but this is concededly his magnum opus. It exudes grace and solidity. It
has 14 Ionic pillars, rectangular attic story, a simple faade and blank walls. Inside
you will notice huge central pavilions flanked & buttressed by two semi-circular
wings. The main lobby has subsidiary halls at each end which are amplified by semicircular spaces roofed with domes.

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3 Title: Colonial Manila: The context of Hispanic Urbanism and process of

morphogenesis
Author: Robert Ronald Reed
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles London

Page 37
He felt that the permanent colonial capital of the Philippines should be
situated in a rich agricultural area and preferably in a favorable location for regular
trade in China.

Page 38
Manila, which was known to the Spaniards through the many Muslim traders who
ranged widely throughout the Visayas and made the Pasig settlement their home.
**Goiti second venture to the north
Goiti confirmed rumors that Manila was one of the largest settlements in the
archipelago and enjoyed considerable inter-island trade, as well as far-flung external
linkages with many urban centers in East and Southeast Asia

Page 42
because of a substantial population, strategic location, an already established
trade, and a broad agricultural hinterland, Manila appeared to be an ideal place for
the permanent colonial capital of the Philippines.
--Bartholom de Letina, O.S.F
The commerce of this city (Manila) is extensive, rich and usually profitable;
for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the [other
Southeast Asian] islands and of Tunquin [Tong-king], Cochin [China], Camboja
[Cambodia], and Sian [Siam]four separate kingdoms which lie opposite these
islands on the continent of Great Chinaand of the gulfs and the numberless
kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala [Bengal] and Ceilan [Ceyon], when there
are no wars; and of the empire and kingdoms of Xapon [Japan]. The diversity of the
peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the
world; for these include men from all kingdoms and nationsEspaa, Francia,
Inglatera, Italia, Flanders, Almania, Dinamarca, Sueia, Poloria, Moscobia, people
from all the Indies, both eastern and western; and Turks, Greeks, Persians, Tarters,
Chinos, Japanese, Africans and other Asiatics. And hardly is there in the four

quarters if the world a kingdom, province, or nation which has not representatives
here, or account of the voyages that are made hither from all directionseast, west,
north and south.
From the time of its colonial foundation, Manila functioned as a city of
heterogenic transformation, where men of different races and cultural traditions
mingled to trade and exchange ideas.
The Spaniards seem destined to replace Portugal as the foremost European
power in Southeast Asia, with Manila as the political Economic nerce center of the
emerging empire.

4 Title: Old Manila

Author: Ramon Ma. Zaragosa
Oxford University Press; 1990

Page 24
The French navigators and historians described Manila as: best situated
city in the world and destined to become one day the center of commerce and trade
of the Pacific and Indian oceans (Schurz, 1959)

Pages 45-46
The American period brought in the Philippines new concepts in town
planning. Daniel Burnham and Pierce Anderson, well-known Chicago architects and
town planners, were asked to prepare a master plan of Manila. Burnham respected
the historical value of Intramuros as one of the few remaining examples of fortified
medieval city and left it as it was except for small portions of the exteriors walls
which were open to traffic. Burnham laid out development plans for the new
government offices. The moats were drained and filled for sanitary reasons and
converted into parks. Burnham also laid out the monumental bay front from Luneta
Park to Cavite, which came to be known as Dewey Boulevard (presently, Roxas
Boulevard). He also provided a site for the famous Manila Hotel, Army-Navy Club,
and the Elks Club. The Burnham plan for Manila was influential in the design of
other cities in the country. William Parson continued the task of building Manila and
successfully combined a mixture of Spanish, Oriental and Modern Industrial

buildings to forge a new architecture for the tropics with the use of reinforced
concrete. The first multistorey reinforced concrete building in the Philippines was
the Masonic Temple in the Escolta, which was soon to emerge at the premier
business and commercial street.

Pages 59,62
The war (World War II) left Manila with very few of the old houses of Spanish
vintage, a member of which are in the former Intramuros suburbs of Quiapo,
Binondo, and Tondo. Unfortunately, the fight for the preservation of these fine
examples of old residential architecture has proved futile. The expense of
maintenance, a general lack of appreciation for old things, and the need to
maximize land use with highrise buildings have led to the demolition of these
houses

Page 66
MANILA, compromising 38.3sq. kms. remains the core city in an area
defined by a presidential decree of 1975 as Metro Manila

5 Title: An examination of the local government land re-evaluation process: The

case of the City of Manila, study
Author: Jocelyn B. Davis-Asuncion
School of Urban and Regional Planning University of the Philippines, Diliman,
Quezon City
April 2003

Page ii
Manila has been known to be the center of politics, commerce, education,
tourism and culture. Although is recognized as one of the leading cities in the
country, it also has its shares of problems which includes unemployment and the
proliferation of urban dysfunction such as traffic congestion, slums, food,
deteriorated urban facilities and utilities. All these can be properly addressed with a
well-formulated development plan and adequate public finance. A huge part of
development planning is fundamentally tied to financing. Manila, like most cities,
needs to be imaginative about generating resources for its needs. An administrative

strategy would be to improve the tax base of the city. A significant proportion of the
income of the city comes from real property taxes. In 2001, about one third of the
citys tax revenues came from Real Property Taxes.

Page V
The actual street block survey revealed that the land use classification used
by the city Assess or is outdated and varies significantly with the actual land use
classification and zonal land use classification. Public investments are used in
densely populated and highly residential districts such as Tondo, Sta. Ana,
Sampaloc, and San Lazaro area. Areas with low population and mostly commercial
areas such as Binondo, Ermita and Quiapo receive a small percentage of the funds
allocated for infrastructure improvements. It clearly shows that the City of Manila
has not been biased in allocation public improvements towards areas with high land
values. Often decisions on where to put public investment are often politically
motivated.

Page 55
Available historical records reveal that Manila was already an established
entreport and a political and military center of the region around the Manila bay
even before the coming of the Spaniards under the rule of the older Rajah Matanda
and a younger co-ruler Rajah Sulayman in the 16th Century
The king of Spain was delighted by this conquest awarded the city a coat of
arms and the grandiose title The noble and ever loyal City

Page 58
In 1906, Daniel H. Burnham and his assistant Pierce Anderson, created a plan
for the city of Manila. An integrated spatial pattern was prescribed by Burnham for
the city, on top of a basic grid, a circulation systems radiating from a government
building site near Intramuros
Heralding Manila as the Premier capital of the country led to intensified
business and commercial development in Binondo, Port Area, Southern Manila Bay
and other districts.

Page 59
The rehabilitation of the city was accelerated with the founding of the New
Philippine Republic. The rapid rural-urban migration following the post-war period
saw the transformation of the city into a bustling metropolis

Page 77
Manila has historically served as the center of activities in the country since
the pre-spanish time. Manila was the first primate city of Southeast Asia
establishing its position during the opening years of the 17th century.
During the late 19th century, small Chinese-dominated, central business
districts began to emerge in the city. The retailing of goods in Manila was
concentrated along Escolta in Binondo. Simultaneously, the residential pattern of
affluent Spanish families underwent decentralization. The significant event that took
place was the location of Malacaang Palace in San Miguel as the summer residence
for the Governors.

Page 78
July 31, 1901, Manila became the first chartered city under the American
Regime. In October 1903, when the 20th century City Beautiful movement was in
vogue in the united states, Secretary of was William H. Taft through the Philippine
Commission requested Burnham and Anderson to prepare a plan for the
improvement of Manila

Page 228
It can be deduced that the City of Manila has not been biased in allocating
public improvements towards areas with high land values. Once can surmise that
decisions on where to put public investment are often politically motivated; higher
population plus public improvement can translate to sure win in re-election bids.

6 Title: An Analysis of the Philippine Economic Crisis

Author: Emmanuel S. De Dios
University of the Philippines Press, Quezon City, Philippines
1984