Capital of The Philippines - History

History

On April 23, 1521 Ferdinand Magellan landed in Cebu. He was welcomed by Rajah Humabon, who, together with his wife and about 800 natives, were baptized by the Spaniards on April 14, 1521 and are considered to be the first Filipino Catholics. Magellan, however, failed to successfully claim the Philippines for the crown of Spain, having been slain in neighboring Mactan Island .

In 1570 a Spanish expedition ordered by the conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi demanded the conquest of Manila. His second on command, Martín de Goiti departed from Cebu and arrived in Manila. The Muslim Tagalogs welcomed the foreigners, but Goiti had other plans. The Spanish force of 300 soldiers marched through Manila and a battle was fought with the heavily armed Spaniards quickly defeating and crushing the native settlements to the ground. Legazpi and his men followed the next year and made a peace pact with the three rajahs and organized a city council consisting of two mayors, 12 councilors, and a secretary.

A walled city known as Intramuros, at the southern banks of Pasig River was built to protect the Spanish colonizers. On June 10, 1574, King Philip II of Spain gave Manila the title of Insigne y Siempre Leal Ciudad ("Distinguished and Ever Loyal City"). In 1595, Manila was proclaimed as the capital of the Philippine Islands and became a center of the trans-Pacific silver trade for more than three centuries.

When Philippine Revolution exploited in 1896, The town of Malolos in the northern province of Bulacan became the headquarters of the revolutionary movement yet several other towns became capitals, at a succeeding rate to avoid capture from the Americans during the Philippine–American War. The status of the national capital moved back to Manila after capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo on 1901.

In 1905, Famous architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham laid out a grand civic district in Manila, like Washington D.C and Chicago. Burnham's grand plan was never fully implemented. Only a few of the planned civic structures were built

During the time of the Commonwealth, Manila still served as the nation's capital. During these times too that Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon dreamed of a city that could become the future capital of the country, replacing Manila. The 1941 Harry Frost-Juan Arellano master plan for the new capital Quezon City provided a new site. Quezon also considered establishing a summer capital at Tagaytay, However the two cities’ plans were put on hold because of the advent of World War II.

During the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic of the Philippines and throughout World War II Manila still served as the nation's capital, However Baguio serve as the temporary capital of government in exile and the site where General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Vice Admiral Okochi surrendered

After the war, The Quezon City plan was revived, but the site of the three branches were moved to Novaliches. These plans were revised twice more in 1949 and 1956. In the preparations for the 1949 plan for the Capital at Quezon City, the government actually looked at locating the capital elsewhere. A committee was formed to look at 16 other options to Novaliches. These included, among others: Tagaytay, Cebu, Davao, San Pablo, Baguio, Los Baños, Montalban, Antipolo, and Fort Mckinley. The committee even considered moving the capital to Boracay Island

During President Ferdinand Marcos' period of Bagong Lipunan (New Society), Quezon City's stature of being the nation's capital was transferred to Manila and the area now known as Metro Manila on June 24, 1976 by Presidential Decree No. 940.

President Marcos also considered an alternative site for the national capital. A joint study was conducted by the architecture and planning offices of Cesar Concio and Felipe Mendoza, comparing the original Novaliches site and a newly reclaimed stretch of land south of the new Cultural Center of the Philippines.

During the administration of Fidel V. Ramos there were suggestions during his term to move the nation's capital to Fort Bonifacio as part of the conversion plans then. While Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proposed that the nation's capital to move to Cebu City.