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Metro ,,,Manila, , , , Parañaque, EMMA PORIO , , , San Juan, , and Ateneo de Manila University, The Valenzuela, and the lone of ANTONIA YULO-LOYZAGA . Its history can be traced back to the , The Philippines creation and reconfiguration of Manila CECILE UY as the colonial capital during the Spanish Institute of Philippine Culture, The Philippines andAmericancolonialperiods,throughthe early years of the republic (1946–1965), to its GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION becoming the nucleus of an amalgam of local government units (LGUs) from being the A coastal , has a land Greater Manila during the time of President of 686 square kilometers (PSA 2012) Quezon to becoming the Metro Manila dur- located in the southwestern portion of , ing the authoritarian Marcos regime until the the biggest island group in the Philippines. current administration. It is bounded by the of on In 1570 the , who were already in thenorth,Rizalontheeast,andCaviteand in the 1520s and were on the lookout on the south. It is also sandwiched for fertile land, found Manila lying on a delta by three bodies of : Manila on the formed by the Pasig , the only outlet west, on the southeast, and the of the inland , Laguna de Bay. A then , which cuts through the . thriving Muslim settlement at the mouth of Its strategic location along and the Pasig River, the settlement was estab- the Pasig River contributed to its growth lished by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1571 as andprimacyinthepastthreedecades,with the capital of the Spanish colonial effort in the bay providing an ideal port location for for the next 300 years (1565–1898). On local and international sea vessels facilitating June 3, 1571, López de Legazpi gave the title export–import trading activities, and the of “city” to the colony of Manila, and in 1595 river serving as an active transport gateway Manila was formally declared as the capital to the central of Manila until heavy of the . In addition to being a city siltation and land-based transport rendered and the capital of the Philippines, Manila also this system ineffective and saw the shift to became a and later a provincial cap- road-based transport (See and Porio 2015; ital for nearly all of Luzon. As the territorial Porio 2011). area of the province of Manila changed over time, it also lost its name to Tondo and was HISTORICAL BACKGROUND regained only around 1859. With the establishment of a civil gov- As the national (NCR), Metro ernment under the American regime Manila (MM) is different from the other 17 (1898–1946), the province of Manila was of the Philippines. While they are dissolved and a new charter was executed made up of provinces, the NCR or MM is for the city of Manila. The charter defined its composed of 16 : , Las Piñas, boundaries and divided it into that

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. Edited by Anthony Orum. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0197 2 METRO MANILA have remained unchanged. In 1942 during MMDA has become increasingly prominent II the president Manuel Quezon in and waste management, and disaster simplified the by merging control functions. , Caloocan, San Juan del Monte, The historic specificity of Metro Manila asa Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasay, and Paranaque lies in its democratic heritage, as it with Manila City to form Greater Manila. was the site of the first modern war of - This was dissolved after liberation from the tion in Asia (the 1898 ), Japanese in 1945, and the and cities which installed the first parliamentary returned to their prewar status. democracy as a system of governance, and In 1948 Quezon City became the new of the 1986 which capital of the new Republic of the Philippines. installed a democratic, decentralized regime This decision was initially made by the gov- of governance after two decades under the ernment in 1933 to decongest Manila using authoritarian rule of Marcos. Since the late Quezon City’s large and less populated areas , Metro Menila has increasingly been (Porio 2016). But on May 29, 1976, Presi- reconfigured by its particular insertion into dent gave the seat back the global economy through labor migration to Manila by presidential decree, after he and services to transnational capital in the had created Metropolitan (Metro) Manila, NCR. All these forces are reflected in the sig- which united the cities of Manila, Quezon, nificance of new public spaces, buildings, and Pasay, and Caloocan and the municipali- monumentsinwhatusedtobethesuburbsof ties of Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Las Manila, but which now occupy center stage Piñas, Malabon, Navotas, Pasig, Pateros, in national politics, commerce, industry, and Parañaque, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Taguig, culture (Porio 2009). and Valenzuela, to the call for unified and integrated development in the metropoli- tan region. The same decree created the SOCIOECONOMIC, POLITICAL, Metropolitan Manila Commission (MMC), AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE the administrative body to govern the emerg- ing , and , the pres- Metro Manila is viewed as synonymous with ident’s wife, was appointed its first governor. the Philippines and the Filipino people. It is Metro Manila was later decreed as the seat the seat of the country’s political–economic of government. On June 2, 1978, it was also and sociocultural power. Shatkin (2006, declared the National Capital Region (NCR). 577–578) describes the metropolis as “the In 1990 President Cory Aquino issued economic and political epicentre of the an executive order renaming the MMC country.” As the major transport, finance, to Metro Manila Authority (MMA), and political, and sociocultural hub of the nation, allowing of its member cities and it connects the country to the world. Those to choose from among them- living in the provinces call it , selves the chair of the agency. Five years later, because state bureaucrats, businessmen, and the MMA was replaced by Metro Manila residents treat the rest of the country like Development Authority (MMDA) by Presi- their vassals. Given that it accounts for over dent Fidel Ramos. The MMDA’s governing one-third (36.3 percent) of the nation’s gross and policy-making body was the Metro domestic product (GDP) in 2014 (Porio Manila Council, which again has a presiden- 2009) and is the seat of political power, this tial appointee as its chair. Since the 1990s, the label is not entirely misplaced. METRO MANILA 3

Asthecenterofeconomicactivityinthe industrial and manufacturing centers; and country, Metro Manila remains the largest the rest of the cities, which became the new economy among the 17 regions. Its annual suburban areas. These developments had led gross regional domestic product (GRDP) to population expansion and the densification was actually growing faster than the nation’s of Metro Manila (Porio 2018). GDP from 2011 to 2013. And, while GRDP Having grown from a population of only growth in 2014 declined just like the nation’s 3.5 million in 1970, Metro Manila or the GDP,it still contributed 2.1 percentage points NCR now has a 12.9 million population (34.4 percent) to the national GDP growth (PSA 2015a), the second largest among rate of 6.1 percent, while the other regions the 17 regions in the Philippines. But the contributed less than 1 percentage point each metropolis has a daytime population of (PSA 2015b). Services continue to be the top 16–18 million (Porio 2018), making it one of contributor to its economy. At 52 percent, it the most traffic-congested cities in Southeast also accounted for the biggest share of the Asia. Though its total land area is the small- national output of services. Its real per capita est among the regions, it remains the most income of 203,132 peso in 2014 was also densely populated region, with 21,000 per- the highest in the country and was nearly sons per square kilometer (PSA 2015a). three times the national per capita GDP (PSA Unfortunately, economic growth and invest- 2015b). ments in basic services and infrastructure However, as indicated in its Devel- have not kept abreast of the expanding needs opment Index (HDI) score of 0.777, Metro of the population. While Metro Manila’s Manila is quite low compared to other cities in poverty incidence is lower (11 percent) com- advanced economies (e.g., 0.916; pared to the national figure (33 percent), one 0.907), but it scored favorably in every 10 residents lives in informal settle- compared to other Philippine cities (Cebu ments (Ballesteros 2010). Urban governance 0.728; 0.702). One of the reasons and management are therefore a critical factor for its low HDI score is its population. The in how cities provide basic services, stimulate problem of overpopulation was first felt in the economy, and generate employment for Manila as early as 1933, and since then it has its constituencies (Porio 2014). attracted migrants from all over the country Composed of 17 administrative cities, as it continues to dominate the nation’s eco- Metro Manila is a body of relatively nomic opportunities. With Manila starting autonomous LGUs, which are loosely to be congested, the elite retreated to the connected through the MMDA. Because of , resulting in the development of the Philippines’ highly decentralized gover- NewManilainQuezonCityasanexclu- nance structure, local chief executives, such as sive residential community in the 1930s. In mayorsandgovernors,haveexecutive,legisla- addition, the postwar years witnessed not tive, and judicial control over local officials, only the reconstruction of Manila but also government employees, and their political theburgeoningofnewareaslikeMakati(the constituencies. State power was shifted from financial district, which has now replaced national to local governments to increase the in Manila ) in the 1950s; efficiency and effectiveness of local govern- QuezonCity,Pasay,Pasig,andParanaque, mentsinresponsetotheneedsoftheircon- where residential subdivisions and exclusive stituents. It also received a boost in the 1986 residential villages flourished; Caloocan, People Power Revolution (Porio 2004). This Malabon, and Valenzuela, which were the dismantled the 20-year Marcos dictatorship, 4 METRO MANILA which had been installed by the declaration theMangahanriverbasintothewest(Porio of martial law in 1972. The push for decen- 2011). Its location in the paths of tralization and democratization in urban and the intensification of the southwest development was further institutionalized by monsoon (locally known as habagat) theSocialReformAgendaduringtheRamos andthehighsubsidencelevelofsomeofthe administration (1992–1998). It became the cities in the metropolis have also rendered centerpiece for institutionalizing democratic Metro Manila prone to flooding (Porio 2011). practices, for example, consultation with and Thus, Metro Manila can become a large the participation of marginalized groups and with frequent inundations other sectors, in metropolitan governance. from overflowing and storm , To an extent, this setup also allows local elite rendering the existing drainage channels families to continue to dominate the political (with some of them still dating back to the leadership in these cities. Spanish and American colonial periods) MetroManilaisalsoaneducationaland highly inadequate. , as the home of half the uni- While Metro Manila’s poverty incidence versities and educational institutions in the is lower (11 percent) than the national figure country and with a monopoly of communica- (33 percent), one in every 10 residents live tions institutions. Its demographic, economic, in and squatter settlements (Ballesteros and sociocultural primacy is undisputed. The 2010). Eighteen percent of Metro Manila’s downside is its dwindling quality of life and population live in a low coastal elevation questionable environmental sustainability. zone. As services and infrastructure sup- Traffic jams, , mass protests, gated port lag behind Metro Manila’s population communities, exclusive commercial and growth, formal and informal settlements in consumption spaces, empowered urban poor these areas have arisen with minimal regu- groups in huge informal settlements, among lation (See and Porio 2015). Buildings and others,makeMetroManilaadifficultcityto other infrastructural developments are built navigate. on and danger zones, further compro- mising the quality of life in the metropolis (See and Porio 2015), where 41.7 percent ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES ofitspopulationliveonlessthan$2aday (World Bank 2018). Alongside poverty (low The Philippines is one of the most disaster- income, absence of land security and tenure, prone countries in the world (Arcibal 2014; and dependence on social services), the social Lozada 2014; Porio 2014; Yulo-Loyzaga et al. indicators that affect the social vulnerability 2016). The country sees an average of 20 of the metropolis are gender (the women), typhoons a year, even outside the regular age (both young and elderly), and education typhoonseasonofJunetoNovember(Porio (no or minimal schooling). 2014). Metro Manila is extremely exposed to are also one of the ecological climate-related hazards, including heavy to threats to Metro Manila since active faults extreme , sea-level rise, cyclones, surround the area. The most prominent of storms, and flooding because it lies on a semi- these is the Marikina Valley Fault System. It alluvial formed by sediment flows from contains two major segments: the West Valley the and Malabon–Tullahan and the East Valley faults. The West Valley river basins to the north, the Pasig–Marikina Fault (WVF) poses great risk to Metro Manila river basin to the east (Bankoff 2003) and forittraversesthecitiesofMarikina,Pasig, METRO MANILA 5

Quezon, Makati, Taguig, and Muntinlupa, made to climate-related challenges in their and neighboring provinces. It is reportedly daily lives have strengthened their resilience capableofproducinglarge-scaleearthquakes (Porio 2016). withamagnitudeof7orhigher( International Cooperation Agency 2002). The Philippines is likely to experience a WAYS FORWARD powerful soon, dubbed the “Big One,” and it may strike when the West Valley Research that highlights the interaction of Fault moves (Porio 2018). If this happens, biophysical and environmental factors with the whole of Metro Manila will be affected, the economic, sociocultural, and political with a projected death toll as high as 35,000, dimensions of and devel- with some 120,000 or more injured, and opment trajectories of the metropolis is over 3 million who will have to be evacuated critically needed. In a globally warming (Japan International Cooperation Agency world where economic and demographic 2002). expansion are highly concentrated in coastal , a Swiss-based reinsurance com- cities, this type of research is important in pany, found Metro Manila the second riskiest understanding the risk and resilience of city in the world among the 616 largest urban urban systems. More importantly, the risk areas assessed (Porio 2018). It is the urban governance of metropolitan cities that strad- poor , especially those living on dle bodies of water (seas, oceans, river and the fault line and in low-lying flood-prone lake systems) and varying social–political areas, who are most vulnerable. They are and economic geographies needs to be expected to incur losses not only of property interrogated with a new conceptual and butalsoofincomeandearningopportuni- methodological urban lens. ties, and to experience intense inconvenience (e.g., water sources buried by floods, toilets SEE ALSO: ; Capital Cities, Ex-Novo; blocked and overflowing with waste) com- Density; Informal Settlements; Megacity; Metropolitan Resilience; Migration and Urban pared to their relatively affluent neighbors Flows; Participatory Planning; Primacy; (Porio 2011, 2014). Public/Private Space Exposure to these conditions has pushed the local people and local government REFERENCES units to formulate adaptation strategies. Arcibal, Cheryl M. 2014. “Swiss Firm Says Manila There are support networks for calamities, 2nd ‘Riskiest City’ in the World.” Philstar butpeopleinsistthattheyrelymoreon Global. Accessed June 27, 2018, at http://www. themselves for survival than on others. The philstar.com/headlines/2014/03/27/1305726/ ecological vulnerability of Metro Manila swiss-firm-says-manila-2nd-riskiest-city- and the socioeconomic vulnerability of its world. urban poor population magnify the effects Ballesteros, M. 2010. “Linking Poverty and the of the environmental challenges and cli- Environment: Evidence from in Philip- pine Cities.” Philippine Institute of Devel- mate change (Porio 2011) that the world opment Studies Discussion Paper Series No. is experiencing today. However, the poor 2010-33. residentsofMetroManilahavebecome Japan International Cooperation Agency. 2002. usedtothefrequencyofcalamitiesandhave Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Study adapted to them. Thus, the physical, social, (MMEIRS). Manila: Japan International Co- and psychological adjustments they have operation Agency. 6 METRO MANILA

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