NCR-NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

National Capital Region (NCR), also known as Metropolitan Manila is the country's
political, economic, and educational center. The smallest region in the Philippines, it
is the most densely populated region which is home to over 12 million Filipinos. It
has sixteen (16) highly urbanized cities composed of Manila, Quezon City,
Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa,
Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, all broken
down into 1,705 barangays.

Shaped by foreign powers, Manila became the capital of the Philippines in 1571
under the Spanish rule. Mariquina also served as the capital from 1898- 1899, under
the colonization of United States. In 1901, the recreation of Manila at the time of the
Philippine Commonwealth was commissioned to create the grand Plan of Manila,
composed of the places and parishes of Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate,
Manila, Pandacan, Quiapo Sampaloc, San Andrés Bukid, San Fernando de Dilao,
San Miguel, Sar Nicolas, Santa Ana de Sapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo.

President Quezon established Quezon City in 1939 to be the capital city of the
country from 1948-1976. It was returned back to Manila through Presidential Decree
No. 940, stating that Manila has always been to the Filipino people and in the eyes
of the world, the premier city of the Philippines.

The City of Greater Manila was abolished by the Japanese with the formation of the Philippine Executive Commission to
govern the occupied regions of the country. The City of Greater Manila served as a model for the present-day Metro
Manila and the administrative functions of the Governor of Metro Manila that was established during the Marcos
administration.

On November 7, 1975, Metro Manila was formally established through Presidential Decree No. 824, under the
management of the Metropolitan Manila Commission. On June 2, 1978, through Presidential Decree No. 1396 the
metropolitan area was declared the National Capita Region of the Philippines, with the President's wife Imelda Marcos as
the first governor.

In 1995, President Corazon Aquino reorganized the structure of the Metropolitan Manila Commission and renamed it to
the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, with its chairperson appointed by the President.

Map of Metro Manila showing the cities and municipalities. Metro Manila is now composed of sixteen cities and one
municipality. Each is governed by a mayor who belongs to the Metro Manila Mayor's League, which is part of the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Unlike other regions which are divided into provinces, Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) is divided into
four nonfunctioning districts, which are grouped according to geographical basis in reference to the Pasig River. These
districts were created in 1976 but have no local government and no congressional representation, in contrast to that of the
provinces. These districts are used mostly for fiscal and statistical purposes.

The cities and municipalities within the NCR are grouped into the four districts as follows:

1) 1st District: City of Manila; 2) 2nd District: Mandaluyong City, Marikina City, Pasig City, Quezon City, San Juan City; 3)
3rd District: Caloocan City, Malabon City, Navotas City, Valenzuela City; 4) 4th District: Las Pinas City, Makati City,
Muntinlupa City, Paranaque City, Pasay City, Pateros Municipality, and Taguig City.

A city of great diversity, Metro Manila is also a place of attraction rich in historical, cultural, and religious
influences. Interesting places include Rizal Park, The National Museum, Manila Bay, the walled city of Intramuros, the
Cultural Center of the Philippines in Makati, Quezon City Memorial Circle and Ninoy Aquino Wildlife Center, and as well
as the shopping centers in Ortigas Center.
 Metro Manila is also characterized by a very large middle-class group scattered throughout the metropolis. The
middle-class group in Metro Manila enjoys much more spending power, access to education, and far better living qualities
than the quite numerous poverty-stricken people that migrate to Metro Manila from the provinces.

The metropolis has an extensive system of highways connecting the various cities and municipalities. The major
roads include ten radial roads, which branch out from central Manila and five circumferential roads which form a series of
concentric semi-circular arcs around downtown Manila. Most of these roads are very important transportation arteries.

One is the C-4 (Circumferential Road 4), also called Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or more popularly as EDSA. It is
the major thoroughfare in Metro Manila connecting five cities in Metro Manila, namely Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong,
Quezon City, and Caloocan. Some other important roads are R-1 (Radial Road 1) (Roxas Boulevard and Manila-Cavite
Expressway) connecting to Cavite province in the southwest; R-3 or the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) connecting to
Laguna province in the southeast; R-6 (Aurora Boulevard and Marcos Highway) connecting to Rizal province in the east;
and R-8 or the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) connecting to Bulacan province in the north. One of its newest roads, the
Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, running on the reclamation area parallel to R-1, is one of the destinations of Manila's
elite.

As of 2005, there are two different rapid transit systems in Metro Manila: the Manila Light Rail Transit System, or the LRT,
and the Manila Metro Rail Transit System, or the MRT. The Yellow Line (LRT-1) and the Purple Line (MRT-2) form the
LRT network, while the Blue Line (MRT- 3) forms the MRT network, with 29 stations on the LRT and 13 stations on the
MRT. Four more lines are proposed and would connect Metro Manila to the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and
Rizal upon their completion.

The country's main airport is the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) which straddles the boundary between
Paranaque City and Pasay City. It presently consists of two terminals, while a third one will open soon. There is also a
separate domestic terminal. There are two main runways and the hangar of Philippine Airlines is located near the Villamor
Air Base.

Being in the heart of the Tagalog region, Tagalogs constitute the majority in Metro Manila. However, being the capital of
the nation, Metro Manila has also attracted great migrations of other Filipino ethno linguistic groups from around the
country, especially those of Ilocano, Bicolano, Cebuano, Waray, and Maranao descent. Manila is the main hub of the
Spanish mestizo minority. Small foreign communities include the Chinese, Americans, South Asians, Spaniards,
Indonesians, Japanese, Koreans, Arabs, and various others. 15

Filipino (the National Language that is based on Manileño Tagalog) and English are both official languages, and virtually
all Metro Manileños understand them. Other languages spoken by regional immigrants include Tagalog, Cebuano,
Bicolano, Waray, Kapampangan, Ilocano, and Maranao, though there are also more than 86 different dialects in the
Philippines. Foreign languages other than English spoken by a limited number of people, mostly immigrant communities,
include Spanish, Sindhi, Punjabi, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, and several other European languages.

The principal religion of the Filipinos is Roman Catholicism. The Chinese and the Indians practice Buddhism and
Hinduism, respectively, while those of American, Northern European, and Chinese descent tend to be Protestants. Most
Maranao Filipinos and Indonesians practice Islam.

Some of the festivities, holidays and traditions are:

Feast of Black Nazarene. It is one of the most famous religious processions of the Philippines. Thousands of people
gather in Quaipo, Manila, and celebrate the figure of Christ, a statue built more than two centuries ago. In this procession,
barefoot men and women join and walk for hours through the streets of the city.

Aliwan Fiesta. It is one of the most popular celebrations in the Philippines. It started in 2003 but has already earned a
place among the parties most visited by tourists. The Aliwan Fiesta is an annual event that brings together different
cultures across the country, showing their dances, traditions, art and culture. It is a good opportunity to learn what gathers
in the country, see the traditional costumes and customs of each culture. Really interesting!

Santo Niño. Manila has many religious festivals. The celebration of the Santo Niño makes Filipinos decorate their streets -
especially the district of Tondo and Pandacan with striking colors and decorations, dancers and music. A good show to
discover this festival during your trip.
Old Makati's Bailes de los Arcos. The Baile de los Arcos is a party held for generations in Manila. It also has a religious
character, since it's dedicated to the Virgen de la Rosa, Saint Peter, and Saint Paul. The young women are the
protagonists of this Filipino festival. They rehearsed a traditional dance for months and it's given as an offering and as a
thank you for the saints for all the favors and wishes they have granted throughout the year.

Buling-Buling in Pandacan. Manila, and Philippines as a whole, have traditions really attached to the dance. The buling-
buling in Pandacan is one of the most popular dance celebrations in the area. In fact, it has become the official dance of
Manila. This festival is represented by choreographed and studied dance shows. The people of Manila celebrate this with
joy and hospitality.

Battle of Manila. Every 3rd of February, the capital of the Philippines celebrates the release of its territory during World
War II in 1945. The celebration is more discreet than other festivals in Manila, but citizens still celebrate their identity as a
city and as a country.

Manila Day. June 24th is a holiday in Manila. The party is celebrated by most religions living in the Philippines. Each of
those prepare a feast to remember and celebrate their triumphs, traditions and Sculpture. If you get a chance, try to travel
to one of the islands of the Philippines to live this special party more intensely.

Historians point to the Tagalog people, Austronesians who migrated from the Pacific Islands and established settlements
along Manila Bay and the banks of the Pasig River, as the first residents of what we now call Manila. And no dish in the
Filipino arsenal is as emblematic of their cooking as adobo: a braise of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, black peppercorns, and
bay leaves.

The modern name for the dish originates with the Spanish, who, in need of a Latin vocabulary to codify their new colony,
referred to the dish as adobo de los naturales, literally "the marinade of the natives." And native it is. Every island,
province, town, and household has its own recipe. Adobo is the national umbilical cord to our earliest forebears.

When Chinese traders first arrived on the islands in the 9th century, they brought with them an array of noodle dishes
from the homeland that have, over the years, come to be known collectively as pancit. The word comes from the phrase
pian i sit, meaning "convenient food" in the Hokkien dialect spoken in Fujian. Hawkers eventually set up panciterias,
Manila's first restaurants, with Binondo as their epicenter. It is the world's oldest Chinatown, established in 1594 when the
Spanish Governor granted land to immigrant Chinese merchants who had converted to Catholicism. For 400 years,
Binondo was the economic center of Manila.

Over the centuries, pancit spread throughout the islands, taking on the distinct character of each place. Made with boiled
egg noodles and topped with shellfish, its called pancit malabon, named for the fishing town north of Manila. With thin rice
noodles, sautéed and tossed with pork, chicken, shrimp, vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and chicharon, it's called pancit
bihon, from the Hokkien term bee hoon meaning rice vermicelli. Take the same noodles, cook them in boiling water, toss
in a shrimp sauce with all the toppings, add achuete powder for color, and its pancit palabok. ("Palabok" in Tagalog
means "added flavor.") One can go from north to south on the Philippine map and match each province to its pancit, as
food historian Claude Tayag has done, calling out pancit canton, pancit sotanghon, pancit palabok, pancit habhab, pancit
langlang, batchoy, udong, miki, molo, lomi.

It took not one, but two foreign influences to bring halo-halo into existence. Americans built the country's first ice plant,
Insular Ice and Cold Storage, in 1902, for their troops in the tropics. Ice and ice cream, once luxuries, became more
accessible. Japanese immigrants arriving in the 1920s opened shops installed with ice shavers and sold mongo conhielo,
shaved ice topped with red beans, sugar, and evaporated milk. This dessert was itself a variation on a Japanese dish
called mitsumame, meaning "many beans." The local palate had been primed. Take boiled sweet red beans, macapuno
(tissue-like coconut Cilesh), sliced minatamis na saba (saba bananas cooked in a sugar syrup), jackfruit, green jello, nata
de coco (jellied coconut water), kaong (palm fruit), and pinipig (puffed rice). Add a layer of shaved ice doused in
evaporated milk. Top with a scoop of ube (purple yam) ice cream and a dollop of leche flan. This is halo-halo, the dessert
of summer.

Some of the foods are laing sa gata (dried taro leaves in a spicy coconut stew), bistek tagalog, bibingkang abnoy (similar
to torta but made with duck eggs) of Pateros, waknatoy and everlasting of Marikina or their own version of menudo and
meatloaf, prawn laing of Makati and suman ng munti of Muntinlupa,

Metro Manila is home to several leading Philippine educational institutions such as the Ateneo de Manila University, De
La Salle University-Manila, the University of the Philippines (both the Diliman and Manila campuses), and the University of
Santo Tomas. Other noteworthy institutions of higher learning include Adamson University, Arellano University,
Assumption College, Centro Escolar University, the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Far Eastern University, Miriam
College, Pamantasang Lungsod ng Maynila, Philippine Normal University, Philippine Women's University, Polytechnic
University of the Philippines, San Beda College, the University of Asia and the Pacific, the University of the East, and the
University of Manila. Metro Manila is also home to numerous public and private basic education institutions, science high
schools, and international schools. Every year, thousands of students from the various countries of Asia such as China,
Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and even from Europe go to the Philippines to study.