Sta Cruz, Manila

Santa Cruz is located at the left bank of the Pasig River, on the northern portion of the City of Manila, near the mouth of the river, in between the districts of Tondo and Quiapo. The district belongs to the 3rd congressional district of Manila in the Philippines.

Spanish colonial era
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors to the Philippine Islands, the district of Santa Cruz was partly a marshland, patches of greeneries, orchards and partly rice fields. A Spanish expedition in 1581 claimed the territory and awarded to the Society of Jesus or more commonly called the Jesuits.

Santa Cruz Church
The Jesuits built the first Roman Catholic Church in the area where the present Santa Cruz Parish stands on June 20, 1619. The Jesuits enshrined the image of the Our Lady of Pillar in 1643 to serve the pre-dominantly Chinese residents in the area. The image drew a lot of devotees and a popular cult grew around it.

On June 24, 1784, the King of Spain gave the deeds to about 2 km2 of land that was part of the Hacienda de Mayhaligue to the San Lazaro Hospital which served as a caring home for lepers in Manila at that time.

At the Santa Cruz Parish, a small park was built that linked the area into the headquarters of the Spanish cavalry, the building that once was the College of San Ildefonso, operated by the Jesuits. The district in the Spanish times also had a slaughter house and a meat market and up north was the Chinese cemetery.

The Franciscan fathers were given the responsibility to care for the lepers of the city and specifically the San Lazaro Hospital. A Fr. Felix Huertas developed San Lazaro into a refuge for the afflicted and it became a famous home for those afflicted in the north side of the Pasig River.

World War II
During World War II, the Japanese occupational forces caught unaware of the fast approaching the liberation by the combined American & Filipino soldiers in 1945 from the north, abandoned the northern banks of the Pasig River including Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz and much of the northern portions of Manila were spared from the artillery bombardment and to date, a number of pre-World War II buildings and houses still stand in Santa Cruz.

When the Philippine republic was finally established in July 1946, the San Lazaro Hospital complex became the head office of the country’s Department of Health.

Sta.Cruz today
Sta Cruz is a place where you can enjoy shopping and get bargains. It is also place where you can go shop for jewelries and get cheaper drugs & medical equipment especially near bambang area. Sta. Cruz today continiously developing and improving maybe not as progressive as other municipality but definitely growing.

Binondo

BINONDO Why “Binondo”? That’s because before the city was formed, Binondo sat on marshy wet lands planted with tubers and surrounded by tributary systems of the Pasig river called “binunduk,” which in Filipino, literally means “hilly.” Probably because it is surrounded by water that the area’s center seemed to “protrude” from the ground in those times. Located across the Pasig River from Intramuros is the Binondo area.

At present, the entire district is filled with all things Chinese from herbal medications. It is also where Manila’s bargain center, Divisoria market, may be found. It has been said that the commerce in Binondo that starts at dawn in the market places and continues throughout the day at the bazaars are so numerous that Makati trade is nothing compared to it.

Walking along Binondo’s busy streets and getting the all-present whiff of incense and different smoked foods to set the ambience make for a walking tour that is unique to say the least.

Tourists may start their walking tour with Binondo’s Ongpin street (also called 24-karat street for the large number of jewelry shops in the area) which is lined with Chinese tea shops, traditional medicine shops, jewelry stores, acupuncture clinics, kung-fu schools and mah-jong parlors (mah-jong is a Chinese game).

From Ongpin, tourists may head on to Plaza Santa Cruz to visit the Santa Cruz Church, a church set up by Jesuits to accommodate the Chinese Christian converts. Here devotees are often seen walking on bended knees to prostrate themselves in front of the altar as a symbol of their faith.

Each street in Binondo caters to different clientele needs. Customers looking for canvass and upholstery supplies may find the materials they require in Sabino Padilla formerly Gandara Street.

An alley of Nueva Street called Carvajal, is host to fruit and vegetable stalls where imported fruits like Chinese fragrant pears, grapes, dragon fruit, fresh cherries and tangerines may be bought cheaply.

Also along Ongpin may be found La Resurrection, a store famous for their old-fashioned chocolate tablets and cacao used for cooking cups of hot cocoa in the way it has been prepared since Spanish times.

Further down the street, good luck talismans, red and gold charms, incense and brass holders may be procured at numerous Buddhist religious supplies stores.

Visiting Chinatown will not be complete without visiting Eng Bee Tin, famous for ube hopia which now being exported all over the world.

Numerous gastronomic delights also await the Binondo day tripper. Steaming hot congee, dimsum and assorted dumplings may be found. Some of the restaurant/tea house such Wa Ying, David Tea House,Shin Ton Yok, Mazuki, Royal Garden, Maxim Tea House, Tunay ba beef. Other new restaurant such as Settle Best, Rosso Cafe, Teriyaki Boy, etc

Paco

Paco was formerly known as Dilao, because of plants that produce amarillo (yellow) color, were once plentiful on this district.Dilao or dilaw is a Tagalog word for the color yellow. Although, some sources say, it was named Dilao or "Yellow Plaza" by the Spanish settlers because of the Japanese migrants who lived there, describing their physiognomy. Spanish Franciscan missionaries founded the town of Paco as early as 1580.

The name Dilao was used until 1791. The name San Fernando was added, making it San Fernando de Dilao. In the 19th century, the town of San Fernando de Dilao was given the nickname of Paco (which means Francisco). Paco, along with Sampaloc, Santa Ana, San Juan del Monte, and San Pedro de Macati became the second largest districts that became part of Manila.It became to known as Paco de Dilao and eventually as Paco as it known today.

LANDMARKS:

* Plaza Dilao
* Paco Park
* Paco Church
* Sikh Temple

source: wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intramuros

INTRAMUROS

Located along the southern bank of the Pasig River, was built by the Spaniards in the 16th century and is the oldest district of the city of Manila, Intramuros. Its name, in Spanish literally "within the walls", meaning within the wall enclosure of the city/fortress, also describes its structure as it is surrounded by thick, high walls and moats. During the Spanish colonial period, Intramuros was considered Manila itself. the capital of the Philippines.

At the end of World War II, much of Intramuros was damaged by the returning by joint American and Filipino military forces.

In 1942, when the Japanese forces invaded the Philippines; U.S. forces led by General Douglas McArthur realized that Manila was indefensible so he declared it an Open City. He regrouped the USAFFE forces in the Bataan peninsula, only to be trapped there by the advancing Japanese army.

Upon the return of the combined United States and the Philippine Commonwealth troops in 1945, they bombarded Manila including Intramuros to flush out the remaining Japanese soldiers. Intramuros was in ruins after the war and the only structure that survived was the San Agustin Church; almost no other buildings remained standing. Almost 100,000 people died during the liberation of Manila.

Present day Intramuros

In the 1980s, under the direction of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, the Intramuros Administration restored the city and at present the walled city is the only district of Manila where old Spanish-era influences were retained. Much of the development of present-day Manila occurred outside the gates of Intramuros, leaving the surviving walls, streets and churches of Intramuros minimally touched by modernization, although outlets of Jollibee, McDonald's and Starbucks now sit alongside distinguished educational institutions within its walls. The old moats that surrounded Intramuros have been filled up and transformed into a golf course where locals and foreign nationals play the sport. The garrison that was Fort Santiago is now a tourist spot where visitors can enjoy the nostalgic romance of a bygone Spanish legacy within its gardens. In 2003, during Visit Philippines Year, tourism secretary Richard J. Gordon cleaned up Intramuros with the help of student and civilian volunteers as well as raised funds to light up the place and build a lights and sound museum.

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

Intramuros now houses some of the higher education institutions in the Philippines. These are the city-owned Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, the technical school Mapúa Institute of Technology (one of the Top 20 Schools in the Philippines), Lyceum of the Philippines University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran and high schools such as the Manila High School,and Colegio de Santa Rosa.

Following the design of medieval fortifications, along the massive walls of Intramuros are strategically located bulwarks: baluarte, ravelins: ravellin, redoubts: reducto. Entrance to the city are through gates: puerta, most of which have been restored or rebuilt. Most of these features have names such as Baluarte de San Diego, Baluarte de San Francisco de Dilao, Baluarte de San Gabriel, Baluarte de Sta. Barbara, Baluarte de San Andres; Puerta Real, Puerta Isabel II, Puerta del Parian, Puerta Almacenes, Postigo del Palacio, Puerta Sta. Lucia.

Malate

The word Malate is believed to have stemmed from the corruption of the Tagalog word "ma-alat," meaning "salty." Legends have it that tidewaters from Manila Bay flowed in-land as far as where the Remedios Circle is presently located. The salty sea water polluted the fresh water collected from wells, thus making drinking water in the area as salty as seawater.

The district is located at the southern end of the city of Manila, adjacent to Pasay City as its southern most border. North of Malate is the district Ermita and towards the east with San Marcelino street as border is the district of Paco.

During the Spanish period, the center of activity was focused around the Malate church, the Our Lady of Remedios Parish that had a cult following among pregnant women having a difficult pregnancy.

The once exclusive residential areas on the western portion of Malate started to transform in the 1970s into a commercial area with some big lotted houses and residential apartments being converted into small hotels and pensionne houses. Specialty restaurants and cafes also started to open in the district, as a result of the spill over of business from next-door Ermita district, which was for a time the red-light district of Manila. Malate has also been called the center of gay night life,and has a Gay Pride Parade every year.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES
The country's forefront financial agencies like the Department of Finance, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or BSP (Philippines Central Bank) and lending institution LandBank of the Philippines established their headquarters in the district, while the National Naval Command Headquarters of the Philippine Navy, a unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is at the boundary limits of Manila and Pasay City along Roxas Boulevard. Locating a fully functional medical facility is the city-subsidized Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center.

The district is also home to the country's first sports stadium, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the country's premiere zoological park, the Manila Zoological and Botanical Gardens.Promenades by the Manila Bay has been made more convenient and safe with the opening of the Manila Baywalk that starts near the junction of Pedro Gil St. and Roxas Boulevard. Tourists and alike can enjoy different types of al fresco restaurants and cafes and further down south of the path is the exclusive Manila Yacht Club.
Malate Church

PARKS
The district is also home to the country's first sports stadium, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the country's premiere zoological park, the Manila Zoological and Botanical Gardens.Promenades by the Manila Bay has been made more convenient and safe with the opening of the Manila Baywalk. In front of the Malate Church or the historical Parish of Our Lady of Remedios is the Rajah Sulayman Park that boasts of a dancing water fountain. Further down Remedio street towards the east is the Remedios Circle that was improved and renovated under the administration of Mayor Jose L. Atienza, Jr. in 2006.

Several restaurants have been erected at Baywalk in Roxas Boulevard. However, because of a city ordinance, the businesses are now located in the bayside of SM Mall of Asia. An open playground across the Manila Zoo was also renovated and improved and is now called, the Leveriza Children's Park.

source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia