1.
Malate, Manila
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Malate is a district of Manila, Philippines. Together with the district of Ermita, it serves as Manilas center for commerce, the word Malate is believed to have stemmed from the corruption of the Tagalog word maalat. Tradition notes that the tidewaters from Manila Bay flowed far inland, Malate during the Spanish colonial period was an open space with a small fishing village. During the Spanish period, the center of activity was the Malate Church, devotion to the image was especially popular among pregnant women having a difficult pregnancy. American expatriates and some of the old Spanish mestizo families populated the district in high rise apartments. Despite extensive damage after the Second World War, many homes, the displaced wealthy families who evacuated their homes during the war returned and re-built their private villas and kept the whole district exclusively residential until the 1970s. During the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, visual and performing artists found a haven in Malate during the 1980s and it became a bohemian enclave and safe haven. Malate is continuously transforming itself as the center of recreation and entertainment for Manila with more restaurants, boutiques, bars, discos and novelty stores opening for business. The block bounded by the streets, Maria Orosa, Julio Nakpil, Adriatico and Remedios have become synonymous to street parties, al fresco dining, street dancing and concerts. The western side of Malate across Taft Avenue remains a quiet area with several apartment rows converted into dormitories for students enrolled at nearby schools. The district can be accessed by the main roads like the Roxas Boulevard, Quirino Avenue. The Light Rail Transit follows Taft Avenue and stops at three stations located in Malate, Vito Cruz Station, Quirino Station and Pedro Gil Station, the Bureau of Plant Industry is also headquartered in the area. In the 1990s, Malate and the district of Ermita had been cleaned-up and big businesses. Harrison Plaza, Manilas first enclosed mall, is located in the Malate district. There is one hospital, the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, located at the corner of Roxas Boulevard, the district is also home to the Philippines first sports stadium, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the countrys premiere zoological park, the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden. Promenades and parks by the Manila Bay have been more convenient and safe with the opening of the Manila Baywalk area. A portion of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex also lies within the district, education in Malate is mostly provided by private schools. Paul University Manila and St. Scholasticas College Manila, prominent secondary schools in Malate are the Jesus Reigns Christian Academy, Jose Abad Santos Memorial School and the Malate Catholic School
2.
Roxas Boulevard
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Roxas Boulevard is a popular waterfront promenade in Manila in the Philippines. The boulevard, which runs along the shores of Manila Bay, is known for its sunsets. The divided roadway has become a trademark of Philippine tourism, famed for its club, hotels, restaurants, commercial buildings. Originally called Cavite Boulevard, it was renamed Dewey Boulevard in honor of the American Admiral George Dewey, the boulevard is also an eight-lane major arterial road in Metro Manila designated as Radial Road 1 that connects the center of the City of Manila with Pasay and Parañaque. It is also a national road designated as a component of N61 of the Philippine highway network. The arcing road runs in a direction from Luneta in Manila and ends in Parañaque at the intersection of NAIA Road. Beyond its southern terminus, starts the Manila-Cavite Expressway, also known as the Coastal Road, or more recently, the Cavite Boulevard was part of Architect Daniel Burnhams plan for beautifying the city of Manila. The boulevards seaward side should be planted so as to interrupt occasionally the view of the sea and, by thus adding somewhat of mystery, enhance the value of the stretch of ocean and sky. The boulevard would be on reclaimed land to about as far south as the Old Fort San Antonio Abad in Malate, beyond which it strikes the beach and follows the shore line to Cavite
3.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
4.
Town square
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A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, piazza, plaza, most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, music concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. Being centrally located, town squares are surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores. At their center is often a fountain, well, monument, many of those with fountains are actually called fountain square. In urban planning, a city square or urban square is an open area in a city. Red Square in Moscow was originally used as a marketplace and later became the stage for Soviet military parades. Similarly, Beijings Tiananmen Square was the scene of both communist parades and anti-government protests, john-F. -Kennedy-Platz was the site of the West Berlin town hall and John F. Kennedys famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech. New York Citys Times Square as well as Bryant Park, Washington, D. C. s National Mall, trafalgar Square in London does the same for the United Kingdom. Saint Peters Square in Vatican City, the enclave within Rome. Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto is a renowned and famous square in Canada, nathan Phillips Square is a popular square in front of Torontos landmark City Hall. Hviezdoslavovo námestie is one of the squares in Bratislava and a centre of a social life. Dam Square in Amsterdam for the Netherlands, Main Market Square in Kraków, Market Place in Warsaw and Wrocław Main Square for Poland. The City Hall Square, Copenhagen for Denmark, praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, Portugal, was formerly known as the Terreiro do Paço. It was destroyed after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake but was rebuilt, the symmetrical buildings around the square hold government bureaus and ministries. Wenceslas Square is one of the city squares in the New Town of Prague. In Mainland China, Peoples Square is a designation for the central town square of modern Chinese cities. These squares are the site of government buildings, museums and other public buildings, the probably best-known and largest such square in China is Tienanmen Square. The German word for square is Platz, which also means Place and these have been focal points of public life in towns and cities from the Middle Ages to today
5.
Manila Bay
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Manila Bay is a natural harbour which serves the Port of Manila, in the Philippines. Manila Bay drains approximately 17,000 km2 of watershed area, with an average depth of 17 m, it is estimated to have a total volume of 28.9 billion cubic metres. Entrance to the bay is 19 km wide and expands to a width of 48 km, however, width of the bay varies from 22 km at its mouth and expanding to 60 km at its widest point. The islands of Corregidor and Caballo divides the entrance into two channels, about 2 mi towards the North and 6.5 mi wide on the South side. Mariveles, in the province of Bataan, is an anchorage just inside the northern entrance, on either side of the bay are volcanic peaks topped with tropical foliage,40 km to the north is the Bataan Peninsula and to the south is the province of Cavite. In the south channel is El Fraile Island and outside the entrance, to the immediate north and south are additional harbors, upon which both local and international ports are situated. Large number of ships at the North and South harbors facilitate maritime activities in the bay, being smaller of the two harbors, the North Harbor is used for inter-island shipping while the South Harbor is used for large ocean-going vessels. Manila Bay was connected to Laguna de Bay approximately 3,000 years ago, recurring episodic uplifts along the West Marikina Valley Fault caused the two to break up. Interaction between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay today occurs only through the Pasig River, the bay was the setting for the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, in which American troops led by Commodore George Dewey seized the area. This battle showcased the United States naval strength, all major Spanish ships were destroyed and captured. With its proud historic past and abundant marine life, Manila Bay became the portal and Filipino epicenter for government, economy. During the Russo-Japanese War at the close of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, three surviving Russian protected cruisers managed to make port in then-United States-controlled Manila for repairs. However, because the US was neutral in conflict, the trio of warships. In World War II, Corregidor Island was annexed by 1942 by Japanese forces based in Manila Bay, much earlier, various other battles were fought from this naval base, including the La Naval de Manila in 1646, which finally ended Dutch attempts to seize the Philippines. It also serves a focus for recreation for Metro Manila and is a destination for walks. Much of the land fronting the bay along Metro Manila is reclaimed land now includes important sites such as the Philippine Senate. On 27 September 2011, the sea walls of Manila Bay were destroyed by the surge caused by Typhoon Pedring. Even the United States Embassy, Museo Pambata and Sofitel Philippine Plaza were submerged by the flooding and it was estimated that the damage would cost P30 million to repair
6.
Pedestrian crossing
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A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road. Crosswalks are designed to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and they are also commonly installed where large numbers of pedestrians are attempting to cross or where vulnerable road users regularly cross. Rules govern usage of the crossings to ensure safety, for example, in some areas. Signalised pedestrian crossings clearly separate when each type of traffic can use the crossing, unsignalized crossings generally assist pedestrians, and usually prioritise pedestrians, depending on the locality. Pedestrian crossings already existed more than 2000 years ago, as can be seen in the ruins of Pompeii, blocks raised on the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeiis drainage and sewage disposal system. The spaces between the blocks allowed horse-drawn carts to pass along the road, the first pedestrian crossing signal was erected in Bridge Street, Westminster, Middlesex, in December 1868. It was the idea of John Peake Knight, a railway engineer, the signal consisted of a semaphore arm, which was raised and lowered manually by a police constable who would rotate a handle on the side of the pole. The semaphore arms were augmented by gas illuminated lights at the top to increase visibility of the signal at night, however, in January 1869, the gas used to illuminate the lights at the top leaked and caused an explosion, injuring the police operator. No further work was done on signalled pedestrian crossings until fifty years later, in the early 20th century, car traffic increased dramatically. A reader of The Times wrote to the editor in 1911, Could you do something to help the pedestrian to recover the old margin of safety on our common streets and it is heartrending to read of the fearful deaths taking place. If a pedestrian now has even one hesitation or failure the chance of escape from a death is now much less than when all vehicles were much slower. There is, too, in the motor traffic an evident desire not to slow down before the last moment and it is surely a scandal that on the common ways there should be undue apprehension in the minds of the weakest users of them. While the streets and roads are for all, of necessity the pedestrians, unmarked crossings may occur at any intersection, except at locations where pedestrian crossing is expressly prohibited. In the US these are called unmarked crosswalks, the simplest marked crossings may just consist of some markings on the road surface. In the US these are known as marked crosswalks, in the UK these are often called Zebra crossings, referring to the alternate white and black stripes painted on the road surface. If the pedestrian has priority over vehicular traffic using the crossing. In some countries, pedestrians may not have priority, but may be committing an offence if they cross the road elsewhere, some crossings have pedestrian traffic signals that allow pedestrians and road traffic to use the crossing alternately. On some traffic signals, pressing a button is required to trigger the signal
7.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
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The Philippine Daily Inquirer, popularly known as the Inquirer, is the most widely read broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines, with a daily circulation of 260,000 copies. It is one of the Philippines newspapers of record and it is a member of the Asia News Network. Apostol also published the Mr & Ms Special Edition, a weekly tabloid opposed to the Marcos regime. As the successor to the previous Mr. and Mrs. Special Edition, the new daily was housed in the dilapidated one-story Star Building on 13th and Railroad streets in Port Area, Manila. It was put out by 40 editors, reporters, correspondents, photographers, columnist Louie Beltran was named its editor-in-chief. The newspaper was then in documenting the campaign of Corazón Aquino during the 1986 presidential elections and, in turn. Its slogan, Balanced News, Fearless Views, was incorporated to the newspaper in January 1986 after a slogan-making contest held during the first month of the Inquirers existence. As Belmonte owned the Star Building where the Inquirer was headquartered, in February 1987, Federico D. Pascual, former assistant managing editor of the Daily Express, was named executive editor of Inquirer and was appointed editor-in-chief two years later. It was during his term in 1990 that the Inquirer took the lead from the Manila Bulletin to become the Philippines largest newspaper in terms of circulation, however, on July 1990, the Inquirer headquarters in Intramuros was damaged by an earthquake. On 5 January 1991, the transferred to the YIC building along United Nations Avenue. Inquirers longest-serving and first woman editor-in-chief, the late Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, was appointed on June 14,1991 and she was a former columnist and editor of the Panorama Sunday magazine of Bulletin Today who was sacked for writing articles poking fun at Marcos. She edited Mr & Ms Special Edition until the fall of the Marcos regime and she is also the first editor in chief of Sunday Inquirer Magazine. Under her term, in 1995, the Inquirer moved to its current headquarters in Makati City after transferring headquarters four times, during the administration of president Joseph Estrada, he criticized the Inquirer for bias, malice and fabrication against him—this charge to the newspaper was denied. In 1999, several government organizations, pro-Estrada businesses, and movie producers simultaneously pulled their advertisements from the Inquirer in a boycott that lasted for five months. The presidential palace was widely implicated in the boycott, which was denounced by then publisher Isagani Yambot as an attack on the freedom of the press. In 2007, according to the survey conducted by AGB Nielsen, the Manila Bulletin and the Philippine Star followed as the second and the third most widely read papers, respectively. Magsanoc died on December 24,2015 at the St. Lukes Medical Center in Taguig City, a month after her death, Jimenez-Magsanoc was recognized as the Filipino of the Year 2015 by the Inquirer. In February 2,2016, the Inquirer appointed its managing editor Jose Ma, nolasco as the executive editor, the new top position of the newspaper, replacing the traditional editor in chief position that used by Inquirer for more than three decades
8.
Quezon Memorial Circle
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The Quezon Memorial Circle is a national park, city square and a national shrine located in Quezon City, which became the capital of the Philippines from 1948 to 1976. The park is located inside a traffic circle in the shape of an ellipse. This location will be the alignment for the approved MRT-7 named Quezon Memorial MRT Station. Circle, as locals call it, has been undergoing significant changes in order to lure in more tourists both local and foreign, due to these beautification efforts of the local government the number of visitors is continuously increasing. The site was intended as the grounds of the National Capitol to be built in Quezon City to house the Congress of the Philippines. The location was part of a larger National Government Center located around Elliptical Road. The NGC was meant to house the three branches of the Philippine government, former Quezon City Mayor Tomas Morato was instrumental to the selection of the site of the memorial park. A national contest for the Quezon Memorial Project was held 1951, filipino architect Federico S. Ilustres design won the contest. Aside from the monument itself, a complex of three buildings, including a library, a museum, & a theater, were also planned to be erected. Shortly after the People Power Revolution, the Quezon City Parks Development Foundation was established during the term of then Quezon City Mayor, Brigido Simon Jr. The NPDA turned over the management of the park to the QCPDF, in the 1980s, the architecture firm of Francisco Mañosa made a masterplan for the park sometime in the 1980s. On July 1,2008, the QCPDF which has been managing the park from September 27,1988, the Quezon Memorial Shrine is an art deco-themed monument was designed by Federico Ilustre and was built during the 1950s and serves as the centerpiece of the Quezon Memorial Circle. The 66-metre shrine representing Quezons age when he died from tuberculosis stands on a thirty-six hectare elliptical lot and it houses an observation deck that can accommodate sixty people at the top through a spiral staircase which gives the visitors a panoramic view of the city. At the top of the pylons are three mourning angels holding sampaguita wreaths sculpted by the Italian sculptor Francesco Monti, the regional identity of each female angels figure could be discerned in the traditional costume they were clothed with. The winged figures atop the three pylons represented Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the gallery and the catafalque below are lit by an oculus, in turn reminiscent of Grants Tomb. The planned auxiliary structures were never built, two smaller museums, one containing the presidential memorabilia of Quezon, and the other containing items on the history of Quezon City, were installed within the Quezon Memorial Shrine itself. In the 1980s, missing, lost, or incomplete bas reliefs for the outside of the memorial were installed, a house of Manuel L. Quezon family in Gilmore, New Manila was transferred within the Quezon Memorial Circle and was made a museum. A city museum, the Quezon City Experience was also opened within park grounds in late 2015
9.
Rizal Park
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Rizal Park, also known as Luneta National Park or simply Luneta, is a historical urban park in the Philippines. Located along Roxas Boulevard, Manila, adjacent to the old walled city of Intramuros and it has been a favorite leisure spot, and is frequented on Sundays and national holidays. Rizal Park is one of the major tourist attractions of Manila, situated by the Manila Bay, it is an important site in Philippine history. The execution of national hero José Rizal on December 30,1896 fanned the flames of the 1896 Philippine Revolution against the Kingdom of Spain, the area was officially renamed Rizal Park in his honor, and the monument enshrining his remains serves as the parks symbolic focal point. Luneta is situated at the terminus of Roxas Boulevard. To the east of the boulevard, the park is bounded by Taft Avenue, Padre Burgos Avenue, to the west is the reclaimed area of the park bounded by Katigbak Drive, South Drive, and the shore of Manila Bay. Rizal Parks history began in 1820 when the Paseo de Luneta was completed just south of the walls of Manila on a patch of land next to the beach during the Spanish rule. Prior to the park, the land was the location of a small town called Nuevo Barrio that dates back to 1601. The town and its churches, being close to the city, were strategically used as cover by the British during their attack. Because of the part they played during the British Invasion, they were cleared after the rule of the British from 1762 to 1764. The church of Bagumbayan originally enshrined the Black Nazarene, because of the order to destroy the village and its church, the image was transferred first to San Nicolas de Tolentino then to Quiapo Church. This has since been commemorated by the Traslación of the relic every January 9 and this is why the procession always start at Rizal Park. West of Bagumbayan Field was the Paseo de la Luneta named after the fortification and it was also named Paseo de Alfonso XII, after Alfonso XII, King of Spain during his reign from 1874 to 1885. Paseo de la Luneta was the center of activity for the people of Manila in the early evening hours. This plaza was arranged with paths and lawns and surrounded by a wide driveway called La Calzada where carriages circulate, during the Spanish period from 1823 to 1897 most especially in the latter part, the place became notorious for public executions. A total of 158 political enemies of Spain were executed in the park, the bronze-and-granite Rizal monument is among the most famous sculptural landmarks in the country. It is almost protocol for visiting dignitaries to lay a wreath at the monument, located on the monument is not merely the statue of the national hero, but also his remains. On September 28,1901, the United States Philippine Commission approved Act No,243, which would erect a monument in Luneta to commemorate the memory of José Rizal, Philippine patriot, writer and poet
