Maravilla, Micah Gabrielle P.

PLAN 201 `17 August 2019

ID # 2019-21574 Homework # O: Diagnostic

“My Hometown”

As per Merriam Webster, the definition of Hometown is simply the city or town where one was

born or grew up. I was born and raised in the area also known as the “City of the Star”, and

was the former capital of the Philippines, Quezon City.

I haven’t really thought much of how Quezon City was Quezon City, was founded and

named after the late President Manuel L Quezon, with his vision of having it as the Capital

of the Philippines replacing Manila, as it was getting overcrowded already. Prior to being

Quezon City, its land were portioned by small individual towns, namely: San Francisco Del

Monte, Novaliches and Balintawak. During the 1930’s, President Manuel L Quezon

purchased 15.29 km2 from the Diliman Estate of the Tuason Family, this became known as

the “Barrio Obrero, or the “Workers’ Village”, here, houses were built to accommodate low-

cost government housing program. It was 12th October 1939, Commonwealth Act No. 502,

also known as the Charter of Quezon City, an act to create Quezon City was approved,

Assemblymen Narciso Ramos and Ramon Mitra Sr. successfully urged the assembly to name

the city after the president, which also acted as the Chief Executive of that time. Come 10th

of November 1939, President Quezon appointed Tomas Morato as the Mayor and in

addition, one of the major contributions to the evolving city was to upgrade the mode of

transportation, thus, communicating with Luzon Bus Line to provide with a regular bus trip

within the metro and the housing project.

It was during 1940’s that the when the City were intended to have Masterplan, the intention

was to somehow “peg” it with the layout of Washington D.C in the U.S., wherein avenues

form a radial outline towards a central focal point or, in this case, the “heart of the City”,
which is now known as the Quezon Memorial Circle, a 26 hectare of land in elliptical shape.

Inside the now-park is 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.

When Quezon City was created in 1939, the following barrios or sitios: Balingasa, Balintawak,

Galas, Kaingin, Kangkong, La Loma, Malamig, Masambong, Matalahib, San Isidro, San Jose,

Santol, and Tatalon from Caloocan; Cubao, the western half of Diliman, Kamuning, New

Manila, Roxas and San Francisco del Monte from San Juan; Balara, Barangka, the eastern

half of Diliman, Jesus de la Peña and Krus na Ligas from Marikina; Libis, Santolan and Ugong

Norte from Pasig and some barrios from Montalban and San Mateo were to be given to the

new capital city. Instead of opposing them, the six towns willingly gave land to Quezon City in

the belief that it would benefit the country's new capital. However, in 1941, the area

within Wack Wack Golf and Country Club was reverted to Mandaluyong, and Barangka and

Jesus de la Peña to Marikina. In addition, the land of Camp Crame was originally part of San

Juan. On January 1, 1942, President Quezon issued an executive order from the tunnel of

Corregidor designating Jorge Vargas Mayor of Greater Manila, a new political entity
comprising, aside from Manila proper, Quezon City, Kalookan, Pasay, San Juan,

Mandaluyong, Makati, and Parañaque. Greater Manila would later be expanded to include Las

Piñas, Malabon, and Navota

The city lies on the Guadalupe Plateau, a relatively high plateau at the northeast of the

metropolis situated between the lowlands of Manila to the southwest and the Marikina

River Valley to the east. The southern portion is drained by the narrow San Juan River and its

tributaries to Pasig River, while running in the northern portions of the city is the equally-

narrow Tullahan River.

Quezon City is bordered by Manila to the southwest, by Caloocan and Valenzuela City to the

west and northwest. To the south lie San Juan and Mandaluyong,

while Marikina and Pasig border the city to the southeast. To the north across Marilao River

lies San Jose del Monte in the province of Bulacan, while to the east lie Rodriguez and San

Mateo, both in the province of Rizal.

The city can be divided into a number of areas. The southern portion of the city is divided into

a number of districts including Diliman, Commonwealth, the Project areas, Cubao, Kamias,

Kamuning, New Manila, San Francisco del Monte, and Santa Mesa Heights. The northern half

of the city is often called Novaliches and contains the areas of Fairview and Lagro. Most of

these areas have no defined boundaries and are primarily residential in nature.

Basically, and literally speaking, I consider it my hometown since from the meaning itself, I

was born and grew up in the area. But far more than the “Merriam Webster” meaning of the

word, I ponder to the fact that I got used to the highly urbanized area of Quezon City. It has a

lot to offer : from the