The Creation of Quezon City

A Research and Compilation by former City Councilor Alberto M. Galarpe

Manuel L. Quezon
2nd President of the Philippines and 1st Mayor of Quezon City
Photo from Wikipedia

On September 2, 1939, Assemblyman Ramon P. Mitra of the 2nd District of Mountain Province stood before the National Assembly with a bill proposing the creation of a capital city in the country. The bill could have been approved easily but Mitra wanted it named Balintawak or Andres Bonfacio City for historical reasons.

Two assemblymen from Pangasinan, Narciso Ramos, the father of former President Fidel V. Ramos, and Eugenio Perez, teamed up to delay the passage of the bill so that a more appropriate name could be selected. When the matter was bought to Malacañang, President Manuel L. Quezon called a group for reaction. Quezon preferred to have the capital city named Harrison City after the former American Governor-General of the Philippines. Another suggestion was Taft City in honor of the first Civil Governor of the Philippines. However, Don Alejandro Roces, Sr., the person closest to President Quezon, said “Let us call it Quezon City”. Quezon reacted by saying, “Why can’t you people wait until I’m dead before you name anything after me?” But the decision was unanimous for which Quezon just smiled.

And so in the afternoon of September 28, 1939, the National Assembly approved Bill No. 1206 creating Quezon City. On October 12, 1939 President Quezon signed Commonwealth Act No. 502 now known as the Charter of Quezon City and he himself immediately assumed the position as Mayor. After three weeks before the end of 1939, he appointed Tomas Morato, an Engineer and a close friend, as his replacement, thus making him the first Mayor of Quezon City.

The first appointees as Quezon City officials were: Pio Pedrosa as City Treasurer who later became Secretary of Finance; Jake Rosenthal as City Assessor; Emilio Abello as City Attorney who later became Executive Secretary; Vicente Fragante as Vice Mayor and at the same time City Engineer; Dr. Eusebio Aguilar as City Health Officer and also as City Councilor together with Jose Paez and Alejandro Roces, Sr.; Atty. Damian Jimenez as Secretary of the City Council; and Sabino de Leon as Chief of Police. The first City Council of Quezon City was composed only of three people namely, Dr. Eusebio Aguilar, Jose Paez and Alejandro Roces, Sr. They continued as City Councilors until the outbreak of World War II when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1942. Throughout the Japanese occupation, Quezon City was non-existent. However the city became a District of the Greater Manila. One, Dr. Florencio Cruz, was named as District Chief and Atty. Oscar Castelo as Acting Mayor. Right after the war, Sabino De Leon who was the former Chief of Police of Quezon City before the war, was designated as Acting Mayor by Sergio Osmeña, Sr., then the President of the liberated Philippines.

Manuel Roxas
5th President of the Philippines

On April 23, 1946 a national election was held for the first time after the war. Former President Quezon’s Secretary of finance Manuel A. Roxas won over incumbent President Sergio Osmeña. Immediately after the elections, President Roxas announced his intention of restoring Quezon City as a regular chartered city. On the eve of Christmas, 1946, President Roxas appointed Engr. Ponciano A. Bernardo as City Mayor probably because Bernardo was City Vice Mayor and City Engineer of Quezon City during the term of Mayor Tomas Morato from 1940 until the outbreak of the war in 1941.

When Mayor Bernardo died at the age of 44 together with Mrs. Aurora Aragon Quezon, the wife of President Quezon, in that infamous ambush made by bandits at Bongabong, Nueva Ecija on April 28, 1949, Atty. Nicanor Roxas who was then Assistant Executive Secretary of President Quirino became City Mayor up to January of 1950. Later on, Rizal Congressman Ignacio Santos-Diaz was appointed City Mayor until the end of the term of Quirino in 1953. In 1954 the new President, Ramon Magsaysay, appointed Norberto S. Amoranto, a tax lawyer, as City Mayor. He was the first elected mayor of Quezon City and was the longest serving Chief Executive of the City. However, due to poor health, Amoranto submitted his resignation to President Ferdinand Marcos after serving the city for 22 years. In his place, Adelina S. Rodriguez, the wife of then Rizal Governor Isidro Rodriguez, was appointed as the new City Mayor. When Martial Law was lifted and President Marcos was dethroned as President in 1986, the new President of the Philippines, Corazon C. Aquino, appointed Brigido R. Simon, Jr. as Officer-In-Charge of the City and was subsequently elected City Mayor in 1987. Simon held the city mayorship until former City Vice Mayor Ismael A. Mathay, Jr. was elected Mayor in the 1992 elections.

Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. who was a three term congressman of the 4th District of Quezon City and who later on became Speaker of the House of Representatives, was elected City Mayor over movie actor Rudy Fernandez in an election held in May 2001. He is the incumbent City Mayor of Quezon City after winning his second term over former Mayor Mathay in the 2004 elections.

Originally Quezon City was carved out from the province of Rizal and affected the territories of the municipalities of Caloocan, San Juan, Marikina, Pasig and Mandaluyong.

Quezon City
Photo from Wikipedia

Its original land area of 1,527 hectares for a low-cost housing project in Kamuning District which was then a part of the municipality of San Juan, was expanded into 7,335 hectares when the law creating it was a new city was enacted under Commonwealth Act. No. 502 on October 12, 1939. Its land area was further expanded into its present size of 15,359 hectares with the passage of Republic Act. No. 333 on July 17, 1948 and Republic Act. No. 537 on June 1, 1950. These laws extended the city boundaries to include the eight barrios of Caloocan and the eight landed estates from nearby southwest territories making it biggest local government in Metro Manila in terms of land area and consequently of population. By description, Quezon City is five times bigger than the City of Manila.

The beginning of the year 2006 made Quezon City the richest city in the Philippines. With its numerous economic activities, Quezon City draws its income from the registered 70,000 business establishments paying P2,635,229,130.00 in business taxes. The city’s other sources of income include real property taxes in the amount of P2,299,519,760.00; other forms of taxes amounting to P305,781,800.00; shares from the national tax collection amounting to P1,548,176,820.00; and other regulatory fees and charges. The City’s total income ending December 31, 2005 amounted to Seven Billion, three Hundred Seventy Six Million, Three Hundred Ninety One Thousand and Seven Hundred Eighty Pesos (7,376,391,780.00)

In Metro Manila, as reported by the Department of Finance Bureau of Local Government ending December 31, 2005, Quezon City had the biggest income of P7,376,391,780.00 followed by Manila with an income of P7,119,823,858.00. Makati City came in third with an income of P6,320,342,864.75

In terms of expenditures, the City of Manila is number one in the amount of P5,902,084,336.00, followed by Quezon City in the amount of P4,796,002,210.00 and thirdly by Makati City in the amount of P4,416,865,605.91. The total expenditures of Quezon City ending December 31, 2005 is P4,796,002,210.00. Therefore the excess of income over expenditures is P2,580,389,570.00.

Under Ordinance No. SP-1615, 2005 the City Council approved the annual budget of the Quezon City government for calendar year 2006 in the amount of Six Billion Two Hundred Fifty Million Pesos (P6,250,000,000.00)

Indeed, Quezon City is financially sound and stable under the administration of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte. The people of Quezon City will therefore benefit from the programs for total development and enhancement of welfare and living conditions spearheaded by the government.