B4QC: Birth of a Great City

I’ve been reading through a lot of web articles since i decided to start this blog to try and learn more about quezon city’s past, and though the wikipedia entry was quite detailed i found a better resource called the Quezonian Newsletter http://www.qcpubliclibrary.org/qcmanuscript.php, It is quite a long read so I’m just gonna pick up a few interesting things…


QC was the original cradle of the Philippine Revolution in 1896. As Teodoro Agoncillo, a historian, recorded in his book The Revolt of the Masses, it was in Balintawak that Andres Bonifacio and the other Katipunan leaders first gathered after the society was discovered by the Spaniards.


You all know about the Cry of Balintawak, right? Well, the true “Cry of Balintawak” occurred on August 23, 1896. when Bonifacio and his men tore their cedulas to symbolize their armed defiance of Spain. The first battle occurred on August 25, 1896, in Pasong Tamo.


The creation of Quezon City was born of the social justice philosophy of President Quezon. He wished for the laborers or employees not only a little more food in his stomach and a little more clothe on his back, but also a stronger roof over his head and a healthier environment. He envisioned a paradise for workingmen—- dwellings with all the comforts of sanitation and with playgrounds hear-by for children, to be constructed by the government and given in sale or lease to the laborers or employees at cost. One morning while Don Alejandro Roces Sr. was taking breakfast with him in Malacanang, their conversation happened on the subject of government housing project for laborers and employees—a barrio obrero. Don Alejandro told him that for the project there could no better site than the Diliman estate. Quezon saw that before long Manila would be bursting on its seams, and he agreed with his friend that the proper direction of expansion would be to the north and northeast of Manila toward the foot of the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Then and there he authorized don Alejandro Roces Sr. to negotiate for the purchase of a portion of the Diliman Estate of the Tuason.

Early one day in July, 1939, when the sun came out after a long spell of cloud and rain Quezon strolled along the Diliman area with his friends. Standing on a grassy promontory, about 200 feet above sea level, he surveyed the northeastern sweep of Kamuning, and he was so awed and inspired by the incredibly breathtaking view that he exclaimed: “This is where I would like to build a real Filipino metropolis!”

He pointed to a spot that is now Constitution Hill, south of the Novaliches watershed, overlooking what is now La Mesa Dam.

In 1936, the department of public works and communications of the Commonwealth government, felt that Manila as a capital was becoming so congested that pursuing the chores of administration was becoming to be difficult and unpleasant. Thus, they recommended the transfers of the capital from Manila to Tagaytay, which Quezon called “the city by the ridge.”
But Quezon rejected the idea. In a press conference he gave on August 4, 1936, he said: “Tagaytay is a place for tourists and vacationists. And I am going to make it one. I will contact the different government entities concerned to construct the necessary facilities in order to make it a weekend spot for government officials, business, and the middle class.

Early in the morning of September 27, 1939, President Quezon, and some cabinet members a group of assemblymen, visited Diliman, after enjoying the scenery, they had breakfast in the still unfinished administration building of the University of the Philippines. There he stressed the “necessity of early approval of the charter of the proposed city in Diliman site.”

The bill creating the new city was fathered by Assemblyman Ramon P. Mitra (Mountain Province, 2nd district). In his bill, the name of the city was Balintawak City.

The day after Quezon took the assemblymen to Diliman, the National Assembly deliberated for the final time on the Balintawak City bill. For a while, there was a heated argument on the name of the new city. Narciso Ramos of 5th district of Pangasinan and Eugenio Peres, 2nd district of Pangasinan, filed an amendment changing the name Balintawak to Quezon. Someone called up Quezon in Malacanang to ask his opinion on it. He replied: “Why can’t you wait until I’m dead, before you name anything after me.

Just the same, the name Quezon was affixed to the bill. Shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon of September 28, 1939, the National Assembly approved Bill no. 1206, creating Quezon Ctiy, replacing the original measure which was for the establishment of Balintawak City.