Mandaluyong ( ; ), officially the City of Mandaluyong (, ), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 465,902 people.
Located directly east of Manila, Mandaluyong was originally the barrio of San Felipe Neri under the jurisdiction of Santa Ana de Sapa. It became a separate municipality within the province of Tondo (later Manila) in 1841 and was annexed to the province of Rizal in 1901, briefly serving as the latter's provincial capital in 1904. The municipality was officially renamed Mandaluyong in 1931 during the American colonial period and became part of the City of Greater Manila from 1942 to 1945 and finally Metro Manila upon the region's establishment in 1975. It was granted cityhood in 1994, becoming the first municipality in Metro Manila to be converted into a city since the region's establishment.
Mandaluyong is home to part of Ortigas Center, one of Metro Manila's principal central business districts, which it shares with Pasig. It is also the site of the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, Banco de Oro, and San Miguel Corporation. The city is bordered by Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, Pasig, Taguig, and Makati, and is the fourth-smallest city in the Philippines by land area, covering .
Etymology There are different stories on the origin of the name Mandaluyong.
One tells of how the place was abundant with a kind of tree called luyong, now more commonly known as anahaw (Saribus rotundifolius), from which canes and furniture were made.
Another claims that the Spaniards named the place based on the report of a navigator named Acapulco, who saw the rolling hills frequently being lashed at by daluyong (“big waves from the sea”). This seems to confirm traditional pre-Hispanic stories that giant waves from the sea would meet the adjoining hills of the vast lowland, referred to as salpukan ng alon. Felix dela Huerta, a Franciscan historian, observed that the rolling topography of this land resembled giant waves of the sea.
As with the etymological legends of many Philippine places, when the foreigners asked what the place was called, the locals answered with the description "madaluyong" ("undulating"), later transcribed by Spanish writers as "Mandaluyong," with the addition of an “n”.
Another version of the name is based on a legend that a Maharlika named Luyong fell in love with Manda, the lovely daughter of a barangay chieftain. The chieftain did not like Luyong and forbade him Manda's hand. Luyong overcame this objection by winning a series of tribal contests, as was the custom at the time. The couple settled thereafter in a place which was later called “Mandaluyong" – a term made up of joining their names.
History Early history Natives of Mandaluyong trace their roots to Emperor Soledan (also known as "Anka Widyaya" of the Great Majapahit Empire) and Empress Sasaban of the Kingdom of Sapa, whose son Prince Balagtas ruled as sovereign of the kingdom in about the year 1300.
More than a century later, in about the year 1470, it expanded and was called the "Kingdom of Namayan" with "Lakan Takhan" as sovereign. The vast Kingdom comprised what are now Quiapo, San Miguel, Sta, Mesa, Paco, Pandacan, Malate and Santa Ana in Manila, and Mandaluyong, San Juan, Makati, Pasay, Pateros, Taguig and Parañaque.
Spanish colonial era Foundation Mandaluyong was first known as a barrio of Santa Ana de Sapa, which was part of the District of Paco, Province of Tondo (later known as the Province of Manila). It was named San Felipe Neri by the Spaniards in honor of the patron saint of Rome. It was separated civilly from Santa Ana de Sapa in 1841.
On September 15, 1863, San Felipe Neri established its own parish. Under the administration of the Congregation “Dulcísimo Nombre de Jesús” (), it constructed its own church, convent and school. The Parish of San Felipe Neri played a significant role as a relay station for propagating the Katipunan during the 1896–1898 Revolution.
Original barrios In 1829, the then-barrio of Mandaloyon had 10 barangays, each named after saints: San Pedro Bautista, San Roque, San Pascual, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Pedro Apostol, San Miguel, San Rafael, San Pedro Alcantara, and San Isidro. By 1840, there were a total of 14 barangays, and in 1845, when Mandaluyong became a separate pueblo, there were 17 barangays. This would increase to 28 barangays in 1864, until the early 1880s where the practice of naming barangays after saints were dropped and the number of barangays (which was changed to barrios) was reduced to ten: Poblacion, Buhangin, Licod Hacienda, Hagdanbato, Pasobancal, Barranca, Jolo, Punta, Santo Nino, and Zaniga.
During the American colonial era, the first recorded census in 1903 listed five barrios: Poblacion, Barangka, Hagdang Bato, Namayan, and Hulo. From these five evolved 22 sub-barrios.
The Philippine revolution Mandaluyong was significant in the Philippine Revolution of 1896 as the baluarte (territory) of the Katipunan or "Makabuhay" group, with seventeen branches.
On August 29, 1896, Andres Bonifacio, together with Emilio Jacinto and other members of the Katipunan went into the house of Romualdo Vicencio at Sitio Balakbak (now Villa San Miguel) to prepare for the upcoming revolution against Spanish authority. In this site, Bonifacio read the last manifestation of the Katipunan before they transferred in Hagdan Bato, in the house of Felix Sanchez. This event is also known as the "29 De Agosto" and "Pinagtipunan" in which it is already named in two streets near the historic Barangay Hagdan Bato Itaas. It was in Barangay Hagdang Bato on August 28, 1896, where Andres Bonifacio issued a proclamation setting Saturday, August 29, 1896, as the date of the attack on Manila.
On August 30, 1896, after the successfully revolution in San Felipe Neri, the Katipuneros went to San Juan del Monte and attacked the El Polvorin (gunpowder depot) in order to amass more weapons to use against the Spaniards. This event is popularly known as the Battle of San Juan del Monte. It was also in this town that the revolutionary paper, La Republika, was established on September 15, 1896.
American colonial era On June 11, 1901, San Felipe Neri was incorporated into the newly established province of Rizal. During the American Occupation, it was raised to a first-class municipality with five barrios, namely: Poblacion, Barangka, Hagdang Bato, Namayan and Hulo. By virtue of Act No. 942 dated November 6, 1903, it was consolidated with the municipality of San Juan del Monte and became the seat of the municipal government. For several months in 1904, San Felipe Neri became the capital of Rizal. San Juan del Monte was later separated from San Felipe Neri to regain its independent municipality status on March 27, 1907.
San Felipe Neri was renamed to its present name of Mandaluyong on November 6, 1931, by virtue of Act No. 3836. Many government infrastructures are established during the American Period, including the Correctional Institute for Women, Welfareville Compound, The Boy's Town, and the National Center for Mental Health.
Japanese occupation era
From 1942 to 1945, during World War II, Mandaluyong formed part of the City of Greater Manila, along with Manila, Quezon City, and other nearby towns of Rizal. Also during the war, Mandaluyong lost many of her people; among them were Catholic priests and civilians. Destruction was felt all over, but with the timely arrival of the American Liberation Forces and the Philippine Commonwealth troops on February 9, 1945, the municipality was saved from further damages. That day became a red calendar day for Mandaluyong marking its liberation from the Japanese Imperial forces by the Allies.
Philippine independence
After World War II, Mandaluyong began to become progressive and dramatically increase the economy. Many infrastructures, companies, and other businesses were developed in 1950s–1960s and as the result, making Mandaluyong recognized as the most developed municipality in the province of Rizal.
In 1967, actor and Mandaluyong native Pancho Magalona ran for governor of Rizal under the Liberal Party, but was defeated by incumbent Nacionalista governor Isidro Rodriguez from Montalban (now Rodriguez).
In May 1970, the Mandaluyong-based textile firm Continental Manufacturing Corporation of Rufino Deeunhong and his son Dewey Dee began exporting Vonnel yarn to both the Middle East and West Germany with the cooperation of Mitsubishi Corporation (owner of the Vonnel brand), which was credited as the first time a Philippine-manufactured good was exported to the Middle East.
The martial law era
Ambush of Juan Ponce Enrile
Mandaluyong played a small part in Ferdinand Marcos' efforts to rationalize his declaration of Martial law because the alleged 1972 ambush of Juan Ponce Enrile took place in Wack Wack Village, an exclusive neighborhood in Mandaluyong, in the hours immediately preceding its implementation. Because the alleged ambush took place in an exclusive subdivision, no independent eyewitnesses of the event have come forward, and witnesses of the immediate aftermath are few. This has lent credence to accounts which say that the ambush was faked, and that the site was selected specifically because it was easy to stage the incident there. The 14-year period which followed that night is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.
Industrial growth and government takeover efforts A prominent figure in Philippine business before Martial Law was Mandaluyong-based industrialist Domingo M. Guevara Sr., whose success began when he created Radiowealth, a brand of affordable Philippine-made appliances including radios and televisions. This eventually became the Mandaluyong-based Guevara Enterprises which dominated the fields of electronics, communications, agriculture and industrial development, transportation, and manufacturing in the Philippines, whose headquarters was on Libertad (now D.M. Guevara). National Artist Nick Joaquin noted that Guevara's projects - which included the manufacturing the "Sakbayan," which was the ever first Philippine-made car - brought the Philippine economy to the verge of Newly Industrialized Country status in the years before Martial Law. However, the growth of Guevara's businesses stopped when he refused to surrender control of his businesses to President Ferdinand Marcos during Martial Law, and Marcos retaliated by making it difficult for Guevara to do business.
Separation from Rizal province
On November 7, 1975, Mandaluyong was formally included in newly established Metropolitan Manila by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 824"" signed by President Ferdinand Marcos.
Cityhood
By virtue of the 1987 Constitution, Mandaluyong and the then-municipality of San Juan were represented in Congress by a single congressman.
San Juan–Mandaluyong Representative Ronaldo Zamora sponsored a House Bill which eventually became Republic Act No. 7675 otherwise known as "An Act Converting the Municipality of Mandaluyong into a Highly Urbanized City to be known as the City of Mandaluyong." President Fidel V. Ramos signed R.A. No. 7675 into law on February 9, 1994 (the 49th anniversary of its liberation from the Japanese), which was ratified through a plebiscite on April 10, 1994, making Mandaluyong the fifth city in Metro Manila. Mandaluyong became a lone district with its own representative in Congress. Prior to the enactment of the assailed statute, the municipalities of Mandaluyong and San Juan belonged to only one legislative district.
Contemporary Mandaluyong today is composed of 27 barangays divided into two political districts mainly by Boni Avenue and G. Aglipay Street.