Pandacan is a district in Manila, Philippines, which is known in recent history as the former site of the Pandacan Oil Depot which supplied the majority of oil exports in the country.
Etymology Pandacan is a corrupted term derived from its older designation, Pandanan. The name is rooted in the word pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius), referencing a tree that was once abundant in the area.
Profile In 2020, Pandacan had a total population of 84,769. The original residents of the district were Tagalog migrants from the province of Bulacan. When the district grew and progressed as a manufacturing center for Manila, several ethnic groups from other parts of the country migrated into the district after the Second World War.
The district is bounded to the north and northeast by the Pasig River, the Estero de Pandacan to the west and south and the district of Santa Ana to the southeast.
Socioeconomically, the majority of the residents of Pandacan range from lower- to upper-middle class. Original residents are gainfully employed as blue-collar workers in the nearby factories and oil depots, while those in the service sector are generally employed in nearby Makati, the country's central business district.
Pandacan was originally established as the industrial center for the city of Manila during the turn of the 20th century. Oil depots which service more than half of the fuel requirement of the country were established along the banks of the Pasig River in the district.
Barangays Zones Zone 91: Barangays 833 to 840 Zone 92: Barangays 841 to 848 Zone 93: Barangays 849 to 859 Zone 94: Barangays 860 to 865 Zone 95: Barangays 867 to 872
Barangays BarangayLand area (km2)Population (2020 census) Zone 91Barangay 8330.06385 km21,504Barangay 8340.2786 km21,733Barangay 8350.09306 km22,706Barangay 8360.04999 km25,317 Barangay 8370.06437 km23,039Barangay 8380.04986 km22,969Barangay 8390.09567 km22,007Barangay 8400.02656 km22,541 Zone 92Barangay 8410.04135 km22,250Barangay 8420.03160 km22,812Barangay 8430.02849 km28,744Barangay 8440.03332 km23,500Barangay 8450.01743 km21,309Barangay 8460.01389 km21,848Barangay 8470.04071 km22,883Barangay 8480.04114 km21,586 Zone 93Barangay 8490.01205 km21,849Barangay 8500.01176 km22,456Barangay 8510.02360 km21,052Barangay 8520.008810 km21,118Barangay 8530.007320 km2505Barangay 8550.04422 km22,142Barangay 8560.03971 km21,611Barangay 8570.01500 km21,894Barangay 8580.01477 km2665Barangay 8590.03437 km21,355 Zone 94Barangay 8600.01857 km23,214Barangay 8610.2062 km21,072Barangay 8620.04347 km22,419Barangay 8630.03479 km21,481Barangay 8640.01977 km2813Barangay 8650.1867 km279 Zone 95Barangay 8670.03001 km22,116Barangay 8680.01848 km22,850Barangay 8690.02494 km22,010Barangay 8700.02373 km23,049Barangay 8710.01273 km22,407Barangay 8720.02407 km21,864
Landmarks
Churches Four of the leading Christian religious dominations in the Philippines established their presence in the district. For Roman Catholics, there is the Santo Niño Parish along Jesus Street. The Iglesia ni Cristo and the United Methodist Church both have a church along Quirino Avenue, and the Philippine Independent Church has a church (Parish of Sto. Niño) at the corner of Central and Labores Streets.
Romualdez House
Former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos claims Pandacan as her ancestral home in Manila. Since marrying former President Ferdinand Marcos in the 1960s, caretakers have been constantly maintaining her home. The house is Marcos' tie as a resident of Manila, despite her family's roots in Leyte province in the Visayas.
Schools Public elementary schools serving the district includes Jacinto Zamora Elementary School, Bagong Diwa Elementary School, Beata Elementary School and Bagong Barangay Elementary School; the district has one public high school, the Carlos P. Garcia High School.
Private education is provided by a Catholic school called St. Joseph's School – Pandacan, located beside the Santo Niño Parish along Jesus Street.
In 1994, the ERDA Technical And Vocational Secondary School was built by Fr. Pierre Tritz, a Jesuit from France for the disadvantaged Filipino youth.
History
Officially, Pandacan was established as a community in 1574 when Franciscan priests of the Roman Catholic Church established the first mission in the district. Pandacan was originally part of the parish of Sampaloc; it was later established as a separate parish in 1712.
Pandacan was a farming community, producing small quantities of rice and sugar that were sold to the Spanish enclave in Intramuros. Aside from a few vegetable plots, the old Pandacan produced bricks and tiles, colored cotton laces but in limited quantities. The district also produced shoes and small boats.
In the 19th century, Pandacan was described as a "Little Venice" or "Little Italy" for its numerous canals or estuaries leading to the Pasig River. Many would leisurely row through the estuaries in the late afternoons as described by Francisco Balagtas in his early writings. Pandacan was home to balladeers and a source of musicians in the early times.
Late in the Spanish era and into the American regime, Pandacan was developed into becoming the first industrial estate in the Philippines. The first modern manufacturing company was built in Pandacan and was called the Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas in 1882, a modern cigar-making plant.
The first stone church in Pandacan was built in 1732 by Father Francisco del Rosario. It was completed in 1760 but was destroyed twice by earthquakes. A modern church stood on the ruins including a parish school which stands on what was the Catholic cemetery of the district. The church was destroyed by fire on July 10, 2020.
Pandacan was home to prominent Filipino artists of the 19th century, including Francisco Baltazar (also known as Balagtas) who authored Florante at Laura; musician Ladislao Bonus; Tagalog language theorist Lope K. Santos; and playwrights Miguel Masilungan and Pantaleon Lopez.
By the turn of the 19th century, the American colonial government decreed Pandacan as the center for industrial activity and had oil companies build their storage and distribution facilities in the district.
With the presence of several manufacturing facilities in the district, a modern housing facility was built to house the workers at the nearby oil depots. The housing project was called "Kapitan Tikong" (Captain Tikong) subdivision, named after a popular local leader. The housing facility was built on the southeastern banks of the Estero de Beata. In honor of Francisco Baltazar, the streets in the subdivision were named after the characters of Florante at Laura.
Modernization
From industrial to commercial
The manufacturing facilities in Pandacan have long transferred to other locations outside of Manila. Only the major "Big Three" oil companies operate oil distribution depots in Pandacan: Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron's Caltex and San Miguel Energy Corp. majority-owned Petron Philippines.
During his second term, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza led an effort to convert Pandacan from an industrial classification into commercial, in an effort to have the oil depot removed from the district. Atienza and several city councilors were concerned that the oil depot served as a security, environment, and safety hazard to the densely populated Pandacan. Several fires have been attributed to the presence of the oil depot and terrorist attacks were a major concern.
Difficulty in finding a reasonable relocation site for the depots, without disturbing the national distribution process of fuel, resulted in a compromise in place of the eviction. However, a gradual phase out of large oil tanks that lined residential areas has been completed and a Pandacan Linear Park was built along the oil depot and residential units up to the banks of the Pasig River.
Beautification programs
Atienza spearheaded a beautification program and spruced up parks and recreational facilities. This included the Plaza Balagtas that sits atop the Estero de Beata in 2003 and the Ladislao Bonus Park in 2006.
In September 2006, as part of Atienza's sidewalk redevelopment and street lighting program, the main highway from the corner of Jesus Street and Quirino Avenue at the foot of Nagtahan Bridge southwards into Palumpong Street and the whole of Laura Street up to the foot of the Padre Zamora Bridge was renovated, linking the walkways into the Pandacan Linear Park, a buffer zone made into a park separating the oil distribution facilities from the residential-commercial areas. The Pandacan Linear Park, developed under the support of the big three oil companies and the city government of Manila, allows for a leisure walk and recreational activities along the Pasig River.
Modern housing Sections of the district are seeing improvements with a low-cost housing development in the site of the compound of the Manila City Engineer's Office beside the Nagtahan Bridge called "Residencias de Manila".
Tourism and events Manila boasts its rich cultural history every year in Pandacan with the traditional "Buling Buling" Dance Festival. Because many of the country's literary and musical geniuses of the 19th century came from Pandacan, an annual traditional dancing in the streets of Pandacan is featured every Saturday before the main celebrations for the feast of the Santo Niño every third week of January.
See also Culture of the Philippines Places of interest in Pandacan Demographic history of the Philippines Languages of the Philippines Timeline of Philippine history
References
By Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II, 3 February-3 March 1945 by Alphonso J. Aluit (1994) Bookmark, Inc. © 1994 National Commission for Culture and the Arts . . .
External links Official Website of Manila Manila Photos