Quezon City was built to replace crowded Manila as capital
Quezon City is the Philippines' most populous city, with about 3.08 million people in the 2024 census. Founded 12 October 1939 and named for President Manuel L. Quezon, it served as national capital from 1948 until Manila resumed that role, remaining Metro Manila's sprawling planned core.
Barrios from Caloocan, Marikina, San Juan, and Pasig plus purchased estates formed a city meant to cure Manila's overcrowding, housing shortages, poor sanitation, and traffic. At 161 square kilometres it is the National Capital Region's largest by land, with six congressional districts and 142 barangays.
Nicknamed City of Stars for media and entertainment headquarters, it also hosts the Batasang Pambansa and many agencies—politics, campuses, and studios sharing one planned grid.
The idea grew out of failure. In the 1930s thousands of Manila residents lived in congested informal settlements in districts such as Tondo, Binondo and Quiapo, and Quezon's Barrio Obrero workers' housing inside the city slid into slums too. Author Alejandro Roces Sr. urged him to buy a large tract instead. The People's Homesite Corporation was set up on 14 October 1938 with 2 million pesos and bought the Tuason family's Diliman Estate, at over 1,573 hectares the largest of the estates assembled, for 5 centavos a square metre. The University of the Philippines, cramped in Manila, planned its new campus there as well.
The city charter, Commonwealth Act No. 502, became law without Quezon's signature; he simply let it lapse. The new city covered 7,355 hectares and counted 39,103 people in its first year, mostly rural. American architect William Parsons drew its master plan and advised putting the National Government Center in Diliman rather than at Wallace Field, which was exposed to naval bombardment from Manila Bay. By 2023 its economy was estimated at 1.27 trillion pesos.
Source: Quezon City
