Founding
city of the Philippines in Metro Manila
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Marikina, officially the City of Marikina (Filipino: Lungsod ng Marikina), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 471,323 people.
Located along the eastern border of Metro Manila, Marikina is the main gateway of Metro Manila to Rizal and Quezon through the Marikina–Infanta Highway. It is bordered on the west by Quezon City, to the south by Pasig and Cainta, to the north by San Mateo, and to the east by Antipolo, the capital of Rizal province.
The city was founded by the Jesuits on the fertile Marikina Valley in 1630 and the area was called Jesus dela Peña (Jesus of the Rocks) and later on called Mariquina. Marikina was the provincial capital of the Province of Manila under the First Philippine Republic from 1898 to 1899 during the Philippine Revolution. Following the onset of American occupation it was then organized as a municipality of Rizal Province, prior to the formation of Metro Manila in 1975. Formerly a rural settlement, Marikina is now primarily residential and industrial and has become increasingly commercial in recent years. The City of Marikina is considered one of the wealthiest local government units in the Philippines.
Marikina is known as the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" owing to its famous shoe industry. It is the biggest manufacturer of shoes in the Philippines, producing almost 70% of shoes made in the country. Located in the city are the Philippine International Footwear Center and the Shoe Museum, housing the infamous shoe collection of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, wife of the late Filipino president, Ferdinand Marcos.
The city is under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antipolo. It contains the Our Lady of the Abandoned Church, the oldest in the Marikina Valley, built in 1572.
In view of the non-existence of records or documents on how the name Marikina came into being, the following legends were gathered from elder residents of the different barrios in Marikina.
According to a local historian named Servando de los Angeles, the first settlers of Marikina are the descendants of Lakan Dula, known as the head of the ruling House of Dula and the pre-hispanic king of the Lakanate of Tondo. It happened when Lakan Dula sent his descendants to far away lands within sea and river routes. The riverbanks of Marikina were then settled by river dwellers or "taga-ilog", these natives were discovered by the Augustinians as they explored along the riverbanks during 1570's. Then during 1630's Jesuits arrived and there is when Christianity spread in Marikina, since the Jesuits have had the ecclesiastical control and supervision over the land.The Augustinians first to arrived at the valley in the late 16th century, at the spot known as Chorillo in Barangka. In 1572, Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish was established. Next came the Jesuits in 1630, in a place now called Jesús de la Peña (Jesus of the Rocks). Here, the Jesuits established a mission and built a chapel still known today as Jesús de la Pena Chapel. Fray Pedro de Arce, apostolic ruler of the Archbishop of Manila at that time, approved transfer of ecclesiastical control and supervision to the Jesuits, and settled the place as a town.
In 1665, an intensity 8 earthquake struck the valley and nearby Manila, and it is related to the activity now known as Marikina Valley Fault System. Only a Jesuit church experienced great damage and resulting in 19 deaths in the said earthquake.
In 1787, the town was called "Mariquina" after Felix Berenguer de Marquina, who was the governor-general at that time, and the town was declared a pueblo under the Spanish colonial government.
Marikina was once the Hacienda Sauza-Berenguer de Marquina, the land and home was formerly owned by Don Santiago Sauza y Delos Rios and his wife Dona Ysabel Berenguer de Marquina y Sumulong. By the 19th century, Hacienda Mariquina was eventually owned and administered by the Tuason family and had become the largest in the Philippines. The hacienda was declared a mayorazgo by the Spanish colonial government. Don Juan Gregorio became the first Alcalde Capitan of Mariquina in 1822.
During the Philippine Revolution in 1896, Andrés Bonifacio arrived in Mariquina before he and his Katipuneros proceeded to the caves of Montalban. Mariquina became the capital of the Province of Manila in 1898, when the Philippine Revolution broke out, a period when Philippine Independence was declared by Emilio Aguinaldo, the first Philippine president. Don Vicente Gomez became the first Alcalde Presidente of Mariquina in 1900.
On June 11, 1901, shortly after the United States took possession of the Philippines, its name officially became "Marikina". The province of Rizal was created by Act No. 137 by the First Philippine Commission which was acting as the unicameral legislative body in the island of Luzon. Marikina and many other towns around Manila were incorporated into the new province.
In 1906, the Manila Railroad Company completed a 31 km (19 mi) steam train line called "Montalban Line", also known as Marikina Line and Rosario-Montalban branch, a branch of Philippine National Railway in which the train company is currently existing in some parts of Luzon (today, it converted into a road which is known today as Daang Bakal, including Shoe Avenue and other streets following the former old rail tracks of the line). The company also constructed four stations in Marikina including the only surviving station of that structure today, the Mariquina station located near D. Victorino Street, the rest were demolished to give way for roads, houses, or establishments. These stations are connected between Montalban (known today as Rodriguez, in Rizal Province) to the north and Rosario (known today as Tramo, in Pasig) to the south. Marikina Bridge, a vital economic link to Manila, was formally opened in 1934. Marikina Airfield was completed and used as a civilian airfield during the train line construction. The runway were subsequently converted into the road known today as E. Santos Street, and the airfield stands today as Paliparan Subdivision. In 1936, the Montalban Line was abandoned.
In 1939, the barrios of Balara, Barranca (Barangka), Jesus de la Peña, Krus na Ligas, Tañong, and the site of the new UP Campus were separated from Marikina to form part of the newly established Quezon City. In 1941, the barrios of lower Barranca and Jesus de la Peña were returned to Marikina.
In 1942, during the World War II, Japanese Imperial forces occupied Marikina. The town was liberated in 1945 by combined United States and Philippine Commonwealth ground troops, who attacked the Japanese Imperial Army by artillery from Quezon City. Almost all of the large buildings, including the church bell tower, were destroyed. In reality, the Japanese had already left the town and retreated to the north. The town saw over 400 civilians casualties by the end of World War II. Local Filipino troops under the pre-war 4th and 42nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army entered Marikina and assisted U.S. forces in attacking Japanese troops during the liberation. The general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was rebuilt and stationed in Marikina after the war.
In 1956, Marikina was given the title of "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" and has re-emerged as a town of shoemakers after World War II. Honed by years of shoe manufacturing experience, the natives had developed a work ethic that prepared them for the arrival of heavy industries. With the industrial plants came waves of workers who chose to stay, rapidly increasing the population.
In November 1959, Osmundo de Guzman was elected mayor of Marikina.
In 1968, Kapitan Moy's house (now known as Sentrong Pangkultura ng Marikina or Cultural Center of Marikina in English) was declared a national shrine by the town council and the National Historical Commission.
In 1969, Rodriguez Sports Complex, known today as Marikina Sports Center, was completed.
The beginning months of the 1970s marked a period of turmoil in the Philippines, and in Marikina specifically. During his bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of foreign debt-funded public works projects. This caused the Philippine economy took a sudden downwards turn known as the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which in turn led to a period of economic difficulty and a significant rise of social unrest. Many young people in the poorer barangays of Marikina, particularly Barangka, joined protest activities and activist organizations.
With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history 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. Victims were often tortured and killed and came to be known as "salvage" victims. The bridges across the Marikina river became a frequent area for such bodies to be discarded, with a notable example being that of University of the Philippines Literature Professor Valerio "Lerry" Nofuente, who was killed and left dead in his Volkswagen vehicle at the foot of one of the rivers, having just visited friends who were workers of Fortune Tobacco in Barangay Fortune.
On November 7, 1975, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 824, four cities and twelve towns of Rizal, including Marikina, along with the town of Valenzuela in Bulacan, were made part of Metropolitan Manila Area.
Since as early as 1937, Marikina had suffered flooding, which was caused by the swelling of the Marikina River. In late October 1988, the municipality was among the hardest-hit by Typhoon Ruby (Unsang); heavy rains caused the river rising to 19 meters, and with high water level of Laguna Lake as well, these led to massive, then-record flooding that stranded several residents and seriously damaged the Marikina Valley, among others, particularly in Provident Subdivision in Santo Niño where water reportedly reached 2.4 meters (8 ft) high.
By 1992, Marikina had become an industrialized urban municipality under the leadership of Bayani Fernando. Marikina River was transformed into a waterway, with the Marikina River Park along the riverbanks.
Then district representative Romeo Candazo authored the cityhood bill filed in the Congress which, on November 6, 1996, was signed into law by President Fidel V. Ramos as Republic Act (RA) No. 8223. A plebiscite was held on December 7 in 577 polling precincts.
Low voter turnout was observed as the plebiscite was marred by reports of disenfranchised voters, as well as disinformation campaign which prevented residents to vote, with five individuals apprehended; barangays of Concepcion, Daang Bakal area, and parts of Barangay Malanday and then-sitio Tumana, Candazo's bailiwicks, held boycotts. Candazo later denied allegations that he campaigned for a boycott and his camp waged the disinformation.
Meanwhile, a delay of counting of ballots due to lack of Commission on Elections personnel led to some 200 teachers abandoning their posts, taking with them canvassing sheets and less than 16,000 unvalidated ballots. The counting proceeded with some employees of the local government treasury assisted in validation of votes. Despite the turnout yet the majority ratified the cityhood, the following day, the COMELEC eventually declared the municipality as a highly urbanized city, citing that the unvalidated ballots does not affect those counted already. Marikina became the ninth city in Metro Manila.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Marikina”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.