Mandaluyong, the ‘Tiger City’
MANDALUYONG City, the second smallest city in the Philippines, after San Juan City, commemorates two events in its history on February 9, 2015 – its cityhood in 1994 and Liberation Day in 1945.
Mandaluyong was proclaimed a highly urbanized city of Metro Manila on February 9, 1994, pursuant to Republic Act 7675. Forty-nine years earlier, it won its freedom from the Japanese Imperial Army on February 9, 1945. It is a special non-working holiday in the city. City Mayor Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. is expected to deliver his annual State of the City Address.
City residents, employees, students, and Mandaluyong-based workers and businesses participate in various activities that include a beauty pageant, a job fair, a medical mission, awarding of outstanding citizens and top taxpayers, a grand civic and military parade, band concert, dancesports competition, a fun run, an inter-high school quiz bee, oratorical and declamation contests, and a fluvial parade.
Known as “Tiger City” because of its remarkable business and economic progress, Mandaluyong is home to a central business district, big shopping malls, entertainment centers, commercial and industrial areas, educational institutions, call centers, high- rise buildings, high- end villages, condominiums, and hotels. It is politically subdivided into 27 barangays, including the heavily populated Addition Hills, Barangka Drive, Wack-Wack Green- hills, Hulo, Plainview, and Pleasant Hills. San Felipe Neri Church at Boni Avenue is one of the oldest churches in the metropolis.
Mandaluyong City has received the Presidential Award for Most Child Friendly City in the Highly Urbanized City Category, the Kabalikat Award for Local Government Unit in National Capital Region in terms of manpower program, the Green Banner Award for its Nutrition Program, and the Galing Pook Award for best practices in local governance.
Mandaluyong’s history dates back to the Majapahit Empire in 1300. It was one of the barrios of Sta. Ana de Sapa, from which it was separated in 1841 and was named San Felipe Neri. It was merged with San Juan del Monte municipality during the American era and became the seat of the local government in 1904. San Felipe Neri was renamed Mandaluyong on March 27, 1907.
Legend has it that the name “Mandaluyong” came from a tree in the place called “luyong,” the now popular “Anahaw” made into exquisite canes and furniture. Another legend is that the Spaniards named the place from the report of navigator Acapulco, who saw the rolling hills lashed at by daluyong (big sea waves), Franciscan historian Felix dela Huerta wrote that the rolling topography of the land resembled giant waves of the sea. When foreigners asked for the name of the place, the locals answered “madaluyong” (undulating), later written as “Mandaluyong.”