Capital of the Philippines

Magellan, however, failed to successfully claim the Philippines for the crown of Spain, having been slain in neighboring Mactan Island by Datu Lapulapu.

The Spanish force of 300 soldiers marched through Manila and a battle was fought with the heavily armed Spaniards quickly defeating and crushing the native settlements to the ground.

Legazpi and his men followed the next year and made a peace pact with the three rajahs and organized a city council consisting of two mayors, 12 councilors, and a secretary.

On June 10, 1574, King Philip II of Spain gave Manila the title of Insigne y Siempre Leal Ciudad ("Distinguished and Ever Loyal City").

They called in the famous architect and planner, Daniel Burnham, one of the proponents of City Beautiful movement, to design the new capital.

Burnham planned a large capitol building surrounded by supporting government offices in a formal setting that was close to a mirror image of Washington's.

Improvement proposed by Burnham includes waterfront parks and parkways; the city's street system; construction of buildings, waterways, and summer resorts.

This was to be a 250’ wide boulevard – with roadways, tramways, bridle paths, rich plantations, and broad sidewalks and should be made available to all classes of people.

Burnham ended his report by the following words: Possessing the bay of Naples, the winding river of Paris, and the canals of Venice, Manila has before it an opportunity unique in the history of modern times, the opportunity to create a unified city equal to the greatest of the Western World with the unparalleled and priceless addition of a tropical setting ...By 1928 a major revision of the plan was undertaken.

One of the main reasons given was that the proposed National Capitol to be built in the vicinity of the present-day Rizal Park was too susceptible to naval bombardment.

During these times too that Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon dreamed of a city that could become the future capital of the country, replacing Manila.

In the summer of 1939 President Quezon contacted William Parsons and asked him to choose a new site for and then to design a new Philippine capital.

Finally, there was to be a major greenbelt all along the Marikina and San Mateo valley – to contain urban sprawl, preserve the agricultural land and protect the city's watershed areas.

However Baguio serve as the temporary capital of government in exile and the site where General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Vice Admiral Okochi surrendered.

The old capitol site was not deemed defensible enough from military attack nor the area large enough to accommodate a projected population of several million people.

These included, among others: Tagaytay, Cebu, Davao, San Pablo, Baguio, Los Baños, Montalban, Antipolo, and Fort McKinley.

A joint study was conducted by the architecture and planning offices of Cesar Concio and Felipe Mendoza, comparing the original Novaliches site and a newly reclaimed stretch of land south of the new Cultural Center of the Philippines.

While the idea was to be located south of Manila, on a 5000-hectare area, a river should tarverse the city; proximity to the sea or lake would be desirable; travel time to the nearest airport to have more than 60 minutes; this will also avoid any major fault line, having no buildings and rise high enough to reach 600 feet, which would make the city green; and a national park would feature a network of smaller parks, gardens, and malls.

940 of 1976 made no mention of Baguio continuing to serve as the "summer capital", but the city still holds the distinction in an unofficial capacity.

[14][15] In January 2018, two congressmen filed a bill proposing to shift the country's capital to Davao City, while suggesting that Malacañang Palace in Manila should remain the president's official residence.

[16] In August 2019, a senator filed a bill proposing that the seat of government should transfer to New Clark City, located in Capas, Tarlac, by 2030.