It may be hard to imagine it today, but this particular part of Manila at first did not look like the bustling, at times chaotic, place of commercial activity that we know of today. In fact, this area was then a thriving agricultural community where the people there make a living manufacturing a coconut-based alcoholic drink called “tuba.” It would be in this community along Azcarraga Street where a significant event would occur on November 30, 1863: the birth of who would become the founder of the secret society known as the Kataastaasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (otherwise known as the Katipunan or KKK) that would pave…
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the Liwasan formerly known as Lawton
There are a few places I can think of as “complex” as Central Manila, which by itself is considered the city’s intersecting point. On one hand, this place is home to two of the city’s iconic landmarks: the Post Office Building and the Metropolitan Theater. On the flipside, it’s one of the most convoluted places in the city, overtowered by flyovers which doesn’t really help relieve the area from unbearable traffic especially during rush hour. Then there is the open, green space straddling between the Post Office and Metropolitan Theater, which is interesting in itself. Back in the Spanish colonial era, this area was once known as part of Plaza…