Santa Mesa is a district in Manila, Philippines. It is bounded on its southwest side by the Pasig River, and on its south and east sides by the San Juan River. Its land borders include the districts of San Miguel to the west, Sampaloc to the north, and Quezon City to the northeast.
Santa Mesa was formerly a part of the Sampaloc district, from which it was partitioned and separated after it had its own parish in 1903. The parish is now known as Old Sta. Mesa (Poblacion), which extends from Victorino Mapa Street (Calle Santa Mesa) to Magsaysay Boulevard (Santa Mesa Boulevard).
It is also known as the birthplace of Bongbong Marcos, the current President of the Philippines.
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Etymology
The district's name comes from the Jesuits, who christened the area Hermandad de Santa Mesa de la Misericordia (Spanish for "Brotherhood of the Holy Table of Mercy"). The local parish church had for its titular Sacred Heart of Jesus, which formed part of the phrase the "Center of the Table is the Sacred Heart which all Graces and Mercy flowed down." The Tuason family are the landlords of Santa Mesa during the Spanish colonial period offered an obra pía ("pious work"), and provided social services to the people Doña Albina Tuason also donated the Land where the Church is located even right at this modern days.
A more popular folk etymology is that the name is a corruption of the Spanish term Santa Misa ("Holy Mass").
History
Santa Mesa was situated in the alluvial deposits at the confluence of Pasig and San Juan Rivers. It was owned by a Jesuits religious order during the Spanish era, and it is in this period that Santa Mesa got its name. Santa Mesa is better known for its role in the Philippine–American War, in which the area became a battlefield during the Philippine–American War. The conflict started when Pvt. William W. Grayson shot a Filipino soldier in San Juan Bridge between Santa Mesa and San Juan. In late 2003, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines had determined that the conflict did not happen on San Juan Bridge, but at the juncture of Sociego and Silencio Streets. However, a 2023 study done by Ronnie Miravite Casalmir places the event at the corner of Sociego-Arguelles, not at Sociego-Silencio where they erroneously have the marker. The Ronnie Miravite Casalmir Study debunks the previous findings of Dr. Benito Legarda which was the basis for the erroneous placement of the marker at Sociego-Silencio. According to Ronnie Miravite Casalmir, the smoking gun for the Sociego-Arguelles corner is the presence of Blockhouse 7 in the background of Grayson's reenactment photo. The orientation of this Blockhouse 7 image lines up with the corner of Sociego and Arguelles when compared with the known photo of Blockhouse 7 taken from the same direction. In addition, the distance estimate of Lieut. Whedon placed the 100-yard distance from Santol at Sociego-Arguelles, not Sociego-Silencio. This meant that when Lieut. Whedon ordered the detachment at Santol to patrol 100 yards, he meant them to patrol all the way to Sociego-Arguelles. Col. Stotsenburg corroborated Lieut. Whedon's distance estimate.
Prof. Ambeth R. Ocampo calls the evidence presented by Ronnie Miravite Casalmir as new and compelling. Prof. Ocampo agrees that this evidence shows that the marker should be moved one block away, from Sociego-Silencio to Sociego-Arguelles.
Maj. Lillian A. Pfluke (Ret.), West Point Class of 1980, and founder of the American War Memorials Overseas Inc. also agrees and has a note on their U.S. War Memorials website that the proper placement of the marker should be at the adjoining intersection of Sociego Street and Arguelles Street where the incident actually occurred.
Up until the early American period, Santa Mesa was one of the barrios that comprised Sampaloc, which was a town of the defunct province of Manila before it was absorbed by the city of Manila upon its chartering in 1901. In 1903, Santa Mesa became a separate religious district out of Sampaloc when the first and oldest parish in the Philippines in honor of its titular, the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus del Misericordia, was established. It also became the cradle of devotion to the Sagrado Corazon in the Archdiocese of Manila. The parish is now known as the Old Santa Mesa, extending from V. Mapa to Santa Mesa Boulevard. The neighborhood was composed of wealthy and aristocratic Spanish and Filipino families who built summer houses, examples of which are the Sociego Mansion, formerly home of the Tuason family, and the Carriedo Mansion (currently known as the Antique House in Pureza), formerly home of Governor General Francisco Carriedo y Peredo who spearheaded the clean water system of the City of Manila. Affluent families were attracted to Santa Mesa's cooler climate and the picturesque streets that were lined with ylang-ylang trees along Santa Mesa Boulevard. The abundance of these trees started a perfume industry in Santa Mesa—flowers were harvested, pressed and the oil were exported in great quantities to perfumeries in France. However, for political purposes, Santa Mesa remained part of Sampaloc.
Geography
Santa Mesa is located in the eastern section of the City of Manila. It is bounded to the west by Lacson Avenue, separating it from San Miguel; by Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard to the north, bordering it from Sampaloc. The northeast boundary of Santa Mesa is west of SM City Sta. Mesa. Although the mall has "Santa Mesa" on its name, it is located in Quezon City very near the city limits of Manila. Originally, Santa Mesa extended all the way up to Santa Mesa Heights and Barrio Matatalaib, which is now known as Barangay Santo Domingo.
The southwestern side of Santa Mesa is along the Pasig River while the southern and eastern sides are along the San Juan River. Across the San Juan River are the cities of San Juan to the east and a small portion of Mandaluyong to the southeast. Across the Pasig River are the Manila districts of Santa Ana to the south and Pandacan to the southeast.
The topography of the area is relatively flat as some of the natural variations in elevations have been evened out due to urbanization.
Sites of interest
Bacood
Banda Kawayan Pilipinas (Bamboo Band Philippines)
United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP - Bacood)
Philippine Independent Church Bacood (Good Shepherd Parish)
Mabini Shrine (Manila), former home of Apolinario Mabini, Philippines Revolution hero, located inside PUP.
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Recurso de Madriaga Pescado
Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School
Carriedo Mansion ( former home of the Governor General Don Francisco Carriedo y' Peredo who made the water system project of Manila)
Barangays
Santa Mesa is made up of 51 barangays, grouped into seven zones of the City of Manila. For statistical convenience for housing and population, the data for Santa Mesa is grouped with the data of Sampaloc.
Zones
Zone 58: Barangays 587 to 593
Zone 59: Barangays 594 to 601
Zone 60: Barangays 602 to 606 and 610 to 613
Zone 61: Barangays 607 to 609 and 614 to 618
Zone 62: Barangays 619 to 625
Zone 63: Barangays 626 to 630
Zone 64: Barangays 631 to 636
Barangays
Infrastructure and transportation
Roads and highways
The NLEX Connector traverses parts of Santa Mesa parallel to the PNR NSCR route and has two exits at Magsaysay Boulevard and another one near Valenzuela Street Extension.
Rail
LRT Line 2 traverses the Magsaysay Boulevard, and has two stations within Santa Mesa: Pureza station and V. Mapa station. The under-construction North–South Commuter Railway will have one station in Santa Mesa, the Santa Mesa station.
Notable people
Benny Abante, congressman of the 6th District of Manila
Betty Go-Belmonte, co-founder of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Bongbong Marcos, 17th President of the Philippines
Carla Abellana, actress
Elmer Borlongan, painter
Gary Valenciano, singer and actor
Sharon Cuneta, actress and singer