Imperial Manila (Filipino:Maynilang Imperyal) is apejorativeepithet used by sectors ofFilipino society and non-Manileños to express the idea that all the affairs of thePhilippines, whether inpolitics,economy and business orculture, are decided by what goes on in the capital region,Metro Manila, without considering the needs of the rest of the country, largely because ofcentralized government and urbanitesnobbery.[1] Empirical research finds that Imperial Manila and its persistence over time has led to prolonged underdevelopment in Philippine provinces.[2]
This sentiment is sometimes expressed by the proverb "Not a leaf can fall in our country withoutMalacañang's permission."[a] Another expression of Manila's powerful influence was voiced byNational Artist of the PhilippinesNick Joaquin, who said, "When Manila sneezes, the Philippines catches cold."[4]
The oldest known use of the phrase "Imperial Manila" dates back to 1927, when an article inThe American Chamber of Commerce Journal used the phrase to describe two cases heard by theSupreme Court,Gabriel v. Provincial Board of Pampanga andLuta v. Municipality of Zamboanga, concerning local government autonomy.[5]
Contemporary use of the term dates to around the time of thePeople Power Revolution, when political writers, particularly those living outside Metro Manila, began using the term in the belief that the country's former president,Ferdinand Marcos, was toppled from his position without the participation of Filipinos living in areas outside of the capital region. In the 1970s, Marcos borrowed US$2.5 billion from the World Bank in order to establish Manila as a globally-competitive city. The funding facilitated government-backed expenditures on infrastructure and urban developments that displaced and relocated the urban poor while benefitting elites, who were able to profit.[6]
In an article published inThe Manila Times the day after the People Power Revolution, columnistAmando Doronila wrote that:
The people power movement has been an Imperial Manila phenomenon. Their[b] playing field isEDSA. They have excluded theprovincianos from their movement with their insufferable arrogance and snobbery, ignoring the existence of the toiling masses and peasantry in agrarian Philippines.[7]
The term was used by Philippine PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo in her 2006State of the Nation Address, which she said has "slowed down progress, has become open to over-competition and oppressed theprovinces and its people".[8] It was because of the country's centralized government that provincial governments favorconstitutional amendments for a shift tofederal government, as well as supporting Arroyo and rejecting calls from Manila-based activist groups demanding for her resignation due tocorruption charges particularly thePhilippine National Broadband Network controversy.[9][10]
Localopinion polls have also been lambasted for solely sampling "Imperial Manila-based residents" when it comes to surveys that deal with nationwide issues.[11] Meanwhile, the term also appears in government websites such as those of theLeague of Provinces and theProvince of Bohol.[12][13]
Sara Duterte-Carpio,Vice President of the Philippines,former mayor of Davao City and daughter of PresidentRodrigo Duterte, questions the use of 1976 songManila byHotdog during the parade of Team Philippines at the2019 Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony. She claims the title is capital-centric and does not represent the whole country, even suggesting to usebudots instead since her fellow Davaoeños "invented" it.[14]
Officials of theMindanao-based groupMoro Islamic Liberation Front have blamed "Imperial Manila" for making theMuslim Mindanao region the poorest in the country, stating that "the consequence ofneocolonialism has deprived our people to run themselves unfettered and unhampered." Government figures show that the region's poverty incidence in 2006 is at 55.3%, with three of its six provinces (namelyTawi-Tawi,Maguindanao andLanao del Sur) listed among the country's ten poorest provinces.[15]
"Imperial Manila" is also used by many in the business sector in reference to the notion thatadvertising ormarketing a product only requires a single campaign that would work inMega Manila (another Manila-centric term used most frequently by themedia), thinking that it would also attract customers in the provinces. Advertising agencies in Metro Manila are also faulted for publishing print advertisements in Manila-based newspapers that would reach other cities by mid-morning (when the residents have already read their own local daily) or running atelevision commercial at aprimetime slot of 21:00 in Manila while the rest of the country is already asleep.[16]
In 2009, economists from theUniversity of the Philippines and theWorld Bank made statements encouraging thePhilippine government to further concentrate national economic activity within Metro Manila rather thandisperse it around the country.[17] Meanwhile, in some parts ofLuzon, in some scattered areas in theVisayas and inMindanao,rolling blackouts happen almost daily.[citation needed] Metro Manila commuters, too, many of whom have had toleave their families in other parts of the country in order tolook for work, suffer from the effects of traffic congestion.[18][19]
The term is also used, particularly inCebu, in conjunction with the perceivedimposition of theTagalog language,[20][21] which is the language not just of Manila but also of many of the country's otherprovinces, as anational language.[22] The provincial government of Cebu has even mandated that thenational anthem be sung inCebuano as a form of linguistic protest,[23]in spite of a law that punishes the singing of the national anthem in languages other than Tagalog with fine orimprisonment.[24]
The legal imposition of Tagalog as a national symbol also has social implications, such as pressure to use the wordspo andopo (a contraction ofoo po,honorifics used for elders and persons of authority),[25][26]honorifics which have no equivalent in most other indigenous languages in the country.[27] Attempts have also been made to bring the orthographic conventions of other languages closer tothose of Tagalog.[28][29]
Notably, Tagalog-speakers themselves who are not from the capital region (e.g.Calabarzon orMimaropa) are often derided as unsophisticatedpromdi (Tagalized form of "from the"; hicks or country bumpkins) because of their accent, grammar, vocabulary or rural customs.[30]
[W]e've left sacred and untouched, spotless and unsullied, the same centralist authority where near-absolute political power continues to reside: Imperial Manila. My father spoke the truth when he used to lament in Cebuano,"Wa y dahong mahulog sa atong nasud nga di mananghid sa Malacañang" (Not a leaf can fall in our country without Malacañang's permission)[3]
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