Santa Mesa
District ofManila
Aerial view of Santa Mesa
Country	Philippines
Region	National Capital Region
City	Manila
Congressional District	6th District
Barangays	51
Area
• Total	2.6101 km2 (1.0078 sq mi)
Population  (2024)[1]
• Total	112,987
• Density	43,288/km2 (112,120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+08:00 (Philippine Standard Time)
Zip codes	1016
Area codes	2

Santa Mesa is a district inManila,Philippines. It is surrounded by thePasig River on the southwestern side, and by theSan Juan River on its southern and eastern side. Land borders include the districts ofSan Miguel to the west andSampaloc to the north; and to the northeast isQuezon City.

Santa Mesa was formerly a part of theSampaloc district, from which it waspartitioned and separated after it had its own parish in 1903. The parish is now known as Old Sta. Mesa (Poblacion), which extends fromVictorino Mapa Street (Calle Santa Mesa) toMagsaysay Boulevard (Santa Mesa Boulevard).^[2][3]

It is also known as the birthplace ofFerdinand Marcos Jr., thecurrentPresident of the Philippines.

The district's name comes from theJesuits, who christened the areaHermandad de Santa Mesa de la Misericordia (Spanish for "Brotherhood of the Holy Table of Mercy"). The local parish church had for its titularSacred Heart ofJesus, 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 theSpanish colonial period offered anobra 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 theSpanish termSanta Misa ("Holy Mass").^{[citation needed]}

Santa Mesa was situated in thealluvial deposits at the confluence ofPasig andSan 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 thePhilippine–American War, in which the area became a battlefield during thePhilippine–American War. The conflict started when Pvt. William W. Grayson shot aFilipino soldier in San Juan Bridge between Santa Mesa and San Juan. In late 2003, theNational 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. A 2023 study done by Ronnie Miravite Casalmir however placed the correct location of the first shot of the Philippine-American War at the corner of Sociego St. and Tomas Arguelles St.,^[4] not at Sociego-Silencio where they erroneously have the marker.^[5]

Up until the earlyAmerican period, Santa Mesa was one of thebarrios that comprised Sampaloc, which was a town of the defunctprovince of Manila before it was absorbed by the city of Manila upon its chartering in 1901.^[6] 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 GeneralFrancisco 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 withylang-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.^[2] However, for political purposes, Santa Mesa remained part of Sampaloc.^[7]

The small community became the location of the hospital to treat the wounded duringWorld War II. The town experienced its growth after the war. Santa Mesa was the site of a 1950s suburban development because of its proximity to central Manila. The Santa Mesa Market was constructed around this period. It was a big shopping complex, and became popular for the selling of Post eXchange or PX Goods from U.S. bases in the Philippines, which is why it was called Stop & Shop.^[2]

When thecongressional districts of Manila were created, Santa Mesa was effectively separated from Sampaloc, falling to the jurisdiction of the 6th District.^[8] The national census still considers Santa Mesa as a part of Sampaloc for statistical purposes.

Santa Mesa is located in the eastern section of the City of Manila. It is bounded to the west byLacson Avenue separating it fromSan Miguel; byRamon Magsaysay Boulevard to the north bordering it fromSampaloc. The northeast boundary of Santa Mesa is west ofSM City Sta. MesaShopping Mall originally the Santa Mesa Map goes all the way upto the Santa Mesa Heights and Barrio Matatalaib which is now known as Barangay Santo Domingo. Although the mall has "Santa Mesa" on its name, it is located inQuezon City very near the city limits of Manila.^[9]

The southwestern side of Santa Mesa is along thePasig River while the southern and eastern sides are along the San Juan River. Across the San Juan River are the cities ofSan Juan to the east and a small portion ofMandaluyong to the southeast. Across thePasig River, are the Manila areas ofSanta Ana to the south andPandacan to the southeast.

Thetopography of the area is relatively flat as some of the natural variations in elevations have been evened out due tourbanization.

• 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 ofApolinario 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)

Churches of Santa Mesa

Name	Image	Location / GPS Coordinates	Denomination	Notes
Baptist Bible Church		Sociego Street	Baptists
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church		Old Santa Mesa Street	Lutheran
Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall		Old Santa Mesa Street	Jehovah's Witnesses
Nuestra Señora de Salvacion Parish Church		Anonas Street cor Hipodromo Street	Roman Catholic
Our Lady of Fatima Parish Church		Lubiran Street cor. Mag. Jose Abad Santos Street	Roman Catholic
Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Church		Old Santa Mesa Street	Roman Catholic
Sambahan sa Banal na Hapag (IEMELIF Church)		Magsaysay Boulevard	Methodist
Seventh-day Adventist Church		Hippodromo Street	Adventist
SM Valenzuela (IEMELIF Church)		Old Santa Mesa Street	Methodist
Abundant Life Ministry Inc.		Teresa Street	Born Again

Parks and plazas in Santa Mesa

Name	Image	Location / GPS Coordinates	Notes
Bacood Park		Valenzuela Street
Paraiso ng Batang Maynila		Bataan cor. Leyte Streets, Bacood
PUP Lagoon		PUP Mabini Campus, Anonas Street
PUP Linear Park		PUP Mabini Campus, Anonas Street
PUP Nemesio E. Prudente Freedom Park (Freedom Plaza)		PUP Mabini Campus, Anonas Street

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

• City of Manila – Official website
• Geographic data related toSanta Mesa atOpenStreetMap

14°36′N121°01′E / 14.600°N 121.017°E /14.600; 121.017

• Santa Mesa
• Districts of Manila

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