title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Anna Maria Chlumsky (; born December 3, 1980) is an American actress. She began acting as a child, and first became known for playing Vada Sultenfuss in the film "My Girl" (1991) and its sequel, "My Girl 2". Following her early roles, she went on hiatus from 1999 to 2005 to attend college.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky returned to acting with roles in several independent films, including "Blood Car" (2007) and "In the Loop" (2009). She portrayed Amy Brookheimer on the HBO television series "Veep" (2012–2019), which earned her six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, among other accolades.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Nancy ("née" Zuncic), a singer, actress, and former flight attendant, and Frank Chlumsky Jr., a chef and saxophone player. She was raised in a Catholic family. She is of Czech and Croatian descent.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky entered show business at an early age, modeling with her mother in an advertising campaign, though her roles in "My Girl" (1991) and "My Girl 2" (1994) brought her fame. She also starred in "Trading Mom" (1994) with Sissy Spacek, and in "" (1995) with Christina Ricci. In the mid- to late 1990s, she appeared and starred in several television films and series.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky took a break from acting to attend the University of Chicago, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies in 2002. After college, she was hired as a fact-checker for the Zagat Survey and moved to New York City, which was followed by a position as an editorial assistant for a HarperCollins science fiction-fantasy imprint. However, she felt her career in the publishing industry was lackluster and unsatisfying, and ultimately returned to acting after she completed formal training at the Atlantic Acting School in Manhattan.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky appeared as Mary Calvin in a season 17 episode of "Law & Order", first airing on January 12, 2007; and as Lisa Klein in a season 20 episode, first airing on March 15, 2010. In March 2007, she appeared in the "30 Rock" episode "The Fighting Irish" as Liz Lemler, a romantic rival of protagonist Liz Lemon, who receives flowers meant for Lemler. Chlumsky was in four episodes of the ABC dramedy "Cupid" in 2009. Later that year, she starred in the Lifetime Television movie "12 Men of Christmas" as Jan Lucas.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: She starred in the Off Broadway production of "Unconditional" by Brett C. Leonard at The Public Theater, which opened in February 2008; it was produced by the LAByrinth Theater Company. She also starred in Lanford Wilson's "Balm in Gilead" in November 2005 at the American Theatre of Actors in New York City.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: In 2009, she appeared in Armando Iannucci's BBC Films political satire "In The Loop", co-starring with Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, James Gandolfini, and Mimi Kennedy, a quasi-spinoff of Iannucci's BBC TV series "The Thick of It". She plays Liza, a State Department assistant in the movie. From 2012 to 2019, Chlumsky played Amy Brookheimer, aide to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character in HBO's "Veep", also produced by Iannucci. In June 2012, she starred in the world premiere of David Adjmi's 3C at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Dan Aykroyd, who played her father in the two "My Girl" films, has said that a script for a third film has been in development since 2003. In April 2012, Chlumsky "put to rest" any rumors that such a film was in development. In addition to her role on "Veep", Chlumsky has appeared in multiple television series between 2011 and 2013, including "White Collar", "", and NBC's adaptation of "Hannibal".


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: Chlumsky has appeared on Broadway in "You Can't Take It with You", and beginning in April 2015 as editor Iris Peabody in the comedy "Living on Love", with Renee Fleming, Jerry O'Connell and Douglas Sills.


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: In 2017, Chlumsky appeared in the fourth season of AMC Networks' "Halt and Catch Fire" as Dr. Katie Herman, the love interest of Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy).


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: In October 2019, Chlumsky was cast in a main role alongside Julia Garner in Shonda Rhimes' Netflix limited drama series "Inventing Anna". Chlumsky will voice Charlotte Pickles in the Paramount+ revival of "Rugrats".


title: Anna Chlumsky

text: In October 2007, Chlumsky announced her engagement to Army Reserve member Shaun So, who also served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. They met as students at the University of Chicago in 2000. They married on March 8, 2008 in Brooklyn, New York, and have two daughters, born July 2013 and August 2016.


title: Manila

text: Manila ( , ; , ), officially the City of Manila (, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated city proper. Manila is considered to be a global city and rated as an Alpha – City by Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC). It was the first chartered city in the country, designated as such by the Philippine Commission Act 183 of July 31, 1901. It became autonomous with the passage of Republic Act No. 409, "The Revised Charter of the City of Manila", on June 18, 1949. Manila is considered to be part of the world's original set of global cities because its commercial networks were the first to extend across the Pacific Ocean and connect Asia with the Spanish Americas through the galleon trade; when this was accomplished, it marked the first time in world history that an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circling the planet had been established. It is among the most populous and fastest growing cities in Southeast Asia.


title: Manila

text: A Tagalog-fortified polity called Maynila had already existed on the site of modern Manila dating as far back as 1258. On June 24, 1571, the Spanish-built walled fortification of Intramuros was constructed by Spanish "conquistador" Miguel López de Legazpi on the ruins of the older settlement from which the Spanish and English name Manila derives. However, that Spanish construction began only after the defeat of the polity's last indigenous Rajah, Sulayman III, in the Battle of Bangkusay. Manila was used as the capital of the captaincy general of the Spanish East Indies (which included the Marianas, Guam and other islands) and was controlled and administered by Mexico City in the Viceroyalty of New Spain for the Spanish crown. Today, it is home to many historic sites.


title: Manila

text: In modern times, the term "Manila" is commonly used to refer to the whole metropolitan area, the greater metropolitan area, or the city proper. The officially defined metropolitan area, called Metro Manila, the "capital region" of the Philippines, includes the much larger Quezon City and the Makati Central Business District. It is the most populous region in the country, one of the most populous urban areas in the world, and is one of the wealthiest regions in Southeast Asia. The city proper was home to 1,846,513 people in 2020, and is the historic core of a built-up area that extends well beyond its administrative limits. With 71,263 people per square kilometer, Manila is the most densely populated city proper in the world.


title: Manila

text: Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay, on the island of Luzon. The Pasig River flows through the middle of the city, dividing it into the north and south sections. The city comprises 16 administrative districts and is divided into six political districts for the purposes of its representation in the Congress of the Philippines and the election of city council members. In 2018, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network listed Manila as an "Alpha-" global city and ranked it seventh in economic performance globally and second regionally, while the Global Financial Centres Index ranks Manila 79th in the world.


title: Manila

text: "Maynilà", the Filipino name for the city, comes from the phrase "may-nilà", meaning "where indigo is found". "Nilà" is derived from the Sanskrit word "nīla" (), which refers to indigo – and, by extension, to several plant species from which this natural dye can be extracted. The name "Maynilà" was probably bestowed because of the indigo-yielding plants that grow in the area surrounding the settlement, and not because it was known as a settlement that traded in indigo dye: Indigo-dye extraction became an important economic activity in the area only in the 18th century, several hundred years after the Maynila settlement was founded and named.


title: Manila

text: An antiquated, inaccurate, and now debunked etymological theory held that the city's name originated from the word "may-nilad" (meaning "where "nilad" is found"). There are two versions of this false etymology. One popular incorrect notion is that the old word "nilad" refers to the water hyacinth ("Eichhornia crassipes") that grows on the banks of the Pasig River. However, this plant species was only recently introduced into the Philippines from South America, and therefore could not have been the source of the toponym for old Manila.


title: Manila

text: Another incorrect etymology has arisen from the observation that, in Tagalog, "nilád" or "nilár" refers to a shrub-like tree ("Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea"; formerly "Ixora manila" Blanco) that grows in or near mangrove swamps. However, linguistic analysis shows that the word "Maynilà" is unlikely to have developed from this term. It is unlikely that native Tagalog speakers would completely drop the final consonant /d/ in "nilad" to arrive at the present form "Maynilà". As an example, nearby Bacoor still retains the final consonant of the old Tagalog word "bakoód" ("elevated piece of land"), even in old Spanish renderings of the placename (e.g., "Vacol", "Bacor"). Moreover, the historians Ambeth Ocampo and Joseph Baumgartner have shown that, in every early document, the place name Maynilà was always written without a final /d/. This documentation shows conclusively that the "may-nilad" etymology is spurious.


title: Manila

text: Originally, the mistaken identification of "nilad" as the source of the toponym probably originated in an 1887 essay by Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, in which he mistakenly used the word "nila" to refer both to "Indigofera tinctoria" (true indigo) and to "Ixora manila" (which is actually "nilád" in Tagalog). Early 20th century writings, such as those of Julio Nakpil and of Blair and Robertson, then simply repeated the claim. Today, this erroneous etymology continues to be perpetuated through casual repetition in both literature and in popular use. Examples of popular adoption of this mistaken etymology include the name of a local utility, Maynilad Water Services, and the name of an underpass close to Manila City Hall, "Lagusnilad" (meaning "Nilad Pass").


title: Manila

text: The earliest evidence of human life around present-day Manila is the nearby Angono Petroglyphs, dated to around 3000 BC. Negritos, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Philippines, lived across the island of Luzon, where Manila is located, before the Malayo-Polynesians migrated in and assimilated them.


title: Manila

text: Manila was an active trade partner with the Song and Yuan dynasties of China. The polity of Tondo flourished during the latter half of the Ming dynasty as a result of direct trade relations with China. The Tondo district was the traditional capital of the empire, and its rulers were sovereign kings, not mere chieftains. Tondo was christened under the traditional Chinese characters in the Hokkien reading, , due to its chief position located southeast of China. The kings of Tondo were addressed variously as "panginoón" in Tagalog ("lords") or "panginuan" in Maranao; "anák banwa" ("son of heaven"); or "lakandula" ("lord of the palace"). The Emperor of China considered the lakans—the rulers of ancient Manila—"王", or kings.


title: Manila

text: During the 12th century, then Hindu Brunei called "Pon-i", as reported in the Chinese annals, "Nanhai zhi", that Pon-i invaded Malilu 麻裏蘆 (present-day Manila) as it also administered Sarawak and Sabah as well as the Philippine kingdoms of Butuan, Sulu, Ma-i (Mindoro), Shahuchong 沙胡重 (present-day Siocon), Yachen 啞陳 (Oton), and 文杜陵 Wenduling (present-day Mindanao). However, Manila regained independence. In the 13th century, Manila consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter on the shore of the Pasig River. It was then settled by the Indianized empire of Majapahit, as recorded in the epic eulogy poem "Nagarakretagama", which described the area's conquest by Maharaja Hayam Wuruk. Selurong (षेलुरोङ्), a historical name for Manila, is listed in Canto 14 alongside Sulot, which is now Sulu, and Kalka. Selurong (Manila) together with Sulot (Sulu) was able to regain independence afterward, and Sulu even attacked and looted the then Majapahit-invaded province of Po-ni (Brunei) in retribution.


title: Manila

text: During the reign of the Arab emir, Sharif Ali's descendant, Sultan Bolkiah, from 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei which had seceded from Hindu Majapahit and became a Muslim, had invaded the area. The Bruneians wanted to take advantage of Tondo's strategic position in trade with China and Indonesia and thus attacked its environs and established the rajahnate of Maynilà (كوتا سلودوڠ; "Kota Seludong"). The rajahnate was ruled under and gave yearly tribute to Brunei as a satellite state. It created a new dynasty under the local leader, who accepted Islam and became Rajah Salalila or Sulaiman I. He established a trading challenge to the already rich House of Lakan Dula in Tondo. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival of Muslim traders from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.


title: Manila

text: On June 24, 1571, the conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Manila and declared it a territory of New Spain (Mexico), establishing a city council in what is now the district of Intramuros. Inspired by the "Reconquista", a war in mainland Spain to rechristianize and reclaim the parts of the country that once fell to the Umayyad Caliphate's rule, he took advantage of a Hindu Tondo versus Islamic Manila territorial conflict to justify expelling or converting Bruneian Muslim colonists who supported their Manila vassals while his Mexican grandson Juan de Salcedo had a romance with a princess of Tondo, Gandarapa. López de Legazpi had the local royalty executed or exiled after the failure of the Conspiracy of the Maharlikas, a plot wherein an alliance between datus, rajahs, Japanese merchants and the Sultanate of Brunei would band together to execute the Spaniards, along with their Latin American recruits and Visayan allies. The victorious Spaniards made Manila the capital of the Spanish East Indies and of the Philippines, which their empire would control for the next three centuries. In 1574, Manila was temporarily besieged by the Chinese pirate Lim Hong, who was ultimately thwarted by the local inhabitants. Upon Spanish settlement, Manila was immediately made, by papal decree, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mexico. Then, by royal decree of Philip II of Spain, the city of Manila was put under the spiritual patronage of Saint Pudentiana and Our Lady of Guidance (spurred by a locally found sacred image, i.e., a Black Madonna of unknown origin; one theory is that it is from Portuguese-Macau, another is that it is a Tantric goddess and this was worshiped by the natives in a Pagan-Hindu manner and had survived Islamic iconoclasm by the Sultanate of Brunei. This image was interpreted to be of Marian nature, and it was found during the Miguel de Legazpi expedition and eventually a Mexican hermit built a chapel around that image).


title: Manila

text: Manila became famous for its role in the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade, which lasted for more than two centuries and brought goods from Europe, Africa and Hispanic America across the Pacific Islands to Southeast Asia (which was already an entrepôt for goods coming from India, Indonesia and China), and vice versa. Silver that was mined in Mexico and Peru was exchanged for Chinese silk, Indian gems and the spices of Indonesia and Malaysia. Likewise, wines and olives grown in Europe and North Africa were shipped via Mexico to Manila. Because of the Ming ban on trade leveled against the Ashikaga shogunate in 1549, this resulted in the ban for all the Japanese to enter China, and for Chinese ships to sail to Japan. Thus, Manila became the only place where the Japanese and Chinese can openly trade, often also trading Japanese silver from Chinese silk. In 1606, upon the Spanish conquest of the Sultanate of Ternate, one of monopolizers of the growing of spice, the Spanish deported the ruler, Sultan Said Din Burkat of Ternate, along with his clan and his entire entourage to Manila, were they were initially enslaved and eventually converted to Christianity. About 200 families of mixed Spanish-Mexican-Filipino and Moluccan-Indonesian-Portuguese descent from Ternate and Tidor followed him there at a later date. The city attained great wealth due to it being at the confluence of three great commercial exchanges: the Silk Road, the Spice Route and the Silver Flow. Significant is the role of Armenians, who acted as merchant intermediaries that made Europe to Asia trade possible in this area. Most specifically, it was France first trying to finance their Asian trade with a partnership in Manila through Armenian khojas. The largest trade volume was in iron, and 1000 men of iron bars were traded only in 1721. In 1762, the city was captured by Great Britain as part of the Seven Years' War, which Spain had recently become involved in. The city was then occupied by the British for twenty months from 1762 to 1764 in their attempt to capture the Spanish East Indies, but they proved to be unable to extend their occupation past Manila proper. Frustrated by their inability to take the rest of the archipelago, the British eventually withdrew in accordance with the Treaty of Paris signed in 1763, which brought an end to the war. An unknown number of Indian soldiers known as sepoys, who came with the British, deserted and settled in nearby Cainta, Rizal.


title: Manila

text: The Chinese minority were then punished for supporting the British, and the fortress city of Intramuros, initially populated by 1,200 Spanish families and garrisoned by 400 Spanish troops, kept its cannons pointed at Binondo, the world's oldest Chinatown. The native Mexican population was concentrated at the south part of Manila, and also at Cavite, where ships from Spain's American colonies docked, and at Ermita, an area so named because of a Mexican hermit that lived there. The Philippines hosts the only Latin American-established districts in Asia. When the Spanish evacuated Ternate, they settled the Papuan refugees in Ternate, Cavite which was named after their former homeland.


title: Manila

text: The rise of Spanish Manila marked the first time in world history where all hemispheres and continents were interconnected in a worldwide trade network. Thus, making Manila, alongside Mexico City and Madrid, the world's original set of global cities, predating the ascent of modern Alpha++ class world cities like New York or London as global financial centers, by hundreds of years. A Spanish Jesuit priest commented that due to the confluence of many foreign languages gathering in Manila, he said that the confessional in Manila is "the most difficult in the world". Another Spanish missionary in the 1600s by the name of Juan de Cobo was so astonished by the manifold commerce, cultural complexity and ethnic diversity in Manila he thus wrote the following to his brethren in Mexico:


title: Manila

text: After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the Spanish crown began to govern Manila directly. Under direct Spanish rule, banking, industry and education flourished more than they had in the previous two centuries. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 facilitated direct trade and communications with Spain. The city's growing wealth and education attracted indigenous peoples, Negritos, Malays, Africans, Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Europeans, Latinos and Papuans from the surrounding provinces and facilitated the rise of an "ilustrado" class that espoused liberal ideas: the ideological foundations of the Philippine Revolution, which sought independence from Spain. A revolt by Andres Novales was inspired by the Latin American wars of independence as the revolt itself was led by demoted Latin-American military officers stationed at the city, from the then newly independent nations of Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica. Following the Cavite Mutiny and the Propaganda Movement, the Philippine revolution eventually erupted, Manila was among the first eight provinces to rebel and thus their role was enshrined in the Philippine Flag where Manila was marked as one of the eight rays of the symbolic sun.


title: Manila

text: After the 1898 Battle of Manila, Spain ceded Manila to the United States. The First Philippine Republic, based in nearby Bulacan, fought against the Americans for control of the city. The Americans defeated the First Philippine Republic and captured its president, Emilio Aguinaldo, who declared allegiance to the United States on April 1, 1901.


title: Manila

text: Upon drafting a new charter for Manila in June 1901, the Americans made official what had long been tacit: that the city of Manila consisted not of Intramuros alone but also of the surrounding areas. The new charter proclaimed that Manila was composed of eleven municipal districts: presumably Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Sampaloc, San Miguel, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz and Tondo. In addition, the Catholic Church recognized five parishes—Gagalangin, Trozo, Balic-Balic, Santa Mesa and Singalong—as part of Manila. Later, two more would be added: Balut and San Andres.


title: Manila

text: Under American control, a new, civilian-oriented Insular Government headed by Governor-General William Howard Taft invited city planner Daniel Burnham to adapt Manila to modern needs. The Burnham Plan included the development of a road system, the use of waterways for transportation, and the beautification of Manila with waterfront improvements and construction of parks, parkways and buildings. The planned buildings included a government center occupying all of Wallace Field, which extends from Rizal Park to the present Taft Avenue. The Philippine capitol was to rise at the Taft Avenue end of the field, facing towards the sea. Along with buildings for various government bureaus and departments, it would form a quadrangle with a lagoon in the center and a monument to José Rizal at the other end of the field. Of Burnham's proposed government center, only three units—the Legislative Building and the buildings of the Finance and Agricultural Departments—were completed when World War II erupted.


title: Manila

text: During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, American soldiers were ordered to withdraw from Manila, and all military installations were removed on December 24, 1941. Two days later, General Douglas MacArthur declared Manila an open city to prevent further death and destruction, but Japanese warplanes continued to bomb it. Manila was occupied by Japanese forces on January 2, 1942.


title: Manila

text: From February 3 to March 3, 1945, Manila was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific theater of World War II. Under orders of Japanese Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, retreating Japanese forces killed some 100,000 Filipino civilians and perpetrated mass raping of women in February. At the end of the war, Manila had suffered from heavy bombardment and became the second most-destroyed city in World War II. Manila was recaptured by joint American and Philippine troops.


title: Manila

text: After the war, reconstruction efforts started. Buildings like the Manila City Hall, Legislative Building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts) and Manila Post Office, roads and other infrastructures were rebuilt. In 1948, President Elpidio Quirino moved the seat of government of the Philippines to Quezon City, a new capital in the suburbs and fields northeast of Manila, created in 1939 during the administration of President Manuel L. Quezon. The move ended any implementation of the Burnham Plan's intent for the government center to be at Luneta.


title: Manila

text: With the Visayan-born Arsenio Lacson as its first elected mayor in 1952 (all mayors were appointed before this), Manila underwent "The Golden Age", once again earning its status as the "Pearl of the Orient", a moniker it earned before the Second World War. After Lacson's term in the 1950s, Manila was led by Antonio Villegas for most of the 1960s. Ramon Bagatsing (an Indian-Filipino) was mayor from 1972 until the 1986 People Power Revolution.


title: Manila

text: During the administration of Ferdinand Marcos, the region of Metro Manila was created as an integrated unit with the enactment of Presidential Decree No. 824 on November 7, 1975. The area encompassed four cities and thirteen adjoining towns, as a separate regional unit of government. On the 405th anniversary of the city's foundation on June 24, 1976, Manila was reinstated by President Marcos as the capital of the Philippines for its historical significance as the seat of government since the Spanish Period. Concurrent with the reinstatement of Manila as the capital, Ferdinand Marcos designated his wife, Imelda Marcos, as the first governor of Metro Manila. She started the rejuvenation of the city as she re-branded Manila as the "City of Man".


title: Manila

text: During the martial law era, Manila became a hot-bed of resistance activity as youth and student demonstrators repeatedly clashed with the police and military which were subservient to the Marcos regime. After decades of resistance, the non-violent People Power Revolution, led by Corazon Aquino and Cardinal Jaime Sin, ousted the dictator Marcos from power.


title: Manila

text: From 1986 to 1992, Mel Lopez was mayor of Manila. During his early years, his administration was faced with 700 million pesos worth of debt and inherited an empty treasury. In the first eleven months, however, the debt was reduced to 365 million pesos and the city's income rose by around 70% eventually leaving the city with positive income until the end of his term. Lopez closed down numerous illegal gambling joints and jueteng. In January 1990, Lopez padlocked two Manila casinos operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), saying the billions it gained cannot make up for the negative effects gambling inflicts upon the people, particularly the youth. He also revived the Boys' Town Haven (now referred to as "Boys Town"), rehabilitating its facilities to accommodate underprivileged children and provide them with livelihood and education.


title: Manila

text: In 1992, Alfredo Lim was elected mayor, the first Chinese-Filipino to hold the office. He was known for his anti-crime crusades. Lim was succeeded by Lito Atienza, who served as his vice mayor. Atienza was known for his campaign (and city slogan) ""Buhayin ang Maynila"" ("Revive Manila"), which saw the establishment of several parks and the repair and rehabilitation of the city's deteriorating facilities. He was the city's mayor for three terms (9 years) before being termed out of office. Lim once again ran for mayor and defeated Atienza's son Ali in the 2007 city election and immediately reversed all of Atienza's projects claiming Atienza's projects made little contribution to the improvements of the city. The relationship of both parties turned bitter, with the two pitting again during the 2010 city elections in which Lim won against Atienza. Lim was sued by councilor Dennis Alcoreza on 2008 over human rights, charged with graft over the rehabilitation of public schools, and was heavily criticized for his haphazard resolution of the Rizal Park hostage taking incident, one of the deadliest hostage crisis in the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: In 2012, DMCI Homes began constructing Torre de Manila, which became controversial for ruining the sight line of Rizal Park. The tower is infamously known as "Terror de Manila" or the "national photobomber". The Torre de Manila controversy is regarded as one of the most sensationalized heritage issues of the country. In 2017, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines erected a 'comfort woman' statue along Roxas Boulevard, which made Japan express regret that such statue was erected in the city despite the healthy relationship between Japan and the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: In the 2013 elections, former President Joseph Estrada defeated Lim in the mayoral race. During his term, Estrada allegedly paid ₱5 billion in city debts and increased the city's revenues. In 2015, in line with President Noynoy Aquino's administration progress, the city became the most competitive city in the Philippines, making the city the best place for doing business and for living in. In the 2016 elections, Estrada narrowly won over Lim in their electoral rematch. Throughout Estrada's term, numerous Filipino heritage sites were demolished, gutted out, or approved for demolition. Among such sites are the post-war Santa Cruz Building, Capitol Theater, El Hogar, old Magnolia Ice Cream Plant, and Rizal Memorial Stadium, among many others Some of these sites were saved upon the intervention of various cultural agencies of government and heritage advocate groups against Estrada's orders. In May 2019, Estrada claimed that Manila was debt-free, however, two months later, the Commission on Audit verified that Manila has a total of 4.4 billion pesos in debt.


title: Manila

text: Estrada, who was seeking for re-election for his third and final term, lost to Isko Moreno in the 2019 local elections. Moreno has served as the vice mayor under both the Lim and Estrada administrations. Estrada's defeat was seen as the end of their reign as a political clan, whose other family members run for various national and local positions. After assuming office, Moreno initiated a city-wide cleanup against illegal vendors, signed an executive order promoting open governance, and vowed to stop bribery and corruption in the city. Under his administration, several ordinances were signed, giving additional perks and privileges to Manila's senior citizens, and monthly allowances for Grade 12 Manileño students in all public schools in the city, including students of Universidad de Manila and the University of the City of Manila. The city government also undertook infrastructure projects such as the restoration of Jones Bridge to its near-original architecture, sprucing up the city's parks and plazas, and clearing the public roads of obstructions.


title: Manila

text: In 2022, "Time Out" ranked Manila as one of the 53 best cities in the world landing in the 34th spot, citing it as "an underrated hub for art and culture, with unique customs and cuisine to boot". Manila was also voted the third most resilient and least rude city for the year's index.


title: Manila

text: The City of Manila is situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay, on the western edge of Luzon, from mainland Asia. One of Manila's greatest natural resources is the protected harbor upon which it sits, regarded as the finest in all of Asia. The Pasig River flows through the middle of city, dividing it into the north and south. The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas, is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise.


title: Manila

text: Almost all of Manila sits on top of centuries of prehistoric alluvial deposits built by the waters of the Pasig River and on some land reclaimed from Manila Bay. Manila's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along the waterfronts since the American colonial times. Some of the city's natural variations in topography have been evened out. , Manila had a total area of 42.88 square kilometers.


title: Manila

text: In 2017, the City Government approved five reclamation projects: the New Manila Bay–City of Pearl (New Manila Bay International Community) (407.43 hectares), Solar City (148 hectares), the Manila Harbour Center expansion (50 hectares), Manila Waterfront City (318 hectares) and Horizon Manila (419 hectares). Out of the five planned reclamation, only Horizon Manila was approved by the Philippine Reclamation Authority in December 2019 and was slated for construction in 2021. Another reclamation project is possible and when built, it will contain the in-city housing relocation projects. Reclamation projects have been criticized by environmental activists and the Philippine Catholic Church, claiming that these are not sustainable and would put communities at risk of flooding. In line of the upcoming reclamation projects, the Philippines and the Netherlands forged a cooperation to craft the ₱250 million Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan to guide future decisions on programs and projects on Manila Bay.


title: Manila

text: Manila is made up of 897 barangays, which are grouped into 100 Zones for statistical convenience. Manila has the most barangays in the Philippines. Attempts at reducing its number have not prospered despite local legislation—Ordinance 7907, passed on April 23, 1996—reducing the number from 896 to 150 by merging existing barangays, because of the failure to hold a plebiscite.


title: Manila

text: Under the Köppen climate classification system, Manila has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen "Aw"), bordering closely on a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen "Am"). Together with the rest of the Philippines, Manila lies entirely within the tropics. Its proximity to the equator means that temperatures are hot year-round especially during the daytime, rarely going below or above . Temperature extremes have ranged from on January 11, 1914, to on May 7, 1915.


title: Manila

text: Humidity levels are usually very high all year round, making the temperature feel hotter than it is. Manila has a distinct dry season from late December through early April, and a relatively lengthy wet season that covers the remaining period with slightly cooler temperatures during the daytime. In the wet season, it rarely rains all day, but rainfall is very heavy during short periods. Typhoons usually occur from June to September.


title: Manila

text: Swiss Re ranked Manila as the second riskiest capital city to live in, citing its exposure to natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods and landslides. The seismically active Marikina Valley Fault System poses a threat of a large-scale earthquake with an estimated magnitude between 6–7 and as high as 7.6 to Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Manila has endured several deadly earthquakes, notably in 1645 and in 1677 which destroyed the stone and brick medieval city. The Earthquake Baroque style was used by architects during the Spanish colonial period in order to adapt to the frequent earthquakes.


title: Manila

text: Manila is hit with five to seven typhoons yearly. In 2009, Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) struck the Philippines. It led to one of the worst floodings in Metro Manila and several provinces in Luzon with an estimated damages worth ₱11 billion ($237 million). The floodings caused 448 deaths in Metro Manila alone. Following the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, the city began to dredge its rivers and improve its drainage network.


title: Manila

text: Due to industrial waste and automobiles, Manila suffers from air pollution, affecting 98% of the population. Swiss firm IQAir reported in December 2020 that Manila suffered from an average PM2.5 concentration of 6.1 μg/m3, which was classed as "Good" according to recommendations made by the World Health Organization.


title: Manila

text: According to a report in 2003, the Pasig River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world with 150 tons of domestic waste and 75 tons of industrial waste dumped daily. The city is the second biggest waste producer in the country with 1,151.79 tons (7,500.07 cubic meters) per day, after Quezon City which yields 1,386.84 tons or 12,730.59 cubic meters per day. Both cities were cited as having poor management in garbage collection and disposal.


title: Manila

text: Rehabilitation efforts have resulted in the creation of parks along the riverside, along with stricter pollution controls. In 2019, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has launched a rehabilitation program for Manila Bay that will be administered by different government agencies.


title: Manila

text: Manila is a planned city. In 1905, American Architect and Urban Planner Daniel Burnham was commissioned to design the new capital. His design for the city was based on the City Beautiful movement, which features broad streets and avenues radiating out from rectangles. The city is made up of fourteen city districts, according to Republic Act No. 409—the Revised Charter of the City of Manila—the basis of which officially sets the present-day boundary of the city. Two districts were later created, which are Santa Mesa (partitioned off from Sampaloc) and San Andres (partitioned off from Santa Ana).


title: Manila

text: Manila's mix of architectural styles reflects the turbulent history of the city and country. During the Second World War, Manila was razed to the ground by the Japanese forces and the shelling of American forces. After the liberation, rebuilding began and most of the historical buildings were thoroughly reconstructed. However, much of the historic churches and buildings in Intramuros, Manila's historic core, had been damaged by the war beyond repair. Manila's current urban landscape is one of modern and contemporary architecture.


title: Manila

text: Manila is known for its eclectic mix of architecture that shows a wide range of styles spanning different historical and cultural periods. Architectural styles reflect American, Spanish, Chinese, and Malay influences. Prominent Filipino architects such as Antonio Toledo, Felipe Roxas, Juan M. Arellano and Tomás Mapúa have designed significant buildings in Manila such as churches, government offices, theaters, mansions, schools and universities.


title: Manila

text: Manila is also famed for its Art Deco theaters. Some of these were designed by National Artists for Architecture such as Juan Nakpil and Pablo Antonio. Unfortunately most of these theaters were neglected, and some have been demolished. The historic Escolta Street in Binondo features many buildings of Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts architectural style, many of which were designed by prominent Filipino architects during the American Rule in the 1920s to the late 1930s. Many architects, artists, historians and heritage advocacy groups are pushing for the rehabilitation of Escolta Street, which was once the premier street of the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: Almost all of Manila's prewar and Spanish colonial architecture were destroyed during its battle for liberation by the intensive bombardment of the United States Air Force during World War II. Reconstruction took place afterwards, replacing the destroyed historic Spanish-era buildings with modern ones, erasing much of the city's character. Some buildings destroyed by the war have been reconstructed, such as the Old Legislative Building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts), Ayuntamiento de Manila (now the Bureau of the Treasury) and the under construction San Ignacio Church and Convent (as the Museo de Intramuros). There are plans to rehabilitate and/or restore several neglected historic buildings and places such as Plaza Del Carmen, San Sebastian Church and the NCCA Metropolitan Theater. Spanish-era shops and houses in the districts of Binondo, Quiapo, and San Nicolas are also planned to be restored, as a part of a movement to restore the city to its prewar state.


title: Manila

text: Since Manila is prone to earthquakes, the Spanish colonial architects invented the style called Earthquake Baroque which the churches and government buildings during the Spanish colonial period adopted. As a result, succeeding earthquakes of the 18th and 19th centuries barely affected Manila, although it did periodically level the surrounding area. Modern buildings in and around Manila are designed or have been retrofitted to withstand an 8.2 magnitude quake in accordance to the country's building code.


title: Manila

text: According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 1,846,513 people, making it the second most populous city in the Philippines. Manila is the most densely populated city in the world, with 41,515 inhabitants per km in 2015. District 6 is listed as being the most dense with 68,266 inhabitants per km, followed by District 1 with 64,936 and District 2 with 64,710. District 5 is the least densely populated area with 19,235.


title: Manila

text: Manila has been presumed to be the Philippines' largest city since the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement with the city eventually becoming the political, commercial and ecclesiastical capital of the country. Since colonial times, Manila has been the destination of peoples whose origins are as wide-ranging as India and Latin-America. In the 1860s to 1890s, in the urban areas of the Philippines, especially at Manila, according to burial statistics, as much as 3.3% of the population were pure European Spaniards and the pure Chinese were as high as 9.9% of the people. The Spanish-Filipino and Chinese-Filipino Mestizo populations also fluctuated. Eventually, everybody belonging to these non-native categories diminished because they were assimilated into and chose to self-identify as pure Filipinos since during the Philippine Revolution, the term "Filipino" included anybody born in the Philippines coming from any race.


title: Manila

text: That would explain the abrupt drop of otherwise high Chinese, Spanish and mestizo percentages across the country by the time of the first American census in 1903. Manila's population increased dramatically since the 1903 census as the population tended to move from rural areas to towns and cities. In the 1960 census, Manila became the first Philippine city to breach the one million mark (more than 5 times of its 1903 population). The city continued to grow until the population somehow "stabilized" at 1.6 million and experienced alternating increase and decrease starting the 1990 census year. This phenomenon may be attributed to the higher growth experience by suburbs and the already very high population density of city. As such, Manila exhibited a decreasing percentage share to the metropolitan population from as high as 63% in the 1950s to 27.5% in 1980 and then to 13.8% in 2015. The much larger Quezon City marginally surpassed the population of Manila in 1990 and by the 2015 census already has 1.1 million people more. Nationally, the population of Manila is expected to be overtaken by cities with larger territories such as Caloocan and Davao City by 2020.


title: Manila

text: The vernacular language is Filipino, based mostly on the Tagalog language of the city and its surroundings, and this Manilan form of spoken Tagalog has essentially become the lingua franca of the Philippines, having spread throughout the archipelago through mass media and entertainment. English is the language most widely used in education and business, and it is in heavy everyday use throughout Metro Manila and the rest of the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: A variant of Southern Min, Philippine Hokkien (locally known as "Lan-nang-oe"), is mainly spoken by the city's Chinese-Filipino community. According to data provided by the Bureau of Immigration, a total of 3.12 million Chinese citizens arrived in the Philippines from January 2016 to May 2018.


title: Manila

text: Crime in Manila is concentrated in areas associated with poverty, drug abuse, and gangs. Crime in the city is also directly related to its changing demographics and unique criminal justice system. Illegal drug trade is a major problem of the city. In Metro Manila alone, 92% of the barangays are affected by illegal drugs.


title: Manila

text: From 2010 to 2015, the city had the second highest index crime rates in the Philippines, with 54,689 cases or an average of about 9,100 cases per year. By October 2017, the Manila Police District (MPD) reported a 38.7% decrease in index crimes, from 5,474 cases in 2016 to only 3,393 in 2017. MPD's crime solution efficiency also improved, whereby six to seven out of 10 crimes have been solved by the city police force. MPD was cited as the Best Police District in Metro Manila in 2017 for registering the highest crime solution efficiency.


title: Manila

text: As a result of Spanish cultural influence, Manila is a predominantly Christian city. , Roman Catholics were 93.5% of the population, followed by adherents of the Iglesia ni Cristo (1.9%); various Protestant churches (1.8%); and Buddhists (1.1%). Members of Islam and other religions make up the remaining 1.4% of its population.


title: Manila

text: Manila is the seat of prominent Catholic churches and institutions. There are 113 Catholic churches within the city limits; 63 are considered as major shrines, basilicas, or a cathedral. The Manila Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila and the oldest established church in the country. Aside from the Manila Cathedral, there are also three other basilicas in the city: Quiapo Church, Binondo Church, and the Minor Basilica of San Sebastián. The San Agustín Church in Intramuros is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Manila

text: Several Mainline Protestant denominations are headquartered in the city. St. Stephen's Parish pro-cathedral in the Santa Cruz district is the see of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines' Diocese of Central Philippines, while align Taft Avenue are the main cathedral and central offices of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (also called the Aglipayan Church, a national church that was a product of the Philippine Revolution). Other faiths like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have temples within the city such as the Manila Philippines Temple in the Quezon City and Alabang Philippines Temple in Muntinlupa.


title: Manila

text: The indigenous Iglesia ni Cristo has several locales (akin to parishes) in the city, including its very first chapel (now a museum) in Punta, Santa Ana. Evangelical, Pentecostal and Seventh-day Adventist denominations also thrive. The headquarters of the Philippine Bible Society is in Manila. Also, the main campus of the Cathedral of Praise is located along Taft Avenue. Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide has several branches and campuses in Manila.


title: Manila

text: Religious groups such as Iglesia ni Cristo, Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide and the El Shaddai (movement) celebrate their anniversary at the Quirino Grandstand, which is an open space, in Rizal Park.


title: Manila

text: There are many Taoist and Buddhist temples like Seng Guan Temple in the city serving the spiritual needs of the Chinese Filipino community. Quiapo has a "Muslim town" where the city's largest mosque, Masjid Al-Dahab, exists. Members of the Indian expatriate population have the option of worshiping at the large Hindu temple in the city, or at the Sikh gurdwara along United Nations Avenue. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the Philippines, the governing body for followers of the Baháʼí Faith in the Philippines, is headquartered near Manila's eastern border with Makati.


title: Manila

text: Manila is a major center for commerce, banking and finance, retailing, transportation, tourism, real estate, new media as well as traditional media, advertising, legal services, accounting, insurance, theater, fashion, and the arts in the Philippines. Around 60,000 establishments operate in the city.


title: Manila

text: The National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines which annually publishes the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI), ranks the cities, municipalities and provinces of the country according to their economic dynamism, government efficiency and infrastructure. According to the 2016 CMCI, Manila was the second most competitive city in the Philippines. Manila placed third in the Highly Urbanized City (HUC) category. Manila held the title country's most competitive city in 2015, and since then has been making it to the top 3, assuring that the city is consistently one of the best place to live in and do business.


title: Manila

text: The Port of Manila is the largest seaport in the Philippines, making it the premier international shipping gateway to the country. The Philippine Ports Authority is the government agency responsible to oversee the operation and management of the ports. The International Container Terminal Services Inc. cited by the Asian Development Bank as one of the top five major maritime terminal operators in the world has its headquarters and main operations on the ports of Manila. Another port operator, the Asian Terminal Incorporated, has its corporate office and main operations in the Manila South Harbor and its container depository located in Santa Mesa.


title: Manila

text: Binondo, the oldest and one of the largest Chinatowns in the world, was the center of commerce and business activities in the city. Numerous residential and office skyscrapers are found within its medieval streets. Plans to make the Chinatown area into a business process outsourcing (BPO) hub progresses and is aggressively pursued by the city government of Manila. 30 buildings are already identified to be converted into BPO offices. These buildings are mostly located along the Escolta Street of Binondo, which are all unoccupied and can be converted into offices.


title: Manila

text: Divisoria in Tondo is known as the "shopping mecca of the Philippines". Numerous shopping malls are located in this place, which sells products and goods at bargain price. Small vendors occupy several roads that causes pedestrian and vehicular traffic. A famous landmark in Divisoria is the Tutuban Center, a large shopping mall that is a part of the Philippine National Railways' Main Station. It attracts 1 million people every month, but is expected to add another 400,000 people upon the completion of the LRT Line 2 West Extension, thereby making it Manila's busiest transfer station.


title: Manila

text: Diverse manufacturers within the city produce industrial-related products such as chemicals, textiles, clothing, and electronic goods. Food and beverages and tobacco products also produced. Local entrepreneurs continue to process primary commodities for export, including rope, plywood, refined sugar, copra, and coconut oil. The food-processing industry is one of the most stable major manufacturing sector in the city.


title: Manila

text: The Pandacan oil depot houses the storage facilities and distribution terminals of the three major players in the country's petroleum industry, namely Caltex Philippines, Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corporation. The oil depot has been a subject of various concerns, including its environmental and health impact to the residents of Manila. The Supreme Court has ordered that the oil depot to be relocated outside the city by July 2015, but it failed to meet this deadline. Most of the oil depot facility inside the 33 hectare compound have been demolished, and plans have been put into place to transform it into a transport hub or food park.


title: Manila

text: Manila is a major publishing center in the Philippines. "Manila Bulletin", the Philippines' largest broadsheet newspaper by circulation, is headquartered in Intramuros. Other major publishing companies in the country like "The Manila Times", "The Philippine Star" and "Manila Standard Today" are headquartered in the Port Area. The "Chinese Commercial News", the Philippines' oldest existing Chinese-language newspaper, and the country's third-oldest existing newspaper is headquartered in Binondo. DWRK used to have its studio at the FEMS Tower 1 along South Superhighway in Malate before transferring to the MBC Building at the CCP Complex in 2008.


title: Manila

text: Manila serves as the headquarters of the Central Bank of the Philippines which is located along Roxas Boulevard. Some universal banks in the Philippines that has its headquarters in the city are the Landbank of the Philippines and Philippine Trust Company. Unilever Philippines used to have its corporate office along United Nations Avenue in Paco before transferring to Bonifacio Global City in 2016. Toyota, a company listed in the Forbes Global 2000, also has its regional office along UN Avenue.


title: Manila

text: Manila welcomes over 1 million tourists each year. Major tourist destinations include the historic Walled City of Intramuros, the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, Manila Ocean Park, Binondo (Chinatown), Ermita, Malate, Manila Zoo, the National Museum Complex and Rizal Park. Both the historic Walled City of Intramuros and Rizal Park were designated as flagship destinations and as tourism enterprise zones in the Tourism Act of 2009.


title: Manila

text: Rizal Park, also known as Luneta Park, is a national park and the largest urban park in Asia with an area of , The park was constructed in honor of and dedication to the country's national hero José Rizal, who was executed by the Spaniards on charges of subversion. The flagpole west of the Rizal Monument is the Kilometer Zero marker for distances to the rest of the country. The park is managed by the National Parks and Development Committee.


title: Manila

text: The Walled City of Intramuros is the historic center of Manila. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism. It contains the famed Manila Cathedral and the 18th Century San Agustin Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kalesa is a popular mode of transportation for tourists in Intramuros and nearby places including Binondo, Ermita and Rizal Park. Known as the oldest chinatown in the world, Binondo was established on 1521 and served as a hub of Chinese commerce before the Spaniards colonized the Philippines. Its main attractions are Binondo Church, Filipino-Chinese Friendship Arch, Seng Guan Buddhist temple and authentic Chinese restaurants.


title: Manila

text: Manila is designated as the country's pioneer of medical tourism, estimated to generate $1 billion in revenue annually. However, lack of a progressive health system, inadequate infrastructure and the unstable political environment are seen as hindrances to its growth.


title: Manila

text: Manila is regarded as one of the best shopping destinations in Asia. Major shopping malls, department stores, markets, supermarkets and bazaars thrive within the city.


title: Manila

text: One of the city's famous shopping destinations is Divisoria, home to numerous shopping malls, including the famed Tutuban Center and the Lucky Chinatown. It is also dubbed the shopping mecca of the Philippines where everything is sold at a bargain price. There are almost 1 million shoppers in Divisoria according to the Manila Police District. Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world, is the city's center of commerce and trade for all types of businesses run by Filipino-Chinese merchants, with a wide variety of Chinese and Filipino shops and restaurants. Quiapo is referred to as the "Old Downtown", where tiangges, markets, boutique shops, music and electronics stores are common. Many department stores are on Recto Avenue.


title: Manila

text: Robinsons Place Manila is the largest shopping mall in the city. The mall was the second and the largest Robinsons Malls built. SM Supermalls operates two shopping malls in the city which are the SM City Manila and SM City San Lazaro. SM City Manila is located on the former grounds of YMCA Manila beside the Manila City Hall in Ermita, while SM City San Lazaro is built on the site of the former San Lazaro Hippodrome in Santa Cruz. The building of the former Manila Royal Hotel in Quiapo, which is famed for its revolving restaurant atop, is now the SM Clearance Center established in 1972. The site of the first SM Department Store is located at Carlos Palanca Sr. (formerly Echague) Street in San Miguel.


title: Manila

text: As the cultural center of the Philippines, Manila is the home to a number of museums. The National Museum Complex of the National Museum of the Philippines, located in Rizal Park, is composed of the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Planetarium. The famous painting of Juan Luna, the Spoliarium, can be found in the complex. The city also hosts the repository of the country's printed and recorded cultural heritage and other literary and information resources, the National Library. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines maintains two history museums in the city which are the Museo ni Apolinario Mabini – PUP and the Museo ni Jose Rizal – Fort Santiago. Museums established or run by educational institutions are the DLS-CSB Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, UST Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the UP Museum of a History of Ideas.


title: Manila

text: Bahay Tsinoy, one of Manila's prominent museums, documents the Chinese lives and contributions in the history of the Philippines. The Intramuros Light and Sound Museum chronicles the Filipinos desire for freedom during the revolution under Rizal's leadership and other revolutionary leaders. The Metropolitan Museum of Manila is a museum of modern and contemporary visual arts exhibits the Filipino arts and culture.


title: Manila

text: Other museums in the city are the Museum of Manila, the city-owned museum that exhibits the city's culture and history, Museo Pambata, a children's museum and a place of hands-on discovery and fun learning, and Plaza San Luis which is an outdoor heritage public museum that contains a collection of nine Spanish Bahay na Bato houses. Ecclesiastical museums in the located in the city are the Parish of the Our Lady of the Abandoned in Santa Ana, the San Agustin Church Museum and the Museo de Intramuros which houses the ecclesiastical art collection of the Intramuros Administration in the reconstructed San Ignacio Church and Convent.


title: Manila

text: Sports in Manila have a long and distinguished history. The city's, and in general the country's main sport is basketball, and most barangays have a basketball court or at least a makeshift basketball court, with court markings drawn on the streets. Larger barangays have covered courts where inter-barangay leagues are held every summer (April to May). Manila has many sports venues, such as the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and San Andres Gym, the home of the now defunct Manila Metrostars. The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex houses the Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium, the Baseball Stadium, Tennis Courts, the Rizal Memorial Coliseum and the Ninoy Aquino Stadium (the latter two are indoor arenas). The Rizal complex had hosted several multi-sport events, such as the 1954 Asian Games and the 1934 Far Eastern Games. Whenever the country hosts the Southeast Asian Games, most of the events are held at the complex, but in the 2005 Games, most events were held elsewhere. The 1960 ABC Championship and the 1973 ABC Championship, forerunners of the FIBA Asia Championship, was hosted by the memorial coliseum, with the national basketball team winning on both tournaments. The 1978 FIBA World Championship was held at the coliseum although the latter stages were held in the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.


title: Manila

text: Manila also hosts several well-known sports facilities such as the Enrique M. Razon Sports Center and the University of Santo Tomas Sports Complex, both of which are private venues owned by a university; collegiate sports are also held, with the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball games held at Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium, although basketball events had transferred to San Juan's Filoil Flying V Arena and the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Other collegiate sports are still held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Professional basketball, which has been organized mostly by corporate teams, also used to play at the city, but the Philippine Basketball Association now holds their games at Araneta Coliseum and Cuneta Astrodome at Pasay; the now defunct Philippine Basketball League played some of their games at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex such as its 1995–96 Philippine Basketball League season.


title: Manila

text: Manila has always been represented whenever city-based sports leagues are set up. The Manila Metrostars participated in the Metropolitan Basketball Association. The Metrostars, named after the Metrostar Express, the brand name of the Metro Manila MRT-3, which does not have stations in the city, participated in its first three seasons, and won the 1999 championship. The Metrostars later merged with the Batangas Blades and subsequently played in Lipa. Almost two decades later, the Manila Stars participated in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. The Stars' best performance was reaching the Northern Division Finals in 2019. Both teams played in the San Andres Sports Complex. Other teams that represented Manila but did not host games in the city are the Manila Jeepney F.C. and FC Meralco Manila. Jeepney were acknowledged by the city's government as Manila's representative in the United Football League. Meralco Manila played in the Philippines Football League and designated the Rizal Memorial Stadium as their home ground.


title: Manila

text: The Manila Storm are the city's rugby league team training at Rizal Park (Luneta Park) and playing their matches at Southern Plains Field, Calamba, Laguna. Previously a widely played sport in the city, Manila is now the home of the only sizable baseball stadium in the country, at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. The stadium hosted games of the now defunct Baseball Philippines; Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth were the first players to score a home run at the stadium at their tour of the country on December 2, 1934. Another popular sport in the city are cue sports, and billiard halls are a feature in most barangays. The 2010 World Cup of Pool was held at Robinsons Place Manila.


title: Manila

text: The Rizal Memorial Track and Football Stadium hosted the first FIFA World Cup qualifier in decades when the Philippines hosted Sri Lanka in July 2011. The stadium, which was previously unfit for international matches, had undergone a major renovation program before the match. The stadium also hosted its first rugby test when it hosted the 2012 Asian Five Nations Division I tournaments.


title: Manila

text: Manila celebrates civic and national holidays. Since most of the city's citizens are Roman Catholics as a result of the Spanish colonization, most of the festivities are religious in nature. Manila Day, which celebrates the city's founding on June 24, 1571, by Spanish "conquistador" Miguel López de Legazpi, was first proclaimed by Herminio A. Astorga (then vice mayor of Manila) on June 24, 1962. It has been annually commemorated under the patronage of John the Baptist, and has always been declared by the national government as a special non-working holiday through Presidential Proclamations. Each of the city's 896 barangays also have their own festivities guided by their own patron saint.


title: Manila

text: The city is also the host to the Procession of the Feast of the Black Nazarene ("Traslacíon"), held every January 9, which draws millions of Catholic devotees. Other religious festivities held in Manila are the Feast of Santo Niño in Tondo and Pandacan held on the third Sunday of January, the Feast of the Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados de Manila (Our Lady of the Abandoned), the patron saint of Santa Ana which was held every May 12, and the "Flores de Mayo". Non-religious holidays include the New Year's Day, National Heroes' Day, Bonifacio Day and Rizal Day.


title: Manila

text: Manila—officially known as the City of Manila—is the national capital of the Philippines and is classified as a Special City (according to its income) and a Highly Urbanized City (HUC). The mayor is the chief executive, and is assisted by the vice mayor, and the 38-member City Council. The members of the City Council are elected as representatives of the six councilor districts within the city, and the municipal presidents of the Liga ng mga Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan.


title: Manila

text: The city, however, has no control over Intramuros and the Manila North Harbor. The historic Walled City is administered by the Intramuros Administration, while the Manila North Harbor is managed by the Philippine Ports Authority. Both are national government agencies. The barangays that have jurisdictions over these places only oversee the welfare of the city's constituents and cannot exercise their executive powers. Manila has a total of 12,971 personnel complement by the end of 2018. Under the proposed form of federalism in the Philippines, Manila may no longer be the capital or Metro Manila may no longer be the seat of government. The committee has not yet decided on the federal capital and states that they are open to other proposals.


title: Manila

text: The mayor is Dr. Maria Shielah "Honey" Lacuna-Pangan, daughter of former Manila vice mayor Danilo Lacuna. Lacuna made history as she became the first female Mayor of Manila. The vice mayor is Yul Servo. The mayor and the vice mayor are term-limited by up to 3 terms, with each term lasting for three years. The city has an ordinance penalizing cat-calling since 2018, and is the second city in the Philippines to do so after Quezon City passed a similar ordinance in 2016. Recently, the city government is planning to revise existing curfew ordinance since the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in August 2017. Out of the three cities reviewed by the Supreme Court, namely: the City of Manila, Navotas and Quezon City; only the curfew ordinance of Quezon City was approved.


title: Manila

text: Manila, being the seat of political power of the Philippines, has several national government offices headquartered at the city. Planning for the development for being the center of government started during the early years of American colonization when they envisioned a well-designed city outside the walls of Intramuros. The strategic location chosen was Bagumbayan, a former town which is now the Rizal Park to become the center of government and a design commission was given to Daniel Burnham to create a master plan for the city patterned after Washington, D.C. These improvements were eventually abandoned under the Commonwealth Government of Manuel L. Quezon. A new government center was to be built on the hills northeast of Manila, or what is now Quezon City. Several government agencies have set up their headquarters in Quezon City but several key government offices still reside in Manila. However, many of the plans were substantially altered after the devastation of Manila during World War II and by subsequent administrations.


title: Manila

text: The city, as the capital, still hosts the Office of the President, as well as the president's official residence. Aside from these, important government agencies and institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Departments of Budget and Management, Finance, Health, Justice, Labor and Employment and Public Works and Highways still call the city home. Manila also hosts important national institutions such as the National Library, National Archives, National Museum of the Philippines and the Philippine General Hospital.. Other notable institutions based in Manila are the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, National Historical Commission, Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: Congress previously held office at the Old Congress Building. In 1972, due to declaration of martial law, Congress was dissolved; its successor, the unicameral Batasang Pambansa, held office at the new Batasang Pambansa Complex. When a new constitution restored the bicameral Congress, the House of Representatives stayed at the Batasang Pambansa Complex, while the Senate remained at the Old Congress Building. In May 1997, the Senate transferred to a new building it shares with the Government Service Insurance System at reclaimed land at Pasay. The Supreme Court was slated to transfer to its new campus at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig in 2019 but was postponed to a later year.


title: Manila

text: In Congress, Manila is represented by its six representatives, one each from its six congressional districts, while in the Senate, that body is elected nationally.


title: Manila

text: In the 2019 Annual Audit Report published by the Commission on Audit, the total revenue of the City of Manila amounted to ₱16.534 billion. It is one of the cities with the highest tax collection and internal revenue allotment. For the 2019 fiscal year, the total tax revenue collected by the city amounted to ₱8.4 billion. The city's total Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), coming from the National Treasury, is at ₱2.94 billion. Meanwhile, its total assets was worth ₱63.4 billion in 2019. The City of Manila has the highest budget allocation to healthcare among all the cities and municipalities in the Philippines, which maintains the six district hospitals, 59 health centers and lying-in clinic, and healthcare programs.


title: Manila

text: Development of public housing in the city began in the 1930s when the United States rule over the Philippines. Americans have to deal with the problem of sanitation and concentration of settlers around business areas. Business codes and sanitation laws were implemented in the 1930s. During this period until the 1950s, new communities were opened for relocation. Among these were Projects 1–8 in Diliman, Quezon City and the Vitas tenement houses in Tondo. The government implemented the Public Housing Policy in 1947 that established the People's Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC). A few years later, it put up the Slum Clearance Committee which, with the help of the PHHC, relocated thousands of families from Tondo and Quezon City to Sapang Palay in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan in the 1960s.


title: Manila

text: In 2016, the national government completed several medium-rise houses for 300 Manila residents whose slum community was destroyed by a fire in 2011. Meanwhile, the city government plans to retrofit dilapidated tenements within the city, and will construct new housing buildings for the city's informal settlers such as the 14-storey Tondominium 1 and Tondomium 2 buildings, containing 42-square meter, two-bedroom units. The construction of these new in-city vertical housing projects was funded by a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines. A multitude of other vertical housing projects are in development.


title: Manila

text: Since 2019, the Manila City Government has initiated 5 housing projects, namely: Tondominium 1 & 2, Binondominium, BaseCommunity, San Lazaro Residences and the Pedro Gil Residences.


title: Manila

text: One of the more famous modes of transportation in Manila is the jeepney. Patterned after U.S. Army jeeps, these have been in use since the years immediately following World War II. The Tamaraw FX, the third generation Toyota Kijang, which competed directly with jeepneys and followed fixed routes for a set price, once plied the streets of Manila. They were replaced by the UV Express. All types of public road transport plying Manila are privately owned and operated under government-issued franchises.


title: Manila

text: On a for-hire basis, the city is served by numerous taxicabs, "tricycles" (motorcycles with sidecars, the Philippine version of the auto rickshaw), and ""trisikads"" or ""sikads"", which are also known as ""kuligligs"" (bicycles with sidecars, the Philippine version of pedicabs). In some areas, especially in Divisoria, motorized pedicabs are popular. Spanish-era horse-drawn calesas are still a popular tourist attraction and mode of transportation in the streets of Binondo and Intramuros. Manila will phase out all gasoline-run tricycles and pedicabs and replace them with electric tricycles (e-trikes), and plans to distribute 10,000 e-trikes to qualified tricycle drivers from the city. As of January 2018, the city has already distributed e-trikes to a number of drivers and operators in Binondo, Ermita, Malate and Santa Cruz.


title: Manila

text: The city is serviced by LRT Line 1 (LRT-1) and Line 2 (LRT-2), which form the Light Rail Transit. Development of the railway system began in the 1970s under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, when the LRT Line 1 was built, making it the first light rail transport in Southeast Asia, though despite the name "light rail", LRT-1 operates as a light metro running on dedicated right-of-way. LRT 2 on the other hand, operates as a full-metro heavy rail system. These systems are undergoing a multibillion-dollar expansion. The LRT runs along the length of Taft Avenue (N170/R-2) and Rizal Avenue (N150/R-9), while LRT-2 runs along Claro M. Recto Avenue (N145/C-1) and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard (N180/R-6) from Santa Cruz, through Quezon City, up to Masinag in Antipolo, Rizal.


title: Manila

text: The central terminal of the Philippine National Railways lies within the city. One commuter railway within Metro Manila is in operation. The line runs in a general north–south direction from Tutuban (Tondo) toward the province of Laguna. The Port of Manila, located at the western section of the city at the vicinity of Manila Bay, is the largest and chief seaport of the Philippines. The Pasig River Ferry Service which runs on the Pasig River is another form of transportation. The city is also served by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country's main international airport and hub for domestic flights.


title: Manila

text: “Trolleys", hand-made human-powered metal handcarts operated by “trolley boys” transport people along sections of the PNR lines. This is a popular means of transport, due to it being cheap (roughly ₱10 or US$.20) and avoiding traffic. Many “trolley boys” are homeless, and live alongside the rail line as a result. Since the line is actively used by passenger trains, collisions with passenger trains are a consistent danger, although casualties are reportedly rare. Rides are unofficial and unregulated, but tolerated by authorities.


title: Manila

text: Manila was ranked by "TomTom" as the second world's most traffic-congested city in 2019. According to Waze's 2015 "Global Driver Satisfaction Index", Manila is the town with the worst traffic worldwide. Manila is notorious for its frequent traffic jams and high densities. The government has undertaken several projects to alleviate the traffic in the city. Some of the projects include: the proposed construction of a new viaduct or underpass at the intersection of España Boulevard and Lacson Avenue, the construction of Skyway Stage 3, NLEX Connector, Pasig River Expressway, the proposed LRT Line 2 West Extension Project from Recto Avenue to Pier 4 of the Manila North Harbor, the proposed construction of the PNR east–west line, which will run through España Boulevard up to Quezon City, and the expansion and widening of several national and local roads. However, such projects have yet to make any meaningful impact, and the traffic jams and congestion continue unabated.


title: Manila

text: The Metro Manila Dream Plan seeks to address these urban transport problems. It consists of a list of short term priority projects and medium to long term infrastructure projects that will last up to 2030.


title: Manila

text: Water services used to be provided by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, which served 30% of the city with most other sewage being directly dumped into storm drains, septic tanks, or open canals. MWSS was privatized in 1997, which split the water concession into the east and west zones. The Maynilad Water Services took over the west zone of which Manila is a part. It now provides the supply and delivery of potable water and sewerage system in Manila, but it does not provide service to the southeastern part of the city which belongs to the east zone that is served by Manila Water. Electric services are provided by Meralco, the sole electric power distributor in Metro Manila.


title: Manila

text: The Manila Health Department is responsible for the planning and implementation of the health care programs provided by the city government. It operates 59 health centers and six city-run hospitals, which are free of charge for the city's constituents. The six public city-run hospitals are the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Ospital ng Tondo, Santa Ana Hospital, and Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital. Manila is also the site of the Philippine General Hospital, the tertiary state-owned hospital administered and operated by the University of the Philippines Manila. The city is also planning to put up an education, research and hospital facility for cleft-palate patients, as well as establishing the first children's surgical hospital in Southeast Asia.


title: Manila

text: Manila's healthcare is also provided by private corporations. Private hospitals that operates in the city are the Manila Doctors Hospital, Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center, José R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Metropolitan Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and the University of Santo Tomas Hospital.


title: Manila

text: The Department of Health (DOH) has its main office in Manila. The national health department operates the San Lazaro Hospital, a special referral tertiary hospital. DOH also operates the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center and the Tondo Medical Center. Manila is the home to the headquarters of the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Western Pacific and Country Office for the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: The city has free immunization programs for children, specifically targeted against hepatitis B, Hemophilus influenza B pneumonia, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. As of 2016, a total of 31,115 children age one and below has been "fully immunized". The Manila Dialysis Center that provides free services for the poor has been cited by the United Nations Committee on Innovation, Competitiveness and Public-Private Partnerships as a model for public-private partnership (PPP) projects. The dialysis facility was named as the Flora V. Valisno de Siojo Dialysis Center in 2019, and was inaugurated as the largest free dialysis facility in the Philippines. It has 91 dialysis machines, which can be expanded up to 100, matching the capabilities of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI).


title: Manila

text: The center of education since the colonial period, Manila is home to several Philippine universities and colleges as well as its oldest ones. The city contains the University Belt, an area where there is a high concentration of colleges and universities. Each of the colleges and universities found here are at a short walking distance of each other. The area is commonly understood as the one where the San Miguel, Quiapo, and Sampaloc districts meet, while another cluster of colleges lies along the southern bank of the Pasig River, mostly at the Intramuros and Ermita districts, and still a smaller cluster is found at the southernmost part of Malate near the city limits.


title: Manila

text: The historic district of Intramuros once served as the home of the University of Santo Tomas (1611), Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1620), and Ateneo de Manila University (1859). Today, only Colegio de San Juan de Letran remains at Intramuros; the University of Santo Tomas transferred to a new campus at Sampaloc in 1927, and Ateneo left Intramuros for Loyola Heights, Quezon City (while still retaining "de Manila" in its name) in 1952. Meanwhile, new non-sectarian schools were built after the war: Mapúa University (1925), Lyceum of the Philippines University (1952), and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (1965) which is owned and operated by the Manila city government. Together, the four schools in the district formed the Intramuros Consortium. Other notable universities in the city include National University (1900), De La Salle University (1911), the largest of all De La Salle University System of schools, Far Eastern University (1928), and Adamson University (1939).


title: Manila

text: The University of the Philippines (1908), the premier state university of the country, was established in Ermita, Manila. It moved its central administrative offices from Manila to Diliman in 1949 and eventually made the original campus the University of the Philippines Manila – the oldest of the constituent universities of the University of the Philippines System and the center of health sciences education in the country. The city is also the site of the main campus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the largest university in the country in terms of student population.


title: Manila

text: The Division of the City Schools of Manila, a branch of the Department of Education, refers to the city's three-tier public education system. It governs the 71 public elementary schools and 32 public high schools within the city. The city also contains the Manila Science High School, the pilot science high school of the Philippines.


title: Manila

text: Manila hosts the foreign embassies of the United States and Vietnam. Honorary consulates of Belize, Burkina Faso, Jordan, Nepal, Poland, Thailand, and Tunisia are based in the city.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker in "", and debuted in its 22nd episode, "Joker's Favor", on September 11, 1992. While intended to appear in one episode, Quinn became a recurring character within the DC Animated Universe as the Joker's sidekick and love interest, and was adapted into DC Comics' Batman comic book canon seven years later, beginning with the one-shot "Batman: Harley Quinn" #1 (October 1999). Quinn's origin story features her as a former psychiatrist at Gotham City's Arkham Asylum named Dr. Harleen Quinzel who fell in love with the Joker, her patient, eventually becoming his accomplice and lover. The character's alias is a play on the stock character Harlequin from the 16th-century theater .


title: Harley Quinn

text: Following her introduction to the DC Universe in 1999, Harley Quinn was depicted as a frequent accomplice and lover of the Joker as well as the best friend of fellow supervillain Poison Ivy. Later stories depicted Quinn as a supervillain who has left her abusive relationship with the Joker behind, beginning with the publication of her first ongoing series written by Karl Kesel in 2000. After years of scarce appearances in comics, Quinn returned in a leading role in 2009 with the "Gotham City Sirens" series, as part of an unstable alliance with Poison Ivy and Catwoman. In 2011, DC's line-wide reboot "The New 52" reintroduced Quinn in the relaunched "Suicide Squad" title, which changed the character's personality, design, and origin, replacing her original jester costume with a revealing ensemble and depicting her to be darker than her earlier counterpart. The character took a lighthearted and humorous direction with her second ongoing series in 2013, written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, which features the character moving to her hometown of Brooklyn and starting her own life in Coney Island. The character has since been depicted as an antihero independent of the Joker and a recurring core member of the Suicide Squad, with Poison Ivy becoming her primary romantic interest. In 2021, DC's line-wide "Infinite Frontier" relaunch brought Quinn back to Gotham City and reestablished her as a superhero seeking redemption for her past actions.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn's abilities include expert gymnastic skills, proficiency in weapons and hand-to-hand combat, complete unpredictability, immunity to toxins, and enhanced strength, agility, and durability. Quinn often wields clown-themed gag weapons, with an oversized mallet being her signature weapon. The character has a pair of pet hyenas, Bud and Lou, which sometimes serve as her attack dogs. As a trained psychiatrist with a genius-level intellect, she is adept at deception and psychological manipulation.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn has become one of DC Comics' most popular and profitable characters, and has been featured in many of DC's comic books and adapted in various other media and merchandise. DC Comics Publisher Jim Lee considers Harley Quinn the fourth pillar of DC Comics' publishing line, behind Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Originally voiced by Arleen Sorkin in the DC Animated Universe, she has since appeared in many other DC projects voiced by actresses such as Tara Strong, Hynden Walch, Laura Bailey, Jenny Slate, Melissa Rauch, Laura Post, and Kaley Cuoco; the latter provided the character's voice in the 2019 animated series "Harley Quinn". Mia Sara portrayed the character in the 2002 television series "Birds of Prey". Harley Quinn makes her live-action cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film "Suicide Squad" (2016), where she is portrayed by Margot Robbie. Robbie reprises her role in "Birds of Prey" (2020) and "The Suicide Squad" (2021), with elements of her portrayal's design consequentially incorporated into comics, while Lady Gaga will portray the character in "" (2024).


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the 1992 "" episode entitled "Joker's Favor" while Dini was writing the episode. Initially written as an animated equivalent of a walk-on role, Harley Quinn was intended to appear in just one episode. As Dini was putting together the story for the episode, he wanted to introduce a foil for the supervillain Joker; Dini recalled, "The way I created her was I was writing a story called “Joker’s Favor” and it was my first Joker story and I wanted to make it good and I wanted to make the Joker everything he is in the better comics books, which is funny and scary and egotistical and I thought maybe a foil would bring out some of those personality traits." He then thought of giving Joker a female henchperson, inspired by the molls of the 1960s live-action "Batman" series, and then decided she would be a "funny counterpart to the Joker to maybe work up a little Punch and Judy attitude between them"; Dini stated, "[...] she could crack a joke and the henchmen would laugh, and the Joker would kind of glare at her." In 1991, after seeing his college friend Arleen Sorkin play a roller-skating jester from a dream sequence in the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", Dini decided to have Sorkin voice her. Dini then partly based Harley Quinn on Sorkin, with Dini incorporating aspects of Sorkin, such as her "very snappy, wisecracking, bubbly blonde" personality into the character as well as her mannerisms. In recording Harley Quinn's voice, Sorkin spoke in her normal Brooklyn accent while putting in a "little Yiddish sound", since Dini made the character Jewish, another aspect of the character borrowed from Sorkin.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Dini had several names in mind while naming the character, such as Columbine, and eventually settled on the name "Harley Quinn". Dini chose the name for the character to be in line with other Batman characters's names being puns, and also because he thought "Harley was a fun name for a girl." The name Harley Quinn is a play on Harlequin, a stock character from the sixteenth-century Italian physical comedy theater .


title: Harley Quinn

text: In designing the character, Timm did a "simplified supervillain version" of traditional Harlequin gear; from the original, he took the jester hat, ruffled collar, diamond pattern, and domino mask and put them on a red-and-black bodysuit, on which the diamonds were strategically placed for easier animation. Timm took Harley Quinn's red and black motif from the Golden Age comic book character Daredevil. Dini had previously made a rough design for the character, which Timm improved on.


title: Harley Quinn

text: After seeing Harley Quinn in the rough cut of "Joker's Favor", the producers of "Batman: The Animated Series", which include Dini and Timm, were impressed with the result, with Dini wanting to bring the character back for more episodes. Timm and another producer, Alan Burnett, were initially reluctant of this, and thought that giving Joker a girlfriend "played more towards his comedic side" and would "humanize him too much", which contrasted their vision for Joker as a character who is "as serious a threat as possible to Batman". Nevertheless, months after "Joker's Favor", Harley made a second appearance on the show in the episode "The Laughing Fish" and became the Joker's love interest. Harley Quinn gained popularity with fans of "The Animated Series", with the character being featured more on the show and eventually starring in her own episodes, such as 1993's "Harley and Ivy", which introduced a friendship between Harley Quinn and fellow supervillain Poison Ivy, and 1994's "Harlequinade" and "Harley's Holiday", which explored Harley Quinn's life without the Joker. Harley Quinn then became a recurring character in the DC Animated Universe, appearing in "The Animated Series" sequel "The New Batman Adventures", and in non-Batman animation such as "", "Static Shock", and "Justice League". On February 7, 1994, she made her first appearance in a video game in "The Adventures of Batman and Robin", an action platformer based on "Batman: The Animated Series".


title: Harley Quinn

text: Because of her popularity, Harley Quinn was adapted into DC's comic books. In September 1993, a year following Harley Quinn's first appearance in "Batman: The Animated Series", the character made her comic book debut in the twelfth issue of "The Batman Adventures", a series set in the universe of "The Animated Series", and became a regular character. In 1997, she appeared in the story "", released under Elseworlds, a DC Comics imprint that published out-of-continuity alternate reality stories, as Hayley Fitzpatrick. In 1999, she became a canonical character with the release of "Batman: Harley Quinn" #1.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In February 1994, the one-shot "The Batman Adventures: Mad Love" recounting Harley's origin was released. Written by Dini and drawn by Timm, the story marks their first comic book collaboration. "Mad Love" introduces Harley Quinn as a former psychiatrist named Harleen Quinzel who fell in love with the Joker during her internship at Gotham City's Arkham Asylum and details her transformation into the Joker's villainous accomplice Harley Quinn, as well as the Joker's lack of respect for Harley. Widely considered the definitive Harley Quinn story, "Mad Love" added dimensions to the character, with Dini introducing Harley Quinn's motivations as well as establishing her as a tragic figure and sympathetic villain. The story received wide praise and won the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best Single Issue in the same year and was later adapted into an episode of the same name in "The New Batman Adventures" in 1999.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn's actual name is established in "Mad Love" as Harleen Frances Quinzel. "Harleen Frances" was borrowed by Dini from Sorkin's first and middle name, Arleen Frances. "Quinzel" was taken from a former teacher of Dini's from Emerson College named Quenzel.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn was adapted into the main DC universe with the 1999 one-shot graphic novel "Batman: Harley Quinn", written by Dini and illustrated by Yvel Guichet., which put her origin in the middle of the "No Man's Land" storyline. Dini changed Harley and Joker's relationship to be darker to match Joker's character in the comics; in the story, Joker attempts to kill Harley at the first opportunity. Dini also gave Harley new abilities, such as immunity to toxins and enhanced strength and agility, which she received after having been injected a special formula by Poison Ivy. These changes were made to match the needs of the DC Universe; on her new abilities, Dini said: "I figured if she'd be going head-to-head with Batman and the other DC heroes, Harley would need some kind of physical edge."


title: Harley Quinn

text: While pursuing new assignments at DC Comics' offices in New York City, Karl Kesel was approached by former DC editor Matt Idelson to create a pitch for Harley Quinn's first ongoing series, which Karl accepted, being a fan of the character after having read Dini's "Mad Love". Kesel chose Terry Dodson as the artist for the series, whose art Kesel thought complemented the character's cartoonish roots and worldview. Kesel called Dodson and asked him if he was interested on working on the comic, to which Dodson agreed, and the two worked for a month on their proposal for the series, which was to make a comic about "love gone horribly, terribly wrong". The proposal was accepted by DC Comics, and the pair began work on the series, with Kesel and Dodson both being involved in the storytelling, and Dodson bringing in his wife, Rachel Dodson, to ink. Kesel's run on the series began being published in December 2000, and was about Harley Quinn leaving the Joker and becoming a solo criminal, alongside a supporting cast of henchmen named the Quinntets. Because of underwhelming sales, his 25-issue run ended in December 2002, and DC decided to change the creative team; the series was given to writer A.J. Lieberman and artists Mike Huddleston and Troy Nixey by Idelson, and took on a grittier and darker direction, contrasting Kesel's run. The decision renewed interest in the character, but the sales remained lackluster and the series was cancelled in 2003.


title: Harley Quinn

text: After years of scarce appearances in comics, Harley Quinn resurfaced in a leading role in July 2009 with "Gotham City Sirens", a team-up title created by Dini. The series brought together Batman's most popular female villains, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy, in an unstable alliance. The series also expanded on Harley Quinn's background and early life; in "Gotham City Sirens" #7, Dini established the character's hometown being Brooklyn, and also introduced her dysfunctional family, with her swindling father being described as the main reason for her pursuing psychiatry.


title: Harley Quinn

text: The first several issues of "Gotham City Sirens" were written by Dini and illustrated by Guillem March. Other creatives who worked for the series include writers Tony Bedard and Peter Calloway, and artists David López, Andres Guinaldo, Peter Nguyen, Jeremy Haun, and Ramon Bachs. The series was cancelled in August 2011 for "The New 52", DC Comics' relaunch of their entire comic line.


title: Harley Quinn

text: As part of the New 52 reboot in September 2011, Harley Quinn was reintroduced by Adam Glass as a prominent member of the supervillain team Task Force X in the relaunched "Suicide Squad" series. The character was heavily redesigned to fit the tone of the book; her color motif was changed to red and blue, her jester costume was replaced with a revealing ensemble consisting of a corset and hot pants, her skin was bleached white, and her previously blonde hair was altered to half-blue and half-red. Her personality had also been depicted to be more violent and psychopathic than her former iteration.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In the series, Glass separated Harley Quinn from the Joker and explored her "becom[ing] her own person", with the Suicide Squad becoming a family to her; Glass stated, "Harley's always wanted to belong to something. And if not Joker, then the team – and she's finding herself in all this. She's finding her place in the world, that she's not just a sidekick."


title: Harley Quinn

text: "Suicide Squad" was cancelled in April 2014 to coincide with the conclusion of the "Forever Evil" storyline.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In the seventh issue of "Suicide Squad", Glass revised Harley Quinn's origin story, making it reflect the Joker's origins. In the story, the Joker takes Harleen Quinzel to the chemical plant where he originated and pushes her into a vat of chemicals against her will, which bleaches her skin and drives her insane, resulting in her transformation to Harley Quinn, similar to the Joker's transformation in his origins. This origin was received negatively by fans of the character, who felt that its removal of Harley Quinn's choice to become the Joker's accomplice herself, as depicted in her previous origin stories, took out an essential part of her character.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn's second ongoing series, written by husband and wife Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, with the interior art illustrated by Chad Hardin and John Timms, explored Harley Quinn leaving Gotham City and starting her own life in her hometown of Brooklyn, depicting her as a landlord in Coney Island, where she shares an apartment building with a supporting cast of "sideshow freaks". Considered to be the most defining writers to work on the character since Dini and Timm, Palmiotti and Conner reinvented Harley Quinn as an antihero who has left her controlling relationship with the Joker behind.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In contrast to Harley Quinn's depiction in Glass' "Suicide Squad", Palmiotti and Conner wrote Harley Quinn with a lighthearted, cartoonish, and humorous tone. Her costume has also been changed with a roller derby-inspired costume designed by Conner, which incorporates Conner's favorite aspects of Harley Quinn's early costume and her costume in Glass' "Suicide Squad". The series also brought back Harley Quinn's red and black motif.