Santa Mesa, Manila

Santa Mesa
Santa Mesa
	Location of Santa Mesa in Manila's 6th legislative district
Country	Philippines
Region	National Capital Region
City	Manila
Congressional districts	Part of the 6th district of Manila
Barangays	51
	Area
• Total	676.0 km2 (261.01 sq mi)
	Population (2007)
• Total	98,901

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Santa Mesa is one of the 16 geographical districts of the city of Manila, which is primarily a residential, commercial and educational center. Santa Mesa is bounded by several districts and cities. To its north is Quezon City, San Juan City to its northeast, Mandaluyong City to its east, the district Santa Ana to its south, Pandacan to its southwest and the district of Sampaloc to its west. The town was a former part of Sampaloc, and was separated from it after the district fell into the District 6 jurisdiction. Being a former part of Sampaloc, Santa Mesa acquired barangays from the former district, barangays 587-636. The town has a population of 98,901 as of 2007.^[1]

[edit] Etymology

The name is derived from the name "Santa Mesa de la Misericordia". The owner of the land during the Spanish colonial period offered an "obra pía", meaning "pious work", and provided social services. Another possible derivation is from the Spanish term for "Holy Mass."

[edit] History

Wounded soldiers during the Philippine-American War.

The town of Santa Mesa was situated in the alluvial deposits of Pasig and San Juan Rivers. It was owned by a religious order during the Spanish times, contemporary to what was described as where Santa Mesa got its name. The naming of Santa Mesa has different origins but similar to one thing: Santa Mesa got its name as Holy or somewhat influenced by religion. Santa Mesa was best known for the Philippine–American War, in which the hallowed ground became a battlefield. The conflict started when Pvt. William W. Grayson shot a Filipino soldier. The National Historical Institute discovered in the late 2003 that the conflict did not happen on San Juan Bridge, but in Sociego and Silencio Streets. The town used to be small and manageable but expanded on all directions after World War II, where the town became the hospital to treat the wounded. The town was merged with Sampaloc and the combination merged with Manila, as districts. After the creation of the legislative districts of Manila, Santa Mesa was separated from Sampaloc after falling to the jurisdiction of District 6. Although the district itself was still considered to be a part of Sampaloc. Santa Mesa is also the home of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the main headquarters of the National Statistics Office of the Philippines. It was also once the location of the headquarter of DZRJ-AM. Santa Mesa received critical damage when Typhoon Ondoy, international name Ketsana battered the Philippines. Half of Santa Mesa submerged, mostly the northeastern part facing the cities of San Juan and Mandaluyong.

[edit] Geography

Santa Mesa is located in the western part of Manila, bordering the districts of Sampaloc in the north and east, Pandacan and Santa Ana in the south after crossing the Pasig River and the cities of Mandaluyong, San Juan and Quezon City in the west. Some of the natural variations in topography have been evened out due to its urbanization.

[edit] Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification system, Santa Mesa and the rest of the city features a tropical savanna climate that borders on a tropical monsoon climate. Together with the rest of the Philippines, Manila lies entirely within the tropics. Its proximity to the equator means that the temperature range is very small, rarely going lower than 20 °C and going higher than 38 °C. However, humidity levels are usually very high which makes it feel much warmer. It has a distinct, albeit relatively short dry season from January through April, and a relatively lengthy wet season from May through December.

Climate data for Manila, Philippines
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	30.2 (86.4)	31.1 (88.0)	32.8 (91.0)	34.3 (93.7)	34.2 (93.6)	32.4 (90.3)	31.3 (88.3)	30.8 (87.4)	31.1 (88.0)	31.2 (88.2)	31.0 (87.8)	30.3 (86.5)	31.73 (89.11)
Daily mean °C (°F)	25.6 (78.1)	26.1 (79.0)	27.6 (81.7)	29.1 (84.4)	29.5 (85.1)	28.4 (83.1)	27.7 (81.9)	27.4 (81.3)	27.6 (81.7)	27.3 (81.1)	26.9 (80.4)	26.0 (78.8)	27.43 (81.38)
Average low °C (°F)	20.9 (69.6)	21.1 (70.0)	22.5 (72.5)	24.0 (75.2)	24.8 (76.6)	24.4 (75.9)	24.1 (75.4)	24.0 (75.2)	24.0 (75.2)	23.5 (74.3)	22.8 (73.0)	21.6 (70.9)	23.14 (73.66)
Precipitation mm (inches)	6.3 (0.248)	3.3 (0.13)	7.1 (0.28)	9.3 (0.366)	113.4 (4.465)	272.7 (10.736)	341.2 (13.433)	398.3 (15.681)	326.0 (12.835)	230.0 (9.055)	120.4 (4.74)	48.8 (1.921)	1,876.8 (73.89)
Avg. rainy days	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	7.0	14.0	16.0	19.0	17.0	13.0	9.0	5.0	104
Source: Hong Kong Observatory ^[2]

[edit] Environmental issues

Santa Mesa is a concrete jungle with juggled streets, where almost 1,200 passed through everyday. Traffic is from moderate to heavy 24 hours a day, thus the district suffers air pollution in the form of smog which affects most of its residents. Along with Manila, it suffers heavy pollution and lack of urban planning. Major roads traversing it are Pres. Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. and P. Sanchez St. (R-6). Also traversing it is the Old Santa Mesa Boulevard which connects Manila to San Juan. Due to the large volume of vehicles, it is expected to be the hottest district in Manila, comparable to that of Makati Central Business District (CBD) and Ortigas Center.