The Decline of Philippine Basketball Association's Popularity

Gate receipts of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) are declining. Even television viewership started to dwindle. Nowadays, they hardly fill up a big arena as the Araneta Coliseum with a 14,775 seating capacity nor even the Cuneta Astrodome with a lesser seating capacity of 12,000. Gone are the days when the Araneta Coliseum is filled to the rafters during a Crispa-Toyota game, a Jaworski-led Ginebra game, a San Miguel team with Samboy Lim, and a Purefoods game with Patrimonio.

Now what led to the decline of PBA gate receipts as well as TV viewership. The following are my assessments on the possible reasons that led to the said decline.

First, there was the absence of intense rivalry like the Crispa-Toyota during the 70's. Although things were different now than in the '70s when most of the best players of the league were only distributed between Crispa and Toyota, perhaps the PBA needs to promote rivalries between the present roster of teams. Back in my teens, I remember basketball fanatics, as most Filipinos are, rooting for either Crispa or Toyota. We even divided our group of friends into two every time we play basketball with the Crispanatics representing one team and the other team represented by the Toyota fans. As such, the PBA should promote rivalries wherein basketball fanatics can associate themselves. Ginebra, right now, is already associated with the masses just the same as that of Crispa's popularity. So, the PBA only needs to look for a team with class that can be associated with Toyota of long ago. Purefoods is a strong choice for the other half of the rivalry as its got class on its own while the other half goes to crowd favorite Ginebra.

Next, nobody took the role of a charismatic player like Robert Jaworski that drew crowd because of his "never say die" playing attitude that endeared him to basketball fanatics. Samboy Lim, San Miguel's shooting guard with a Magic Johnson ball-handling skills and a Dr. J leaping and dunking abilities, was dubbed as Jaworski's heir. However, Samboy's playing career was short-lived due to injuries he attained from his daredevil high-flying drives to the basket. Alvin Patrimonio was also a candidate  before but he was more popular among the feminine viewers than males, leaving a gap in establishing his popularity in the PBA. With the present roster of players, I think the PBA can mold James Yap as the possible Mr. PBA or they can develop another cager in the Ginebra roster to act as one.


Third, the arrival of foreign cagers with Filipino lineage that started in the 1999-2000 season due to the shortness of local talents after rival Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) started to have its share may also be considered a factor in the decline of PBA's popularity. The move also led the PBA into controversy. Many of the said expatriate cagers had questionable lineage with most of them deported for falsifying documents. Now, why a factor? If I am a student of any of the college or university that is a member of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Capital Region Athletic Association (NCRAA), Universities and Colleges Athletic Association (UCAA), Universities and Colleges of Luzon Athletic Association (UCLAA), or any other collegiate basketball league in the country, I will definitely follow the basketball career of my campus basketball hero all the way to the professional league. However, since PBA franchises opted for Fil-foreign players of whose collegiate basketball background I never had the chance to follow, my campus idol shall have a slim chance to be drafted in the professional league unless, of course, he has exceptional basketball skills. Another thing, the league's move in drafting Fil-foreign players over homegrown cagers appears to be an insult to the basketball-adoring nation as it appears that this expatriate cagers are better than our homegrown cage talents.Therefore, the PBA should stop hiring Fil-foreign cagers and start to hire local talents. Anyway, there is an abundance of local talents since rival MBA had ceased since 2002.


Fourth is the present PBA format where teams represent companies. If the league wants to boost its gate receipts then it must move to regionalization with a "home and away" format similar to the one adopted by the now-defunct MBA as well as that of the American National Basketball Association (NBA). Teams shall be carrying the company name as well as the region they represent, example: San Miguel-NCR, etc. This will then bring the league closer to the people. Learning from the lesson of the folding of the MBA due to the high expenses on funding a regional basketball league, the expenses can be compensated by increasing the number of teams, the opening of PBA stores with more PBA memorabilia and products in malls as well as in home courts. This move will generate more jobs as well as improve the economy of every region hosting a team.


Fifth is the sending of PBA cagers to international competitions after a 1989 FIBA ruling allowing professional cagers to play in FIBA-sanctioned games. Local basketball afficionados were made to believe that by sending PBA cagers to the Asian Games as well as the Asian Basketball Conference we will regain our basketball supremacy in Asia. Unfortunately, due to lack of preparation and team cohesiveness, the best place we ever had was silver medal in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. From then on, PBA started to earn direspect from its avid supporters and thus its popularity started to wane. The sending of PBA players to international competition was a "make or break" for the league. If the PBA cagers were able to regain the Philippines' basketball supremacy in Asia then PBA's popularity would have surged upward. However, the other way around happened. Therefore, the PBA should stop sending their cagers to international competitions for now and start building a team composed of young, tall and talented cagers. Funding of the said team shall come from team managers of the league and the team shall compete in the PBA as well as in international competitions, such as the Jones Cup, as part of their training. Winning a PBA title signals the preparedness of the team to compete in the Asian Basketball Conference and the Asian Games, just like what happened to the Northern Consolidated Cement (NCC) team back in the '80s. Once the PBA-built national team emerges as Asian champions, PBA's popularity will definitely be back.


When it comes to PBA's decline in TV viewership, among the reasons are that TV viewers have more options for entertainment. Among them are electronic (PSP, DS, etc.), internet and computer games, or surfing the net. Likewise, cable networks have more viewing options while local rival networks have soap operas, locally called "teleseryes", that are religiously followed by every household. Gone are the days when PBA viewership is on top of the household agenda when it comes to TV viewing since local rival networks at that time were government-owned and local TV programs then were not as competitive as it is today. So, to regain TV viewing popularity, the PBA coverage should think of gimmicks  in order to increase viewership. Perhaps, they can use text promos and even contests with audience participation. 

Next, basketball is no longer the country's favorite pastime. Filipinos started to accept the fact that said sport is only for tall people. With a country where the average height for male is between 5'4" to 5' 5", a lot of Filipinos started to believe that there is no future in Philippine basketball when it comes to international recognition. Yes, it is true that the Philippines dominated Asian basketball in the early half of the previous century but this is because the Filipinos were the first Asians that learned the sport after being under the American occupation. When the rest of Asia started to learn and master the game, the Philippines went out of contention in the Asian scene and was relegated to dominate Southeast Asia where the average height of males are almost the same. Likewise, at the turn of the century, interest in sports shifted to those with no height requirements, such as billiards, after Efren "Bata" Reyes won the World 9-ball Championship in 1999, boxing, after the emergence of Manny Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion as the world's number one pound-for-pound best boxer, and now soccer, after the national soccer team, popularly called Azkals, qualified for the AFC Challenge Cup for the first time and recording their first ever victory in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers by beating Sri Lanka on July 3, 2011. To revert back the Filipinos' interest in basketball, the PBA, as I said awhile ago, must regain supremacy in Asian basketball.

Last suggestions, the PBA must start to have a professional female basketball league as well as sponsor a national barangay amateur basketball league. The latter will re-awaken the national interest in  basketball as well as develop basketball in the grassroots level.

No Smoking in Metro Manila

In 1994, the Department of Health (DOH) launched an anti-smoking campaign ad called "Yosi Kadiri". The popular campaign ad by the then DOH Secretary, Juan Flavier, proved effective in reducing the prevalence of smoking among the youth aged 7 to 19 age bracket from 22.7% in 1987 to at least 12% by the end of 1997.

In June 2002, Makati implemented City Ordinance No. 2002-090, better known as the "Revised Anti-Smoking Ordinance of Makati", imposing a city-wide ban on smoking in all forms of public vehicles and in enclosed public places where persons other than the smokers may be exposed to cigarette smoke.

When I went to Davao City on December 2002, the city's Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance No. 0423, approved on November 2002, was already being implemented. The city government enforced the city ordinance with the Anti-Smoking Task Force a year later making Davao the only city in the Philippines strictly implementing Republic Act 9211, known as the Tobacco Regulations Act of 2003.

Other cities followed, but the implementation is a failure.

Finally, on May 30, 2011, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), under Chairman Francis  Tolentino, started the strict implementation of the Tobacco Regulations Act of 2003. The agency and the 17 local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila started apprehending smokers caught puffing cigarettes in public places in all major and secondary roads of the metropolis. MMDA and LGU health and environmental sanitation officers, accompanied by policemen rounded up smokers caught violating the provisions of Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 as well as the smoking prohibitions of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and all local ordinances and issuances. 

Perhaps, other towns and cities in the archipelago shall follow what Makati, Davao City and Metro Manila had done for the strict implementation of the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.

Likewise, the Department of Health may also help in the Anti-Smoking Campaign by re-launching the "Yosi Kadiri" campaign ad. And why not, we miss the "Yosi Kadiri" mascot.

NAIA Road-Coastal Road/Roxas Blvd. Intersection

There is always a heavy build up of traffic at the intersection of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Road and Coastal Road/Roxas Blvd. at any given time of the day. Even the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Parañaque traffic enforcers are having a hard time solving the problem. The south bound lane of Roxas Blvd. leading to Coastal Rd. is always clogged by buses and jeepneys waiting for passengers. Likewise, the same happens to the northbound lane of Roxas Blvd. in the same intersection. Although, the iron foot bridge done by the previous MMDA administration was a big help in reducing traffic in the area by limiting pedestrians atop the intersection, the present MMDA administration needs to go back to the drawing board and analyze what needs to be done.

Although heavy traffic also frequents other intersections in Metro Manila, I took note of this particular intersection because it is the road that leads to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I always hear tourists, local or foreign, complain about the heavy traffic in the intersection every time they arrive or depart. In other words, this intersection itself is a reflection of the entire country. And why not, it only shows how undisciplined  the Filipinos are and how poor our government is when it comes to traffic management. Majority of tourists arriving via NAIA stay in the hotels or inns along  or within the proximity of Roxas Blvd. Being one of the poor countries in the world that heavily rely on tourism and the sending of workers abroad, the Aquino administration, particularly the MMDA under Chairman Francis Tolentino should focus on this.


Perhaps, as a suggestion, they can build a rotonda, as big as the Quezon Memorial Circle, and call it the President Corazon Aquino Memorial Circle, in honor of the President's mother. Said project will only require a minimal cost for the MMDA since the latter is well-equipped for clearing purposes. Another suggestion is the building of fly-overs within the intersection using government funds. We should not forget that among the structural legacy of the President's mother are the fly-overs along Roxas Blvd.


Just a thought.

Manila was once a British colony

Only a few Filipinos were aware that the Philippines, Manila in particular, was once occupied by the British. As always, majority of them only knew that the Philippines was once under the regime of the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese.

KING LOUIS XV

In 1756, Great Britain and France were at war, in what was popularly known as the Seven Years War, over their overlapping interests in their trade and colonial empires. Having concerns that the string of major French losses at the hands of the British Empire would be a threat to their own interests, King Charles III of Spain accepted King Louis XV of France' negotiation for a treaty, known as the Family Compact, on August 15, 1761. As such, Spain hurriedly prepared for war against Great Britain. On January 4, 1762, Great Britain declared war against Spain while the latter made its own war declaration against the former on January 18, 1762.

PM JOHN STUART

On January 6, 1762, the British Cabinet, led by Prime Minister John Stuart, the Earl of Bute, agreed to take Cuba in the West Indies and the Philippines in the East Indies from Spain. Likewise, the cabinet also approved the scheme of Colonel William Draper, Commanding Officer of the 79th Regiment of Foot stationed in Madras, India, for taking Manila. On January 21, 1762, King George III of Great Britain signed instructions for Draper's implementation of the said scheme. The British king wanted to take advantage of the war with Spain for a possible mercantile expansion.

KING GEORGE III

Upon arrival in India, the brevet rank of brigadier general was bestowed on Draper. By June of the same year, Rear Admiral Samuel Cornish received secret royal orders for an expedition which he communicated to the East India Company in Calcutta. A secret committee of the company agreed to provide a civil governor for the administration of the Philippines, and on July 1762, Dawsonne Drake was appointed for the post.

WILLIAM DRAPER

British troops stationed in India were idle since the Fall of Pondicherry and assembling them was not a hard task. Thus, on August 1, 1762, a British fleet of eight ships of the line, three frigates and four store ships, sailed away from Madras, India with a force of 6,839 regulars, sailors and marines. Led by Brigadier General William Draper and Rear Admiral Samuel Cornish, the expeditonary force consisted of:

• 79th Regiment of Foot,
• Composite batallions of sepoys (drawn from all Madras Sepoy regiments) under Captain DesPlans (2,000 men),
• French deserters under Lieutenant Martin (200 men),
• Other assorted troops (freed African slaves, native Christian Indians who claimed to have Portuguese descent, Nawab European infantry,..).

Draper was assisted by Colonel Monson as Second in Command, Major Scott as Adjutant-General and Captain Fletcher as Brigade-Major of the East India Company.

On September 24, after much delay due to stormy weather and defective condition of Admiral Cornish's ships, the expedition entered Manila Bay and anchored off at Fort Cavite.

On September 25, Draper landed his troops unopposed through heavy surf, about 2.5 km south of the walls of the city. A substantial number of Royal Marines and sailors were then detached from the fleet. The garrison of Manila consisted of the Royal Regiment (20 companies of 100 men each). These companies were far from being at full strength. Mortality, desertion and various detachments had reduced this regiment to some 565 soldiers. There were only 80 artillerymen, including some Filipinos.

On September 26, Draper seized a detached fort which had been abandoned by the Spaniards within 200 meters of the glacis, and began to construct a battery, while the ships sailed up to draw the fire of the town upon themselves.

On September 30, a British store ship arrived with entrenching tools, but was driven ashore by a gale. Fortunately, she had run aground so that she screened the rear of Draper's camp from the Spanish cannon. Her stores were landed with greater speed and safety than would have been possible had she remained afloat for the gale continued for several days and forbade the passage of boats through the surf.

On October 4, the battery and the ships opened fire and in 4 hours silenced the guns of Manila. By October 5, the British cannonade had made a practicable breach in the fortifications of Manila. During the night of October 5 to 6, the Spaniards made a sally upon the British position with 1,000 Filipinos and were driven back with heavy loss.

MANUEL ROJO DEL RIO Y VIEYRA

On October 5, 1762, the Spanish military persuaded the then Acting Governor-General Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra to summon a council of war. Several times the archbishop wished to capitulate, but he was prevented. By very heavy battery fire that day, the British had successfully breached the walls of the bastion San Diego, dried up the ditch, dismounted the cannons of that bastion and the two adjoining bastions, San Andes and San Eugenio, set fire to parts of the town, and drove the Spanish forces from the walls. At dawn of October 6, British forces attacked the breach and took the fortifications meeting with little resistance.

The Spanish defeat was not really surprising. The former Governor-General of the Philippines, Pedro Manuel de Arandia, had died in 1759 and his replacement, Brigadier Francisco de la Torre, had not yet arrived because of the British attack in Cuba. As such, the Spanish Crown appointed the Archbishop of Manila, Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra, as Acting Governor-General. In part, since the garrison was commanded by the Archbishop, instead of a military expert, many mistakes were made the Spanish forces.

During the siege, the Spanish military lost three officers, two sergeants, 50 troops of the line, and 30 civilians of the militia, besides having many left wounded. Among the natives, there were 300 killed and 400 wounded. The besiegers suffered 147 killed and wounded, of whom 16 were officers. The fleet fired upon the city more than 5,000 bombs, and more than 20,000 balls.

After the falling of Manila, the churches and government offices were ransacked by British troops. Valuables, and government and historical documents, such as Augustinian records, the copper plates for the grand 18th-century Murillo Velarde map of the Philippines, the naval stores at the Cavite Naval Yard, the paintings in the Governor General's Palace, the contents of Intramuros churches and the possessions of most wealthy houses were also taken by the troops. Rape, homicide and vandalism also rampaged throughout the city in what is known as the "First Rape of Manila".

To prevent further slaughter, Rojo surrendered the citadel and the port of Cavite as soon as the city fell, promising four million Mexican silver dollars for ransom of the town, lives, and of the property therein as demanded by the British. Manila fell within 10 days of the arrival of the British.


The million dollars has never been fully paid, but the expedition was rewarding nevertheless, especially after the capture of the treasure ship, Santisima Trinidad, with a value of two million dollars on board.


On the 10th of October, Manila was placed under the authority of civilian Drake.


On November 2, 1762, Drake assumed gubernatorial office as the British governor of Manila with assistance from a council of four, namely John L. Smith, Claud Russel, Henry Brooke and Samuel Johnson. When after several attempts, Drake realized that he wasn't getting as many assets that he expected, he formed a War Council that he named Chottry Court, with absolute power to imprison anyone who he wished. Many Spanish, Spanish meztisos, Chinese and Indians were brought into prison for crimes, that as denounced by Captain Thomas Backhouse, were "only known to himself".


Meanwhile, the Royal Audience of Manila had organized a war council and dispatched Oidor Don Simon de Anda y Salazar to the provincial town of Bulacan to organize continued resistance to the British. At the same time, he was also appointed as Lieutenant Governor and Visitor-General. On the night of October 5, 1762, Anda took a substantial amount of the treasury and official records with him, departed Fort Santiago through the postern of Our Lady of Solitude, to a boat on the Pasig River and headed towards the province of Bulacan. He moved his headquarters from Bulacan to Bacolor in the province of Pampanga which is more secure from the British. From there, he quickly obtained the powerful support of the Augustinians.


Eventually, Anda raised an army of over 10,000 combatants, most of which are voluntary natives, that were successful in keeping the British forces confined in Manila even though they lacked enough modern weapons. On October 8, 1762, Anda informed Rojo that he had assumed the position of Governor and Captain-General under the statutes of the Council of the Indies which allowed for the devolution of authority from the Governor to the Audience in cases of riot or invasion by foreign forces. Anda, being the highest member of the Audience not captive by the British, assumed all powers and demanded the royal seal. Rojo declined to surrender it and refused to recognize Anda as Governor-General.


The surrender agreement between Archbishop Rojo and the British military guaranteed the Roman Catholic religion and its episcopal government, secured private property, and granted the citizens of the former Spanish colony the rights of peaceful travel and of trade 'as British subjects'. Under British control, the Philippines would continue to be governed by the Royal Audience, the expenses of which are to be paid by Spain. However, Anda did not recognize any of the agreements signed by rojo as valid, claiming that the Archbishop has been forced to sign them, and therefore, according to the statutes of the Council of Indies, were invalid. He also refused to negotiate with the invaders until he was addressed as the legal Governor-General of the Philippines, returning to the British the letters that were not addressed to that effect. All of these initiatives were later approved by the King of Spain, who rewarded him and other members of the Audience, such as Jose Basco y Vargas, who had fought against the invaders.


The British force in Manila proved inadequate to win any significant lasting control outside the capital and were defeated  on every attempt they made to occupy other positions anywhere outside Manila. Severe disagreements between Dawsonne Drake and the military commanders who replaced Draper and Cornish prevented either fruitful negotiations with Anda or effective military action.


The invaders conspired with Diego Silang, a revolutionary leader from the Ilocos Region, to revolt against Spain. Silang was promised all kinds of military help by the British but such aid never materialized until he was assassinated by his own friends, and the revolt aborted after his wife, who had taken over the leadership, was captured and executed together with the rest of the remaining rebel forces by the Spaniards.


The Seven Years War was ended by the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. At the time of the signing of the treaty, the signatories were not aware that Manila had been taken by the British and consequently it fell under the general provision that all lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown. After Archbishop Rojo died on January 30, 1764, the British military finally recognized Anda as the legitimate Governor-General of the Philippines, sending him a letter addressed as "Real Audiencia Gobernadora y Capitania General", after which Anda agreed to an armistice on the condition that the British forces were withdrawn form Manil by March. The British ended the occupation by embarking from Manila and Cavite in the first week of April 1764, and sailing out of Manila Bay for Batavia, India and England.


A number of Sepoys deserted the British forces and settled down in Cainta, Rizal which explains the uniquely Indian features of generations of Cainta residents.


Many valuable oil paintings by Spanish artists from the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, rare maps, charts, historical manuscripts and official documents, precious books, letters and papers of religious orders, together with bundles of primary source materials about the Philippines during the 17th century, were taken away by Dawsonne Drake and his successor, Alexander Dalrymple, and eventually ended up at the British Museum in London or auctioned by Sotheby's.

Kahilom

Kahilom, as it is now spelled, is a community in Pandacan, a district of Manila, that is geographically divided into three phases - Uno, Dos and Tres and bounded by the Philippine National Railways in the northwest and the Estero de Pandacan in the south.

Kahilom got its name from Hilom, a nearby community, that already existed as early as 1835, as mentioned by Francisco Baltazar in his epic, "Florante at Laura". With the Tagalog prefix "ka" added to the word "hilom" to mean near Hilom or beside Hilom. Hilom, itself, is a Tagalog word that is translated as "heal" in English.

According to my late maternal grandmother, Leona "Onang" Cacnio Licerio Alonzo (1905-1986), who was  also born and raised in Kahilom Uno, the said area is a vast grassland where only a handful of residents live. As a matter of fact, her father, Leoncio Licerio, gather grasses and sell them to calesa owners for a living. Other neighbors grow vegetables and/or raise poultry and livestock which they sell in the nearby Paco Market. Likewise, she relates that the Estero de Pandacan was clear and unpolluted at that time, and it is where they bath, wash their clothes, and gather snails, shrimps, crablets and fishes for food. As a means of transportation, small boats ply the estero and karitelas lorded the roads.


When Lola Onang got married to my Lolo Badong (Salvador Alonzo, Sr.) in the '30's, the couple left the old house in Kahilom Uno to her siblings and acquired a bigger lot located right in front of what is now the Kahilom Plaza where the Barangay 870 Hall stands. They built a big house and raised eight children - Esther Alonzo-Dela Cruz, Felicisima Alonzo-Vidanes, Leonora Alonzo-Marquez, Lydia Alonzo-Asuncion, Salvador Alonzo, Jr., Renato Alonzo, Sr., Jose Ma. Alonzo, Sr. and Ma. Lourdes Alonzo-Rubio (1941-). (Two more children were born during the war but they died right after they were born.) Ma. Lourdes, the youngest, was my mother.


I was able to see the original land title of the aforementioned lot and learned that it is part of the Tate Subdivision. Also, I learned that the Tate Subdivision is bounded in the west by the University of the Philippines -Manila. Therefore, a portion of Kahilom originally belongs to the University of the Philippines - Manila and a portion is a part of the Tate Subdivision.


Lola Onang had three sisters and a brother. She is the youngest in the brood and was orphaned at a young age. When her brother got married, the latter left Kahilom and transferred to Karuhatan, Valenzuela where he settled with his family. The ancestral home in Kahilom was inherited by one of her sisters, Gertrudes Licerio-Concepcion. Meanwhile, her two other sisters, Francisca Licerio-Pascual and La Paz Licerio settled in different parts of Kahilom Uno.


When my parents got married on June 29, 1963, they rented a portion of the basement of the big house. It is where I and my younger sibling, Arlyne, were raised. We were neighbors with my Tita Lydia and her family and my Tito Nato (Renato) and his family while my Tito Pito (Jose Ma.) lived, after being separated from his wife, with my Lola up in the main house since my Lolo was already gone when I was born.


By 1970, Kahilom was already exploding in population. The Kapampangans settled in the dead-end part of Kahilom Uno while migrants from Occidental Mindoro's Lubang Island settled in Rivera Street in Kahilom Dos. The rest of the new settlers came from different parts of the Philippines. Most of them find their jobs in the different industrial establishments of Pandacan or from the nearby bustling business town of Makati  where brisk walking or biking is their best mode of transportation due to proximity.


The dense population led to notoriety of Kahilom in the late sixties and seventies as drugs, illegal gambling and deadly weapons proliferate the area. Riots abound between clans and gangs, and the area became the hideout of snatchers, terrorists, hold-uppers, drug dealers, and carnappers, among others.


When President Marcos declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972, law and order was restored in Kahilom. The military dismantled crime syndicates, confiscated loose firearms and detained criminal and lawless elements within the community.

Pasig River

The major river that I grew up with is the Pasig River since it bisects the City of Manila into two. It winds generally north-westward for some 25 kilometers from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay, in the southern part of the island of Luzon.


The Pasig River is technically a tidal estuary, as the the flow direction depends upon the water-level difference between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay. During the dry season, the water level in Laguna de Bay is low and the flow direction of the Pasig River depends on the tides. During the wet season, when the water level of Laguna de Bay is high, flow is normally from Laguna de Bay towards Manila Bay.

From Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, the river runs between Taguig City and Taytay, Rizal, before entering Pasig City. This portion of the river where one of its major tributary, the Marikina River, meets or is in confluence, is known as the Napindan Channel. From there, the river forms the common border between Makati City to the south and Pasig City, followed by Mandaluyong City to the north. The river then sharply turns northeast, where it has become the border between Mandaluyong and Manila before turning again westward, joining another major tributary, the San Juan River, and then following a sinuous path through the center of Manila before emptying into the bay.

Isla de Convalescencia is the only island that divides the Pasig River. It can be found in Manila near the Ayala Bridge where the Hospicio de San Jose, a catholic welfare institution, can be found. 

There are a total of 13 bridges that cross the river. Starting from its mouth is the Roxas Bridge, formerly known as the Del Pan Bridge that connects Port Area and Tondo. Further upstream are the Quezon Bridge, from Quiapo to Ermita, the LRT Yellow Line (Line 1) bridge from the Central Station to the Carriedo Station, McArthur Bridge, from Binondo to Ermita, and the Jones Bridge, from Sta. Cruz to Ermita. The Ayala Bridge carries the Ayala Boulevard and connects Isla de Convalescencia to both banks. The Mabini Bridge (formerly Nagtahan Bridge) provides a crossing for Nagtahan Avenue which is part of the C-2 Road. The easternmost bridge in Manila is the Lambingan Bridge in the district of Sta. Ana, followed by the Padre Zamora (Pandacan) Bridge between Pandacan and Sta. Mesa, which also carries the southern line of the Philippine National Railways (PNR). The Rockwell Bridge and Makati-Mandaluyong Boundary Bridge are another bridge that connect the two cities downstream and forms the end of Makati Avenue. The Guadalupe Bridge between Makati and Mandaluyong carries the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue as well as the Blue Line (Line 3) of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). Upstream is the C-5 Road Bridge connecting the cities of Makati and Pasig. Crossing the Napindan Channel in Pasig City is the Bambang Bridge.

Pandanus amaryllifolius

Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus that is commonly known as pandan and is widely used in Southeast Asian cooking for flavoring. The upright green plant has a fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike leaves and woody aerial roots. It is propagated by transferring its suckers to another plot.