ABSTRACT
The City of Manila ceased to be the capital of the Republic of the Philip pines in 1948, when neighbouring Quezon City was made the official capital. However, ever since it was granted a royal charter by the Spanish Crown in 1571, Manila has continued to be the economic, political, cultural and educational centre of the country. Manila is the only provin cial level government in the Philippines which is 100 per cent urban. It has a population density of 307*25 persons per hectare, as compared to the next ranking Rizal province which has 845 and the national population density of only 0-97 persons per hectare. The city, however, has reached near saturation with a population of 1-5 million. Since 1960, its annual population growth has been less than 2 per cent, as compared to the national growth rate of 3-3 per cent per year.
