Marikina

Marikina, officially the City of Marikina (Filipino: Lungsod ng Marikina), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, its population is 471,323. Situated along Metro Manila’s eastern edge, it serves as the main gateway to Rizal and Quezon via the Marikina–Infanta Highway. It is bordered by Quezon City to the west, Pasig and Cainta to the south, San Mateo to the north, and Antipolo, the capital of Rizal province, to the east.

The city was founded by Jesuits in 1630 on the fertile Marikina Valley, initially called Jesus dela Peña (Jesus of the Rocks) and later Mariquina. During the Philippine Revolution, from 1898 to 1899, it served as the provincial capital of the Province of Manila under the First Philippine Republic. Under American occupation, it became a municipality of Rizal Province before joining Metro Manila in 1975. Once a rural settlement, Marikina is now primarily residential and industrial, with a growing commercial sector. It is considered one of the wealthiest local government units in the Philippines.

Marikina is known as the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" because of its famous shoe industry, the largest in the country, producing nearly 70% of all shoes made in the Philippines. The city hosts the Philippine International Footwear Center and the Shoe Museum, which houses the infamous shoe collection of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, wife of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. The city falls under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antipolo and contains the Our Lady of the Abandoned Church, the oldest in the Marikina Valley, built in 1572.

**Etymology**

No official records explain how the name Marikina originated, but several legends have been gathered from elderly residents of its barrios. One story says a young priest named "Mariquina," who baptized children, was honored with the name. Another tells of a beautiful, virtuous, and intelligent woman named Maria Cuina, who became wealthy through business and used her fortune for charity, gaining fame across the town and Manila. A third legend describes a Jesuit priest supervising Filipino laborers building the Jesús de la Peña chapel; when the priest asked what to call the structure, a worker, misunderstanding, replied "Marikit-na-Po," thinking he was being asked about the chapel’s condition. Another account traces the name to a town called Mariquina in Spain’s Viscaya province, located beside the Charmaga River (now Artibai River), the origin of the Jesuit priests who established Jesús de la Peña. In 1901, Commissioner de Tavera changed the letter "q" to "k." Historical documents held by the municipal government indicate the town was called Marikit-na in 1787 and later changed to Mariquina. According to Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, the name Mariquina recognizes Captain Félix Berenguer de Marquina, who led the town in 1788.

**History**

**Spanish colonial era**

Local historian Servando de los Angeles states that the first settlers of Marikina were descendants of Lakan Dula, the pre-Hispanic king of the Lakanate of Tondo. Lakan Dula sent his descendants along sea and river routes, and the Marikina riverbanks were settled by river dwellers, or "taga-ilog." These natives were discovered by Augustinians exploring the riverbanks in the 1570s. In 1630, Jesuits arrived and spread Christianity, taking ecclesiastical control over the land. The Augustinians first reached the valley in the late 16th century at a spot called Chorillo in Barangka, establishing Our Lady of the Abandoned Parish in 1572. The Jesuits followed in 1630 at a place now called Jesús de la Peña (Jesus of the Rocks), where they built a mission and a chapel still known as the Jesús de la Peña Chapel. Fray Pedro de Arce, apostolic ruler of the Archbishop of Manila, approved transferring ecclesiastical control to the Jesuits, and the area was settled as a town. In 1665, an intensity 8 earthquake struck the valley and nearby Manila, linked to what is now known as the Marikina Valley Fault System. Only a Jesuit church suffered major damage, resulting in 19 deaths. In 1787, the town was called "Mariquina" after Governor-General Felix Berenguer de Marquina and was declared a pueblo under Spanish colonial government. Marikina was once Hacienda Sauza-Berenguer de Marquina, owned by Don Santiago Sauza y Delos Rios and his wife Dona Ysabel Berenguer de Marquina y Sumulong. By the 19th century, Hacienda Mariquina was owned and administered by the Tuason family, becoming the largest in the Philippines, and was declared a mayorazgo by the Spanish colonial government. Don Juan Gregorio became the first Alcalde Capitan of Mariquina in 1822. During the Philippine Revolution in 1896, Andrés Bonifacio arrived in Mariquina before proceeding with his Katipuneros to the caves of Montalban.