Greenhills is an administrative division in eastern Metro Manila, the Philippines. It is an urban barangay in San Juan and is the largest barangay in the city, covering a total area of that spans over a third of San Juan's total land area.
Centered on the Greenhills Shopping Center and its adjacent commercial establishments and gated communities, the barangay of Greenhills is considered as a major commercial center of the city and of Metro Manila at large.
The area was initially part of the Hacienda de Mandaluyon (Mandaluyong Estate), the estate holdings of the Augustinian Order. The land was later on sold to businessmen Don Francisco Ortigas and Phil Whitaker, who founded Ortigas & Company, which developed the area into multiple residential subdivisions and its centerpiece shopping center, to which it is known for today.
History
Mandaluyong Estate
During the Spanish colonial era, the area that would become known as Greenhills was part of the Hacienda de Mandaloyon (Mandaluyong Estate) the estate holdings (haciendas) of the Augustinian Order, consisting of of sparsely inhabited rice fields and wild grasslands that now span the cities of San Juan, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, and Pasig.
The transfer of the Philippines to American rule in 1898 posed several challenges for the American colonial government, one of which was the issue of friar lands, as these religious orders did not pay taxes to the government and refused to sell their lands of their own accord. In order to resolve this problem, the Taft Commission arranged with the Holy See to force the sale of the friar lands to the American colonial government, with the aim of making them available for public use. This led to the passage of Act No. 1120, also known as the Friar Lands Act of 1904, which facilitated the transfer of of friar lands to the American government, which were later sold to private businesses and wealthy individuals.
As such, the Hacienda de Mandaluyon estate was sold to businessmen Dr. Frank W. Dudley and Don Francisco Ortigas. Dr. Dudley later sold his interest in the estate to Phil C. Whitaker, who with Ortigas founded the company Whitaker and Ortigas. The company would rename itself to Ortigas & Company, as it is known today. The company divided the land into residential subdivision developments now known as Capitol (Kapitolyo), Wack-Wack, Greenhills, Valle Verde and Greenmeadows.
Development of Greenhills
The growth of suburban residential developments in the 1960s is attributed to middle-class and upper-class populations seeking refuge from the busy, urban climate of Manila. With the success of emerging middle-class residential enclaves such as the PhilAm Life Homes (now PhilAm) in Quezon City and several villages in Makati, which were located along Highway 54 (now EDSA), new residential subdivisions would be developed in the areas between PhilAm and the Makati villages along the highway, such as White Plains, Blue Ridge, and Wack-Wack. The developments were named after famous Greenbelt planned communities in the United States that were developed to allow for the dispersal of the American population in an effort to minimize losses from possible attacks with weapons of mass destruction during the Cold War.
During this time, Ortigas & Company drafted plans to develop a planned community on the west side of Highway 54, centered around plans for schools, churches, and a centerpiece suburban shopping complex following years of studying planned communities in other countries. The new residential subdivision was named Greenhills, after the suburban Greenbelt community of Greenhills in the US state of Ohio.
The newly-opened Greenhills subdivision covered of land, which would become divided further into distinct residential subdivisions known as North Greenhills, Greenhills West, and Greenhills East. In 1959, the De La Salle Brothers (now De La Salle Philippines) purchased a property along Ortigas Avenue, establishing La Salle Green Hills. A year later, the Jesuits purchased a few hectares of land in Little Baguio adjacent to Greenhills as a new location for its Xavier School in 1960, which was then situated along Echague Street in Manila. Of this, was allocated for the Mary the Queen Parish Church, which moved from its original chapel at Zamora Street in Pasay City in 1963, as well as Immaculate Concepcion Academy-Greenhills, run by the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, which moved into the area after transferring from its previous campus in Intramuros, Manila. This was followed by plans in 1966 to construct a shopping center in what would become the Greenhills Shopping Center.