Las Piñas is one of the thirteen cities and towns that comprising the National Capital Region (NCR), otherwise known as Metro Manila. Although it became a city only in 1997 by legislative fiat, Las Piñas was one of the earliest settlements on the fringes of Manila, which explains its colorful past that dates back to the 17th century.
Known for its world-famous bamboo organ, salt beds, where salt is harvested the old-fashioned way, and jeepney factories, Las Piñas remains one of the country’s fastest growing communities. A model of economic growth and effective local governance, it is Metro Manila’s most peaceful and cleanest city for three (3) consecutive years (1997,1998, 1999).
Its rich historical past dates back to the 1700’s, during Spain’s 400-year colonial rule, when Las Piñas was still a barrio of Parañaque with only 1,200 inhabitants. In 1797, a Spanish missionary named Fr. Diego Cera was appointed in Las Piñas. Through his vision and hard work, this Spanish Padre put the once sleepy fishing village path to growth and progress.
Fr. Cera’s effort led to the establishment of the Las Piñas church in 1819, and as the construction of the Bamboo Organ, which took all six years to finish. He was also instrumental for the construction of roads and bridge that spurred simple industries like dye-making, salt production and handicrafts.
The years that followed were among the darkest in Las Piñas history as it became an easy prey to roaming bandits. 1880, the barrio lost hundreds of residents as a result to successive outbreaks of cholera and smallpox. About 16 years later, during the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Las Piñas lost more of its residents when it became the battlefield of several bloody encounters between the revolutionary forces of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and the Spanish troops. A few years after the Philippine-American War, Las Piñas was spun off from Parañaque and was proclaimed an independent municipality on March 27, 1907 by virtue of Philippine Commission Act No. 1625.
By the 1960’s, with the construction of the South Super Highway, Las Piñas eventually became a fist-class municipality as it turned into a major catch basin for urbanities expanding their residential and business concern from the congestion of Greater Manila’s inner cities. Las Piñas’ geographic proximity to Manila and its transportation and communication advantages became a major attraction to real estate developers and business investors, eventually transforming this once-quiet and rustic coastal town into a booming urban center of residential subdivisions and large industries.
In the mid-1980’s, the economic growth of Las Piñas was further boosted with the construction of the Coastal Road which directly linked Metro Manila to Cavite. Since the early 1990’s Las Piñas has served as gateway to the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) industrial growth corridor whose rapid growth and expansion is directed by the demands of sophisticated suburban populace and high technology industries. Thus, the one salt center of Manila has grown by leaps and bounds and ha been transformed into a rapidly urbanizing residential-commercial center of Metro Manila.
