santa ana de sapa

Sta. Ana is a district of the city of Manila located at the southwest banks of the Pasig river, bounded on the northeast by Mandaluyong City, Makati City to the east, southwest of Paco and west of Pandacan. before it became Sta. Ana, it was called "Namayan" -- a small settlement that was ruled by Lakan Tagkan and his wife Buwan (meaning moon).

the muslim kingdom's domain stretched from what is now Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasay and the Manila districts of Pandacan and Paco. when the spaniards acquired the territory (what is now Sta. Ana) that served as the seat of “Namayan”, the area was awarded to franciscan missionaries.

when the catholic missionaries asked the natives the name of the area, pointing to the banks of the Pasig River, the locals responded with “sapa” or the tagalog word for marshes. the Franciscan missionaries henceforth dedicated the district to St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and called it, “Santa Ana de Sapa,” or Saint Anne of the Marshes.

i remember my grandfather telling me that "Lamayan" (a long curving street that starts from Plaza Hugo stretching up to the foot of Lambingan Bridge) actually came from "Namayan".
at the foot of Lambingan Bridge used to be a vast vegetable garden. we prefer buying some of our greens from there -- cheaper and freshly pulled from the soil. the garden has long been gone and in it's place are hundreds of aratiles trees.

Plaza Hugo, (considered as the center of activities) is surrounded by old houses with wide capiz windows and which have been converted into commercial spaces.
from the side of Lamayan street is a "simbahan ng intsik" (as they call it) located just across Sta. Ana church. i used to think it was a candle store until a grade six classmate told me they make offerings there every chinese new year.
we have streets called Old Panaderos and New Panaderos separated by a long strip of residential structures. it probably was a place of bakers during the spanish period, but there aren't any bakers there now. Old Panaderos is now a row of enormous factories facing Pasig River. New Panaderos is where public and private cars pass going to Mandaluyong.
at the corner of the Old & New Panaderos (coming from Pedro Gil formerly Herran) is Embarcadero street (named as such because the street runs along the path of the seawall), the dead-end of which used to be Bonifacio Bros (a motor company, maybe), now a printing press.
Sta. Ana's most popular landmark then was the Santa Ana Cabaret (the world's biggest dance hall) along Tejeron street. i think it burned down in the late 50s. i've often heard my aunt say: "ay, baylarina ako! dati akong dancer sa Sta. Ana Cabaret!" (i was a dancer at Sta Ana Cabaret) each time someone would ask her how she was able to raise eight children on her own. i would secretly look at her from head to toe, imagining how she might have looked like all dressed and made up for a ball. all the while, i really thought she was (a baylarina, that is).
former middle class houses along Lamayan street have been converted into factories (i.e. garments, native products), with most of the original owners preferring to live in exclusive subdivisions or abroad.


walking around Sta. Ana, Manila is like leafing through a book on history and architecture. you can guess which houses were built round about the same time because of it's design.


an old pansiteria used to stand at the corner of Calderon and Suter Ext. streets called "Eng Nga's Pansiteria", whose specialty was of course miki-bihon guisado (stir-fried egg & rice noodles with vegetables, tokwa, quiquiam and pork) and gising-gising (sayote/chayote, baguio beans & cabbage cooked with pork and hot green pepper). it was a typical old chinese resto where customers sit back to back separated by a wooden board. on the blurred and scratched glass counters were round bar stools standing on thick metal pipes cemented on the ground. on the few occasions i ate there, i would look up and watch the big, old 3-blade ceiling fan (which was probably as old as the pansiteria itself) while waiting for my order. despite its dingy appearance, it was always filled with customers -- old timers mostly who pass the afternoon away drinking beer over lechon kawali and the famous gising-gising.


i don't think i ever saw the chinese man Eng Nga, but i do remember his Filipina wife Aling Glo. eventually, the pansiteria was renovated around 2004. probably to keep up with the other establishments in the vicinity which is slowly being populated by internet shops. they had the whole place repainted and the floors tiled, the old chairs and tables replaced by modern ones -- it looked bright and a lot cleaner. but maybe there are things better left the way it was for not soon after, Eng Nga's Pansiteria closed. i guess part of its allure came from the pansiteria's appearance which stood out amongst the modern structures. a miki-bihon guisado cooked from Eng Nga's kitchen seemed to be more authentic and delicious than anywhere else. later, a convenience/drug store occupied it for three or four months before it presently became an internet gaming shop.

along M. Roxas street is a dilapidated structure which i found out, used to be Margarita Roxas de Ayala Elementary School. it now houses several sari-sari stores and pet shops.


the Manuel de la Fuente High School building at the rotunda is now vacant, save for the twenty or more families squatting on it. it has transferred it's quarters along Inviernes street.


at the corner of Havana and Calderon streets is the ruins of what used to be an old school named Havana Elementary School. by the shape of it's doors, i think it must've been built during the spanish period. it has been vacant ever since i can remember.


a particular old house along Lamayan street (just across the mansion) has always been a favorite venue for tagalog movies till now.

i was born and raised in Sta. Ana. it used to be an old neighborhood with quiet streets and big, old houses -- middle class, i guess (we had neighbors of spanish descent). and it was not as congested as it is now. i remember wide, open spaces and trees everywhere. the streets have now become a haven for tricycles and pedicabs, with stations at almost every intersection.

the place i grew up in has changed a lot since then. new structures, unfamiliar faces everywhere. seeing these old structures somehow reminds me that it is still the Sta. Ana i knew decades ago.