Places & Legends · Documentary · every line sourced
The 18 regions
One film for every region, in the PSA's order. Each leads to its region in the Atlas.
18 films · 18 minutes
Every film, in order
Metro Manila
For 27 years, the capital was not Manila
Quezon City was the capital for 27 years, and Metro Manila was only put together in 1975: four cities and thirteen towns. Even Manila's name has two competing stories.
The Map Moved
Cordillera Administrative Region
When the whole Cordillera was one province
In 1908 a single Mountain Province covered the Cordillera. It was split in 1966 and came back together as a region in 1987. The legend of Benguet's name is told as a legend.
The Map Moved
Ilocos Region
Ilocos: our dialect, salt and a union
The oldest name of the Ilocos is said to mean 'our dialect'. One Ilocos split in 1818, La Union was named in 1850, and Pangasinan is said to mean 'where salt is made'.
Why It's Called That
Cagayan Valley
Cagayan Valley: the cave and the giant province
A foot bone found in Callao Cave in 2007 led to Homo luzonensis, a human species named in 2019. The valley above was once one province covering all of northeast Luzon.
This Happened Here
Central Luzon
Central Luzon: capitals on the move
Bacolor, Malolos, San Isidro and Cabanatuan each served as a capital of the Philippines between 1762 and 1899, before the government moved on to Tarlac.
The Map Moved
CALABARZON
CALABARZON: every name was something else
CALABARZON is made of five province names, and most of them changed. Batangas was Kumintang, then Taal; Quezon was Kalilayan, then Tayabas. Cavite's hook story is told as a tradition.
Why It's Called That
MIMAROPA
MIMAROPA: the region that spells its islands
MIMAROPA is an acronym of its islands. In 2005 one order moved Palawan to Western Visayas and another froze it; a 2016 law named the region the Southwestern Tagalog Region.
Why It's Called That
Bicol Region
Bicol Region: the day Mayon moved a town
Tradition says Bicol is named for a bending river. On 1 February 1814 Mayon buried Cagsawa; the town moved to Daraga, and in 1914 the Bicol Region made a pilgrimage to the ruins.
Why It's Called That
Western Visayas
Western Visayas: ten datus, two rivers
Legend says ten Bornean datus bought Panay for a golden hat. Iloilo, Aklan and Antique tell the legend with two different landing rivers, and its best-known book was finished in 1904.
This Happened Here
Negros Island Region
Negros Island Region: the region that came back
Created in 2015, revoked in 2017 and re-created by law in 2024 with Siquijor, the Negros Island Region carries a name a 1975 tax decree had already used. Its island was once Buglas.
The Map Moved
Central Visayas
Central Visayas: the gift found again
In 1521 Magellan gave Cebu's queen a wooden image of the Child Jesus. In 1565 one of Legazpi's soldiers found an image of the Child Jesus in a Cebu house, judged evidently the same.
This Happened Here
Eastern Visayas
Eastern Visayas: San Lazaro, the first name
On 17 March 1521 Magellan's crew landed on Homonhon and called the islands the archipelago of San Lazaro, the country's first European name. Felipinas came 22 years later.
This Happened Here
Zamboanga Peninsula
Zamboanga Peninsula: flowers or a boat pole?
Legend says Zamboanga was first Jambangan, the land of flowers. The city also tells of Samboangan, from a boat pole, and of Fort Pilar in 1635. In 2001 the whole region took the name.
Why It's Called That
Northern Mindanao
Northern Mindanao: the river that got its gold
Cagayan has long meant river. In 1950 the city charter added de Oro, which the city says honours gold mined in its hinterland. Since 1975 it has led Region X, Northern Mindanao.
Why It's Called That
Davao Region
Davao Region: the name the river gave back
Davao was once Nueva Vergara. Its people asked for the river's name, which the city's history traces to Bagobo words. Davao became official in 1868 and names the whole region today.
Why It's Called That
SOCCSKSARGEN
SOCCSKSARGEN: five names, one empire province
SOCCSKSARGEN's letters match its provinces and city. Nearly all of it was once one huge province, Cotabato, whose name the province traces to kuta wato, the stone fort.
Why It's Called That
Caraga
Caraga: the name that vanished and came back
They say Caraga comes from calag, spirit. Pigafetta wrote Calagan in 1521. The province was split in 1849, the name returned as a region in 1995, and the town called Caraga sits in Davao Oriental.
Why It's Called That
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Bangsamoro: a people defined by a moment
The 2018 Organic Law defines the Bangsamoro by who was native when Spanish colonization began. Behind it: a mosque dated 1380, the sultanates, and place names that mean current, lake and far.
Why It's Called That
