Novaliches

The name Novaliches came from the name of the small village of Novaliches in the town of Jérica in Spain. It was awarded to General Manuel Pavía y Lacy, who served as a Governor-General of the Philippines in 1854. The child Queen Isabella II bestowed on him the title "Marquess of Novaliches" for defending her against her uncle Don Carlos María Isidro Benito de Borbón, who claimed the throne of Spain which resulted in the First Carlist War.^[1]

On February 2, 1854, General Manuel Pavía y Lacy was sent to Manila to serve as the Governor-General of the Philippines. His task was to establish a penal colony where prisoners were given lands to develop in exchange for their freedom. The colony was given the name Hacienda Tala, and it eventually grew into a larger community.^[1] In the same year, the Alcalde Mayor (equivalent to present-day Governor) of Bulacan petitioned to the Spanish government to incorporate the haciendas of Malinta, Piedad, and Tala into a new town. The town was to be named "Novaliches" from the title "Marquis of Novaliches" of Pavía, who was recently recalled to Spain.

On September 22, 1855, Novaliches was created as a municipality of Bulacan. Three years later, it was transferred to the Province of Tondo (later renamed Manila in 1859) until 1901, when the town was transferred again to the newly created Rizal Province during the American regime. The United States Government enacted a reorganization of local government units as part of economic reforms, and Novaliches was absorbed by the neighboring town of Caloocan as a barrio on October 12, 1903, by virtue of Act No. 942 of the Philippine Commission.^[2][3] At that time, it was the largest barrio in the Philippines in terms of land area, measuring 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres).^[4] During World War II, Caloocan became part of the City of Greater Manila from 1942 to 1945.^[5][6]

In July 1948, Republic Act No. 333 was signed, making Quezon City as the Capital City of the Philippines, replacing Manila.^[7] This necessitated the expansion of Quezon City northward, beyond the La Mesa Watershed Reservation, and encompassing half of the former town. The other half, now known as North Caloocan, remains with Caloocan, which became a city in 1962.^[3] The division of Novaliches caused Caloocan to be divided into two parts.^[8] Since the 1960s, there were several attempts to reconstitute Novaliches as a separate municipality, but all of which were unsuccessful.^[4]

On February 23, 1998, President Fidel V. Ramos signed Republic Act No. 8535, which would make Novaliches into its own city. 15 barangays were to be taken out from Quezon City to form the proposed new city.^[9] However, it lost in the plebiscite held in the whole of Quezon City on October 23, 1999. At present, the part of Novaliches belonging to Quezon City is divided into two Congressional Districts, which represents it in the Lower House of the Congress of the Philippines.^[10]

The Main Campus of Quezon City University is located on San Bartolome, along Quirino Highway.

• On the debut album of Filipino rock band Rocksteddy entitled Tsubtsatagilidakeyn, there is a song called "Super Nova" which pays homage to the district. The song was re-recorded in their 2017 Ang Album Na May Pinakamahabang Pamagat and was re-titled as "Supernovaliches (Re-Recorded)".

•   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Samonte, Severino (September 26, 2020). "Vignettes about the former Novaliches town". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved July 15, 2021.