ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Metro Manila devider San Juan kicks off 18th cityhood anniversary celebrations

San Juan kicks off 18th cityhood anniversary celebrations

Published Jun 17, 2025 12:07 pm  |  Updated Jun 17, 2025 05:15 pm

At A Glance

  • Eighteen years ago, San Juan was converted from a municipality into a highly urbanized city, under Republic Act No. 9388 or An Act Converting the Municipality of San Juan into a Highly Urbanized City to be known as the City of San Juan.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora join bikers on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, for the launch of “Bisikleta Para sa Kalusugan,” a community bike ride aimed at promoting healthy living. Following the ride, Mayor Zamora and the participating cyclists headed to Ermitaño Creek to lead a clean-up drive, in line with the city's 18th Cityhood Anniversary celebration focused on environmental sustainability and community development. (Santi San Juan)
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora join bikers on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, for the launch of “Bisikleta Para sa Kalusugan,” a community bike ride aimed at promoting healthy living. Following the ride, Mayor Zamora and the participating cyclists headed to Ermitaño Creek to lead a clean-up drive, in line with the city's 18th Cityhood Anniversary celebration focused on environmental sustainability and community development. (Santi San Juan)
The San Juan City government on Tuesday, June 17, launched a series of programs and events promoting health, environmental sustainability, and community development in celebration of its 18th Cityhood Anniversary.
Eighteen years ago, San Juan was converted from a municipality into a highly urbanized city, under Republic Act No. 9388 (An Act Converting the Municipality of San Juan into a Highly Urbanized City to be known as the City of San Juan).
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora, together with Vice Mayor Angelo Agcaoili and other city government officials, spearheaded the Bisikleta Para sa Kalusugan bike ride event aimed at promoting healthy living and cycling as an environmentally friendly alternative mode of transportation.
Participants of the bike ride included city officials, bike patrollers, and cycling enthusiasts who rode from the City Hall Grounds to Ermitaño Creek and Maytunas Creek to oversee the Barangay Cleanup Drive that happened simultaneously in all of San Juan's 21 barangays.
The city government, in partnership with Manila Water and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), had previously launched its Adopt-an-Estero program to mitigate the city's growing waterway problems.
During the event, Zamora and officials from Manila Water and DENR dropped 1,000 Mabuhay Balls into Maytunas Creek. Mabuhay Balls are bokashi balls that are proven to help neutralize toxic water by eating away coliform bacteria and removing foul odors in the waterways. Each ball is the size of a tennis ball and is composed of clay soil, effective microorganisms, and Mabuhay mix (rice bran, sugar, and salt).
Aside from the throwing of Mabuhay Balls into the river, Manila Water also installed an aerator at Ermitaño Creek to generate activity in the stagnant water and allow it to flow.
In January last year, San Juan teamed up with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and other national agencies for MMDA's Neighborhood Upgrading (NU) Project: Beautification of San Juan River Easements, which is a part of the agency's environmental program.
He said the NU project taps local governments and partners them with the MMDA to clean up and improve the overall banks along the Pasig River and its tributaries.
San Juan River is one of the main river systems in Metro Manila and is a major tributary of the Pasig River. It begins near La Mesa Dam as the San Francisco del Monte River, which officially takes the name San Juan River when it meets with Mariblo Creek in Quezon City. As the San Juan River, it passes through Quezon City, San Juan, the Manila district of Santa Mesa and Santa Ana, and Mandaluyong.
Following the bike ride and cleanup drive, a dengue town hall meeting was held at the City Hall Multipurpose Hall to brief barangay officials and parent leaders regarding dengue prevention efforts.
It was followed by a supplemental feeding program led by the City Health Department for underweight and malnourished children of the city.
“These programs reflect our continuous commitment to the health, wellness, and resilience of every San Juaneño. As we celebrate our 18th year as a city, we want this week-long Wattah! Wattah! Festival to not only bring joy to our residents but also inspire lasting impact through initiatives that benefit our environment and our people's well-being,” the mayor said.

Related Tags

San juan city mayor francis zamora metro news cityhood anniversary environmental sustainability Community development
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.