About Makati City

Makati, municipality in the northern Philippines on the island of Luzon, in Rizal province. A suburb in the Manila metropolitan area and a part of the National Capital Region, Makati is located 5 km (3 mi) southeast of Manila's downtown, near the Manila International Airport. Makati is bordered by Pasay on the west and south, Taguig on the south, Manila on the northwest, and the Pasig River on the north and east. Located across the Pasig River are the National Capital Region municipalities of Mandaluyong, Pasig, and Pateros. This wealthy, planned suburb was developed in the 1950s by the Ayala family, one of the Philippines' oldest and wealthiest families of Spanish descent. Makati has some of Manila's most modern office buildings, shopping centers, corporate and financial headquarters, and premier tourist hotels, as well as the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Manila Polo Club, and Santa Ana Racetrack. Makati is also known for its modern manufacturing industries, most of which are located along Manila's outer, semicircular highway. Forbes Park, the location of the original Makati village, is the wealthiest residential area in the nation and one of several residential subdivisions in Makati housing the nation's elite and the wealthy foreign business and diplomatic community. Important attractions in Makati include the area's main street, Ayala Avenue, the nearby Ayala Museum, and the Manila American Memorial Cemetery where 17,000 Allied soldiers from World War II (1939-1945) are buried. The cemetery, with its row upon row of perfectly placed unmarked white crosses, is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency of the United States government. Since World War II, Makati has grown rapidly; between 1948 and the 1970s the area's population grew by about 10 percent annually. By the 1980s almost all of Makati's land was developed; thus between 1980 and 1990 Makati's population grew by only 22 percent (compared to 34 percent for the entire National Capital Region and 26 percent for the nation). Population (1999 estimate) 489,678.