Manila (City of Manila), Philippines
Who owns the City of Manila: the State, the Ports Authority, the Intramuros Administration and the city itself hold the seat of government, the port and the parks; the malls are Robinsons, SM and Megaworld; any Torrens title can be copied for PHP 196.97 by whoever knows its number.
12 buildings · 11 with an owner established · 32 sources · 11 tier B · 1 tier A · prepared 2026-10-21
Land in the Philippines is registered under the Torrens system (Presidential Decree 1529), kept by the Land Registration Authority (LRA) through local Registries of Deeds; the City of Manila has its own Registry of Deeds, and PD 1529 s.56 makes its records 'open to the public in the same manner as court records'. The LRA's Citizen's Charter lists the issuance of a certified true copy (CTC) of a title as a service the 'Transacting Public' may avail, on a request form giving the title number, owner's name and property location, with a valid ID. The fee is PHP 196.97 for the first two pages at the local Registry (PHP 644.97 from another Registry or online via eSerbisyo), plus PHP 38.19 per further page. There is no free owner search by address or name, no bulk owner file, and no public register of sale prices: the LRA publishes only title counts, and the BIR's zonal values (a tax base per square metre, street by street) are the only official price schedule.
- robinsonsland.com — “You are not permitted to use any automated system or software to extract data from this website for commercial purposes (“screen-scraping”). ... The website is for your personal and non-commercial use.”
- www.ictsi.com — “You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to this Website without our express written consent.”
- lawphil.net — “The collection is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 Philippine license. Statutes, Issuances and Court Decisions are works of the Philippine Government.”
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malacañang Palace (Palasyo ng Malakanyang) J.P. Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila 9,931 m² floor area |
Civic | Republic of the Philippines (Government of the Philippines), Office of the President Wikipedia's infobox gives the owner as the Government of the Philippines and a floor area of 9,931 m²; the palace is the official residence and workplace of the President. Its history section says the original casita (1750) stood on a 16-hectare estate that was sold in 1802 for a thousand pesos and 'sold to the government' in 1825. No title or official property register entry was opened; the State's ownership of the seat of government is not in dispute. |
Government | —B |
| Manila City Hall Padre Burgos Avenue / Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila |
Civic | City of Manila (City Government of Manila) Wikipedia's infobox gives the owner, operator and developer as the City of Manila; construction 1939, completed 19 August 1941, five floors. The city's own website (manila.gov.ph) returned 403 'Malicious request blocked' even for robots.txt, so no city property list was opened, and the Commission on Audit's annual audit report on the city (which carries land and building values) sits behind Cloudflare. |
Government | —B |
| Port of Manila — Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), North Harbor and South Harbor Port Area and Tondo, Manila 137.5 ha land area (port, per Wikipedia); North Harbor 53 ha, South Harbor 80 ha |
Industrial | Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), a government corporation PD 857 (the PPA's revised charter), s.30: 'there shall be transferred to the Authority all existing and completed public port facilities, quays, wharves, docks, lands, buildings and other property... belonging to those ports declared as Port Districts.' The terminals are concessions, not sales: ICTSI's own page says that in 1988 it 'won the 25 + 25 years concession to operate the Manila International Container Terminal'; Wikipedia says North Harbor is operated by Manila North Harbour Port Inc. (an ICTSI subsidiary) and South Harbor by Asian Terminals Inc. ICTSI's terms forbid systematic data collection — one page read. |
Government | —B |
| Robinsons Manila (formerly Robinsons Place Manila) M. Adriatico Street / Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, Manila 241,000 m² gross floor area |
Retail | Robinsons Land Corporation (PSE: RLC) RLC's 2025 SEC Form 17-A lists Robinsons Manila, M. Adriatico Street, Ermita, opened 1997, at about 241,000 m² gross floor area — part of its 'Ermita mixed-use development' with the Robinsons Place Residences and Adriatico Place towers. Item 2 states that its properties 'are fully owned by the Company' and unencumbered, and lists Manila land in use as 'Mixed-use (mall/residential/hotel)'. Wikipedia adds that RLC bought the Manila Midtown Hotel in 2003 and demolished it for the Midtown Wing (opened 2008); no price is stated. RLC also lists Robinsons Otis, Paco (32,000 m², 2007). |
Public company | —A |
| Manila Hotel One Rizal Park, Ermita, Manila 35,000 m² floor area (Wikipedia) |
Hotel | Manila Hotel Corporation; 51% of its shares held by Manila Prince Hotel Corporation 51% of Manila Hotel Corporation (Manila Prince Hotel Corporation) The Supreme Court decision (3 Feb 1997) describes the Manila Hotel Corporation as the company 'which owns the historic Manila Hotel' and records that GSIS put 30–51% of its shares up for bid; Manila Prince Hotel Corporation, 'a Filipino corporation', offered P41.58 a share for 15,300,000 shares against Renong Berhad's P44.00, and invoked the Filipino First policy. The Court ordered GSIS to 'ACCEPT the matching bid... to purchase the subject 51% of the shares... at P44.00 per share'. Wikipedia: the company paid P673.2 million and took over on 7 May 1997. Who holds the other 49% today was not established. |
Private company | PHP PHP 673.2 million 1997-05 15,300,000 shares (51%) at P44.00 per share, the matching bid the Supreme Court ordered GSIS to accept; Wikipedia gives the cheque and the 7 May 1997 takeover B |
| Tutuban Center (former Tutuban railway station) C.M. Recto Avenue to Mayhaligue Street, Tondo, Manila |
Retail | Philippine National Railways (land); leasehold held by Tutuban Properties, Inc., now under Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Wikipedia: on 23 Aug 1989 PNR signed a 25-year lease of the Tutuban station land with Gotesco Investments; the lease rights passed a year later to Prime Orion Philippines through its subsidiary Tutuban Properties Inc., which in 2009 secured another 25-year renewal beginning September 2014. In 2015 Tutuban Properties signed a further lease with PNR and the Department of Transportation to host the North–South Commuter Railway terminal. The infobox gives the owner as Ayala Land Logistics, which took over in 2016 — the mall operator's leasehold, not the land. No lease document or rent was opened. |
Government | —B |
| Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Pablo Ocampo Street (formerly Vito Cruz), Malate, Manila |
Institutional | City of Manila (City Government of Manila); operated by the Philippine Sports Commission Wikipedia's infobox: owner City Government of Manila, operator Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). It records that the PSC negotiated with the city over a planned sale and redevelopment, that a bidding group dropped its redevelopment bid after the complex was declared a National Historical Landmark and Important Cultural Property in April 2017, and that on 7 Aug 2019 the PSC and the city 'agreed to not selling the complex'. PAGCOR donated P842.5 million to the PSC in April 2019 to renovate it for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. No sale price exists. |
Government | —B |
| Manila Metropolitan Theater (The MET) Padre Burgos Avenue cor. Arroceros Street, Ermita (Plaza Lawton), Manila |
Institutional | National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Wikipedia: in 1928 the City of Manila leased 8,293 m² of public land in the Mehan Garden to the Metropolitan Theater Company at P1.00 for 99 years. The theatre closed in 1996 'following conflicts of ownership between the Manila City government and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)'. In May 2015 the Department of Budget and Management released P270 million to the NCCA, which held the right of first refusal on national cultural treasures, 'to fund the purchase of the Metropolitan Theater from its owner, the GSIS'; GSIS turned over ownership on 30 June 2015. Reopened 10 Dec 2021. |
Government | PHP PHP 270 million 2015-06 DBM released P270M from the National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts in May 2015 to buy the theatre from GSIS; GSIS turned it over on 30 June 2015 B |
| Lucky Chinatown Reina Regente Street, Binondo, Manila 108,000 m² floor area (Wikipedia) |
Retail | Megaworld Corporation (PSE: MEG) Wikipedia: 'Megaworld in 2008 bought land in Binondo which was previously occupied [by] two Manila public high schools, the Rajah Soliman High School and José Abad Santos High School'; new school buildings were put up elsewhere and the mall opened on 15 Aug 2012, with Hotel Lucky Chinatown (April 2019) and the Chinatown Museum added. Developer Megaworld Corporation, managed by Megaworld Lifestyle Malls. The price paid to the city was not found, and Megaworld's own site was not read (its robots.txt disallows its terms page, so the terms could not be checked first). |
Public company | —B |
| Manila Waterfront City (reclamation, Manila Bay) Manila Bay off Roxas Boulevard, Ermita–Malate, Manila 318 ha (planned) |
Land | Joint venture of the City of Manila and Waterfront Manila Premier Development Inc. (WMPDI); not yet land Wikipedia: a 318-hectare planned reclamation, 'a joint-venture between the Manila City Government and Waterfront Manila Premier Development Inc.'; approved by the Philippine Competition Commission in March 2021, cleared by the Philippine Reclamation Authority to start works on 18 Aug 2022, sand-piling from Feb 2023, then suspended indefinitely with the other Manila Bay reclamations in Aug 2023. The PRA lifted the suspension by June 2026 and the project was launched on 12 Oct 2026. How the reclaimed land is to be divided between the city and the developer was not established. |
Government | —B |
| Harrison Plaza site (future SM Harrison Plaza) M. Adriatico Street / Harrison Street, Malate, Manila 7 ha lot (Wikipedia); new mall planned at 200,000 m²+ |
Land | City of Manila (land); SM Prime Holdings holds the redevelopment contract Wikipedia: the 1976 mall stood on a 7-hectare lot leased from the city government of Manila by its private developer. In June 2016 SM Prime Holdings was reported to plan P39.44 billion of redevelopment 'partnering with the city government of Manila, which has an economic interest'; in April 2018 SM Prime 'finalized a deal to buy out' the lessee 'from its contract with the City of Manila'. The mall closed 31 Dec 2019 and was demolished in Oct 2021; on 1 Apr 2026 SM Prime announced P6 billion for 'SM Harrison Plaza', due 2027. No lease term, rent or buy-out price was opened. |
Government | —B |
| Torre de Manila Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila (behind the Rizal Monument) |
Residential | Not established a paid title search would answer it Built by DMCI Homes (the real-estate arm of PSE-listed DMCI Holdings). Wikipedia calls DMCI Homes 'the owner of the building' in the context of the zoning dispute, and records that in 2017 the Supreme Court ruled in the developer's favour against the challenge over the Rizal Monument sightline. A residential condominium is held unit by unit on Condominium Certificates of Title, which can only be copied one title number at a time at the Registry of Deeds; individual unit owners are not named here, and the share of units DMCI still holds was not established. |
Not established | —B |
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
No assessed-value roll or sale-price register for the City of Manila could be read: the city's site refused automated requests, the Commission on Audit's audit of the city sits behind Cloudflare, and the BIR's zonal values (the per-square-metre tax base set street by street) load only by script. What the public record does give is the scale of the place and of the registry, and a handful of stated prices.
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
The biggest holders of ground in the City of Manila are public bodies. The national government holds the seat of government (Malacañang) and, through the Philippine Ports Authority, the whole Port of Manila; the Intramuros Administration took over the State's and the city's buildings and lands inside the walled city by decree in 1979; the City of Manila itself owns City Hall, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the Harrison Plaza lot, and is partner in the largest planned reclamation. Railways, universities and the Church follow. None of these holdings appears on a public owner list; the figures come from statutes, the bodies' own statements and Wikipedia, as labelled.
| Name | Type | Holdings |
|---|---|---|
| Philippine Ports Authority (Republic of the Philippines) PD 857 s.30 transferred to the PPA 'all existing and completed public port facilities, quays, wharves, docks, lands, buildings and other property' of declared Port Districts. The terminals are run under concessions (ICTSI at MICT since 1988, '25 + 25 years'; Asian Terminals at South Harbor; an ICTSI subsidiary at North Harbor). Areas from Wikipedia. |
Government | Port of Manila — 137.5 ha land area; North Harbor 53 ha, South Harbor 80 haB |
| City of Manila (City Government of Manila) Owner of City Hall and Rizal Memorial per Wikipedia infoboxes; a 2019 agreement with the PSC not to sell Rizal Memorial; Harrison Plaza lot leased out since 1976; JV partner of WMPDI in Manila Waterfront City. In 1928 the city leased 8,293 m² of the Mehan Garden for the Metropolitan Theater at P1.00 for 99 years. The city's total land holdings were not found (COA audit report unreadable). |
Government | City Hall; Rizal Memorial Sports Complex; 7 ha Harrison Plaza lot; partner in the 318 ha Manila Waterfront City reclamationB |
| Intramuros Administration PD 1616 (1979) s.4: 'The buildings and lands owned by the National Government... and the City of Manila, including government-owned or controlled corporations which are located in Intramuros, are hereby transferred to the Administration', with compensation to be agreed for the city's and corporations' properties; Fort Santiago, the Sunken Garden and the Municipal Golf Links pass to its administration. Privately owned lots inside the walls are not covered. Area from Wikipedia. |
Government | Walled city of 64 ha (0.67 km² district)A |
| Office of the President (Republic of the Philippines) Government ownership per Wikipedia; no area for the present complex was found. |
Government | Malacañang Palace complex, San MiguelB |
| Philippine National Railways Wikipedia: in 1988 PNR announced a plan to lease 20 ha around Tutuban station to private firms; the Tutuban Center lease has run since 1989 and was renewed to 2039. |
Government | Tutuban station land — 20 ha offered for lease in 1988B |
| University of Santo Tomas (Dominican Order) Wikipedia: a non-stock, non-profit institution registered in 1908; 'the Dominicans were given a 21.5-hectare plot of land at the Sulucan Hills in Sampaloc'. Title holder not opened. |
Institution | 21.5 ha campus, SampalocB |
| University of the Philippines Manila (Philippine General Hospital) Wikipedia: PGH is a state-owned hospital run by UP Manila, standing within a 10-hectare site at the UP Manila campus in Ermita. |
Government | 10 ha site, ErmitaB |
| National Commission for Culture and the Arts Bought from GSIS using its right of first refusal on national cultural treasures; see marquee. |
Government | Manila Metropolitan Theater (bought for PHP 270M in 2015)B |
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
New housing in the City of Manila is almost all high-rise condominium: the city is 42 km² and fully built over, so the listed developers add towers to their mall estates (Robinsons in Ermita and Paco) or on single lots (DMCI Homes' Torre de Manila). Units are sold on Condominium Certificates of Title, which are registered one by one and searchable only by title number. The city government is itself a builder of public 'in-city vertical housing' for informal settlers. No official table of completions by builder exists; figures below come from the builders' own filings and from Wikipedia, as labelled.
| Name | Type | Manila projects |
|---|---|---|
| Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC Residences) RLC's 2025 17-A: Robinsons Place Residences is 'a two-tower high-rise condominium part of the Ermita mixed-use development'; Adriatico Place 'a three-tower high-rise residential development attached to the Robinsons Place Manila mall'; Otis 888 Residences, Manila City, February 2009, 3.0 ha, 195 units, part of the Paco development with Robinsons Otis mall and Go Hotels Otis. Nationally RLC Residences counts 90 condominium buildings/towers/housing projects and 44 subdivisions (108 completed, 26 ongoing). RLC is controlled by JG Summit (not opened here). |
Public company | Robinsons Place Residences (2 towers), Adriatico Place (3 towers), Otis 888 Residences (195 units on 3.0 ha, Paco, launched Feb 2009)A |
| DMCI Homes, Inc. (DMCI Holdings, PSE: DMC) Wikipedia: DMCI Homes is the real-estate arm of DMCI Holdings through its wholly owned subsidiary DMCI Project Developers, Inc.; it built Torre de Manila, whose construction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2017. No Manila unit count was opened; DMCI's own site was not read. |
Public company | Torre de Manila, 46 floors, ErmitaB |
| City of Manila (city government housing) Wikipedia, Manila article: as of 2019 the city government planned to retrofit dilapidated tenements and build in-city vertical housing for informal settlers, such as the 14-storey Tondominium 1 and 2 with 42 m² two-bedroom units, funded by loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank of the Philippines. The national government also built medium-rise housing for 300 residents after a 2011 fire. Unit totals were not stated. |
Government | Tondominium 1 and 2 — 14 storeys, 42 m² two-bedroom unitsB |
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Manila's retail and hotel stock is older and lower than Makati's or Bonifacio Global City's office districts (which lie outside the city and are context only). The large commercial owners in the City of Manila proper are the three listed mall groups — SM Prime, Robinsons Land and Megaworld — plus Ayala Land, through a railway leasehold at Tutuban, and the Manila Hotel's owning company. Much of the best-located commercial ground is public land held under lease: Tutuban (PNR), Harrison Plaza (the City), the port terminals (PPA concessions).
| Name | Type | Manila holdings |
|---|---|---|
| Robinsons Land Corporation RLC 2025 17-A mall table as of 31 Dec 2025; Item 2 states its properties are 'fully owned by the Company' and unencumbered, with Manila land in mixed mall/residential/hotel use. Go Hotels in Ermita (Manila Airport Road) and Paco are also listed. |
Public company | 273,000 m² GFA in two Manila malls (Robinsons Manila 241,000 m²; Robinsons Otis 32,000 m²); 57 malls nationallyA |
| SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (PSE: SMPH) Opening dates from Wikipedia's SM Supermalls list; 88 malls from the SM Prime infobox. San Lazaro: Wikipedia says the Manila Jockey Club 'granted SM Prime Holdings to develop 4 hectares' of the former San Lazaro race track, which became the San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park after the club left in 2002 — so the land's owner is not established as SM. Floor areas and land tenure of SM City Manila were not established: SM Prime's site is behind Cloudflare and the PSE's robots.txt disallows all robots. |
Public company | SM City Manila (opened 14 Apr 2000), SM City San Lazaro (15 Jul 2005), SM Harrison Plaza (due 2027); 88 malls nationallyB |
| Megaworld Corporation (PSE: MEG) Wikipedia: Megaworld bought the Binondo land of two former public high schools in 2008 and opened the mall in 2012, adding Hotel Lucky Chinatown in 2019. Megaworld's own filings were not read. |
Public company | Lucky Chinatown, Binondo — 108,000 m²B |
| Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Corp. (Tutuban Properties, Inc.) Wikipedia: Tutuban Properties holds a PNR lease, renewed in 2009 for 25 years from Sept 2014; Ayala Land took over in 2016. The land stays with the Philippine National Railways. |
Public company | Tutuban Center leasehold — 1,083 retail units in seven buildings (2015)B |
| Manila Hotel Corporation Owns the hotel per the Supreme Court decision of 1997; 51% acquired that year by Manila Prince Hotel Corporation from GSIS. |
Private company | Manila Hotel, 35,000 m²A |
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- Land tenure of SM City Manila (Arroceros/Concepcion) — whether SM Prime owns or leases the ground; SM Prime's 17-A could not be read (Cloudflare; PSE robots).
- Floor areas of SM City Manila and SM City San Lazaro, and who now holds title to the former San Lazaro race track.
- Holder of the other 49% of the Manila Hotel Corporation today.
- Price Megaworld paid for the Binondo school land under Lucky Chinatown (2008).
- How reclaimed land in Manila Waterfront City (318 ha) and Horizon Manila would be split between the City and the developers.
- City of Manila's total land and building values — in the COA annual audit report, behind Cloudflare.
- Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila (corporation sole) holdings — Manila Cathedral and parish lands; no holdings figure found.
- National Housing Authority and city tenement holdings in Tondo (Tondo Foreshore, Smokey Mountain); no figure found.
- Any Manila-only count of titles or transfers — the LRA publishes a Quezon City table only.
Sources
- Frequently Asked Questions — Certified True Copy of Title: how to request, fees, requirements — Land Registration Authority (LRA) · openA
- LRA Citizen's Charter 2025 (1st Edition) — service 25, Issuance of Certified True Copy (CTC) of Title: 'Who may Avail: Transacting Public'; request form with title number, owner's name, property location — Land Registration Authority (LRA) · openA
- Property Transaction Statistics — Count of Active/Transactable Titles covering all Registries of Deeds, as of 14 Oct 2021 — Land Registration Authority (LRA) · openA
- Presidential Decree No. 1529 (Property Registration Decree), 1978 — Section 56: records 'open to the public in the same manner as court records' — The Lawphil Project (Arellano Law Foundation) · openA
- Malacañang Palace — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Manila City Hall — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Presidential Decree No. 857 (Revised Charter of the Philippine Ports Authority), 1975 — Article IX, Section 30, transfer of port lands and facilities — The Lawphil Project (Arellano Law Foundation) · openA
- Manila International Container Terminal — terminal page — International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) · openA
- Port of Manila — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- SEC Form 17-A Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2025 — Item 1 (Business) and Item 2 (Properties) — Robinsons Land Corporation · openA
- Robinsons Manila — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Manila Prince Hotel v. Government Service Insurance System, G.R. No. 122156, 3 February 1997 (Supreme Court decision) — The Lawphil Project (Arellano Law Foundation) · openA
- Manila Hotel — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Tutuban Center — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Rizal Memorial Sports Complex — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Manila Metropolitan Theater — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Lucky Chinatown — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- University of Santo Tomas — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Manila Waterfront City — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Harrison Plaza — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Torre de Manila — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Presidential Decree No. 1616 (creating the Intramuros Administration), 1979 — Section 4, transfer of properties — The Lawphil Project (Arellano Law Foundation) · openA
- Intramuros — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Philippine General Hospital — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- SM Supermalls (list of locations; SM City Manila and SM City San Lazaro redirect here) — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- San Lazaro Hippodrome — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- SM Prime — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Manila (city article: area, population, city housing programme) — Wikipedia (English) · openA
- Zonal Values — Revenue Region 6 - Manila (lists per Revenue District Office; files load by script) — Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) · openA
- Robinsons Land — Terms of Use and Legal Notice — Robinsons Land Corporation · openA
- ICTSI — Terms and Conditions — International Container Terminal Services, Inc. · openA
- DMCI Homes — Wikipedia (English) · openA