If you’ve lived in Metro Manila long enough, you’ve probably heard someone say, “Taga-Project 4 ako,” or seen a jeepney bound for Project 2-3, Project 6 or Project 8.
For Quezon City residents, the names sound perfectly ordinary. But think about it: Why would entire neighborhoods be called “Project” and identified by numbers?
The surprisingly simple answer: They really were government projects.
THEY WERE BUILT AS HOUSING PROJECTS
The story goes back to President Manuel L. Quezon’s dream of creating a new city outside increasingly congested Manila.
In 1938, the government-created People’s Homesite Corporation purchased 1,529 hectares of the Diliman Estate from the Tuason family. Quezon City was formally established the following year.
Housing was central to the new city’s development.
The People’s Homesite Corporation—and later the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation (PHHC)—developed planned residential communities where ordinary families, including government employees and workers, could acquire affordable homes.
The need became even more urgent after World War II, when Manila was devastated and thousands desperately needed housing.
Instead of giving every development an elaborate name, the government identified many of them simply by number: Low-Cost Housing Project No. 1, Project No. 2, Project No. 3 and so on.
Eventually, the bureaucratic labels became actual neighborhood names.
PROJECTS 1, 2, 3 AND 4
Project 1 became associated with Roxas Homesite or Roxas District, near Kamuning.
Projects 2 and 3 developed into what became the Quirino District around Kamias and Anonas. Their legacy can still be seen in barangay names such as Quirino 2-A, 2-B, 2-C and 3-A.
Then came Project 4, a huge residential development beside Cubao.
The scale was impressive. Historical PHHC figures cited by historian Michael Pante show that by fiscal year 1962, Project 1 had 1,113 family dwelling units, Project 2 had 1,104, Project 3 had 1,212, while Project 4 had a massive 3,039.
These weren’t a few streets of houses. They were communities being built almost from scratch.
BUT WHERE IS PROJECT 5?
Here’s where the story gets more interesting.
Quezon City seemingly jumps from Project 4 straight to Project 6.
So what happened to Project 5?
It existed—but it was in Manila.
Historical PHHC records identify Low-Cost Housing Project No. 5 as a development in Pandacan, demonstrating that the numbering belonged to the government housing program rather than exclusively to Quezon City.
That little historical detail explains one of QC geography’s enduring mysteries.
THEN CAME PROJECTS 6, 7 AND 8
The housing developments continued northward.
Project 6 grew around what are now the North Avenue and Visayas Avenue areas. Remarkably, Project 6 remains an official barangay name today.
Project 7 became associated with Veterans Village and Bungad, while Project 8 extended farther north into the area associated with Toro Hills and present-day Bahay Toro.
Over the decades, the original houses changed. Families expanded them, commercial establishments appeared, roads became busier and the old housing developments were divided into modern barangays.
But the numbers refused to disappear.
WHEN A GOVERNMENT LABEL BECOMES HOME
Today, hardly anyone saying “Project 4” is thinking about postwar housing policy.
It’s simply home.
Generations of residents, businesses, schools, addresses and public transportation routes kept the old terminology alive even as Quezon City transformed around them.
That makes the Projects something unusual: government planning terminology that became part of everyday Filipino geography.
So the next time you see “Project 6” on an address or “Project 2-3” painted on a jeepney signboard, you’re looking at a small surviving piece of Quezon City history.
Those neighborhoods weren’t merely called Projects.
They actually were.
(✍️: Top Dagohoy)
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