Imperial Manila

English

Noun

Imperial Manila (uncountable)

1. (Philippines, chiefly derogatory) Metro Manila and its surroundings, as generally described in the other provinces in the Philippines.
   • 1994, Philippines. Congress (1987- ). Senate, Journal of the Senate

     So when it suits this vested interest in Imperial Manila, we liberalize. When it does not suit them because it will compete with their cars, we do not liberalize until 1998.

2. (Philippine politics, derogatory) The notion stating that the Philippine government largely imposes its power within Metro Manila and its surroundings, and ignoring the other regions.
   • 2018, Balázs Áron Kovács, Peace Infrastructures and State-Building at the Margins, Springer, →ISBN, page 280:

     The phrase 'Imperial Manila' is used throughout the archipelago to denote the capital-heavy decision-making and the imposition of the will and culture of the political and economic centre on the peripheries.