La Huerta, Parañaque
La Huerta (English: The Garden) is a barangay in the city of Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. It comprises a section of the old poblacion of Parañaque along the south bank of the Parañaque River by its mouth on the Manila Bay. The coastal village encompasses the area from Don Galo on the north, Santo Niño (former Ibayo) and Moonwalk on the east and San Dionisio on the south. A portion of Global Airport Business Park along C-5 Road Extension is also under the jurisdiction of La Huerta. It also extends west to the reclaimed area in Manila  Bay and covers the northernmost section of Freedom Island in the Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area. As of the 2015 census, it had a population of 9,569. History. The village was named for the presence of an orchard in the area during the Spanish colonial period. The first known European to discover the area of La Huerta was a Catholic missionary, Fray Juan de Orto of the Order of Saint Augustine, who arrived in 1575. Five years later, La Huerta was established as the center of the Augustinian missionary town of Parañaque. It was also in 1580  when the mission convent of San Andrés el Apostól (later rebuilt as the Saint Andrew Cathedral) was completed under the leadership of Fray Diego de Espinar as its first superior. Out of this settlement grew the visitas and towns of Don Galo, Tambo, San Dionisio and Las Piñas in southern Manila Province which was then transferred to the supervision of the Order of Augustinian Recollects. In 1776, the Recollects built the chapel of San Nicolas de Tolentino east of the Augustinian convent by the Parañaque River. This stone chapel was used as a barracks for Spanish soldiers during the Philippine  Revolution. From being the second biggest barrio in Parañaque next only to San Dionisio in the early 20th century, La Huerta is now the second smallest barangay in the city at after several villages were created out of its old territory in the 1970s, including Don Bosco, Marcelo Green, Sun Valley and Merville. In 1985, the Manila–Cavite Expressway was opened on a reclaimed area in the foreshore of La Huerta. The village also expanded with the creation of Freedom Island by the Philippine Reclamation Authority in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the South Reclamation Project under Boulevard  2000. Education. La Huerta is home to the oldest school in Parañaque, St. Andrew's School established in 1917. The following educational institutions are also located within the village: Culture. La Huerta is known for its colorful fiestas such as the biannual "Sunduan" festival where local bachelors in their "barong Tagalog" fetch their dates from their homes dressed in traje de mestiza and carrying a parasol, and parade them around town to the San Nicolas chapel at the town plaza. This festival is held in honor of the village's patron, Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, and dates back to 1876 . The village also hosts the "Caracol" festival where men carry cascos or floats with effigies of saints held biannually in September since 1912. Transportation. Being the old town proper of Parañaque where the municipal hall once stood, several major thoroughfares are routed through La Huerta. They include Elpidio Quirino Avenue (formerly Calle Real), the former main street that runs north–south across the old district in the area of the Parañaque Cathedral, and Ninoy Aquino Avenue which gives access to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The Manila–Cavite Expressway travels along the western edge of the old center, and an  extension of C-5 Road also runs along its eastern sector. The C-5 South Link Expressway will parallel the existing C-5 network and will also cut through the village's eastern sector once completed. The planned Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 1 extension to Cavite includes the construction of a station on Ninoy Aquino Avenue in La Huerta.