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= The History of Marikina's Shoe Industry = Marikina, a lush valley bounded by mountain ranger and sliced by a river, is one of the sixteen cities and a municipality that comprised the Metro Manila area. Marikina is known as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines because of its progressive shoe industry. It is also the home of the world’s largest pair of shoes certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Furthermore, the Shoe Museum preserved most of the famous shoes of former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

History
Marikina was founded three hundred righty-three years ago when the Jesuits arrived in 1630. They called the area Jesus dela Peña (Jesus of the Rocks). It was later called Mariquina and a parish was established there in 1687. Fishing and farming were the main source of livelihood. In 1901, the town was officially named Marikina by the First Philippine Commissioner, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera replacing the Hispanidad “q” with the vernacular “k”. Later in 1977, the town was officially made a part of the newly-created Metro Manila area.

The significant year for Marikina was in 1887. It was in this year when shoemaking started to flourish through the efforts of Don Laureano "Kapitan Moy" Guevarra. From this year, the growth of the place economically becomes dynamic due to shoemaking. Today, Marikina is one of the sixteen (16) cities and a municipality of Metro Manila. It was proclaimed a city through the Republic Act 8223 on December 8, 1996. It is a multi-awarded metropolitan city, often cited for its vibrant economy, highly-skilled and literate work force, involved and enlightened business community and responsive local government that puts a premium on governance, sustainable urban development and public service. It is also one of the healthiest cities in the Asia-Pacific region, winning at least seventy-eight awards and recognitions both local and international in a span of twelve years.

Today, Marikina is known as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines because of its progressive shoe industry. It is also the home of the world’s largest pair of shoes certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Furthermore, the Shoe Museum preserved most of the famous shoes of former First Lady Imelda Marcos. The city also prides itself of cultural and heritage site, Kapitan Moy, the ancestral house of the Father of the Shoe Industry in the Philippines, Don Laureano Guevara and other numerous tourist sites.

The Marikina City’s Footwear Industry
One of the significant factors that aid the success of Marikina’s footwear industry is hard work, inventiveness and dedication of each shoemaker to the craft and passing their knowledge to succeeding generations. Marikeños have regarded shoemaking as a way of life and because of this it yielded a million dollar revenue during its prime years. Another factor to consider is the growing acceptability of Philippine-made footwear in local and international markets, coupled with the perseverance of the industry and local leaders in promoting the product amidst the many challenges it faced. The shoemaking industry began in 1887 through the pioneering efforts of Don Laureano “Kapitan Moy” Guevara. He was assisted by Tiburcio Eustaquio, Ambrocio Sta. Ines, and Gervacio Carlos. Kapitan Moy, a highborn and a community leader who had bought himself a pair of imported shoes during one of his trips to Manila. He used this pair of shoes as an example for his workers to study and duplicate. They dissected its various parts and by trial and error, they learned how to put them back together. That afternoon, Kapitan Moy and his shoemakers had their onlookers. A group of young boys had been craning their necks to watch the whole episode through a grilled window. Pablo de la Paz who was among the onlookers narrated the same episode to his children, claiming that shoemaking began in 1888 when he was fourteen of age. Kapitan Moy saw to it that other Marikeños were taught the skills of shoemaking as he intended it as a source of livelihood in the town aside from the main activities of fishing and farming. Because of this, he was given the title “Father of the Shoe Industry.”

Shoe manufacturing by way of machinery was introduced to Marikina during the American occupation. In 1898, the American occupation troops in the country placed orders for army shoes. This prompted the American soldier, R.R. McGuire to establish a shoe factory using the machinery. McGuire eventually set up the United States Shoe Company, a firm which later became the Hike Shoe Palace. The Hale Shoe Factory or Esco Shoe Company was later organized under the leadership of Mr. Hale. At about the same time, the Ang Tibay Shoe manufacturing firm was founded by Toribio Teodoro who pioneered the manufacturing and distribution of machine-made shoes. The People’s Shoe Company, on the other hand, was engaged in the mass production of machine-made shoes.

1930s – 1940s

In 1935, Marikina already had 139 shops producing 260,078 pair of ladies shoes and 86,692 pairs of men shoes worth Php 762,896.00, and as many as 2,450 citizens were directly engaged in the industry either as shoemakers or uppermakers. Manila was the prized market for the shoes made by Marikeños. Shoemakers had to deal with the Chinese merchants who held forth in Gandara, Nueva and other parts of Chinatown. Marikeños, with their craftsmanship and little shops had no choice but to enter into a partnership with the Chinese who had their stores and bundles of raw materials. It was an unequal partnership that endured for generations since Chinese could dictate the price of finished shoes as well as raw materials.

In 1936, the Marikeños lost their patience and took a stand. Through “Oras Na” (The Hour is Now), a worker’s union organized by Mayor Wenceslao de la Paz, they pledged unity to not sell shoes to the Chinese nor buy any raw materials from them. The union members prevented shipment of shoes to Manila by barricading the Barangka Highway, the only road that linked the place. They also avoided shoes from the neighboring town of San Mateo to be delivered to Chinese middlemen. Though the union showed sympathy to local authorities, they could not outlast the moneyed Chinese merchants. Having made their statement for a better deal, the members of the union returned to work.

Since the beginning, Marikeños had dreams of owning a store to avoid dealing with Chinese middlemen. During the prewar years, Filipino shoe manufacturers started to establish their own shoe store. Tiburcio Eustaquio organized a shoe store cooperative called the “Tindang Bayan” located at Gandara Street. He also opened another shoe store, the Marikit-na at R. Hidalgo Street in Quiapo. This store was later managed by Francisco Sta. Ana and then transferred it to Avenida Rizal. Herminigildo Santos and his brother, Roman opened the H. Santos Shoe Store and Star Shoes. The former was located at the corner of Avenida Rizal and Plaza Goiti. On January 17, 1940, local manufacturers gained support from the national government when President Manuel A. Roxas, then secretary of finance and concurrently chairman of the National Economic Council, organized the National Footwear Corporation.

Post World War II

Like most industries, the shoe industry almost ground to a halt during the Japanese Occupation as capital and raw materials became scarce and the market vanished. The people survived on marginal fishing, farming and livestock rising. The industry recovered slowly after the Occupation and the Marikeños lose no time in picking up the pieces. The new mayor, Gil Fernando, organized the Philippine Shoe Manufacturing Corporation with a working capital of Php500,000 to aid the local shoe manufacturers. This was also supported by the newly elected President then, Manuel A. Roxas. In postwar years, Marikeños continued to open their stores and repair shops in Calle Raon, Evangelista, Carriedo and Plaza Sta. Cruz. Leading the way in establishing shoe stores were Angel Santos  who was later elected as Vice Mayor, Francisco Sta. Ana Sr., Francisco Josef, Esteban Guevara, Gervasio Santos, Andres U. dela Paz and Severino Samson (known as Mang Bino) who had a shoe store side by side in Carriedo with Henry Sy, a shopping mall tycoon.

1950s: Marikina as the Shoe Capital of the Philippines

Imported shoes flooded the market after World War II. Rehabilitation efforts to overcome competitions with locally manufactured footwear were slow. It was only in 1951 when the R.A. 650 or the Import Control Law was passed which gave the industry a needed vigor. In 1956, Marikina was given the title, “Shoe Capital of the Philippines” because of its notable shoe industry and for being the biggest manufacturer of shoes nationwide.

Reference section
= [http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/160/the-history-of-marikina-s-shoe-industry#:~:text=Marikina%20was%20founded%20three%20hundred,the%20main%20source%20of%20livelihood. http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/160/the-history-of-marikina-s-shoe-industry#:~:text=Marikina%20was%20founded%20three%20hundred,the%20main%20source%20of%20livelihood.] =