The Manila Electric Company (PSE: MER and MERB), also known as MERALCO, is the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power. The word MERALCO, is an acronym for Manila Electric Railroad And Light COmpany, which was the company's original name from 1903 to 1919. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 719 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1025 × 855 pixel, file size: 56 KB, MIME type: image/png)Logo of the Meralco. ... Fountain area inside the Philippine Stock Exchange Plaza, along Ayala Avenue in Makati City, Philippines The Philippine Stock Exchange (Filipino: Pamilihang Sapi ng Pilipinas) (PSE: PSE) is one of the two stock exchanges in the Philippines, the other one being the Philippine Dealing Exchange. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ...

MERALCO is the Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for some 22 cities and 89 municipalities, including San Juan, Las Piñas, Quezon City, Malabon, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Mandaluyong, Parañaque, and Navotas. Metropolitan Manila (Filipino: Kalakhang Maynila) or the National Capital Region (NCR) (Filipino: Pambansang Punong Rehiyon) is the greater metropolitan area of the city of Manila, the national capital and largest city in the Philippines. ... The City of San Juan (Filipino: Siyudad ng San Juan) is a city in Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Las Piñas City is one of the cities and municipalities that comprise Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Quezon City P (Filipino: Lungsod Quezon), is the former capital (1948-1976) and the most populous city in the Philippines. ... Malabon City is one of the cities and municipalities that comprise Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Makati City is one of the most important cities in the Philippines in terms of finance and commerce. ... Caloocan City (in Filipino Kalookan) is one of the cities and municipalities that comprise Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Pasay City is one of the cities and municipalities that comprise Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Mandaluyong City is one of the cities and municipalities that comprise Metro Manila in the Philippines. ... Parañaque City (pop. ... REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES Municipality of Navotas Region: National Capital Region Province: — Founded: June 11, 1859 Population: 2000 census—230,403 Density—21,393 per km² Area: 10. ...

Early History

The city of Manila already had electricity since 1892, provided by La Electricista, the Philippine's first electric company. The company built a central power plant on Calle San Sebastian in 1895, and along with street lighting, had close to 3,000 residential customers by the end of its franchise. Nickname: Map of Metro Manila showing the location of Manila Coordinates: 14°35 N 121° E Country Philippines Region National Capital Region Districts 1st to 6th districts of Manila Barangays 897 Incorporated (city) June 10, 1574 Government  - Mayor Alfredo Lim (GO)  - Vice Mayor Isko Moreno (Asenso Manilenyo/PDP-Laban) Area...

American Occupation and Pre-War History

On October 20, 1902, the Second Philippine Commission began accepting bids to operate Manila's electric tramway, and by extension, providing electricity to the city and its suburbs. Detroit entrepreneur Charles M. Swift won the bidding by default as he was the sole bidder and on March 24, 1903, was granted the original basic franchise of Meralco. October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 83rd day of the year (84th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1900 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

In 1904, Meralco acquired both the Compañía de los Tranvías de Filipinas, a firm that operated public transportation and ran Manila's horse-drawn street railways, and added La Electricista. Construction on the electric tramway began that same year. In addition to acquiring La Electricista's Calle San Sebastian power plant, Meralco built its own steam generating plant on Isla Provisora which powered the streetcar system and eventually also the electric service. By 1906, Meralco's yearly power output capacity was around eight million kWh. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Public Transportation

Meralco built up a strong public transportation business in the decades leading up to World War II, building a 170-strong fleet of streetcars into the 1920s, before switching over to buses later in that decade.

Power Generation and Distribution

By 1915, electricity generation and distribution became the main Meralco's main income generator, overtaking its public transportation operations in terms of revenue. In 1919, it changed its official name to Manila Electric Company. By 1920, the company's power capacity had grown to 45 million kWh.

In 1925, MERALCO, was acquired by the utility holding company Associated Gas and Electric or AEGCO (reorganized as General Public Utilities Corporation or GPU in 1946), which had begun a massive expansion throughout the United States and Canada. With AGECO's financial backing, MERALCO began acquiring a number of existing utility companies in the Philippines, enabling the company to expand beyond its Manila city center base. FirstEnergy provides power, natural gas and services to parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. ...

By 1930 MERALCO completed construction of the Philippine's first hydroelectric power plant, the 960-kilowatt Botocan Hydro Station. At the time, this plant was one of the largest engineering projects in Asia and constituted the largest single private capital investment in the Philippines. The additional capacity allowed the company to begin hooking up customers throughout the metropolitan area. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Retail Enterprises

To drive demand for more power, Meralco also opened a retail store in order to sell electric home appliances.^{[citation needed]}

World War II

During Greater East-Asia War, the Japanese Occupation Forces forcibly transferred all of Meralco's assets and holdings to the Japanese controlled Taiwan Power Company. By the end of the war, most of the former Meralco operations had been destroyed. The Taiwan Power Company (Chinese: , also known as Taipower) is a state-owned electric power utility providing electric power to Taiwan and off-shore islands of Republic of China. ...

Post War Reconstruction (Nationalist Era)

After WWII, MERALCO's autobus franchise was sold to Halili Transport. In 1962, Don Eugenio López, Sr. acquired MERALCO and it finally became Filipino-owned. In buying Meralco, Don Eugenio demonstrated his belief that Filipinos could manage businesses even better than Americans. During 1962-72, he increased MERALCO's power generating capacity five times. Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Martial Law Period

In 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos both instituted martial law in the Philippines and issued Presidential Decree No. 40 which forcibly nationalized the country's electric generation and transmission. Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. ... Nationalization is the act of taking assets into state ownership. ...

Don Eugenio López, who owned Meralco at the time, had both his sons kidnapped by the government who were released to force Don Eugenio to hand over his business empire. The regime arrested his son Eugenio López, Jr. (better known as Geny) on trumped-up charges of conspiring to assassinate the president. With his son held hostage, Don Eugenio was forced to give up his holdings in a group of companies worth several hundred million dollars, but Geny was not released from prison.

By decree, the ownership of the company stripped away from the López family and placed under a shell company called the Meralco Foundation, Inc., controlled by crony under the newly-created, government controlled Napocor. For the oil company, see Royal Dutch-Shell. ... Enccyclopedia Headline text ...

By 1978 all of the Philippines' major power plants, including most notably those previously owned by MERALCO, were owned and operated by NAPOCOR. Control of the Meralco corporation itself was seized by the Marcos Dictatorship, but was returned to its prior owners after the EDSA Revolution. The EDSA Revolution, also referred to as the People Power Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986, was a mostly nonviolent mass demonstration in the Philippines. ...

See also

• List of Philippine companies

This is a partial list of companies based in the Philippines. ...

External links

• Company website