Bulacan in the context of "Manila Bay"

Valenzuela (/ˌvælənzjuˈɛlə/, Tagalog pronunciation: [valensˈwela]; Latin American Spanish pronunciation: [balenˈswela] , Spanish pronunciation: [balenˈθwela] ), officially the City of Valenzuela (Filipino: Lungsod ng Valenzuela), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 725,173 people.

Valenzuela ranks as the 6th most populous city in the National Capital Region and is the 11th most populous city in the Philippines. Located 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) north of the nation's capital, Manila , it is categorized as a highly urbanized, first-class city under the Republic Acts No. 7160 and 8526, which are based on categories of income classification and population. The landlocked city is located on the island of Luzon. It is bordered by the province of Bulacan to the north, the cities of Caloocan and Quezon City to the east, and Malabon to the southwest. Valenzuela also shares a border along the Tenejeros-Tullahan River with Malabon. The city has a total land area of 45.75 square kilometers (17.66 square miles). Its residents are composed of about 72% Tagalog people, followed by 5% Bicolanos, with a small percentage of foreign nationals.

Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga (Kapampangan: Lalawigan ning Pampanga; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Pampanga), is a province in Central Luzon, Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, Manila Bay to the south, Bataan to the southwest, and Zambales to the west. Its capital is San Fernando, the regional center of Central Luzon. Angeles City is the largest city in Pampanga but is administratively independent. It has been self-governing since receiving its charter in 1964.

The name La Pampanga was given by the Spaniards, who found natives living along the banks (pampáng) of the Pampanga River. It was created in 1571 as the first Spanish province on Luzon (the province of Cebu in the Visayas is older, founded in 1565). The town of Villa de Bacolor briefly served as the Spanish colonial capital when Great Britain occupied Manila during the Seven Years' War. On the eve of the Philippine Revolution in 1896, Pampanga was one of eight provinces placed under martial law for rebelling against the Spanish Empire. It is represented on the Flag of the Philippines by one of the eight rays of the sun.

The Tagalog people are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Philippines, particularly the Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions and Marinduque province of southern Luzon, and comprise the majority in the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, and Zambales in Central Luzon and the island of Mindoro.

Kapampangan, Capampáñgan, or Pampangan, is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern part of Luzon's central plains geographic region, where the Kapampangan ethnic group resides. Kapampangan is also spoken in northeastern Bataan, as well as in the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Zambales that border Pampanga. It is further spoken as a second language by a few Aeta groups in the southern part of Central Luzon. The language is known honorifically as Amánung Sísuan ('breastfed, or nurtured, language').

Kapampangan is assigned the ISO 639-2 three-letter code pam, but not an ISO 639-1 two-letter code.

The Pampanga River is the second largest river on the island of Luzon in the Philippines (next to the Cagayan River) and the country's fifth longest river. It is in the Central Luzon region and traverses the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija.

Central Luzon (Tagalog: Gitnang Luzon; Kapampangan: Kalibudtarang Luzon; Sambal: Botlay a Luzon; Pangasinan: Pegley a Luzon; Ilocano: Tengnga a Luzon), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines. The region comprises seven provinces: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga (with its capital, City of San Fernando serving as the regional center), Tarlac, and Zambales; and two highly urbanized cities, Angeles and Olongapo. San Jose del Monte is the most populous city in the region. The region contains the largest plain in the country and produces most of the country's rice supply, earning itself the nickname "Rice Granary of the Philippines". It is also the region to have the most number of provinces.

Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon (Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Quezon) and historically known as Tayabas, is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized city governed separately from the province, serves as the provincial capital and its most populous city. The name of the province came from Manuel L. Quezon, the president of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944 and a native of Baler, which was formerly a part of the province. The province was known as Kalilayan upon its creation in 1591, renamed as Tayabas by the 18th century, before settling on its current name in 1946. To distinguish the province from Quezon City, it is also known as Quezon Province, a variation of the province's official name.

One of the largest provinces in the country, Quezon is situated on the southeastern portion of Luzon, with the majority of its territory lying on an isthmus that connects the Bicol Peninsula to the rest of Luzon. It also includes the Polillo Islands in the eastern part of the province. It is bordered by the provinces of Aurora and Bulacan to the north, Rizal, Laguna, and Batangas to the west, and Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur to the southeast. It also shares maritime borders with Marinduque and Masbate.

Aurora, officially the Province of Aurora (Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Aurora; Ilocano: Probinsia ti Aurora; Spanish: Provincia de Aurora), is a province in the Philippines located in the eastern part of Central Luzon region, facing the Philippine Sea. Its capital is Baler and borders, clockwise from the south, the provinces of Quezon, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and Isabela. Maria Aurora is the only landlocked town in the province and yet, the most populous. It is the only province in Central Luzon that has no chartered cities.

Before 1979, Aurora was part of the province of Quezon. The province was named after Aurora Aragon, the wife of Manuel L. Quezon, the president of the Philippine Commonwealth, after whom the mother province was named.