Balete Drive is an undivided two-lane

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

and main

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...

New Manila Mariana, is an administrative division in eastern Metro Manila, the Philippines. It is an urban barangay in Quezon City in a middle class residential and commercial area known as New Manila, which includes Barangay Mariana and the adjacent Baranga ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The road is a major route of jeepneys and cabs, serving the New Manila area, connecting Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue and Nicanor Domingo Street in Quezon City. The road is noted for a number of balete trees that previously lined it, and

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s of a

white lady A White Lady (or woman in white) is a type of female ghost. She has long straight hair, typically dressed in a white dress or similar garment, reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with local legends of tragedy. White Lady legends ar ...

ghost.

Route description

7975Balete Drive Quezon City Landmarks 38

8114Balete Drive Quezon City Landmarks 34

Balete Drive connects the long span between Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue and Nicanor Domingo Street in New Manila,

. The Balete Drive corner at E. Rodriguez is a bustling business area mushroomed with fast foods and other establishments. This north end of the Balete Drive starts at a dead end next to the Diliman Creek, north of Eulogio Rodriguez, Sr. Avenue Running in the NNE to SSE direction, it ends in a T-junction with the Nicanor Domingo Street near the San Juan Reservoir for a total length of . One of its major intersection is with the

Aurora Boulevard Aurora Boulevard is a four-to-ten lane major thoroughfare in Quezon City and San Juan in Metro Manila, Philippines. It was named after Doña Aurora Quezon, the consort of Commonwealth President Manuel Luis Quezon. It is one of the major roads in ...

, a major road which leads to

Cubao Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

, a major commercial district in

. The Manila Line 2

Betty Go-Belmonte station Betty Go-Belmonte station is an elevated Manila Light Rail Transit (LRT) station situated on Line 2. The station during its inception was formerly called as Boston station but was renamed into the current name due to the minor realignment of som ...

is located east of this junction. The avenue is classified as a ''national tertiary road'' of the

DPWH The Department of Public Works and Highways ( fil, Kagawaran ng mga Pagawain at Lansangang Bayan}), abbreviated as DPWH, is the Executive departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government solely vested with the ...

Philippine highway network The Philippine highway network is a network of national roads owned and maintained by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and organized into three classifications according to their function or purpose: national primary, seconda ...

History

Balete Drive was named after a gargantuan

balete tree The balete tree (also known as balite or baliti) are several species of the trees in the Philippines from the genus ''Ficus'' that are broadly referred to as ''balete'' in the local language. A number of these are known as '' strangler figs'' wh ...

that used to stand in the middle of the road. The road, although the exact construction date is unknown, had been cemented and asphalted and became a main thoroughfare during the regime of President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

in the early 1970s. There are several Spanish houses in the area, including the famous 200-year-old "Centennial House", which supports the claim that Balete Drive has been in use since the late Spanish era towards the end of the 19th century.

Urban legend

In the past, the street was lined with large balete trees that darkened the area considerably and made it appear "frightening" to some Manila residents. In

Pinoy ''Pinoy'' ( ) is a common informal self-reference used by Filipinos to refer to citizens of the Philippines and their culture as well as to overseas Filipinos in the Filipino diaspora. A Pinoy who has any non-Filipino foreign ancestry is often ...

folklore, balete trees are believed to be a "home for spirits and mysterious creatures". Various

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

s and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

have circulated since the 1950s that the street was

haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

. Most of the legends describe a kaperosa (white lady) ghost, a popular character in the Philippine folklore, who is supposedly haunting taxi drivers "for eternity". According to legend, the ghost is a teenage girl who was run over and killed by a taxi driver at night, then buried around a

Balete tree The balete tree (also known as balite or baliti) are several species of the trees in the Philippines from the genus ''Ficus'' that are broadly referred to as ''balete'' in the local language. A number of these are known as '' strangler figs'' wh ...

in Balete Drive. One variation of the legend claims a student at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...

was

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

and killed by a taxi driver, and her spirit roams the street looking for her murderer. Another version of the story claims that a female resident of one of the ancestral mansions lining Balete Drive was abused and killed by her own family, and her spirit haunts the road, seeking help from passing drivers. According to local rumor, the legend of Balete Drive was "fabricated by a reporter in 1953 in order to come up with an interesting story". In 2005, a Quezon City

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

official proposed that the city could use the legends to boost

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

by declaring the street "haunted" and making it available for

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

parties.

Zoning laws

The segment of Balete Drive from

to Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue has been zoned by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for regular residential and commercial purposes.

In popular culture

The street is featured in the 1988 horror film ''

Hiwaga sa Balete Drive ''Hiwaga sa Balete Drive'' (literally "Mystery on Balete Drive") is a 1988 Filipino anthology horror film directed by Peque Gallaga and Lorenzo A. Reyes. The film is based on the haunting legends on Balete Drive. Plot The film is divided into t ...

'', where it retells the supposed paranormal activities experienced by people who live, or have traveled, along the street. The Netflix-exclusive anime-influenced series ''

Trese ''Trese'' () is a Filipino komik series written by Budjette Tan and illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo. It tells the story of Alexandra Trese, a detective who deals with crimes of supernatural origin. Its first issue was published in October 22, ...

'' features Balete Drive as the location of a crime scene. The exact intersection and its street where it occurs however is fictional, as 13th Street in New Manila does not actually intersect Balete Drive.

References

External links

{{Road infrastructure in Manila 1970s architecture 1970s establishments in the Philippines Streets in Quezon City Reportedly haunted locations in the Philippines