After World War II, the Philippines suffered.

The Filipinos were financially broke, physically exhausted, and facing massive housing crisis. Despite these problems they were facing, they found an opportunity to build a new nation and to rectify the worst mistakes of the past. By the 4th of July !946, the nation became the Republic of the Philippines and was governed by Manuel Roxas. On the 23rd of July 1946, Pres. Roxas formed a Capital Site Committee, entrusted with the responsibility of choosing the most appropriate site as the capital of the new Republic. This committee, headed by Sen. Melancio Arranz, put in a whole years work of investigations, hearings, inspections and research. Sixteen sites were considered and the old Quezon City became the final choice. In order to build the capital city that would measure up to the latest trends in construction and architecture, Pres. Roxas decided to dispatch, in the summer of 1947, a mission of Filipino architects and engineers on a study junket of the US, South and Central America. Included in this official travel were architects Juan Nakpil, Juan Arellano, Cesar Concio and Engr. Maunel Maosa Sr., among others. The mission returned with ideas influenced by modernist architecture and urban planning, and its members later assisted in the formulation of the master plan for the modern capital city. Modern architecture provided the appropriate architectural image that represented growth, progress, advancement and decolonization. The adaptation of modern architecture as the official architectural style was logical but a strategic choice, for it possessed a symbolic appeal of technological advancement, economic prosperity, and cultural progress that an emerging nation aspires for. The newly independent Philippine state found in modern architecture and modernism a way to divorce itself from the remnants of colonization and to create new built environments that conveyed freedom from colonial past.

The Philippines was first discovered by the Spaniards when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portugese that sailed for Spain, arrived at Limawasa island, Leyte. They introduced their religion, Roman Catholic, that they used as a way of conquering. However he did not succeeded in colonizing the Philippines and was killed. There were more expeditions who followed to conquer the Philippines but only the third made it successful. The expedition was led by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos. He named the group of islands as Felipinas in honor to Prince Philip, the King of Spain. On the 13th of February 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi took possession of the Philippine islands and founded settlement in Cebu and Panay. On the 19th of May 1571 he led the Spaniards to attack the Manila and they succeeded and the Spanish took-over the Philippines and made Manila as the capital city. Within the reign of Spaniards in the Philippines, change in architecture happened because of natural disasters such as fire, and earthquake. Thus, the building regulation also changed. Also due to those natural disasters, new materials in building were discovered like the volcanic tuff or adobe deposits in Guadalupe, Makati due to volcanic eruption. Also urban planning started to emerge.