Balete Drive is an

undivided "Undivided" is a song recorded by American country music singers Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard, the latter of whom is one-half of Florida Georgia Line. The song, which Hubbard wrote with Chris Loocke, was released on January 13, 2021, and is on t ...

two-lane street and the main

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way of transport, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. Originally, the word referred to a main road or open street which was frequented thoroughly. Different terms *Roa ...

New Manila Mariana is an urban barangay in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is part of a middle class residential development known as New Manila, which includes Barangay Mariana and the adjacent barangays of Damayang Lagi, Horseshoe, and Valencia. ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

, Philippines. The road is a major route for jeepneys and cabs, serving the New Manila area and connecting Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue and Nicanor Domingo Street in Quezon City. The road is noted for the

balete tree The balete tree (also known as balite or baliti) are several species of trees in the Philippines from the genus ''Ficus'', which are generally referred to as ''balete'' in Filipino. A number of these are ''strangler figs'', as they germinat ...

s that previously lined it and

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

s of a

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

of a

lady in white ''Lady in White'' is a 1988 American supernatural horror mystery film directed, produced, written and scored by Frank LaLoggia, and starring Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, and Katherine Helmond. Set in 1962 upstate New York, it follo ...

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, Quezon City. The Balete Drive corner at E. Rodriguez is a bustling business area hosting fast food and other establishments. The north end of Balete Drive starts at a dead end next to Diliman Creek, north of Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue. Running in the north-northeast to south-southeast direction, it ends in a T-junction with Nicanor Domingo Street near the San Juan Reservoir for a total length of . One of its major intersections is with

Aurora Boulevard Aurora Boulevard is a four-to-ten-lane major thoroughfare in Quezon City and San Juan, Metro Manila, San Juan in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is named after Don (honorific), Doña Aurora Quezon, the consort of Commonwealth of the Philippines, Co ...

, a major road that leads to

Cubao Cubao may refer to: * Cubao, Quezon City, a district of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines ** Araneta Center–Cubao station (LRT) on Line 2 ** Araneta Center–Cubao station (MRT) on Line 3 ** Cubao Cathedral The Immaculate Conceptio ...

, a major commercial district in Quezon City. The Manila Line 2

Betty Go-Belmonte station Betty Go-Belmonte station is an elevated Manila Light Rail Transit System, Light Rail Transit (LRT) station located on the LRT Line 2 (LRT-2) system in Mariana, Quezon City, Mariana, Quezon City. The station during its inception was formerly cal ...

is located east of this junction. Balete Drive is considered a national tertiary road of the

Philippine highway network The Philippine highway network is a network of highway, 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 primar ...

History

Balete Drive was named after a massive

that used to stand in the middle of the road. Although the exact construction date of the road is unknown, it was 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 lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

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 Philippine folklore, balete trees are believed to be a "home for spirits and mysterious creatures". Various legends and folklore have circulated since the 1950s that the street was haunted. Most legends describe a kaperosa (white lady) ghost, a popular character in 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 on Balete Drive. One variation of the legend claims a student at the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

was

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse 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 sexua ...

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 rumors, 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 official proposed that the city could use the legends to boost tourism by declaring the street "haunted" and making it available for Halloween parties. In a 2021 opinion piece by former Presidential Press Secretary Buddy Gomez, former

Calbayog Calbayog, officially the City of Calbayog (; ), is a component city in the province of Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 186,960 people. It lies along the coastal region of the province stretching about ...

city prosecutor's office lawyer Deogracias Ortega claimed the entire legend was an embellished fabrication of a magazine article in 1952. The actual accident occurred along Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. Avenue (formerly España Extension) in 1949. Ortega and his friends, including Leni Garchitorena, were on a joyride when the accident occurred, with Garchitorena, who was the driver at that time, the only occupant sustaining fatal injuries.

In popular culture

The street is featured in the 1988 horror film ''

Hiwaga sa Balete Drive ''Hiwaga sa Balete Drive'' () is a 1988 Filipino horror anthology film directed by Peque Gallaga and Lorenzo A. Reyes from a story and screenplay they co-written with Jose Javier Reyes, Orlando R. Nadres, Jake Cocadiz, and Rene Mariano. The f ...

'', which retells the supposed paranormal activities experienced by people who live or have traveled along it. The Netflix-exclusive Singaporean 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 on October 22, ...

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

References

External links