Manila (Tagalog: ᜋᜈᜒᜎ) is the capital city of the Philippines. It is one of the largest cities in the Philippines. Manila is on the biggest island of the Philippines, Luzon. Manila is by a bay named Manila Bay. The metropolitan area, called Metro Manila, is much larger. It stretches across a thin strip of land (called an isthmus) to a lake called "Laguna de Bay". Manila has a population of 1.78 million people.