Imperial Manila is a
pejorative epithet used by certain sectors of
Filipino society such as
Visayans and/or any other non-Tagalog Filipino ethnolinguistic groups to express the idea that all the affairs of the
Philippines—whether in
politics,
business,
economy, or
culture—are decided by what is happening in the capital region of
Metro Manila without considering the rest of the country, largely because of a
centralized government. This sentiment is sometimes expressed in the following proverb in the
Cebuano language: "
Wa'y dahong mahulog sa atung nasud nga di mananghid sa Malacañang" (Not a leaf can fall in our country without Malacañang's permission).