One of the questions I’m asked most when people find out I’m from Manila is, “Is that where Manila paper comes from?”
I never really thought of it, so I did some info-hunting, and found this: Manila paper is made from Manila hemp, which is indeed grown mainly in the Philippines; not the city of Manila strictly, but yes, from our country. It is not really hemp, but a fiber from a tree of the banana family, which we know more familiarly as “abaca.”