I came across this website recently: http://manilafinancialcenter.com/. Nothing much to be seen there right now, save for some videos and a mediocre design for a website. But the premise of a business district in the City of Manila itself is intriguing idea at the very least. But Manila’s present administration is bent on pursuing that dream. In fact they have identified the area where this planned financial center will rise: right at the Manila South Harbor area, just across the Walled City of Intramuros. The area in dark blue shows the area to be used for this planned for this planned redevelopment. If becoming a reality, the old buildings and…
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“Viva Santo Niño!” and the dance of Manila
Apart from a devotion to the Virgin Mary in all her various forms, (like the Our Lady of Guadalupe, Manaoag, Antipolo, the Rosary, etc.) Filipino Catholics are renowned for their devotion to the Infant Jesus AKA the Santo Niño or the Holy Child. And if the festivals and feasts held every 3rd Sunday of January (which is the feast day of the Santo Niño) are of any indication, the Pinoy Catholic’s devotion to the Santo Niño is as much fervent and grand as the many Marian feasts held here, with Cebu and Aklan being the more popular hotbeds of Santo Niño festivities with their respective festivals the Sinulog and Ati-Atihan.…
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Santa Mesa’s “university town”: the “university street” of Teresa
Right outside the main gates of PUP Mabini Campus is Teresa Street, which also serves to connect the campus to Santa Mesa’s main thoroughfare Old Sta. Mesa Street. The street is said to be named after the wife of Don Gonzalo Tuason (or Tuazon) from landed Tuason family which owned wide tracts land which happened to include Santa Mesa. And yes, it is also known as the maternal bloodline of the former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. Teresa St. is also notable for being the only remnant of Manila’s street pedestrianization program initiated by former Mayor Lito Atienza. Originally it was intended that the street not to be opened to any…
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Paco Park: from mournings to weddings
These days, you may find it weird that a park can be situated in an unlikely neighborhood of sorts, surrounded by buildings and commercial establishments, right in the middle of intersecting roads which make it look like a rotunda plaza. Despite how “unfriendly” the site of Paco Park is today, it holds so much historical and cultural value that it has deserved the needed attention and preservation, all the more so now as urbanization and the decay it has brought is a serious threat not only to the park’s landscape but throughout the city as well.