But really, Manila is crowded. It lacks the space, therefore the theory why people are used in walking at streets instead of sidewalks...

Is there a question still that Manila needs better flood management?If only those sidecars are rationalized to protect riders from scrupulous sidecarboys.And they should have a uniform color for every city:)....Monsoon rains and floods are really a part of living in Tropical Manila a great excuse to wear nice boots.Wellies anyone?
hhttp://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2007/gimeios9.jpgttp://
thanks gimei for the flickr pics.

Yeah, floods are perennial problems.

BTW, Off topic, are those boots "in" in Manila? From the photos, hardly anyone is wearing those boots.

But really, Manila is crowded. It lacks the space, therefore the theory why people are used in walking at streets instead of sidewalks...
maybe it's because of the sidewalk vendors. ;)

^^ Maybe...but when you go to Sampaloc, even if there is a sidewalk (and no vendors) people still walk at the streets. What more pa sa San Nicolas.

Port Area, Manila

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/48/IMGP3143.JPG?et=UIVXQeqrRl52S5P8cGVmrQ&nmid=108853071

Superferry nga sinakyan...mukhang South Harbour to. :D

There's a Diosdado Macapagal Airport... Might as well have an Eva Macapagal Seaport... :)

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/42/IMGP3137.JPG?et=ktBer4bV3vDdXsU5%2C9pN6w&nmid=108853071

Home of the Philippine Coast Guard...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/51/IMGP3138.JPG?et=WeMkvmhe3d1Vx11S5z8TKQ&nmid=108853071

I've always associated "Pier" with trucks...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/45/IMGP3140.JPG?et=FIMVdWxrbQMTzePdQZdiMw&nmid=108853071

The Port Area has many Art Deco buildings such as this...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/49/IMGP3142.JPG?et=4hOjcNEfke71gBWNXeDzPw&nmid=108853071

The Port Area is also home to the offices of the Philippine press...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/46/IMGP3141.JPG?et=R29tREHh35UqjaE4MAjqgA&nmid=108853071

Not all buildings are old...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/4/photos/111/1200x1200/44/IMGP3139.JPG?et=4wIAV2KbQ78wr9DU0vrxGA&nmid=108853071

Bro, the Aduana?

With Intramuros and Rizal Park beyond the city government's jurisdiction, The Port Area could be a good focus for urban renewal...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/52/IMGP3136.JPG?et=TGwO0mhNT%2CRvzJIhWl5GEw&nmid=108853071

Bro, the Aduana?

I used another camera to shoot that when we were leaving the port of Manila... It wasn't prominently visible from my vantage point earlier that day. Next time ko na lang ipost.

wow, i never knew that art deco structures existed over there.
i hope they get to maintain it.

A scene inside the Eva Macapagal Terminal... and yes a larger than life photo of the former first lady... Inspection was quite thorough. I felt like I was at the domestic airport.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/icarus05x/SJf8BHbnsdI/AAAAAAAADC0/CjoWxUZJrs8/IMGP3134.JPG?imgmax=800

I can't believe it another infrastructure/building named after a macapagal

I can't believe it another infrastructure/building named after a macapagal

You've got:


Diosdado Macapagal Int'l Airport at Clark Pampanga
Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at South Harbour Manila
Macapagal Boulevard from Pasay to Parañaque City

All within 10 years time. :lol:

^^Marami talagang sipsip sa atin.:ohno:

You've got:


Diosdado Macapagal Int'l Airport at Clark Pampanga
Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at South Harbour Manila
Macapagal Boulevard from Pasay to Parañaque City
Diosdado Macapagal Cable Stayed Bridge in Butuan

All within 10 years time. :lol:

I think you forgot one. :lol:

I don't know where to put it so I think it would be more appropriate here. Tell me what's wrong and disappointing here, and who seems to be the stupid one. :bash:

(UPDATE) Gov’t: Air quality from '03 to '07 improved 33% (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080805-152783/UPDATE-Govt-Air-quality-from-03-to-07-improved-33)

But lawmakers unconvinced
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:55:00 08/05/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Air quality in the country improved by 33 percent from 2003 to 2007, the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) told the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Clean Air Tuesday, but lawmakers were unconvinced about the report.

At the same time, Senator Pia Cayetano, who as chairperson of the Senate committee on the environment co-chairs the oversight committee, said that the P197-million air quality management fund collected from vehicle licensing fees and smoke-belching fines from 1999 specified in the Clean Air Act has not been released.

"Not a single centavo has been released since about 10 years ago," she said.

Cayetano said the amount should be released to enable EMB to buy better equipment and conduct tests that would result in truly better air quality.

"Air quality is directly related to health. The incidence of respiratory ailments in Metro Manila is very high because of air pollution," she said.

At the next oversight committee hearing, Cayetano will ask the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Finance why the P197 million has not been released.

In its presentation, the EMB said its national monitoring of so-called “big dusts” showed concentrations of total suspended particulates have decreased from 144 to 97 micrograms per normal cubic meter (ug/Ncm).

In Metro Manila, the air quality has improved too, by 27 percent from 160ug/Ncm in 2003 to 120 ug/Ncm in 2007,” the EMB said.

"Per DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] General Plan of Action, it is targeted that the Ambient Air Quality value of 90ug/Ncm is attained or complied with by 2010," the EMB report said.

But legislators found the results incredible.

Senator Pia Cayetano, who, as chair of the Senate committee on the environment is co-chair of the oversight committee, said she did not believe the EMB data because "I bike behind smoke-belching buses…we don't hear people in EDSA say mas maluwag ang pakiramdam ko ngayon [I feel better today]."

Cayetano’s co-chair, Representative Belma Cabilao, said she suffers allergies she does not experience back home in Zamboanga.

Senator Gregorio Honasan noted that the quality of air is important because it will affect future generations.

"We passed the Clean Air Act in the 10th Congress because of our concern for our children…We may be raising children who may be retarded because of the quality of air. Few may become congressmen, senators, and presidents," Honasan said.

^^Marami talagang sipsip sa atin.:ohno:

And very useful for name recall during elections and maintaining dynasties. :)

I think you forgot one. :lol:

Yung P200.00 peso bill with Diosdado Macapagal.

You've got:


Diosdado Macapagal Int'l Airport at Clark Pampanga
Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at South Harbour Manila
Macapagal Boulevard from Pasay to Parañaque City

All within 10 years time. :lol:

That is truly in bad taste. :ohno:

^^ It's not just in bad taste. Sobrang sagwa.

^^ It's not just in bad taste. Sobrang sagwa.

^^ Ano nga ba ang ingles ng sagwa?

"horrible" or "hideous" are the closest words i can associate it with. Maybe 'inappropriate' or 'out of place'

^^ Ano nga ba ang ingles ng sagwa?

EEEwwww? :lol:

EEEwwww? :lol:

:lol:

Yeah, the feeling of disgust perhaps. hahaha.

^^ I guess that's the closest approximation. :lol:

I can't believe it another infrastructure/building named after a macapagal
weder-weder lang yan. malamang pag nagpalit ng liderato, iba na ang pangalan ng mga insprakturang yan. :ohno::ohno:

You've got:


Diosdado Macapagal Int'l Airport at Clark Pampanga
Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at South Harbour Manila
Macapagal Boulevard from Pasay to Parañaque City

All within 10 years time. :lol:

don't worry about , if I become President I'll name a high school after my dog

guys, stay on topic.

guys, stay on topic.

It is also in the topic too...because of the trend of changing names in Manila seems to be prevalent also because of personal interests too.

Some historical names are lost because of frequent changes. Also, it is confusing for the peoples to go in Manila because they might search for Calle Azcarraga but in fact its already Recto. SH Loyola in Sampaloc was then Calle Lepanto.

Because of self or business interests that is why they are constantly changing the street names.

^^ Agree with @habagat. It is a related topic. When I think about it, the jeepneys plying the streets of Manila are somehow part of purveying the history of the streets of Manila.

For example, the Lealtad-Quiapo road plies what used to be Lealtad Street but this street was actually renamed Jacobo Fajardo(?); Tayuman - Lardizabal is another one. There is Recto- Morayta. Etc. Etc. You see all these jeepneys plying certain routes based on historical names when these streets have otherwise been renamed already.

Here is an article about changes in historical street names as written by Conrado De Quiros based on Augusto de Viana's outcry.

What's in a name?
Conrado de Quiros
June 28th, 2007

I read with much interest -- and sympathy -- Augusto de Viana's lament about the streets of Manila losing their original names to politicians.

As De Viana shows, gone now are such street names as Escolta, Dasmariñas, Anloague, Fundador, Jaboneros, Panaderos, Arroceros, Trabajo, Economia, Lealtad, Honradez, Firmeza, and Constancia. Escolta, in particular, had a tremendous historical significance: that was where the British commanding general passed under heavy escort ("escortar," whence came Escolta) to give the colony back to Spain after occupying it for 20 months. The other names referred either to the places where certain types of workmen lived -- bakers, soap makers, foundry workers, rice traders -- or to such cherished virtues as thrift, industry, loyalty, honesty, resoluteness and constancy.

Many of these names still ring a bell in my ears. To this day, I confess I still often refer to Arsenio Lacson Street as Forbes and Claro M. Recto Street as Azcarraga. They were still around I think during my college years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At least people referred to them as such. Indeed, some drivers and/or conductors then still referred to Edsa as Highway 54 or "Hehweh," as they pronounced it.

I understand that Juan F. Nakpil fought the renaming of Azcarraga to Claro M. Recto, saying, "If we keep changing the names of our streets, there may come a time when we may not be able to recognize our city anymore." The historian Gregorio Zaide himself ascribed the malady to "bigoted nationalism and jingoism."

My own position there is this: The renaming of streets should be done only sparingly and judiciously, or only when there is a monumentally compelling need for it. One is tempted to say that only new streets should be given new names. But given that no new streets are being built, only new cars are being sold, which is a recipe for urban suicide, and given that our existing streets are home to never-ending diggings, which is less a reminder of the past than a reminder of present-day laizzez-faire kick-backing, the bigger temptation is simply to rename old ones.

I personally do not mind that Azcarraga gave way to Claro M. Recto and Forbes to Arsenio Lacson. Recto and Lacson were more than politicians, or they showed the best that politicians could be. Recto left a legacy of love of country comparable to that of Jose Rizal -- "The Making of a Filipino" is the title of Renato Constantino's biography of him, and it's a most apt one. And Lacson did more for Manila than most of the mayors before him and after him combined. I most certainly do not mind that Highway 54, which means nothing, has been renamed Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, which means everything. Can you imagine if we also called People Power I and II Highway 54 I and II?

There's nothing bigoted or jingoistic in renaming streets -- or plazas, buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure -- after the real heroes of this country. The demand for places like España, Intramuros and Binondo to not be renamed springs from the same nationalist fountainhead. It is a demand for Filipinos to recall their storied past, as given physical shape and form, or the sights and sounds of horrendous traffic, by the streets where they live. No more than that, it is -- particularly for this lobotomized country, whose capacity for amnesia is legendary -- a demand to not cut the Ariadne's thread that leads us out of a historical void. That is nationalism. That is rooted-ness.

But I agree wholeheartedly with not renaming streets after politicians -- most assuredly not the worst of them. That is adding insult to injury. The point of naming streets is to remind us of this nation's accomplishments, not to oppress us with our rulers' villainy. Why on earth should any road, least of all the most expensive one in the world per square inch, be named Diosdado Macapagal Avenue? To this day, we still have all sorts of avenues, boulevards, and streets named after Ferdinand and Imelda. I agree they should not be forgotten, but I argue they should not be extolled. Having infrastructure named after them is extolling them -- and persecuting us.

If we are going to rename streets at all -- and certainly if we are going to name new ones -- I earnestly suggest we name them after artists, scientists and philosophers, such as we have produced philosophers. There is something deeply wrong with a country that values its public officials more than its artists and scientists. Artists and scientists enrich a country's spiritual life and leave lasting legacies, politicians only impoverish a country's physical life and leave lasting legacies of destruction and desolation. The only place they deserve to have their names affixed to is the toilet, preferably on the flush of the bowl.

Someone should propose a bill in Congress renaming all the streets currently named Marcos, Macapagal, or Arroyo after the artists and scientists, living or dead -- alas, they die more plentifully than politicians in this accursed country -- who have blessed us with their lives. I wouldn't mind seeing Roxas Boulevard, already a renaming of Dewey Boulevard, renamed again as Nick Joaquin Boulevard.

Or other than artists and scientists, simple people who have risen to true heights of heroism, holding out a beacon to this storm-tossed nation. Again, I suggest -- no, demand -- that the Commission on Elections be renamed Musa Dimasidsing Election Commission just as the Manila International Airport was renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Dimasidsing's heroism is not less than Ninoy's, it is more. He gave honesty whole new epic meanings, and reminded us what elections are meant to be. Few achievements are bigger, few legacies are more lasting.

What's in a name?

Plenty. The past, the present, the future.

With Intramuros and Rizal Park beyond the city government's jurisdiction, The Port Area could be a good focus for urban renewal...

http://images.icarusrising.multiply.com/image/2/photos/111/1200x1200/52/IMGP3136.JPG?et=TGwO0mhNT%2CRvzJIhWl5GEw&nmid=108853071

^^Thanks for sharing this pic, icarus. This was once known as the Marsman Building, an elegant art deco gem in prewar Commonwealth Manila. During the Japanese Occupation it was commandeered as a high command headquarters of the Nippon military, and sustained considerable damage in 1945. Yet some bonehead decided in more recent decades to make it over with a "Spanish" look! You can still barely make out the original streamlined contours of the original structure beneath that tackiness.

You've got:


Diosdado Macapagal Int'l Airport at Clark Pampanga
Eva Macapagal Super Terminal at South Harbour Manila
Macapagal Boulevard from Pasay to Parañaque City

All within 10 years time. :lol:

Ano nga ba ung dating name ng DMIA?

Ano nga ba ung dating name ng DMIA?

Clark International Airport

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/images/headers/8.jpg

hanip ng banner...olympic games na...:banana:

^^ Ano nga ba ang ingles ng sagwa?

:lol:

Yeah, the feeling of disgust perhaps. hahaha.

^^ I guess that's the closest approximation. :lol:

Isn't filthy or nasty = sagwa?

Another Macapagal, is that hospital, Macapagal Memorial Center sa Manila o Caloocan.. dami ah!

Clark or Pampanga International Airport na lang sana.
Ang sarap nuon when it used to be Clark Air Base (CAB)

Para on topic, sa Manila nagaral si Gloria.. :D

Isn't filthy or nasty = sagwa?

Filthy is not nasty. It's dirty.

-----

Sana Clark Int'l Airport na lang pala. :)

Never mind the art deco building posted above, what about the garbage on the water? Is it a tradition in Metro Manila to use bodies of water as garbage dumps?

Never mind the art deco building posted above, what about the garbage on the water? Is it a tradition in Metro Manila to use bodies of water as garbage dumps?

Well, its not just MetroManila who is dumping garbage to bodies of water di ba? ;)

Waste management and heritage conservation should be of equal importance in Manila imo. :)

^^ Ano nga ba ang ingles ng sagwa?

How about sloppy, as in:

That is sloppy work.

Ang sagwa ng pagkagawa.

or

You look sloppy.

Ang sagwa ng itsura mo.

^^ But in the context it's more of being "indecent" or "unseemly" because it's offensive to good taste for a public official to be naming public infrastructure projects after members of his/her family.

I agree with Waldenstrom. Both should be taken into consideration.

Well, its not just MetroManila who is dumping garbage to bodies of water di ba? ;)

Yes, it's rampant not only in Metro Manila but in many places in the Philippines now that you've mentioned it!:)

Yes, it's rampant not only in Metro Manila but in many places in the Philippines now that you've mentioned it!:)

Pinas lang ba gumagawa nyan? ;)
What can you do to help?

España Boulevard
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/2/Lazaro00002.jpg?et=AMhDfHC5MB%2C6mgubIEU6ow&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/3/Lazaro00003.jpg?et=Pj%2Cj7b6%2B%2BIn9qBKYOSEJdg&nmid=109845202

Dapitan
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/4/Lazaro00047.jpg?et=cFAsBnwsRS1jmehClQ5KcQ&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/5/Lazaro00048.jpg?et=1qRiUN78zAsqaGZ0GHv98g&nmid=109845202

A.H.Lacson Avenue
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/7/Lazaro00067.jpg?et=ycIiGXvXtcXF%2CCCctSP7zA&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/8/Lazaro00068.jpg?et=XP0AgWbklC0SN%2CoLvyK1HQ&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/9/Lazaro00069.jpg?et=DIL%2C1gVP5ax3z98gXdRK3w&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/10/Lazaro00070.jpg?et=G3LK9%2B8%2ClihIxMkJtR%2B3kw&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/12/Lazaro00072.jpg?et=b7Qy4OOpMLHk4BscYqxByg&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/14/Lazaro00074.jpg?et=kg7lbT7oDwipmhZSuwn%2BFA&nmid=109845202

Andalusia (Quezon Boulevard Extension going Quiapo)
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/11/Lazaro00071.jpg?et=louM3xg623xdaxSHs4I8og&nmid=109845202

The flower district of Manila

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/15/Lazaro00075.jpg?et=2qSCYYXHe3ha5PgSbcdbRQ&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/20/Lazaro00080.jpg?et=D01heg%2BSWeWg%2Cd6iiS2jrA&nmid=109845202

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/21/Lazaro00081.jpg?et=qG%2CTfqdMgO61INPKWSKTqw&nmid=109845202
Calle Dimasalang

QC Border Marker at MariaClara-Blumentritt, Sampaloc
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/23/Lazaro00083.jpg?et=UeiXF1mdTeCsgezU0EU98g&nmid=109845202

Calle Don Quijote
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/28/Lazaro00106.jpg?et=%2COFD1UxCERECoi8JUvXvFg&nmid=109845202

SM City San Lazaro
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/32/Lazaro00110.jpg?et=DVqMrLQaMETP%2BUSM5TfJKg&nmid=109845202

dapitan st. now squatters-free


http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4590/dsc00614ye8.jpg
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3444/dsc00615dm2.jpg

more pics in northrail thread

^^ I'm just wondering how the wheels of steel of the trains pass by the thick mud and debris that is present in that area?

dapitan st. now squatters-free


http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4590/dsc00614ye8.jpg
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3444/dsc00615dm2.jpg

more pics in northrail thread

great! :applause:

MY Orosa Street
This street scene at MY Orosa really reminds me of another ASEAN City (well, with the jeepney removed)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/10/NLPLuneta00010.jpg?et=OAP0jNnYAo%2BsffBDRsp5rA&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/8/NLPLuneta00008.jpg?et=dYSSFmAUTduXqAC4k5ywgw&nmid=109885183

This is the part of Manila that is soooo not Tagalog as some would have believed...its so Pilipinas. Different ethno-linguistic groups converge here and different languages are heard.

In this little corner at TM Kalaw and Luneta, the seafarers or maritime workers converge in search for jobs outside the country...

Until now, I'm still wondering why the seamen always go here in this part of TM Kalaw and not anywhere else in the city.


http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/5/NLPLuneta00005.jpg?et=LLIg5gbleKUHNimf9uEecw&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/4/NLPLuneta00004.jpg?et=9ZQOY0cBaQ%2BLdrOK7%2CIrXw&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/3/NLPLuneta00003.jpg?et=pQ1Tz3Cos5bxajeGOAG1MQ&nmid=109885183

MY Orosa Street
This street scene at MY Orosa really reminds me of another ASEAN City (well, with the jeepney removed)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/10/NLPLuneta00010.jpg?et=OAP0jNnYAo%2BsffBDRsp5rA&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/8/NLPLuneta00008.jpg?et=dYSSFmAUTduXqAC4k5ywgw&nmid=109885183

Lam ko Maria Orosa ang name nito...hehehe

Lam ko Maria Orosa ang name nito...hehehe

Maria Ylagan Orosa. :D

MY Orosa Street
This street scene at MY Orosa really reminds me of another ASEAN City (well, with the jeepney removed)

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/10/NLPLuneta00010.jpg?et=OAP0jNnYAo%2BsffBDRsp5rA&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/8/NLPLuneta00008.jpg?et=dYSSFmAUTduXqAC4k5ywgw&nmid=109885183

looks like Singapore,KL,Bangkok

The National Library of the Philippines
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/220/600x600/2/NLPLuneta00002.jpg?et=r97Z4OcUwbbIodV34Eu3tw&nmid=109885183

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/220/600x600/1/NLPLuneta00001.jpg?et=VSsbQydUwOtxZ4tzG%2CwQ%2Cw&nmid=109885183

They've got a heritage elevator inside...Ride at your own risk daw. :D

naku, minsan nakakaasar jan sa seafarer's center., nakaharang sila sa sidewalk, hirap tuloy papuntang nat lib. :)

dapitan st. now squatters-free


http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/4590/dsc00614ye8.jpg
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3444/dsc00615dm2.jpg

more pics in northrail thread

omg i just passed by this area this morning.
and i can't believe it.
the demolition was such a relief.
they even demolished the concrete houses, not just the barong-barongs along the railroad itself.
great job.

Pinas lang ba gumagawa nyan? ;)
What can you do to help?


Why don't you ask youself that question since you live in the Philippines and stop relying on others.:)

Why don't you ask youself that question since you live in the Philippines and stop relying on others.:)

No, I am asking you. I'm not relying. Why should I rely? Now, how can you help? ;)

What can you do to help?
__________________

Better understand your post and the reply to your post.:lol:

What can you do to help?
__________________

Better understand your post and the reply to your post.:lol:

I know..That is why I am asking you. :lol:
What can you do to help?

Well, I can do little things like stop ranting and start acting, from myself. :lol: Sorry, quite metaphysical and idealistic, but I think its better than nothing. :D

Now that I've answered the question, what about you? ;)

Well, you need to work harder because your home turf is a mess and don't rely on others to do the job for you. Is it clear for you now?!?!?!:lol:

Well, you need to work harder because your home turf is a mess and don't rely on others to do the job for you. Is it clear for you now?!?!?!:lol:

Nah, it still doesn't answer the question that I am asking to you...

What can you do for help?
Why, who am I to rely on others? Foreign aid? Who's relying to whom? ;)

Guys, just quit it. Nothing good would result in that argument.

Another Manila harbor scene...

http://images.aireneterry.multiply.com/image/3/photos/28/1200x1200/422/DSC-0270.jpg?et=ljE%2Csr5D7vYSIh5fjBVk7g&nmid=109489385

The Manila Oceanarium viewed from the other side...

http://images.aireneterry.multiply.com/image/3/photos/28/1200x1200/424/DSC-0274.jpg?et=2FFMjItg2g3%2BPGfRc54Lcw&nmid=109489385

Guys, just quit it. Nothing good would result in that argument.

Ok madame. ;) But I'll leave the question open to all others. :)

^^forget it. Just avoid heated arguments. You said it yourself. Nothing will be gained from talking.

^^forget it. Just avoid heated arguments. You said it yourself. Nothing will be gained from talking.

Ok. No problem Madame. Its not even heated. :lol:

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/33/Lazaro00111.jpg?et=imKaRP%2C%2B7MVom%2CN55xZIqQ&nmid=109845202

View of the Manila harbor as the ferry leaves the port...

http://images.aireneterry.multiply.com/image/3/photos/28/1200x1200/426/DSC-0277.jpg?et=mqb1MY%2B4X0YjT6RB3WgDtA&nmid=109489385

guys just want to post here a video of my travel in negros oriental .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUGk3LUWPs i don't know if this is allowed... hehehe

Well, you need to work harder because your home turf is a mess and don't rely on others to do the job for you. Is it clear for you now?!?!?!:lol:
we oughta remind ourselves not to bash the pnas in here before someone start bashing you like me:)
Nah, it still doesn't answer the question that I am asking to you...

What can you do for help?
Why, who am I to rely on others? Foreign aid? Who's relying to whom? ;)
ey wheres dapitan, is that by espana?

dapitan is parallel to espana.. napapagitnaan nila UST.

we oughta remind ourselves not to bash the pnas in here before someone start bashing you like me:)

Umuwi ka na sa Pilipinas at magbakasyon ka na!! Imbes na puro dada ka dito. You will help Filipinos directly instead of you just doing all talk online.


And let me quote this one for you Tigs,
Guys, just quit it. Nothing good would result in that argument.

Welcome to SSC Philippines, Manila Thread.


http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/219/600x600/9/Lazaro00069.jpg?et=DIL%2C1gVP5ax3z98gXdRK3w&nmid=109845202

Another Manila harbor scene...

http://images.aireneterry.multiply.com/image/3/photos/28/1200x1200/422/DSC-0270.jpg?et=ljE%2Csr5D7vYSIh5fjBVk7g&nmid=109489385

Is that Ang Pangulo, the presidential yacht?

^ Mukhang yun nga. :)

love manila.

I guess by talking good about Pinas to our foreign friends can help in a way.We've had a run of bad press in years...On how? bahala na kayo:).Seriously,I hope the govt. realize that when we talk about Pinas to foreign tourists,Manila will be part of the equation.It's not QC or Makati or Fort Boni they'll be interested in,but Manila.Manila is a reflection of the Philippines.:).That's why this decaying city is still important.:)

Dapat sagipin nating ang maynila bago pa mamatay ng todo, Tignan nyo to, un manila city hall ay korteng kabaong, parang talagang hinanda para sa maynila :ohno: :nuts: :

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9250/manilahalllq5.jpg
(courtesy of Google Earth)

Isang himala nalang kung malilinis pa ang kamaynilaan. Dapat malaking tide ang gamitin sa buong metro manila para tangal ang mga mansta at ibanlaw sa downie para mabango uli :lol:!

^^ They should bury it already so we can build a new one.

^^I wonder what the Feng shui experts will say to that shape.Weird No!:lol:

Why build a new one when we can ask Norman Foster to do something similar to what he did to Reichstag :lol: Wishful thinking.........

Umuwi ka na sa Pilipinas at magbakasyon ka na!! Imbes na puro dada ka dito. You will help Filipinos directly instead of you just doing all talk online.


And let me quote this one for you Tigs,

Can you quit it. jbkayaker12 Flaming someone wouldn't help the situation either.


@ Habagat I think what you are doing, raising awareness to people really helps in making manila a city that we want it to be.

We need to lobby the city government more, but the one's who can really lobby for changes are the registered voters inside Manila itself!

Another way perhaps is to incorporate "Cultural heritage" in our classes.

Manila Bay rehab to cost P100B, SC told

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:24:00 08/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines—It will cost around P100 billion to rehabilitate the Manila Bay, according to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza.

It should start with putting up a waste water treatment facility, which the two private water distributors in Metro Manila should have long begun as part of their contract with the government, Atienza told the Supreme Court en banc Tuesday.

“It would be impossible to clean the water in the Manila Bay as long as domestic wastes flow into the canals, into the Pasig River and into Manila Bay,” he said.

Atienza and other government officials are asking the Supreme Court to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling requiring them to come up with a consolidated plan to rehabilitate Manila Bay. They are also seeking the dismissal of the original complaint that concerned citizens living near the bay filed against them more than eight years ago.

The complainants wanted the courts to require that government agencies submit a plan of action to rehabilitate Manila Bay and restore it to “SB” classification, meaning it would be fit for swimming, diving, fishing and other recreational activities.

Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Cabotaje-Tang argued that Manila Bay had not been classified yet and since it has several uses, like for navigation, it would be impossible for it to attain “SB” classification.

The hearing Tuesday lasted for five hours, with many high court justices expressing dismay over how much Manila Bay has deteriorated.

Atienza said that setting up a sewage treatment facility was part of the government contract with water distribution concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water.

One of the concessionaires has started, with only 12 percent covered so far, while the other has not started anything, he said. If this rate is sustained, Atienza said the metropolis would have its sewage treatment facility in 100 years. Atienza did not name the water companies concerned.

Speaking for the concerned citizens who had filed the original case against the government, environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. said the failure of the government to rehabilitate the bay was tantamount to “criminal negligence.”

“We have turned the Manila Bay into a toilet bowl which is not even flushed,” Oposa told the court.

He urged the Supreme Court to maintain the Court of Appeals ruling and form a committee of experts to monitor the implementation of a consolidated plan to save Manila Bay.

Oposa said the government has actually already complied with the appellate court decision that it is seeking to be reversed.

He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had come up with an “Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy” which details projects and budget to rehabilitate Manila Bay. The 108-page plan was completed in 2005, Tang’s copy of the plan showed.

With the plan already drafted, Oposa said what they want is just to make sure that it would be implemented.

The Supreme Court required the opposing parties to submit their memorandums within 30 days.


Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080813-154324/Manila-Bay-rehab-to-cost-P100B-SC-told

Is that Ang Pangulo, the presidential yacht?

sana ito nalang ang tumaob.basta nakasakay sya.:lol::lol::lol:

Dapat sagipin nating ang maynila bago pa mamatay ng todo, Tignan nyo to, un manila city hall ay korteng kabaong, parang talagang hinanda para sa maynila :ohno: :nuts: :

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9250/manilahalllq5.jpg
(courtesy of Google Earth)

:lol::rofl:

Eto na sana ang Presidential Palace natin if the budget during those times allowed it...
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h291/berniemacksouthcentral/b265.jpg

Proposed Capitol for P.I. as planned by Daniel Burnham.

Wow, Sana yan nalang ang ginawa kaysa sa malakanyang natin ngayon. D:

Oh yeah, I saw manila bay on tv kanina! Holy crap, Ano pinagagawa ni lim sa roxas! Nasa sobrang bad state sya at un basura mas lumala!

diba dapat ang malakayang dati nasa us embassay, kaso kinuha ng us yung spot kasing sobrang ganda nya "dati" hehhe

Can you quit it. jbkayaker12 Flaming someone wouldn't help the situation either.



It's a two way street you know.

It would be ideal for Manila as well as for the whole Metro to have an organized (& clearly designated parking area) parking system. Something like a parking meter or a parking post where you press the amount and parking duration time and place the ticket on your windshield or dashboard. Wherein a parking attendant, preferably someone like MMDA personnels could check the time. This will help raise money for the local government and hopefully rationalize and organize the parking system.

Given to the nature of stubborn filipinos, don't count on that kind of system exising in Manila.

They might just steal the parking meters..

Given to the nature of stubborn filipinos, don't count on that kind of system exising in Manila.

They might just steal the parking meters..

This is so sad if you think about it. From the rails of the flyovers to manholes and cables for electricity.

But theres always hope for a better disciplined, educated and civic minded society of Filipinos.

NYPD Pinoy (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008081673&type=2)
By Edmund Silvestre
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Police Officer Benjamin Salcedo Go III says he still can’t believe he’s now part of New York’s Finest, the world’s greatest police force.

“I really wanted to do this since I was a kid,” says the 23-year-old Manila-born Brooklyn resident following his July 2 graduation from the New York City Police Academy. The commencement, presided over by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, was held at the Madison Square Garden with a total of 1,013 newly-minted officers.

“I’ll do my best not to waste it...I want to make a difference in people’s lives,” Go said in an exclusive interview with STARweek.

The NYPD says it has no record of ethnic breakdown for this year’s class, although Go is among the five percent graduates of Asian descent; about 30 percent are Hispanic, 14 percent black, and 49 percent white. About 17 percent are female.

“There were only a handful of Asians in my class and I met only one other Filipino,” said the 6’1” tall Fil-Am.

At the academy located on 20th Street and Gramercy Park in Manhattan, Go and the other recruits completed six months of intensive training – both physical and psychological. There, he finished 52nd out of the 1,000-plus recruits during firearms and tactics training.

“Aside from tough physical training, we had academic discussions and we learned a lot of laws, how to communicate with people and the community, how to be more courteous to them, and there were also lots of sensitivity workshops,” he shared.

“The emphasis is on how to be more courteous and more sensitive to people’s situations,” he said. “For instance, in dealing with burglary victims, we have to ask permission from the homeowners before we get inside the house to investigate. Remember their privacy has been violated, that’s why we can start restoring their privacy and dignity by asking their permission to let us in. We also have to address people by their names to make our service more personalized. It gives people the feeling that you care and you really want to help rather than just doing your job.”

Go’s first official assignment was crowd control at the Fourth of July celebration on the northbound service road of FDR Drive on 23rd Street, where tens of thousands of people flocked to watch the spectacular Macy’s fireworks.

“The weather was bad, but the crowd cooperated and followed orders so my first day was okay,” he related. “I was nervous at first, but in a good way. I was anxious and excited. It’s like you just graduated from college and you don’t know what to find in the real world.”

Go is the eldest son of a retired Philippine police colonel, Benjamin Mance Go Jr., former chief of police in Mandaluyong City. His mother, Estrella Salcedo, is an entrepreneur based in Polangui, Albay.

Petitioned by his New York-based aunts, Go immigrated to the U.S. at age 9 while a student at Montessori de Manila in Parañaque City.

“It was Jan. 7, 1994 and it was a Friday when my plane landed at JFK Airport at 6:30 p.m.,” he vividly recalls. A year later, his younger sister, Kristina, now a working student taking nursing, followed him. They have three half-siblings on their father’s side in the Philippines.

“My aunts (Manuela and Virginia Go) practically raised me and my sister,” he said. “Even up to now, I can still count on them.”

A star football player and a promising graphic artist in high school at Half Hollow Hills in Dix Hills, Long Island, Go was constantly discouraged by his family from joining law enforcement so he set his sights on a visual arts career in advertising. He was on his third year in graphic design at a Brooklyn college when he realized what he really wanted to do with his life.

“I didn’t want to have a 9-to-5 desk job and becoming a cop has always been my passion ever since I was a kid,” he says. “One day in my dorm, I was lying down watching TV and saw images of 9/11. That’s when I felt the passion and desire to serve in the NYPD. I think my father also had a big influence on my decision because he was my role model growing up.”

For friends and family who warned him about the dangers of being a law enforcer, Go has this to say: “If it’s your time, it’s your time. I can be crossing the street and I can get hit by a bus.”

Go believes NYPD can provide him some stability especially now that he and his Korean-American girlfriend, Janie Lee, a New York business banker, are starting their own family.

“My long term goal is to move up the ranks and maybe become a captain before I retire,” he confided. “I just want to earn enough to give my family some comfort, have our own house and not to have to worry where I will get money to pay our bills.”

“The pay is not that good in the beginning, that’s why you really have to be dedicated as a rookie,” he says.

The new officers are assigned to patrol troubled precincts as part of “Operation Impact.” The program, begun by Kelly in 2003, sends first-year officers to work with veteran police in the city’s most crime-ridden areas.

Go is assigned to 71 Precinct in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

“I know you’re thinking about the Crown Heights riot (in 1991),” he says. “We’ve been thoroughly oriented about our assignments. We were told about the tensions and possible violence there and it’s our duty as officers to keep the area safe and secure.”

“I don’t think one man can bring about change in a community in one day,” he adds. “But I hope to make a difference in someone’s life, maybe help people understand that problems can be solved even without confrontations, and maybe help improve the perception or opinion of some people about NYPD.”

“When you’re a cop, you’ve got to be a well-rounded person,” he says. “You’ve got to be a psychiatrist hearing the problems of the world, a public relations specialist and at the same time a crime fighter.”

Go’s biggest fear, like any other man in uniform, is “not signing out at the end of my tour…Not going home at the end of the night,” he explains, “which means dying, basically.”

“We dealt with that fear at the academy,” he shares. “We were taught to watch our back and not to trust anyone or let anyone catch us off guard. There are people who will befriend you and the next thing you know they’re trying to hurt you.”

Becoming a cop helped Go seek spiritual guidance, something he took for granted prior to joining NYPD. Underneath his police hat are images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Michael, the patron saint of police.

“I just found myself praying more for guidance and protection,” he confides. “I’m here to protect people and I pray that God will also protect me and my colleagues.”

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Matutuwa ako kung uuwi sya ng Pinas at mag serve sya sa PNP kaysa sa NYPD. :nuts:

I don't know if this is the right thread to be posting this, but I thought someone could help. I'm looking for maps of the growth of metro manilla over time. Ideally, I am looking for maps that display the evolution of Manila to Metro Manila from 1800 to 2000. Thanks in advance for any possible leads!

Revive ko lang ha. since this is interesting :)

I went to hong kong once, I say that some parts of HK really reminds me of Manila. Heck un isang avenue nga dun reminds me of Greenbelt makati eh!...Wait, Asian city pala ang HK :lol: !

Kaso, To me, Walang kapares ang maynila and Kalakhang maynila as whole! Kahit mabaho at magulo at sobrang laki ng difference between mahirap at mayaman, atleast mas buhay tayo compared to other cities at madaming makakausap kung saan saan! :lol:

Manila is Manila, You cant really compare it to any other place in the world!

Kaso, In this shot, Manila really reminds me of L.A.:
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2827/lmanilajs7.jpg

Truth Festival today at Roxas Boulevard (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=20080821162&type=2)

Friday, August 22, 2008
Civic groups, academicians and members of the religious community are scheduled to gather at the Rajah Sulaiman Park along Roxas Boulevard in Manila this afternoon for a “Truth Festival.”

The event, which will run from 3 p.m. today until 6 a.m. tomorrow, aims to gather people searching for the truth. Organizers have invited 18 to 20 speakers to tell the truth on various issues.

“We thought it may be good to come up with a more innovative and creative way of telling the people about (the truth),” Sister Mary John Mananzan, national co-chair of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

Some of the topics that will be discussed are mining activities in Rapu-Rapu, Albay; the expanded value-added tax and smuggling in the country.

There will also be a regatta involving 200 rowers and an inter-faith ritual. – Evelyn Macairan

Back to top

Mapicturan nga divisoria bukas para ma post picture dito....pati na rin ung famous 168 mall:lol:

Divisoria TAKEN TODAY!!

Recto/Divisoria

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2788861428_7b48351443.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/2788861418_6bf536de53.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/2788861432_d02fabe01a.jpg?v=0

^^ No comparison, we don't have jeepneys here in the US. :lol:

^^ No comparison, we don't have jeepneys here in the US. :lol:


hehehe eh edit ko ung jeep para magmukhang same jokes:lol:

Taken by tyronne
06.06.2008

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2788287819_bd0c64871f_o.jpg

Woah, Parang ang linis ng lugar O_O

In terms of the layout of the city and its urban planning, Manila reminds me most of Chicago. Roxas Boulevard being Lake Shore Drive; Intramuros-Post Office-City Hall area being the Museum Campus; and Luneta Park being Grant Park. When you consider that the urban planner for Chicago, Daniel Burnham, was also the urban planner for Manila, you'll see a lot of similarities.

I agree though that Manila is Manila, no other city has the energy and dynamics of Manila. I believe that Manila can be just as beautiful and organized a city as Chicago, but still maintain its own special identity, setting itself apart from all other major cities in the world.

Sana, the people of Manila, especially its leaders, can recognize the features that make manila unique and give it the justice it deserves.

Haha, Yun manila bay ay kulay blue kaso nung palapit ng palapit sa kamaynilaan. Naging brown sya :nuts:

DA, Manila to convert public mart veggie wastes to fertilizer (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008082612&type=2)
By Marianne V. Go
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the city government of Manila are pilot-testing an ecology-friendly project that will convert vegetable wastes into organic fertilizer.

The project forms part of the DA’s Organikong Pagsasaka Program.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) Director Silvino Tejada said the DA is in talks with the city government of Manila for the pilot-testing of the project in the public markets of Quinta and Divisoria using bioreactors from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Representatives from the BSWM and other DA offices have discussed details of the project with Manila officials led by Juan Dela Cruz of the city government’s Department of Public Services.

Tejada said Manila officials have also suggested Smokey Mountain, Pier 18 under Pristine Environment Corp., Malacañang Barangay (Mal Bar) at the foot of Nagtahan Bridge, and Paco Market as other possible sites for this eco-friendly project.

Vegetable wastes from Metro Manila’s trading centers and public markets remain high at 20-30 percent of the total volume delivered or put up for sale. Tejada said it would be a lot better to put these losses into good use by converting them into raw materials for the production of organic fertilizers.

“Using vegetable wastes to produce organic fertilizers is part of the Department’s ‘Organikong Magsasaka’ program, which promotes sustainable agriculture through the use of non-chemical inputs in planting crops,” he said.

Tejada said the BSWM is eyeing other LGUs to help set up projects in their respective localities to convert vegetable wastes into organic fertilizers.

According to Tejada “there are local technologies that can be tapped to convert vegetable wastes into organic fertilizers, instead of just letting it decompose naturally to produce compost.”

DA officials point out that the use of organic fertilizers and non-chemical dependent technologies to produce farm inputs has led to better crop quality and higher yields.

Weaning farmers away from the use of chemical inputs would help slash farm production costs amid rocketing prices of petroleum-based fertilizers, the price of which have increased by about 300 percent over the last five years.

Palay farmers usually use up to 20 bags of chemical fertilizers per cropping.

A bag of chemical fertilizer now costs about P1,500 to P1,900 per bag.

Under “Organikong Pagsasaka,” DA has already introduced the Modified Rapid Composting (MRC) technology and the use of tamang abono in 16 regions, mostly among underprivileged but competitive farmer-cooperators, according to Tejada.

Harvest festivals in MRC techno-demo farms have already been held in Negros Occidental, Maguindanao, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Bukidnon, Eastern Samar amd Iloilo.

Farmers participating in the program have reported a 20 percent average increase in yields, 30 percent to 40 percent jump in profits, and a 30 percent to 50 percent reduction in expenses for farm inputs, Tejada said.

He noted that other farmers who have applied the MRC technology and used organic fertilizers also reported improvements in soil quality, and better water retention of the land, which has reduced the frequency of orrigation by as much as 50 percent.

napakaganda pala ng malakankayn palace, BAKIT KASI HINDE PWEDE PICTURAN EH,,, sino gusto sumama, stolen shots ng malakanyang...

^^ Itanong mo kay Gloria kung bakit ayaw nyang papiktyuran bahay nya, hehehe!!! :D

Well sabi nila, security daw.

Tingnan nyo nakita ko sa google earth, The Malakanyang Bermuda triangle! Dalawa pa sya! :banana:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/6291/triangleuz2.jpg

Kaya pala walang pictures ng malakanyang!

so what's with the "Bermuda Triangle"??

Yan un answer bakit walang pictures ng malakanyang dito sa SCC :D ! Yang triangle nayan ay nasa harap mismo ng malakanyang.

^^ hehehe. nice one :D

Anyway, it's interesting to note that there's an island in Pasig River (as you can see in that photo). That is Isla de Convalescencia where Hospicio de San Jose is located.

what i meant was... sa ferry, i took the ferry para makita lang yung malakanyang from the river, yung tipong nasa bente pesos, ganda nya, kunting mansions along the river, pwede na rin siguro mag river cruise... im just wondering... tuwing gabi ba, umiilaw din yung malakanyang just like the others...

ang white house, bucking ham palace... pwede picturan, malakanyang hinde. aba dapat sunugin nila lahat ng 20 pesos, takpan nila ng kurtina yung buong mansion, alisin sa google earth yung malakanyang... saksak nila yung malakanyang sa mga...

^^ Kaasar nga eh. Yun pang mga edifices of Imperial power sa mundong ito like White House, Capitol, Kremlin Walls, Buckingham, The Parliament, Saint Peters Basilica/Vatican City at kahit na mismong sa Tienanmen Square pwede magpapicture. Samantalang Malacañang, paranoid na mapasabugan ng mga so-called "tourist saboteurs." Haynaku po! Ang Malacañang Palace parang natalo pa ang Edo Castle (Japanese Imperial Palace) sa seclusion and security. :lol:

I've just read a blog about the US Embassy in Manila. The foreigner complained that he too was questioned and forced to erase his pictures of the place. Could it be that the threat is more eminent here?

Is it Malacañan or Malacañang? During my elementary days, we used to call it Malacañan Palace.

Binondo , Manila
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm209/waldenstrom/binondo.jpg
_gem_ (http://flickr.com/photos/treetop_apple_juice/)

Is it Malacañan or Malacañang? During my elementary days, we used to call it Malacañan Palace.

Yes, there was a time it was called without "g". Now, it's officially called with "g". cool shot of Binondo! I miss the place.

^ Thanks! :)

I hope there's a bigger version of this photo...
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm209/waldenstrom/manila.jpg
remzamora (http://flickr.com/photos/remzamora/)

I've just read a blog about the US Embassy in Manila. The foreigner complained that he too was questioned and forced to erase his pictures of the place. Could it be that the threat is more eminent here?

Not even Museo Pambata or City Hall officials can take photos of the US Embassy...Ano ba yan, kahit siguro camphone pwede na rin yan...

Same situation at Ayala Avenue, the LRT Purple Line and MRT...Geez, are we paranoid or do we lack the necessary security policies?

^^ Baka me hang-over pa tayo sa martial law.

Is it Malacañan or Malacañang? During my elementary days, we used to call it Malacañan Palace.

Its now called Malacañang kaso, meron sign sa may quirino highway that says Malacañan. But, After a few meters or so, merong uli na sign that now says Malacañang :lol:

It depends on which entity you are referring to. If you're talking about the building, you call it Malacañan Palace (sometimes with an additional modifier "Official residence of the President of the Philippines"), but if you're talking about the Office of the President, you should call it simply Malacañang. I think then President Cory Aquino made it that way to disassociate her administration and the image of the Palace from the extravagance of the previous one.

from wiki (which was cited from the website of Malacañang Museum): Malacañan Palace, colloquially, the Malacañang Palace [1], is the official residence of the President of the Philippines. The palace is located along the north bank of the Pasig River in Manila. It is called Palasyo ng Malakanyang in Filipino, and Malacañan Palace when referred to as the official residence of the President of the Philippines, and simply Malacañang when referred to as the office of the president, as well as in everyday parlance and in the media. The term "Malacañang" is a metonym for the Philippine President's administration, or the Executive branch.

This reminds me that Malacañang Museum's website is still down for several years now. :ohno:

‘Manila Grand Opera Hotel
signals bullish outlook’ (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0829&302008/nation01.html)


THE emergence of a first-class hotel in the heart of Manila, in Chinatown, is a sign of the bullish outlook of businessmen in the tourism industry, according to President Arroyo, as she hailed the opening of the Manila Grand Opera Hotel at the place where the “theater with a history” formerly stood.

“Being strategically located in Chinatown, the melting pot of trade and commerce in Manila, the hotel promises to showcase our tradition of hospitality to tourist and business travelers, particularly those coming from China, who are now among our top foreign visitors,” the President said in a message for the blessing and inauguration of the hotel on Saturday (August 30).

Coinciding with the opening of the hotel are the birthday and formal launching of the new biography of Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, head of the business group that owns and operates the hotel.

The new book, entitled The Continuing Saga of Success and written by Jose E. Lacaba and Eric S. Caruncho, updates an earlier biography, A Saga of Success, written by the late National Artist Nick Joaquin.

Cabangon Chua, in his own message for the occasion, said having a first-class hotel built in Manila gives him “much personal satisfaction, for I love the city of Manila, where I was born in 1934, at the Philippine General Hospital.”

The ambassador said that while the Second World War drove him and his mother to Mandaluyong, where she hailed from, he always considered himself a Manileño and “it has always been my pride and joy to create job opportunities for my fellow Manilans.”

Besides the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, the business group of Cabangon Chua also owns and operates the Citystate Tower and Cherry Blossoms Hotels in Ermita, Manila.

The President noted in her message that the eight-story hotel represents the “latest and the best we can offer not only in promoting tourism but also in fostering international goodwill, understanding and vibrant cross-cultural relations.”

Designed by One Design Consultancy Corp., headed by Rafael Tecson, its 250 guest rooms are equipped with infrared doorkeys, all-therapeutic beds, cable TV and Wi-Fi and LAN access. Among its amenities are a gym, massage spa for the health and fitness needs of visitors.

For the benefit of Chinese visitors to the country whose numbers are seen to increase, the hotel will offer authentic Chinese cuisine at a big restaurant that can seat 1,000 guests. For this, the hotel has hired the services of Lau Wai Chung, one of the most experienced chefs in the Asian hotel industry and former chief cook of Century Seafood Restaurant.

Known as Chef Achung, Lau studied in prestigious culinary schools and pursued a successful career as chef of leading hotels and restaurants in Asia, before serving more than 20 years at Century Seafood Restaurant.

The hotel’s general manager, Lawrence Li Tan, says being at the helm of the newest player in the luxury hotel market, especially one with the historic legacy of the Manila Grand Opera House that nurtured the careers of many of the country’s finest entertainers for decades, poses a challenge to provide “excellent service beyond compare.”

A tourism graduate of Centro Escolar University, Tan pursued a career in hotel management and administration in the United States, rising from the ranks to become manager of leading hotels in Arizona and Florida.

^^ Kaasar nga eh. Yun pang mga edifices of Imperial power sa mundong ito like White House, Capitol, Kremlin Walls, Buckingham, The Parliament, Saint Peters Basilica/Vatican City at kahit na mismong sa Tienanmen Square pwede magpapicture. Samantalang Malacañang, paranoid na mapasabugan ng mga so-called "tourist saboteurs." Haynaku po! Ang Malacañang Palace parang natalo pa ang Edo Castle (Japanese Imperial Palace) sa seclusion and security. :lol:

di daw tyo transparent, kya ganun.

walang bang petition na dapat pwede picturan ang malakanyang... ang hirap kasi mag spycam dun... baka mahulog camera sa bubong ng ferry... i saw in the news na yung germany's "malakanyang" opened up for visitors. the chancellor even greeted and signed autographs. pero yung heart-warming moment nyun ay, umuulan nyun. pero hawak hawak ng chancellor yung sarili nyang payong. hinawakan lang ng alalay yung payong yung pumirma sya, after that, sya muli humawak ng payong... awwww. eventhough she's the most powerful woman in the world
sana gawin nilang hotel yung el hogar,yung katabi nya, tapos yung luneta hotel...

whta's up with the manila prince hotel... abnadoned?

DENR slams cutting of trees in Intramuros (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008083075&type=2)

Sunday, August 31, 2008


The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) criticized the cutting of trees in front of the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila.

“We condemn the mindless and arrogant action of the contractor and workers of a construction company who were engaged by the officials of the Intramuros Administration for the redevelopment of the area,” DENR National Capital Region director Corazon Davis said in a statement.

She said the contractor, construction firm, and Intramuros Administration officials may be charged with violating Presidential Decree 903, which imposes penalties and prescribes imprisonment for damaging or cutting trees.

Davis said officials of the Intramuros Administration earlier sought DENR’s permission to cut 27 trees in front of the Manila Cathedral for landscaping and development.

She said the DENR acceded to the request and issued a “tree cutting and balling permit” to Intramuros Administration chief Marie Ana Harper.

Davis alleged that several conditions prescribed in the permit “were simply ignored.” She said the Intramuros Administration failed to observe an explicit prohibition on the cutting of narra trees, which must be balled and transferred to any appropriate site in Intramuros; issue public notice and notify the area’s barangay council about the tree-cutting; and inform the DENR when the cutting will be undertaken so that experts from the department can provide technical advice on the balling of the narra trees.

“Those trees were certainly part of our heritage,” Davis said. “They were mute witnesses to momentous events that transpired in the Walled City and deserve the same care… accorded to structures and artifacts in the Intramuros area.” – Perseus Echeminada

Back to top

Epal na naman ang DENR,ang dami talagang ganitong klase ng mga tao sa Pinas.Kaya di tayo umaasenso eh!:ohno:What they should be targetting is the still rampant deforrestaion of our trees in the north!:ohno:

^^ For me, I see politics. :D

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/1/Malate04.jpg?et=yojh04DGwU%2CNcupPI0ZcVQ&nmid=113261532

At grand and operatic debut,
new luxury hotel wows ‘em (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09012008/headlines02.html)

By Tet Andolong
Special to the BusinessMirror


AUGUST 30 marked a remarkable moment in Philippine history with the opening of the country’s newest luxury hotel right in the heart of Chinatown, and on the site of one of the country’s most important cultural icons from which it draws its name—the Manila Grand Opera Hotel.

Owned by visionary businessman Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, the eight-story, 250-room hotel is located at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Doroteo Jose in Santa Cruz, Manila, on the spot where the once-glorious Manila Grand Opera House showcased the nation’s arts and cultural heritage from the late 1800s to the 1940s.

The event, attended by more than 1,000 guests led by President Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, also served as a celebration of Cabangon Chua’s 74th birthday, as well as the launch of his updated biography entitled The Continuing Saga of Success, cowritten by prize-winning writers Jose “Pete” Lacaba and Eric Caruncho. The first part of the book was written by the late National Artist Nick Joaquin, who until his death had worked with Cabangon Chua’s Philippines Graphic magazine, sister publication of the BusinessMirror.

After Holy Mass officiated by several bishops and priests, led by Bishop Diosdado Talamayan of Tuguegarao, guests had a sampling of the hotel’s fine food—chef is Mr. Lau Wai Chung, formerly of Century Park Sheraton’s Century Seafood Restaurant.

After dinner, guests were treated to evocative performances by Asia’s Queen of Songs, Pilita Corrales, whose illustrious career began at the old Opera House; renowned tenor Nolyn Cabahug, who gave moving renditions of “Matjinata,” “La Donna e Mobile,” “Funiculi Funicula” and “O Sole Mio;” Immigration Commissioner Nonoy Libanan, who played “The Prayer” on his guitar; and husband-and-wife theater artists Lionel and Cynthia Guico, who sang Kalesa, “Pabo at Loro” and “Ikaw ang Mahal Ko.”

Some of the special guests, among them Senate President Manny Villar, and Sens. Loren Legarda and Aquilino Pimentel Jr., paid tribute to Cabangon Chua’s entrepreneurial spirit, his vision and his boldness to undertake business ventures even when the economy is not faring so well, thus providing jobs to more than 6,000 people. San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora expressed hope that Cabangon Chua could do for his own San Juan city what he has done to Manila—prime the local economy with a multimillion-peso venture.

The Manila Grand Opera Hotel is equipped with infrared door keys, all-therapeutic beds, cable TV, Wi-Fi and LAN access points with privileges and amenities such as buffet breakfast for two, complimentary use of the opera gym, wellness and spa discounts, discounted rates at the business center, etc.

On display in the hotel lobby’s nostalgia corner are memoirs, commemorations and news clippings about the famed and prestigious events that were held in the old Manila Opera House, including pictures of famous artists such as Dolphy, Bentot, Chiquito, Elizabeth Ramsey, German Moreno, Eddie Mesa and Gloria Romero.

Each floor of the building has a story to tell as every room has a foyer where a small gallery of old pictures of the Opera House are hung on the wall, including the inauguration of the First Philippine Assembly on October 16, 1907, which was graced by the United States Secretary of War William Howard Taft who later became US President, Rizal Day programs, grand concerts, as well as foreign artists like violin master Jascha Heifetz; guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia and Filipino talents such as the country’s first Amina soprano Mercedes Matias Santiago, Atang de la Rama, Jovita Fuentes, and comedians Tugak and Pugak; Pugo and Togo; Patsy; Lupito and Canuplin.

The gaiety and glamour of the old Opera House may have ended when it burned down on November 16, 1943, but with the opening of Manila Grand Opera Hotel, it seems that they will never be forgotten.

The hotel’s general manager, 26-year-old Lawrence Li Tan, said, “We are optimistic that the Chinese tourists who do business in the Philippines will be the majority of our foreign guests. We will have a casino on its mezzanine to be operated by Pagcor starting in November and next month, choirs and dance troupes from various universities will perform at the hotel, which is guaranteed to remind patrons of culture and history at the Manila Grand Opera House.”

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/1/Malate04.jpg?et=yojh04DGwU%2CNcupPI0ZcVQ&nmid=113261532

Rob Manila looks better than it was before. Bravo ^^

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/1/Malate04.jpg?et=yojh04DGwU%2CNcupPI0ZcVQ&nmid=113261532
^^
is this the expansion of Robinsons Manila?:)

^^ Yes. :)

:cheers2:

^^ Yup. They call it Robinsons Midtown.

Is this where Midtown Ramada used to stand?

^^ Dunno but one thing's for sure. The area that is being occupied by Robinsons Place Manila was the site of Ateneo de Manila, Manila Observatory (before these two were transferred to Loyola Heights in QC) and Assumption.

Maybe that is why in Ateneo, there is a JGSOM or John Gokongwei School of Management. A somewhat agreement between the Jesuits and the Gokongweis of Robinsons Malls.

^^ Yes. :)

:cheers2:
^^
it looks good! cool!

^^ Dunno but one thing's for sure. The area that is being occupied by Robinsons Place Manila was the site of Ateneo de Manila, Manila Observatory (before these two were transferred to Loyola Heights in QC) and Assumption.

Maybe that is why in Ateneo, there is a JGSOM or John Gokongwei School of Management. A somewhat agreement between the Jesuits and the Gokongweis of Robinsons Malls.
J.G. donated P200 million to AdMU's SOM.

^^ Dunno but one thing's for sure. The area that is being occupied by Robinsons Place Manila was the site of Ateneo de Manila, Manila Observatory (before these two were transferred to Loyola Heights in QC) and Assumption.

Maybe that is why in Ateneo, there is a JGSOM or John Gokongwei School of Management. A somewhat agreement between the Jesuits and the Gokongweis of Robinsons Malls.

They may not be related. You have facilities also in La Salle named after their benefactors such as Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall and the Ramon V. Del Rosario, Sr. Graduate School of Business.

The Manila Midtown Hotel used to stand at the corner of Adriatico and Pedro Gil Streets. Here's a photo of how it looked like...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2475832388_937bf90749_b.jpg

This photo shows the site after it was demolished...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/243/1510434121_bc0088ca98_b.jpg

Photos by jagfromspain (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7802262@N07/1510434121/sizes/l/)

So was that photo of taken at the corner of M. Adriatico and Pedro Gil Streets?

Last saturday napadaan ako sa doroteo jose... Inauguration pala ng Grand Opera Hotel... Ang dami ng building ang ginigiba, wala na din pala ung Mapua Institute dun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1185.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1316.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1183.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1173.jpg

Anyway, here are more scenes of the post-Saturday night Malate District. One Sunday in Malate

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/14/Malate17.jpg?et=t1lHOhTvvGW%2BbMWO5lFM%2Cg&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/15/Malate18.jpg?et=HXiihNq35YSM2SReYiBnBA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/17/Malate20.jpg?et=4LDgFPxU6iFuf%2Bnp7q7Azw&nmid=113261532

Remedios Circle

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/23/Malate40.jpg?et=I0Eyl1k6%2BtRELIJmcaGoaA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/24/Malate41.jpg?et=s3Xyr5%2BSIsu8DUMktsZ4Sw&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/25/Malate42.jpg?et=hTfVozj0XuMJGYjcQIdEWQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/28/Malate45.jpg?et=MgsjSyH7FvvCrQBTtQMuDQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/29/Malate46.jpg?et=SOEHFIJ6cyrCYWPe%2B2%2BdhA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/30/Malate47.jpg?et=EholYl1QcMzhA%2BwdjjbBoQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/31/Malate48.jpg?et=3yotKdxgvT7vEHR3BHr%2BlQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/32/Malate49.jpg?et=fVq5O9CTRoA7tzNz1GiKnw&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/38/Malate55.jpg?et=BQdJ1Ta65UKAnlcGgaV6Vg&nmid=113261532

Adriatico
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/39/Malate56.jpg?et=zqCn4x7%2BNAmwUdSyAhDwig&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/40/Malate57.jpg?et=Q6rA8lsdh30Bmqx%2CtjmuwA&nmid=113261532

Nakpil
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/42/Malate59.jpg?et=e7SxxIDfCOVTfvJUDH9teg&nmid=113261532

Parang ghost town pala ang Malate kapag araw. Hindi ako sanay ng dumadaan diyan ng walang party.

The Manila Midtown Hotel used to stand at the corner of Adriatico and Pedro Gil Streets.


So was that photo of taken at the corner of M. Adriatico and Pedro Gil Streets?

yes, i believe that was named after the manila midtown

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/2823076001_d0e9ddacd1.jpg?v=0

Last saturday napadaan ako sa doroteo jose... Inauguration pala ng Grand Opera Hotel... Ang dami ng building ang ginigiba, wala na din pala ung Mapua Institute dun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1185.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1316.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1183.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1173.jpg
^^
luxurious!:cheers:

nice hotel....ano yung relevance nang mga syokoy sa bangketa? entertainment...patay na hindi kakagatin ang hotel na yan.

^^:lol::lol:OO nga bkt ganun merong naextra na pic na kakaiba. hahaha. Pero maganda ang hotel tlga. :)

Anyway, here are more scenes of the post-Saturday night Malate District. One Sunday in Malate

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/14/Malate17.jpg?et=t1lHOhTvvGW%2BbMWO5lFM%2Cg&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/15/Malate18.jpg?et=HXiihNq35YSM2SReYiBnBA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/17/Malate20.jpg?et=4LDgFPxU6iFuf%2Bnp7q7Azw&nmid=113261532

Remedios Circle

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/23/Malate40.jpg?et=I0Eyl1k6%2BtRELIJmcaGoaA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/24/Malate41.jpg?et=s3Xyr5%2BSIsu8DUMktsZ4Sw&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/25/Malate42.jpg?et=hTfVozj0XuMJGYjcQIdEWQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/28/Malate45.jpg?et=MgsjSyH7FvvCrQBTtQMuDQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/29/Malate46.jpg?et=SOEHFIJ6cyrCYWPe%2B2%2BdhA&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/30/Malate47.jpg?et=EholYl1QcMzhA%2BwdjjbBoQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/31/Malate48.jpg?et=3yotKdxgvT7vEHR3BHr%2BlQ&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/3/photos/229/600x600/32/Malate49.jpg?et=fVq5O9CTRoA7tzNz1GiKnw&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/38/Malate55.jpg?et=BQdJ1Ta65UKAnlcGgaV6Vg&nmid=113261532

Adriatico
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/39/Malate56.jpg?et=zqCn4x7%2BNAmwUdSyAhDwig&nmid=113261532

http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/4/photos/229/600x600/40/Malate57.jpg?et=Q6rA8lsdh30Bmqx%2CtjmuwA&nmid=113261532

Nakpil
http://images.habagatcentral.multiply.com/image/2/photos/229/600x600/42/Malate59.jpg?et=e7SxxIDfCOVTfvJUDH9teg&nmid=113261532


maganda sana ang Malate kung malinis at maayos mga sidewalk at walang mga homeless family na nakatira sa mga bangketa. ano kaya reason bakit hindi ito maayos at mapaganda.

^^ Malate has it shares of being Manila's Bel-Air and Forbes Park back then. Malate spelled elegance and opulence with its mansions.

I dunno why Malate wasn't taken care of despite it as a designated "tourist belt" of Manila. Anyway, A.Vasquez Street is one of the last pockets of Malate in its pre-War state.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1173.jpg


Ay ano itoh! :lol:

----

Thanks for the pics!

DENR slams cutting of trees in Intramuros (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008083075&type=2)

Sunday, August 31, 2008


The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) criticized the cutting of trees in front of the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila.

“We condemn the mindless and arrogant action of the contractor and workers of a construction company who were engaged by the officials of the Intramuros Administration for the redevelopment of the area,” DENR National Capital Region director Corazon Davis said in a statement.

She said the contractor, construction firm, and Intramuros Administration officials may be charged with violating Presidential Decree 903, which imposes penalties and prescribes imprisonment for damaging or cutting trees.

Davis said officials of the Intramuros Administration earlier sought DENR’s permission to cut 27 trees in front of the Manila Cathedral for landscaping and development.

She said the DENR acceded to the request and issued a “tree cutting and balling permit” to Intramuros Administration chief Marie Ana Harper.

Davis alleged that several conditions prescribed in the permit “were simply ignored.” She said the Intramuros Administration failed to observe an explicit prohibition on the cutting of narra trees, which must be balled and transferred to any appropriate site in Intramuros; issue public notice and notify the area’s barangay council about the tree-cutting; and inform the DENR when the cutting will be undertaken so that experts from the department can provide technical advice on the balling of the narra trees.

“Those trees were certainly part of our heritage,” Davis said. “They were mute witnesses to momentous events that transpired in the Walled City and deserve the same care… accorded to structures and artifacts in the Intramuros area.” – Perseus Echeminada

Back to top

IA chief sorry over trees, but blames aides (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09042008/headlines010.html)


INTRAMUROS Administrator Anna Maria Harper apologized to the country on Wednesday in a statement where she said in part, “We owe the Filipino people, who own Intramuros, a deep apology, which we do extend most sincerely for this unfortunate incident.”

She was referring to the cutting down of 29 decades-old trees in Plaza Intramuros in front of the Manila Cathedral by personnel of the Intramuros Administration (IA).

She said she was out of the country when it happened and even so had not directly ordered their cutting. “I was shocked and horrified when I saw the stumps of the trees. I rely on my reputation established as a heritage conservator and preserver of trees—the Arroceros Forest Park and the former Mehan Garden and of historic structures like the Jai-Alai—to support my credibility in this instance.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had authorized an IA application to do something about the trees, but the DENR’s official permission did not include cutting down the trees, which is a violation of Section 3 of Presidential Decree 953. The understanding was that the trees would be balled and moved elsewhere. DENR officials have told Harper to explain.

On Wednesday, the DENR’s executive director for the National Capital Region Cora Davis said despite the apology, they would still hold Harper liable, and twitted her for seeking to inject politics into the matter, referring to Harper’s published remark that DENR chief Lito Atienza was simply getting back at her—because Atienza had wanted jurisdiction over the IA, which has its own charter, when he was still serving as mayor of Manila.

The DENR said the staff of the IA had no excuse for what they did because, since the permit was applied for, the DENR had supported Harper and even taught the IA people the proper way to ball and transfer the trees without damaging them.

Harper said her counsel told her that those actually liable do not include her but those who actually ordered and did the cutting of the trees. “I, as head of Intramuros Administration, did not authorize the cutting or damaging of the trees in question.”

“Having said all of the above, we would like to inform the public that we had intended and intend, with the help of donations from tree lovers, to plant over 200 flame trees [flowering caballero trees] in Intramuros for the enjoyment of the Filipino people this month of September,” she said.

Davis said Harper’s initial efforts to escape responsibility by laying the blame on a subordinate who had “mistakenly” ordered the contractor to move the trees elsewhere is untenable. “We were never remiss in our efforts to assist the IA in its purpose of moving the trees so that parkgoers can get a better view of the cathedral. From the time that Ms. Harper’s office requested DENR approval last May 22, our office had not failed to show her people how 10 of the trees which are considered premium should be balled to preserve their roots. Instead, the trees were ruthlessly cut down in violation of four of 10 rules set in their permit.’’ In addition, Davis said, Harper’s people cut 29 and not just the 27 trees covered by the permit. They also failed to coordinate with the local barangay office as required in the permit.

DENR team leader Rolando Laroya said initial investigation showed that the contractor is based in Batangas City and that they are also looking into the possibility that the chain saw used in cutting the trees is not registered.

Republic Act 9172, known as the Chain-saw Act, requires chain-saw owners to register their equipment with the DENR.

Catholic Church leaders, meanwhile, expressed their disappointment with the IA for cutting the trees in a park in front of the Manila Cathedral.

“That’s really embarrassing, they [Intramuros Administration] should have been a little more cautious. Whatever their plan is, there must be a replacement of trees,” said Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

“I was shocked when I found out that the trees were cut, because we were discussing that before, and they [IA] told me that they have a project to launch Intramuros as a tourist destination and they would like to improve the Plaza Roma,” Msgr. Nestor Cerbo, rector of Manila Cathedral, explained.

He then also suggested to the IA to transfer the trees from other location in order to see the façade of Manila Cathedral.

“The administration told me that they were also planning to transfer the trees to Maestranza and I agree with that idea,” Cerbo added. (J. Mayuga, S. Fabunan)

but of course.. why blame yourself when there's others to blame.

This is ironic in a sense that we probably all know what former Mayor Atienza did to the Arroceros forest park (his being a secretary of DENR is an irony in itself) and what Ms. Harper's advocacies are. So I guess, Ms. Harper is being painted in a bad light but fortunately she is humble enough to apologize. Instead of other officials who loves to point their fingers on other people or pass the blame and not only refuse to take any sort of blame, but also refuses to resign.

Yup yup, the scent of politics is obvious with what happened in Intramuros' Plaza Roma.

IA chief sorry over trees, but blames aides (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09042008/headlines010.html)

She was referring to the cutting down of 29 decades-old trees in Plaza Intramuros in front of the Manila Cathedral by personnel of the Intramuros Administration (IA).



^^ Does anyone have any photos of the new "treeless" plaza?

Initially when I read the article I thought the trees were 290 years old (29 decades) :lol: ! Apparently 29 trees were cut down - still a lot of trees :ohno:!

Last saturday napadaan ako sa doroteo jose... Inauguration pala ng Grand Opera Hotel... Ang dami ng building ang ginigiba, wala na din pala ung Mapua Institute dun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1185.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1316.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1183.jpg



Manila Grand Opera Hotel looks good and elegant. Is it near LRT D. Jose station? I can't imagine the exact location. It has been years na di ako napadaan sa area.

IA chief sorry over trees, but blames aides (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/09042008/headlines010.html)


INTRAMUROS Administrator Anna Maria Harper apologized to the country on Wednesday in a statement where she said in part, “We owe the Filipino people, who own Intramuros, a deep apology, which we do extend most sincerely for this unfortunate incident.”

She was referring to the cutting down of 29 decades-old trees in Plaza Intramuros in front of the Manila Cathedral by personnel of the Intramuros Administration (IA).

She said she was out of the country when it happened and even so had not directly ordered their cutting. “I was shocked and horrified when I saw the stumps of the trees. I rely on my reputation established as a heritage conservator and preserver of trees—the Arroceros Forest Park and the former Mehan Garden and of historic structures like the Jai-Alai—to support my credibility in this instance.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had authorized an IA application to do something about the trees, but the DENR’s official permission did not include cutting down the trees, which is a violation of Section 3 of Presidential Decree 953. The understanding was that the trees would be balled and moved elsewhere. DENR officials have told Harper to explain.

On Wednesday, the DENR’s executive director for the National Capital Region Cora Davis said despite the apology, they would still hold Harper liable, and twitted her for seeking to inject politics into the matter, referring to Harper’s published remark that DENR chief Lito Atienza was simply getting back at her—because Atienza had wanted jurisdiction over the IA, which has its own charter, when he was still serving as mayor of Manila.

The DENR said the staff of the IA had no excuse for what they did because, since the permit was applied for, the DENR had supported Harper and even taught the IA people the proper way to ball and transfer the trees without damaging them.

Harper said her counsel told her that those actually liable do not include her but those who actually ordered and did the cutting of the trees. “I, as head of Intramuros Administration, did not authorize the cutting or damaging of the trees in question.”

“Having said all of the above, we would like to inform the public that we had intended and intend, with the help of donations from tree lovers, to plant over 200 flame trees [flowering caballero trees] in Intramuros for the enjoyment of the Filipino people this month of September,” she said.

Davis said Harper’s initial efforts to escape responsibility by laying the blame on a subordinate who had “mistakenly” ordered the contractor to move the trees elsewhere is untenable. “We were never remiss in our efforts to assist the IA in its purpose of moving the trees so that parkgoers can get a better view of the cathedral. From the time that Ms. Harper’s office requested DENR approval last May 22, our office had not failed to show her people how 10 of the trees which are considered premium should be balled to preserve their roots. Instead, the trees were ruthlessly cut down in violation of four of 10 rules set in their permit.’’ In addition, Davis said, Harper’s people cut 29 and not just the 27 trees covered by the permit. They also failed to coordinate with the local barangay office as required in the permit.

DENR team leader Rolando Laroya said initial investigation showed that the contractor is based in Batangas City and that they are also looking into the possibility that the chain saw used in cutting the trees is not registered.

Republic Act 9172, known as the Chain-saw Act, requires chain-saw owners to register their equipment with the DENR.

Catholic Church leaders, meanwhile, expressed their disappointment with the IA for cutting the trees in a park in front of the Manila Cathedral.

“That’s really embarrassing, they [Intramuros Administration] should have been a little more cautious. Whatever their plan is, there must be a replacement of trees,” said Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

“I was shocked when I found out that the trees were cut, because we were discussing that before, and they [IA] told me that they have a project to launch Intramuros as a tourist destination and they would like to improve the Plaza Roma,” Msgr. Nestor Cerbo, rector of Manila Cathedral, explained.

He then also suggested to the IA to transfer the trees from other location in order to see the façade of Manila Cathedral.

“The administration told me that they were also planning to transfer the trees to Maestranza and I agree with that idea,” Cerbo added. (J. Mayuga, S. Fabunan)


Hahaha and this Bambi Harper is supposed to lead, change and improve Intramuros. Tanga!! Hahaha, only a few trees were left in that Plaza Roma and she made the biggest mistake of her career by neglecting those trees. Tanga talaga! Hahaha!

Welcome to the Philippines. :D Where politics itself is the best telenovela na tatalo pa sa Kapamilya't Kapuso shows. :lol: :lol:

But weird. Why such irony? From the one who is supposed to be a heritage and environment advocate, why cut trees? Why now? I know that Atienza and some heritage advocates are not in good terms.... Hmmm....the politics of advocacy and adversary...

It is so easy to deflect the issues and blame others but the sad fact remain, those mature trees are gone.

I've got news for them, if they want Plaza Roma to look like the treeless plazas in Europe, they better think twice. Manila has a hot, humid tropical climate and mature trees give plazas shade from the intense tropical heat making it a pleasant area to hang around whereas in Europe it has a generally mild weather even in the summer months.

Even if they start planting trees to replace the ones that were cut down it still doesnt change the sad fact about what transpired recently.

....just want to add, the same fate also happened at Remedios Circle, trees are gone and now it is just one round treeless rotunda. Looks like chopping trees is a common trend in Manila.

The liability lies in both the DENR for giving authorization on whatever was done on the trees and the Intramuros Administration. Who is that subordinate who allegedly ordered the cutting of the trees based on a permit issued by the DENR?

No amount of apology or finger-pointing will bring back those 29 decades old trees.

Even if they replant, it will take years and years to grow such foliage.

This fiasco is so deplorable. :ohno:

This is so sad. One of the saddest stories of the year for me so far and I've heard a lot. :ohno:

Yeah, Remedios Circle is such a hot park! I've envisioned "green areas" as breathing areas of already cramped Manila which they clearly lack.

Regarding the Plaza Roma fiasco, the damage has been done, no thanks to too much politics involved in it.

trees are the only thing that pinoys have no value for..thats why newly planted trees along edsa are never stolen..everything else is.....the protective mesh, metal railings along the road, street bulbs etc..but never trees.

... they just get cut down. The stupidity and recklessness of these people astounds me.

Lim orders probe on tree-cutting

It’s command responsibility, says DENR (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=158749)

By Allison Lopez, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:12am (Mla time) 09/05/2008


MANILA, Philippines – Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim ordered the City Hall police detachment to conduct an independent investigation of the controversial tree-cutting incident at Plaza Roma in Intramuros.

Sr. Insp. Marcelo Reyes, chief of the investigation and follow-up branch of the District Special Project Unit, said that although the city government recognized that Intramuros was a separate entity, the mayor was concerned about the unnecessary felling of trees, including narra and mahogany, on Aug. 25 by the Intramuros Administration.

The IA, created by Presidential Decree 1616, has jurisdiction over the historic area, also referred to as Walled City.

“Since Intramuros is within the territorial jurisdiction of Manila, the mayor believes we should know something about it. We are still in the process of collating evidence such as the bidding contract and the rehabilitation plan. I have talked to the wife of contractor Fernando Simborio who said they really intended to ball the trees,” Reyes told the Inquirer.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said earlier it could file charges against Intramuros administrator Anna Maria “Bambi” Harper for violating the permit they gave. In a statement, the DENR said it had issued a notice of violation and gave Harper seven days to explain why no charges should be filed against her.

If found guilty, Harper could face a two-year imprisonment term or a P5,000 fine, or both, said Corazon Davis, executive director of the DENR in Metro Manila.

The DENR is also looking into the liability of the contractor hired by the IA, and owner of the chainsaw used to cut the trees.

Harper blamed the contractor – Green Philippine Nursery Plant – and said she did not order them to do work beyond what the permit stated. The IA got a permit in May to cut certain trees in the plaza fronting the Manila Cathedral for a landscaping project.

Eight narra and two mahogany trees were recommended for balling while 17 trees consisting of nine neem trees, six mango trees, one jackfruit tree, and one atis tree were recommended for cutting by the DENR. The department alleged 29 trees were cut.

Reyes, however, said his visual inspection showed only 17, not 29, trees were cut. He added that based on the results of the probe, the city government might file appropriate charges.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza advised Harper Thursday to hire the best lawyer to defend herself.

Atienza said Harper would be held liable under the principle of command responsibility.

He said, “She (Harper) should tell the truth. Unless she can extricate herself from command responsibility somebody has to answer for those illegally cut trees or massacred trees.”

Harper, a staunch environmentalist, has apologized for the cutting of the trees.

Presidential Decree 953 penalizes the unauthorized cutting, destruction, damaging and injuring of certain trees, plants and vegetation.

Atienza shrugged off Harper’s claim that the filing of charges against her was “politically motivated” since she opposed Atienza’s order when he was then Manila mayor to cut down trees in Arroceros Park and Mehan Garden.

Summer is a hot season so it's only right that people see more green than flaming reds and oranges. Green will have a good psychological cool down effect against the hot weather. Flaming warm colors are more appropriate during cool seasons from November to February but those months are not flowering season for the flame tree.
In the States, the flaming colors of maple tree leaves are very appropriate during the AUTUMN when the weather is cool as it psychologically warms up the spirit.

Cherry blossoms bloom during Springtime when the weather is cool and the color varies from white to pink which give a subtle effect to the eye.

The trees in tropical places and the northern hemisphere should not be compared, it's like comparing apple to coconuts (not orange). If people want nice flowering trees in the Philippines during summers, then white, pinkish, & yellowish kalachuchi or yellow bell trees will be more appropriate.

Therefore Bamby Harper and company should replace the trees that were cut off with alternate Greens and Flame trees.

I think the preference for the flame trees is historical in nature. For there are accounts that Manila during the colonial period where planted with flame trees. Most specially areas along the roadside.

Manila mayor absolves IA head (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20080906-158976/Manila-mayor-absolves-IA-head)

But contractor faces charges for tree-cutting
By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:44:00 09/06/2008

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila City government Friday found Intramuros Administration chief Anna Maria “Bambi” Harper not liable for the cutting of several trees at Plaza Roma.

However, the city said it would press charges against the contractor.

Sr. Insp. Marcelo Reyes, of the District Special Project Unit, said the contractor, Fernando Simborio of Green Philippine Nursery Plant, would be charged on Monday with five counts of violation of Presidential Decree 953, specifically Sec. 3 that states: “Any person who cuts, destroys, damages or injures naturally growing or planted trees of any kind shall be punished with imprisonment of no less than six months and not more than two years, or a fine of not less than P500 and not more than P5,000, or with both such imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court.”

The contractor will also be charged with 29 counts of violation of RA 9172 (Chainsaw Act) for using a chainsaw without a permit to cut the trees.

Mayor Alfredo Lim said the independent probe conducted by City Hall police found no evidence that Harper ordered Simborio to go beyond the limits set by a permit issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Lim said he saw no wrongdoing on Harper’s part. “She’s an advocate of environmental issues. We have to give her the benefit of the doubt knowing her background.”

The mayor said Harper, former president of the Heritage Conservation Society, sought a DENR clearance before starting the project.

“She went out of her way to get the clearance from DENR. She trusted the contractor but, without her knowledge and consent, the trees were cut,” Lim added.

The mayor said the plaza fronting Manila Cathedral was “city-owned” giving authorities the right to investigate the incident.

Reyes found that Simborio’s company was awarded the contract in May for the P400,000 landscaping project.

Harper first sought a permit from DENR NCR Regional Executive Director Corazon Davis for permission “to cut some of the trees at Plaza Roma (fronting Manila Cathedral), Intramuros, Manila, and ball out/transfer other trees to various plazas/areas in Intramuros.” She assured the DENR that these would be replaced with “historically appropriate trees.”

The DENR had recommended the balling of eight narra and two mahogany trees and the cutting of 17 trees consisting of nine neem, six mangos, one jackfruit and one atis.

On Aug. 25, however, the contractor cut 29 trees. Reyes’ report said two narra trees and one mahogany tree were cut apart from two trees (Indian and fire) not covered by the permit.

The report said Green Plant “lacked expertise,” recklessly cutting the trunks with a chainsaw.

Reyes said Simborio’s wife Ligaya told him they intended to ball the narra and mahogany trees, but DENR director Ali Barry of Urban Forest Services said the “balling was inappropriately done since only the top part of the trees should have been cut, trimmed and sliced and not the trunk.”

It was also found that the operation was done on a holiday “without notice” to the IA or DENR so there was no supervision by the government agencies.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/2832879478_bf01f58e49.jpg?v=0
Manila Cathedral, Intramuros, Manila

and

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2832040139_f4cc1a89b3.jpg?v=0
Plaza Roma, Intramuros, Manila
(before the Manila Political Chainsaw Massacre) :D

Reliving the Walled City’s history (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=20080905122&type=2)
ROSES & THORNS By Alejandro R. Roces
Saturday, September 6, 2008


Cities are centers of population, commerce and culture; they characterize the way of living of a society. In the Philippines, the Walled City of Intramuros has been the center of Spanish colonial rule of hundreds of years. It was the original capital city. This was where commerce, education, government and religion were centered. Inside Intramuros were Roman Catholic churches, like the Manila Cathedral and the San Agustin Church; convents and church-run schools like the Universidad de Santo Tomas, the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. It was also the center of intensive and extensive trading during the days of the Parian. Here, Chinese traders aboard junks (boats) unloaded different commodities.

The coming of World War II, however, brought about much destruction and because of this, the grandeur and glory of Intramuros was lost. As time passed, the Walled City eventually fell into neglect. There have already been several efforts to preserve and restore it in the past. In 1966, the Intramuros Restoration Committee (IRC), in which I served as Chairman, was created under the guidance of the National Historical Institute. Our group was initially tasked to restore the city. With limited government funds and donations, we managed to restore portions of the walls and fortifications, including six of the gates. We focused on strengthening the walls lest they collapsed due to many years of deterioration.

Presently, the Intramuros Administration (IA), the successor of the IRC, is embarking on renewed efforts to restore the grandeur of Intramuros. They will soon be launching a series of projects geared towards reliving the Walled City. The wall in the northern part, where the Baluarte de Herrerias and Puerta de Almacenes are located, will be reconstructed. Hundreds of flame trees will also be planted throughout the area. But the problem is most of Intramuros has no sidewalks; hence, there is limited space to plant more trees. I also would like to see the restoration of the cobblestoned streets. Beyond the aesthetic makeover, however, the IA must also think of ways on how to protect the city from environmental hazards and too much commercialization. The planting of flame trees, for instance, will certainly help in reducing air pollution around the metropolis.

Ideally, it would be nice to rebuild everything to the way it looked during the Spanish era so that people can have a grasp of what it must have been like in that period. The challenge is how to maintain harmony between the past and the present in the face of rapid urbanization. Although it is important for us to keep pace with developments of the present and the future, it is also imperative for us to keep in touch with our heritage from the past.

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trees are the only thing that pinoys have no value for..thats why newly planted trees along edsa are never stolen..everything else is.....the protective mesh, metal railings along the road, street bulbs etc..but never trees.

mahirap nakawin mga puno. saka possible din kasi na mamatay kapag tinaggal mo at mali pagbunot mo

mahirap nakawin mga puno. saka possible din kasi na mamatay kapag tinaggal mo at mali pagbunot mo

Kasi baka patayin o magagalit sa kanila ang mga ispiritu ng mga puno. Mga nuno't diwata. Actualy, ang pinaka-mainap na puno siguro na itanim sa EDSA or sa Manila ay ang balete...No one dares to touch that tree. :D

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/2833381566_bd3362037f.jpg

OO nga no! Simulan na ang pagtanim ng mga balete sa EDSA ! :lol:

Last saturday napadaan ako sa doroteo jose... Inauguration pala ng Grand Opera Hotel... Ang dami ng building ang ginigiba, wala na din pala ung Mapua Institute dun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1185.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1316.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/oreo1684/PICT1183.jpg

The renderring of this building doesn't look that good but based upon these photos, it actually does look good. Nice! :cheers:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/2823076001_d0e9ddacd1.jpg?v=0

Beautiful church!

Unfortunately for those who think she has done nothing wrong it shows the politics of the Philippines. Bambi Harper being the head of Intramuros Administration should have been present on site or at least she should have had a representative on site the day of the incident to make sure everything goes as planned because we all know, even the best laid plans with the best intentions, still something could go wrong. Murphy's Law. What happened at Plaza Roma is a good example.

----

Let me just make a comment on my post, hehehe. Obviously Bambi Harper does not know that even with the best laid plans, still something could go wrong. She made a bad judgement on her part for not being on site during the project involving these mature trees which has been a part of Intramuros perhaps longer than her life time.

Kasi baka patayin o magagalit sa kanila ang mga ispiritu ng mga puno. Mga nuno't diwata. Actualy, ang pinaka-mainap na puno siguro na itanim sa EDSA or sa Manila ay ang balete...No one dares to touch that tree. :D

But the way a balete grows wouldn't be fitting for sidewalks.

Intramuros head not yet off hook – environment chief

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:49:00 09/06/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- Environment Secretary Lito Atienza on Saturday pooh-poohed Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim's pronouncement clearing the head of the Intramuros Administration of any liability in the cutting of trees in Plaza Roma fronting the Manila Cathedral.

"How can he clear anyone when the case is still being investigated by the proper department, which is the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources)?" Atienza said in a phone interview.

Atienza, a political rival of Lim in Manila, said the mayor's pronouncement would not influence the outcome of the DENR's investigation of the cutting of 29 trees in Plaza Roma.

"The precipitate, hurried opinion does not change the course of our investigation, and the case, if warranted, would be lodged with the green courts that are in place to handle environmental laws," he said.

Lim, citing the city government's investigation, had said there was no evidence that Intramuros Administrator Anna Maria "Bambi" Harper ordered the contractor to go beyond the limits set by a DENR permit for the tree-cutting.

The city government, however, said the contractor, Fernando Simborio of Green Philippine Nursery Plants, would be charged with violations of Presidential Decree 953, which penalizes a person who cuts, damages, or injures a tree.

The DENR has asked Harper to explain the tree-cutting and threatened to file similar charges against her under the principle of command responsibility.



Harper could face a two-year jail term or pay a fine of P5,000 or both under Section 3 of PD 953.

Harper, according to the DENR, was given a permit to cut 27 trees but ended up cutting 29. The DENR has issued Harper a notice of violations of four of 10 rules set in the permit, including failure to coordinate with barangay (village) officials.

Harper had denied issuing orders for the tree-cutting.

"This case rightfully belongs to the green court, and should be prosecuted by the green tanodbayan since Harper is a government official,'' Atienza said.

He added: “The law should apply to all, as generally bandied in Manila. As they say, ‘Otherwise, none at all.’”

Meanwhile, Joey Papa, president of Bangon Kalikasan, twitted Atienza for his double standard on environmental protection.

While he has questioned the cutting of trees in the Manila plaza, Atienza has not stopped moves to cut trees along McArthur Highway in Bulacan and Mt. Kanlaon National Park in Negros Occidental, he said.

Atienza even failed to stop the Quezon City government from destroying trees in front of the DENR building to give way to a brick sidewalk, he added.

“Stop cutting all remaining trees. Our forest cover is down to 15 percent and global warming is intensifying,'' Papa said.
With a report by Tina G. Santos.


Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080906-159101/Intramuros-head-not-yet-off-hook--environment-chief

Kasi baka patayin o magagalit sa kanila ang mga ispiritu ng mga puno. Mga nuno't diwata. Actualy, ang pinaka-mainap na puno siguro na itanim sa EDSA or sa Manila ay ang balete...No one dares to touch that tree. :D


Not in my school! Only the stump remains after my alma mater cut in down in 2007. :colgate:

I used to see the tree way back in the early 80's during my kinder days. :D
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h141/oboi_1/rotunda02.jpg

This is in CPU>>

The Mark of Sakay: The vilified hero of our war with America (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008090723&type=2)
By Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
Monday, September 8, 2008

The mark of Macario Leon Sakay was the long, jet-black luxu-riant hair that, uncut and un-trammeled, cascaded from the top of a head, always held high and audaciously, down to his shoulders. With it, Sakay left a large imprint on the annals of the Philippine Revolution against Spain of 1896 and the Filipino-American War of 1899, for the sight of him on his horse, riding against the wind, at dawn or the dead of night, his black mane streaming behind him in order to set right some urgent wrong, alarmed his people’s enemies but gave instant hope to their hapless cause.


http://www.philstar.com/newphilstar/www/image/20080908/arts1.jpg

He had begun life as a fatherless boy (Sakay was his mother’s surname) in congested, urban-poor, Tondo on Tabora St., earning a living doing odd jobs as a blacksmith or as occasional tailor, also as an actor in street theater and comedias, but mostly as a barber. When he made his commitment to Philippine Independence by joining his friend, Andres Bonifacio’s Katipunan, he made hair the symbol of resistance and vowed he would cut his only after he had defeated the Americans.

During his brief lifetime, Sakay became the scourge of all his country’s oppressors — the Spaniards, the Americans, the misguided half-bloods and compatriots — trying in every way he knew to secure freedom from injustice for his people. He was more determined than Rizal, more fortunate than Bonifacio, purer than Aguinaldo, more lyrically mysterious than Mabini. If Filipinos had won the war with America, he would probably have been our Simon Bolívar or our Ho Chi Minh.

Instead, because most history is written by the victors and their partisans and in the American years, Filipino schoolbooks and acceptable public opinion followed the black propaganda of the American annexation and “pacification,” several generations of Filipinos lived and died, believing that Sakay was a criminal with lunatic pretensions, a brigand and a ludicrous bandit. In the late 1930s Lamberto Avellana, my brother Leoni’s chum from the American Jesuit Ateneo, movie director and National-Artist-to-be, made a film about Sakay where he was portrayed as the villainous bandit, with the Philippine Constabulary officer playing hero and leading man (Leopoldo Salcedo.)

What a little research can undo. After Independence, scholars intent on writing history from a Filipino viewpoint began to review the colonial versions and examine old records. They came to the conclusion that Sakay was an authentic hero in the best tradition of Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and Apolonio Samson who were his comrades-in-arms in the Katipunan. Far from being a bandit, he was a glorious die-hard, incredibly brave and tenacious, a heroic hold-out for Philippine Independence.

In 1952, Antonio K. Abad, a member of the Philippine Historical Society, published the definitive biography, General Macario L. Sakay: — the only President of the Tagalog Republic. Was He a Bandit or a Patriot? The foreword by Prof. Teodoro A. Agoncillo, read, “No Filipino has been so maligned in history as General Macario Sakay…Sakay and his men lived dangerously and thus invited the hatred of the early Americans who started a double-barreled campaign of imperialism and liquidation. The Americans called them bandits and outlaws… Mr. Antonio K. Abad has recreated the hero out of a mass of documents…His work is a vindication of the much maligned man who dared posterity to emulate his deep devotion to the ideals of independence.”

UP Prof. Renato Constantino also published his findings in the 1960s, demolishing the American colonial libel about Sakay. But colonial propaganda and its lies have a long shelf-life. Only last week I was painfully surprised when a couple of my Manileño friends, in reply to my remark that I was writing about Sakay, replied dismissively, “Oh, that bandit.”

After a hundred years, we still need the backstory of the Revolution against Spain in 1896 and our war with America in 1899 to understand Sakay and his generation.

The day Rizal was exiled to Dapitan, in July 1892, a group of middle-class Manileños met at a private residence on Azcarraga (now Recto) and founded the Katipunan (Ang Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangan Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan), the secret society that planned and initiated the armed struggle against Spain. In four years, the K.K.K.’s membership rose to almost 30,000: students, workers, merchants, farmers from the eight provinces that started the Revolution. Sakay was an early joiner.

After that disastrous first battle in San Juan in August, 1896, Sakay joined the forces that encamped in the hills of Marikina and Montalban and fought in the Katipunan battles, including the victory at San Mateo. After several reverses, the Manila Katipuneros retreated to Cavite where a new general, Emilio Aguinaldo, turned the tide, defeated Bonifacio in a power struggle (Aguinaldo’s Caviteño Magdalo vs. Bonifacio’s Manileño Magdiwang) and went on to win many encounters. The Spanish government called a truce and negotiated the Pact of Biyak-na-Bato.

The heads of the Revolutionary Army retreated to Hongkong, from where they spent the Spanish indemnity money on arms, befriended the US Consuls in Hong Kong and Singapore and resumed the Revolution in 1898 at the height of the Spanish-American War, assuming that the Americans were their allies and protectors. Aguinaldo proclaimed Philippine Independence in Cavite in June, 1898, with the revolutionary forces 80,000 strong, laid successful siege to Spanish Manila, proceeded to liberate Luzon and expected to enter the beleaguered capital and install a Philippine Independent Republic.

But the US had an altogether different agenda. It kept the Filipino forces from entering the city, signed a treaty of surrender with Spain and American troops entered Manila all by themselves, proclaiming the start of the US Occupation, on Aug. 13, 1898.

Dewey had destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, and land troops, newly arrived under Gen. Wesley Merritt, took possession. They had to wait, however, for the Treaty of Paris in which Spain ceded a colony it no longer held to the US for $20 million, and started in February 1899, a first military encounter with Filipino troops holding the trenches around Sta. Mesa. The Filipino-American War was formally settled in 1902, after the capture of Aguinaldo in his mountain hideout in Palanan, Isabela, in 1901. But Filipino guerrilla action against the US forces did not end until 1907 when the first Filipino parliament was allowed by the US America spent $300 million more pacifying the Filipinos they thought they had bought at the bargain-basement price of $20 million.

Having survived the Revolution against Spain, Sakay was, at the beginning of the Philippine resistance to the US, an undercover man in Manila where he tried to reactivate the Katipunan, organizing commandos and intelligence and sabotage units. While head of the Dapitan section of the K.K.K., Magdiwang in Manila, Sakay was arrested and jailed by US authorities and released under the general amnesty of July 1902. He quickly took to the hills and organized huge guerrilla forces which operated in Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and the foothills of Mt. Banahaw. No ragtag band, just one of Sakay’s commanders had 4,000 troops.

In his mountain lair, he proclaimed, on May 6, 1902 the establishment of the Kapuluang Katagalugan (The Tagalog Archipelago) with himself as president, Francisco Carreon as vice-president and Lt. Gen. Julian Montalan as chief of staff. The terms “Tagalog Archipelago” were chosen in contrast to the “Philippine Republic” of the rival Aguinaldo Magdalo.

In a second manifesto, a constitution was enacted and published in Tagalog and Spanish in newspapers edited by Lope K. Santos, proclaiming the Tagalog Archipelago as the “true revolutionists, with a government at Dimas-Alang,” beseeching the representatives of other nations “for help in acquainting the world with our true intent and aims for our unfortunate country.” Sakay’s government had a flag, a system of taxation, a disciplined army consisting of regular battalions and regiments of infantry, artillery, engineer and medical corps with separate commands in full uniform. It operated in total defiance of the hugely superior, first modern foreign army, infuriating and mocking US authorities in Manila. It was a hard state with strict laws impersonally and impartially executed, especially capital punishment and physical maiming imposed on informers, collaborators, and spies of the US government. It took the Americans 3,000 troops and two more years to think they had defeated Sakay. Although, “pacification” had formally ended, there was no let-up in the attacks of Sakay’s forces on US installations.

At last in 1905-06, the Americans devised a more successful trap. First, they passed a Brigand Act defining all forms of resistance to US rule as criminal acts deserving of capital punishment. American officials were able to wean many of the ilustrado elite from their anti-colonial advocacies. Men like T. Pardo de Tavera formed the Federalista Party that aspired to statehood in the US Union; the Paternos, Aranetas, Benitezes participated in other events; Epifanio de los Santos became a delegate to the US Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. Alongside with Sakay’s guerrillas, bands of highwaymen, robbers, cattle-rustlers operated in the Luzon countryside and, when caught, claimed to be Sakay’s troops. Sakay himself, a dashing, romantic figure, was rumored to have kidnapped the comely wife of a provincial governor who vowed revenge. One of the most charming, persuasive ilustrados, Dr. Dominador Gomez, was asked by the Americans to approach Sakay and discuss amnesty for his thousands of soldiers.

Gen. Leon Villafuerte later testified that Dr. Gomez had told Sakay and his officers that, “The American governor-general has promised to create a national assembly of our countrymen elected by the people where our leaders can be trained for eventual self-government. As soon as we prove ourselves capable, we shall be granted independence.” After long treks to Tanay and several visits by Dr. Gomez, Sakay, Carreon, Villafuerte, Montalan and de Vega came to Manila on a safe-conduct pass from the Americans. Dressed in rayadillo uniforms, carrying pistols and daggers, their long hair neatly combed, they came on foot with hundreds of overjoyed townspeople showering them with food and other gifts, guitar music and singing. People acclaimed them as celebrity heroes and they were feted at banquets and dances.

On July 17, they were invited to a town fiesta in Cavite by US Col. Van Shaick, the acting Cavite governor. An orchestra played dance music amid American flags and bunches of flowers. At 11:30 a.m., US officers, pistols in hand, walked in and although Sakay fought unarmed against “his giant attacker,” he and his officers were disarmed. The building was surrounded by Filipino Constabulary officers.

Gen. Villafuerte shouted, “We have been betrayed and we are trapped. Doctor, what is the meaning of this?” Dr. Gomez stepped forward: “There’s no use fighting.” Sakay’s eyes were bloodshot. He said, “Tell the Americans to face us in the open field, in honorable battle.” And to the Filipino Constabularios, he remarked, “Aren’t you ashamed of what you are doing?” Manacled, they were taken by boat to the Hotel de Oriente in Binondo and then to Bilibid Prison. Captain Rafael Crame presided over the preliminary investigation and the accused were charged under the Brigand Act. They were defended by Attys. Felipe Buencamino and Ramon Diokno (father of the great anti-Marcos militant Pepe Diokno).

In Bilibid, the prisoners were allowed visits by family and friends who were astoundingly numerous, bringing food, gifts, letters. Sympathizers who pleaded for clemency, included Aguinaldo, Gregorio Aglipay, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, the Liga de Mujeres, the Union Obrera Democratica. The prisoners also witnessed prison atrocities (which today recall Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib): 300 members of the Sakay forces were secretly hanged inside Bilibid and 100 more were injected with lethal serum. Many of them had surrendered because Sakay had told his troops they would not be harmed because the Americans had promised a congress of elected Filipino representatives who would rule the country if they abjured armed resistance.

At the trial at the Court of First Instance, using false witnesses, Sakay and his men were accused of robbery in band, murder, rape, summary executions, arson, kidnapping.

Dr. Dominador Gomez instructed them to plead “guilty” because they would then be pardoned. The public defenders, Attys. Buencamino and Diokno, advised them to plead “not guilty,” to show both innocence and non-recognition of US sovereignty. On Aug. 6, 1907, Judge Ignacio Villamor (who would become UP president) convicted them. Those who had pleaded not guilty, like Sakay and de Vega, were hanged. The others, who had listened to Dr. Gomez, had their death sentences commuted or were later released.

A discrepancy intrudes at this point. Just who was Dr. Dominador Gomez? The agent chosen by the Americans to lure Sakay into leaving his headquarters in the mountains of Tanay to come to Manila? From William J. Pomeroy and the National Historical Institute; we learn that he was a medical doctor, a graduate from the University of Sto. Tomas, who in 1903, at the beginning of the American regime, had taken over from Isabelo de los Reyes the leadership of the Union Obrera and had participated in a large anti-American rally. Gomez was arrested for sedition, tried and convicted to four years of hard labor and ordered to pay a fine. His case was on appeal to the Supreme Court (manned by US justices), his sentence un-served, when he began to negotiate Sakay’s surrender, going on arduous treks to Tanay for long discussions, showing a letter from the US governor-general that promised a Filipino assembly, “the door to freedom,” if Sakay and his generals laid down their arms.

The American betrayal in Cavite, Sakay’s and his men’s trial, and conviction have already been told in this article. What remains to be noted is that, two weeks after Sakay was hanged, Dr. Dominador Gomez’s pending case was summarily revived and quickly dismissed for “insufficient evidence.” Gomez then went on to become a representative for the First Philippine Assembly of 1907 where he was denounced and expelled by Sergio Osmeña and Manuel Luis Quezon, for having served as a surgeon in the Spanish army in Cuba and received a medal from the Spanish queen during the Spanish-American War. But in 1909, Gomez was re-elected to a second term because, despite his previous disgraceful expulsion, he was backed by the US authorities. The facts speak for themselves. Sakay was the plea bargain.

At 8:30 in the morning, on Sept. 13, 1907, Sakay and Col. Lucio de Vega were taken from their bartolina to the gallows. Reaching the platform, Sakay shouted at the top of his lungs, “I face the Lord Almighty calmly but we must tell you that we are not bandits and robbers as the Americans accuse us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our country. Long live the Philippines! Adios Filipinas!” Sakay was 37.

The day before, a big crowd of Manila residents had gathered in front of Malacañang Palace in an unusual, emotional demonstration pleading for clemency, but the American governor-general refused to see them. Almost the same crowd, larger and more vociferous, was at the gates of Bilibid Prison asking to be allowed to wrap the bodies of Sakay and Col. De Vega in Katipunan flags before they were buried. They were refused.

The US Government kept their word about calling a Filipino assembly. In October 1907, the First Philippine Assembly of Filipinos elected (by men of property) was inaugurated at the Manila Grand Opera House on Calle Cervantes (now Rizal Avenue) by Secretary of War William H. Taft. Acting Secretary of the Philippine Commission Ferguson read the Spanish translation of Taft’s speech, followed by an invocation by Bishop Barlin. After the roll call, with names like Gabaldon, Gomez, Guerrero, Imperial, Osmena, Palma, Quezon, Velarde, De Veyra, roundly applauded, the session was adjourned till the afternoon. A young delegate from Cebu, Sergio Osmeña was elected Speaker by acclamation.

But Philippine Independence was granted by America only 40 years later, on 4 July 1946, after a devastating war, and on several conditions: equal rights to US citizens in the development of natural resources, US military bases in perpetuity, economic treaties including the onerous “free trade” (that denied industrialization to this country), also interventions in Philippine elections and in foreign and educational policies.

It was the kind of independence, Macario Leon Sakay, Katipunero and patriot, an “organization genius” as his American captors described him, never would have settled for or even considered. He would have chosen instead to die fighting America, if he had known the truth and seen the future of his adored Filipinas.
* * *

(The National Historical Institute and the University of the Philippines have erected a marker at the foot of Mt. Banahaw where General Macario Sakay and his troops operated. The Manila Historical Heritage Commission held a commemorative program last year at Plaza Morriones Tondo in honor of Macario Sakay. This year, on Sept. 13, 2008, a life-size statue of Sakay will be unveiled at Plaza Morga Tondo by the Manila Historical Heritage Commission.)
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Lim to hold weekly public forum (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view_article.php?article_id=159306)

By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:29am (Mla time) 09/08/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Residents in the City of Manila who want to air their grievances in front of Mayor Alfredo Lim and other city government officials may now do so during the People’s Day Forum, which is held every Friday morning at City Hall.

Lim, who presided over the first such meeting last week at the Bulwagang Villegas, responded to the complaints and concerns of residents and barangay (village) officials from Tondo.

Some of the issues discussed were housing, contaminated milk products, night markets and vending, garbage collection and segregation, scavenging, street obstructions, snatching and holdup incidents, requests for street repairs, drainage cleaning and asphalting, getting access to free medicines for indigent patients, and death and burial assistance for indigents.

Lim said the weekly forum was one way of “opening City Hall’s doors to its constituents and making them active partners of the city government to fulfill its programs and projects.”

“We must not wait for the people to come to us and tell us their problems. It is our business to serve them and know their needs,” he stressed.

During the forum, Lim announced that the city would study the feasibility of putting up a casket factory at the North Cemetery and reopening the crematorium.

Lim also ordered Ospital ng Maynila director Dr. Fidel Chua to buy an additional ventilator after one of those who attended the forum complained that the hospital’s intensive care unit was equipped with only one such machine.

At the same time, the mayor called on his department heads to immediately take action on the concerns aired by residents.

Lim urged them to “go directly to the people, find out their complaints, know their problems and make a census of the neighborhood.”

Ano kaya kung biglang may nagmura sa harap mismo ni lim? :lol:

Convergys to hire 600 more agents at new Manila City office (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/118988/Convergys-to-hire-600-more-agents-at-new-Manila-City-office#)

Article posted September 09, 2008 - 02:20 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The local unit of multinational outsourcing firm Convergys Corp. will hire 600 more agents as its starts operating its 14th site in the country — its first in the city of Manila — in the first quarter of next year.

The new office in the Sampaloc district will increase Convergys Philippines’ seats by a tenth to 6,000, Jomari Mercado, business development director of Convergys Philippines, said in an interview.

"Most of our [employees] live in dorms near the university belt. Manila is a good location," he said.

Mr. Mercado said Convergys had done a study on the viability of the area, and they are confident of successfully running the business from the capital.

"The good thing is the city government is doing something about [the lack of infrastructure], and Ayala is assuring us that we will have a good location," he added.

While the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is being encouraged to expand to so-called next-wave cities in the provinces, Convergys has chosen to set up its office in Manila, which has yet to attract outsourcing companies that prefer either Makati or Pasig.

Convergys will become the first tenant of Ayala Corp.’s P5-billion mixed-use development project Celadon Manila in Sampaloc, where it will be occupying two of the nine floors of Vertex One.

The outsourcing firm will rent 4,300 square meters of the 18,804 square meters of the building’s leasable area.

Ayala earlier said the BPO project would have two towers, each at least 14 storeys high, and is expected to be turned over in the last quarter. Operations are expected to start in the first quarter of next year.

Danilo Sebastian L. Reyes, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, said Manila is a strategic location for the industry because it is home to a number of universities.

"The city has access to human resources and it is just practical for some of the BPOs to [expand there]," he said in a separate interview. Another factor that will make Manila attractive to the industry is the availability of space, Mr. Reyes said.

BPO companies like Sitel Corp. and eTelecare Global Solutions, Inc. have not considered Manila as a potential site, however.

"The company has no plan to expand in the capital city as of the moment, but we are on the lookout for new expansions. Sitel is geared more to the next-wave cities," said Mr. Reyes, who is also the president of Sitel.

The government is grooming a number of cities as investment destinations for BPO companies. These so-called next-wave cities include Tuguegarao, Baguio, Dagupan, Urdaneta, Cabanatuan, Clark and San Fernando in Pampanga. Also on the list are Subic, Cainta, Bacoor, Sta. Rosa, Lipa, Batangas City, Camarines Sur, Legazpi, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Cebu, Leyte, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and General Santos.

eTelecare Country General Manager Benedict Hernandez said they have yet to decide where they will expand next, but are looking at areas outside Metro Manila.

"Manila is a great location. It has a high population and high density, [but] we already have a good presence in Cebu City and in Clark. We already have a lot of sites in Metro Manila," he said.

"It is only now that property developers are considering building infrastructure for BPO companies in Manila," he added.

The BPO industry expects to hit its target revenue of $7 billion this year, up by 40% from a year earlier. The sector is expected to hire half a million workers by yearend from 300,000 last year. — Kristine Jane R. Liu, BusinessWorld

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Rights Reserved. 2006 © GMA Network Inc.

vertex one? hinde ba nasa makati yun

Graft charges filed vs Harper, contractor (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Metro&p=49&type=2&sec=26&aid=2008090999)
By Edu Punay
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Intramuros Administrator Anna Maria Harper was slapped with graft and other charges yesterday before the Office of the Ombudsman for cutting 10 decades-old and endangered trees at the Plaza Roma in Manila last month.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its executive director for National Capital Region Corazon Davis, filed the six-page complaint and accused Harper of violating Presidential Decree 953 (Act on unauthorized cutting of trees), R.A. 9175 (Act on acquisition and use chainsaw) and R.A. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

“Being the administrator of Intramuros Administration, respondent Harper was remiss and grossly negligent in her obligation to see to it that the permit issued to IA, through her and upon her request, should have been strictly observed, to the prejudice and detriment of the government and the public,” the complaint stated.

Davis was referring to violations of conditions set in the tree-moving permit issued by DENR to IA for balling of eight Narra trees and two Mahogany trees and for cutting 19 Neem, Mango, Langka and Atis trees.

Meanwhile, the Manila City government has filed charges against the contractor hired by IA for non-compliance of conditions set by the DENR on cutting of trees in Plaza Roma.

Slapped with charges for violation of RA 9175 (or the Chainsaw Act) and Presidential Decree 953 was Fernando Simborio, 47, contractor of the Green Philippine Nursery Plant.

Last Monday, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim defended Harper, saying the IA chief was not aware of the cutting as it was done on Aug. 25, a holiday.

He added that according to the contract, a supervisor was supposed to be monitoring the cutting “but that did not happen.”

Part of the contract was also the landscaping of Plaza Roma to provide a better view of the Manila Cathedral. – With Sandy Araneta

The issue with Ms. Harper is nothing more than a political satire, Filipino style. There are a lot of environmental issues graver and even horrendous happening in the provinces. Delving deeper into this just makes my blood boil. In fairness to Ms. Harper, she is a heritage protector and made a lot of improvements in the Intramuros administration when she became head.

Anyway, I just want to post some photos taken from Fort Santiago.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2845907952_918f3085c2.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2845908148_7de8ecf76c.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/2845073087_47c7e1e1ba.jpg?v=0

Graft charges filed vs Harper, contractor (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Metro&p=49&type=2&sec=26&aid=2008090999)
By Edu Punay
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Intramuros Administrator Anna Maria Harper was slapped with graft and other charges yesterday before the Office of the Ombudsman for cutting 10 decades-old and endangered trees at the Plaza Roma in Manila last month.

“Being the administrator of Intramuros Administration, respondent Harper was remiss and grossly negligent in her obligation to see to it that the permit issued to IA, through her and upon her request, should have been strictly observed, to the prejudice and detriment of the government and the public,” the complaint stated.

Last Monday, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim defended Harper, saying the IA chief was not aware of the cutting as it was done on Aug. 25, a holiday.



Ignorance is not an excuse and will not hold up in the court of law. Bambi Harper being the head of Intramuros Administration should be held accountable for the tree-cutting incident of mature trees at Plaza Roma.

The issue with Ms. Harper is nothing more than a political satire, Filipino style. There are a lot of environmental issues graver and even horrendous happening in the provinces. Delving deeper into this just makes my blood boil. In fairness to Ms. Harper, she is a heritage protector and made a lot of improvements in the Intramuros administration when she became head.

Anyway, I just want to post some photos taken from Fort Santiago.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2845907952_918f3085c2.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2845908148_7de8ecf76c.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/2845073087_47c7e1e1ba.jpg?v=0
^^
nice heritage pix!

Thanks.

"Propaganda Atienza's" reaction to Ms.Harper is soooo predictable.He was just waiting for her to make a mistake? Then,he'll move in like a thief in the night & pounce.Please don't forget the Jai-alai art deco bldg. which he bulldozed to the ground and turned it into a wasteland of a space.If there is one who is a heritage and tree killer,he's The One!:bash:

^^ exactly my sentiments, as well! Atienza's smoke screen tactic is childish at best.

Anyway, whatever happened to the pointy spire that was at the middle of the Fort Santiago gateway's pediment? (see the first pic in el Cineasta's post)

photos coutesy of Sam Rosales of DigitalPhotographer.

Before.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/ManilaCathedral4601.jpg

After...

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/ManilaCathedral5620.jpg

More of Sam Rosales' Manila Cathedral photos after the tree cuttings.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5743.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5718_6_7_tonemapped.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5740.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5736.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5733.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5768.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm244/smanros/SAM_5756.jpg

that's sooo terrible.

ugh! I can't bear to look at it. :ohno:

gosh... its so sad to look at.. its like a murder scene....

Manila honors General Sakay

By Tina Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:19:00 09/13/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- After 101 years, General Macario Sakay, who led the KKK movement in Tondo against American colonial rule, finally got his proper place in history.

The Manila government, led by Mayor Alfredo Lim, on Saturday unveiled a monument in honor of Sakay at Plaza Morga in Tondo.

"It is only proper that a monument be put up in honor of the heroes of Manila, who have already been forgotten by the younger generations," the mayor said.

Made entirely of fiber glass, the monument was made by Filipino-American sculptor Jose Mendoza.

Unknown to many Filipinos, Sakay had also contributed greatly to the establishment of Philippine independence as the founder of the Republika ng Katagalugan that led the KKK Movement in Tondo against American colonial rule, Lim added.

Born on Tabora Street near Plaza Morga, Sakay joined the KKK in 1894 and was appointed as the movement's leader in Tondo.


Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080913-160488/Manila-honors-General-Sakay

Revive ko lang ha. since this is interesting :)

I went to hong kong once, I say that some parts of HK really reminds me of Manila. Heck un isang avenue nga dun reminds me of Greenbelt makati eh!...Wait, Asian city pala ang HK :lol: !

Kaso, To me, Walang kapares ang maynila and Kalakhang maynila as whole! Kahit mabaho at magulo at sobrang laki ng difference between mahirap at mayaman, atleast mas buhay tayo compared to other cities at madaming makakausap kung saan saan! :lol:

Manila is Manila, You cant really compare it to any other place in the world!

Kaso, In this shot, Manila really reminds me of L.A.:
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2827/lmanilajs7.jpg

This thread is about the City of Manila alone excluding the other cities of the Metro. So do you mean Metro Manila as a whole/ or parts it is like LA or even just the City of Manila itself is like LA?

* Binondo - country's Chinatown before the arrival of Spaniards in 1571 and the city's main center for business
* Quiapo - Hometown of the Black Nazarene and also a place which offers cheap prices on items ranging from electronics to native handicrafts
* Sampaloc - means tamarind fruit is the district wherein the University of Santo Tomas, Asia's oldest university and the famous Dangwa Flower Market is located
* San Miguel - known as the University Belt District and the location of residence of the Philippine Government, Malacañang Palace
* San Nicolas - shares Divisoria Flea Market with other co-district is the hub for the adventurous shoppers that may venture for cheap buys
* Santa Cruz - is on the edge of Chinatown, which is the district of usual frenzied mix of commercial and residential premises
* Santa Mesa - from the Spanish term Holy Mass, this district marks the first shot of the Filipino-American War
* Tondo - the largest, historically 1100 years old, it is one of the first provinces to be established and rebelled against Spain and is now the Southeast Asia's Most Densely Populated District

The other eight are:

* Ermita - one of the two Tourist Belt (another is the Malate district) is the former Red District and offers numeorus coin and antique shops aside from nightlife business
* Intramuros - taken from the Latin, intra muros, literally "with in the walls", the History Town of the Philippines and considered as Old Manila itself during Spanish times
* Malate - the Gay Capital of the country which is known as the center of bohemian night life in the city and in the metropolis
* Paco - lies city's historic but mysterious octagonal park cemetery
* Pandacan - district home of many of the country's literary and musical geniuses
* Port - the country's chief seaport consisting of North and South Port where one can witness the dramatic sunset of Manila Bay
* San Andres Bukid - was previously part of Santa Ana, this district has a touch of Moslem culture and has a mosque
* Santa Ana- known as Sapa in ancient times, this district is the old capital of Namayan Kingdom which is the precursor of modern Metro Manila

The Thieves have been stealing the metal railings along the Pasig River right in front of the Manila Post Office. Post Office guards Wake-Up!!!!!! Mayor Lim Wake-Up!


http://dynamic2.philonline.com/home_September_2008/fp091508_a.gif
By the kilo. Little by little, thieves have been making off with the steel railing on the Pasig River’s embankment behind the Post Office in Manila. Lino Santos

"Binondo - country's Chinatown before the arrival of Spaniards in 1571 and the city's main center for business."

Which came first, Binondo or the Spaniards?

Revive ko lang ha. since this is interesting :)

I went to hong kong once, I say that some parts of HK really reminds me of Manila. Heck un isang avenue nga dun reminds me of Greenbelt makati eh!...Wait, Asian city pala ang HK :lol: !

Kaso, To me, Walang kapares ang maynila and Kalakhang maynila as whole! Kahit mabaho at magulo at sobrang laki ng difference between mahirap at mayaman, atleast mas buhay tayo compared to other cities at madaming makakausap kung saan saan! :lol:

Manila is Manila, You cant really compare it to any other place in the world!

Kaso, In this shot, Manila really reminds me of L.A.:
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/2827/lmanilajs7.jpg
^^
looks like L.A.
kulang nalang HOLLYWOOD sign!:lol:

The Thieves have been stealing the metal railings along the Pasig River right in front of the Manila Post Office. Post Office guards Wake-Up!!!!!! Mayor Lim Wake-Up!


http://dynamic2.philonline.com/home_September_2008/fp091508_a.gif
By the kilo. Little by little, thieves have been making off with the steel railing on the Pasig River’s embankment behind the Post Office in Manila. Lino Santos

====================
What the f@#$...!!!!

This is really unfortunate...these people deserve to be jailed.

Mayor Lim.....your help please..

"Binondo - the country's Chinatown before the arrival of Spaniards in 1571 and the city's main center for business."

Which came first, Binondo or the Spaniards?

I think this is a rhetorical question. :D

i hope i got this right. again, kindly pm me if im mistaken
Travellers International eyes debt mart to fund $1.55-B tourism projects (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008091632)
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
Wednesday, September 17, 2008


Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., a 50-50 joint venture between Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGGI) of tycoon Andrew Tan and Hong Kong-based Star Cruises Ltd., may tap the debt market next year to fund its planned two large-scale tourism-oriented projects worth around $1.55 billion.

In a press briefing following the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, AGGI president Kingson Sian said Travellers is now preparing for the funding requirements of the Bayshore City which will form part of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s $15-billion Entertainment City along Roxas Blvd.; and the 7.8-hectare Newport City integrated resort at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.

“We’re in the process of finalizing the masterplan for Bayshore as well as how to finance the project which we hope to get started either in the first quarter or second quarter next year,” Sian said.

Sian said Travellers has a lot of flexibility to raise cash. “Our balance sheet is strong. We have no debt so we can borrow,” he said.

Of the estimated capital requirement, $1.1 billion will go to Travellers’ Bayshore City project which will entail the development of an iconic structure to symbolize the rich culture and heritage of the Philippines, three to four hotels with six-star amenities, a world-class theme park and museum, residential units and gaming and entertainment facilities.

The remaining $450 million will be used to complete the development of Newport City which includes a P3.8-billion all-suite Maxims Hotel, an upscale hotel brand of the Genting Group, that will house 176 rooms with a gross floor area of more than 20,000 square meters.

Newport City will also feature a five-star 365-room Marriott Hotel, a three-star hotel with 1,060 rooms as well as retail, gaming and entertainment areas.

Marriott is slated to open to the public in 2009 while Maxims and the three-star hotel will follow next year.

Maxims’ hotel rooms will include three villas each with a private swimming pool and 24 suites equipped with a private outdoor jacuzzi and garden.

Both projects, when completed, will make Travellers the biggest hotel operator in the Philippines with a total room capacity of 5,000.

Travellers, formerly the tourism arm of AGGI, has obtained a “provisional license” from Pagcor to build a multibillion-dollar casino and tourism complex in the Manila Bay reclamation area.

Sian said the company’s partnership with Star Cruises is in line with the group’s vision to put the Philippines on the radar screens of tourists and foreign investors.

Star Cruises is the third largest cruise line operator in the world with assets of $6.4 billion last year while the Genting Group, with total assets of $10 billion, is the largest Asian-based leisure, entertainment and hospitality conglomerate with close to 40 years experience.

AGGI, meanwhile, is one of the country’s most liquid conglomerates with a cash hoard of P24.9 billion and consolidated assets of P108 billion as of the first quarter of 2008.

Sian expects Travellers to account for a significant chunk of AGGI’s total revenues in two or three years. “Tourism is going to be a major business for AGGI in the coming years,” he said.

Tan pointed out AGGI’s strong track record of spotting opportunities in the market and transforming these opportunities into major business segments for the company. In the property sector, Megaworld has risen from a small property developer in the late 1980s into the country’s largest residential condominium developer and BPO office builder and landlord.

AGGI is looking at another banner year with net earnings projected to grow 18.5 percent to P3.9 billion from only P3.29 billion last year.

Manila Bay skyline

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/2810120720_1cf7bd3202_b.jpg
by john luther (http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnluther/)

The new terminal 3 at Manila airport

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2836672626_c27225ba1e.jpg?v=0

photo by cooolangubra

Manila's historic Spanish quarter to get a makeover (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/09/19/08/manilas-historic-spanish-quarter-get-makeover)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters Life! | 09/19/2008 6:15 PM

It outlasted centuries of colonial Spanish rule, was almost wiped out in World War Two, and now the historic, and neglected, heart of Manila is poised to beat again under a widescale restoration plan.

The 16th century quarter of Intramuros, translated as "within the walls", is located along the south bank of the Pasig River and was the fortress-like district from where the Spanish ruled the Philippines for over three centuries.

Yet despite its rich history, it rarely features on the itinerary of tourists to the country, who often prefer to skip crowded Manila altogether and head to the tropical beaches.

In a bid to attract visitors, the Intramuros Administration, with a new team, is reviving a plan to clean-up and preserve the quarter, which includes structural repairs as well as removing squatters and making it more secure.

"In September, we intend to put a roof over the Almacenes Reales and some windows, so it can be used," said Anna Maria Harper, the new head of the administration, referring to the former royal warehouse at the area's Fort Santiago.

"It's not quite a restoration, but it's a pity to have something like that and not do anything with it," she said, adding that there are also plans for a museum in the area.

Many of the structures within Intramuros were reduced to rubble during the bombardment of Manila in World War Two. Some buildings, especially the former barracks and the dungeons, were used by occupying Japanese forces as prisons.

After Warsaw in Poland, the Philippines' capital suffered the worse destruction during the conflict.

One of the buildings still standing is the Manila Cathedral, a colossal stone structure reworked in the 1950s.

Nearby, San Agustin, the oldest Baroque church in the Philippines built in the late 1500s, is also largely intact and is cherished by historians and locals for its hand-painted interior and intricately carved wooden doors.

But other structures are not as lucky.

The Convent of Santa Clara, once renowned for its reclusive nuns, is now an abandoned lot. Another church, once used as a warehouse after the Second World War, is now little more than a bombed-out shell, with young boys playing in overgrown plants where the floor used to be.

Throughout Intramuros, modern roads have been built over the old cobblestone streets, and gutters are stuffed with refuse. Crime from bordering neighborhoods spills into the quarter, raising concerns about safety.

But many in Manila hope that cleaning up Intramuros will finally bring it the recognition it deserves.

"Once the clearing up is complete, then poverty and crime decreases," said Carlos Celdran, a history enthusiast who leads walking tours in Manila. "Then there will be a boom."

OMG at least they are aware. Let's see what they do.
I hope they get rid of those powerlines.

An ecclesiastical museum in the Walled City (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008091953&type=2)
By Lai S. Reyes
Saturday, September 20, 2008

http://www.philstar.com/newphilstar/www/image/20080920/lif4.jpg


Abandoned” and “homeless” best describe the artifacts, sculptures, and numerous works of art procured by the Intramuros Administration (IA) nearly three decades ago. It’s such a pity that the priceless pieces, which consist of busts and sculptures of saints made of ivory, silver, and gold ornaments and the 19th-century piña collection, are just cramped in the IA office and bodegas. Sacred to both the pious and the nationalist, the treasure trove ought to be displayed in a museum for all to see and admire. So when the Intramuros Administration announced its plans to build an ecclesiastical museum amid the ruins of the San Ignacio Church in the Walled City, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

The ecclesiastical museum, to rise on a 3,190-sq.m. area, will house an impressive collection of antique items procured by former Central Bank governor and IA’s first chief, Dr. Jaime Laya. According to avid antique collectors Ramon Villegas and Antonio Martino, this is the best collection under one entity.

“The good news is it belongs to the Filipino people,” enthuses Intramuros Administration chairman Anna Maria “Bambi” Harper.

The museum tops the list of Harper’s many projects for Intramuros as part of IA’s project to relaunch the Walled City as a tourist destination. This despite allegations by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that the lady chief was responsible for the cutting of 29 full-grown trees in Plaza Roma fronting the Manila Cathedral on Andres Soriano St. in Intramuros (formerly Aduana) which Harper vehemently denies. Harper was sworn in as the new chief of the Intramuros Administration on March 24. With a job coterminous with the current administration, Harper is optimistic that the Walled City will assume its rightful place as the centerpiece of Philippine tourism in no time.

“In the past 11 years, nothing has been done to Intramuros. It’s tragic because the Walled City is the only heritage site in Manila. I proposed this plan during IA’s first board meeting and got a favorable response. We have to finish everything in a year and a half so we have to hit the board right,” Harper says.

Here’s the catch: The construction of the museum alone is estimated to cost a whopping P400 million! The budget of IA has not changed in the past 15 years. Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano has pledged his support and so has the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

“Together we can make this happen,” the optimistic Harper adds.

Also on the drawing board is the proposed adaptive reuse of the Almacenes Reales ruins at historic Fort Santiago.The Almacenes Reales or Royal Warehouses (where the Spaniards stored the goods brought in by the galleons) is now being spruced up to provide an indoor function area at Fort Santiago.

Harper ordered the strengthening of the break walls, the installation of antique windows, balusters, and doors in each storage chamber to enhance the old charm of the structure. Roofing was also set up so guests can enjoy a leisurely walk at Fort Santiago even during the rainy season. Smack in the middle of the historic walls is the Museum Shop brimming with souvenir items patterned after the genuine relics of Intramuros. On the stone wall, we spotted tastefully designed merchandise such as the Letras y Figuras souvenir tees in bright hues, table runners, tote bags, key chains, coffee mugs with the Intramuros insignia, table napkins, table runners, tissue and umbrella holders accented with willow design inspired by the blue-and-white ceramics that abound during the Galleon Trade.

In a bid to attract more investors and tourists, new structures and establishments will also be built in the Walled City without destroying its historical and heritage component.

“For scheduled tours, visitors are encouraged to park their cars and board a horse-drawn tranvia (which Sarao made for IA) to decongest traffic in the area,” notes Harper.

Peace and order is another story. “We’ve already discussed this matter with the city government. We also see to it that the walls and alleys are properly lighted to shoo away lawless elements. How can we attract investors and tourists if there is no peace and order?” she adds.

IA also formed the Intramuros Homeowners and Businessmen Association to help address the problem. “Again, I can’t do it by myself. I need the cooperation of everyone to make things happen for Intramuros because there are still a lot of things to be done,” stresses the IA chief.

As they say, dreams come true to those who work hard while they dream. Well, Harper is doing just that and we hope will continue to do so long after her tenure is over.

“The Walled City is just too precious to be abandoned,” Harper says with a sigh.

* * *
To know more about IA’s other projects, visit its office at the fifth floor of Palacio del Gobernador corner General Luna and Aduana Sts., Intramuros, Manila.

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what's the latest news about the squatters inside Intramuros?

^^ lol how bout readin the article.

^ thanks kid. i failed to read post #694

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm209/waldenstrom/f3338f47.jpg
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm209/waldenstrom/0c8bafb0.jpg
Mitch Kowalski (http://www.new.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=826055646)

^^Nice Pics Ha! We really need more trees in Intra.The more the better!

The greening of Metro Manila
ROSES & THORNS By Alejandro R. Roces
Thursday, September 25, 2008
One of the pleasant memories that I have of the pre-war days were the acacia trees that lined both sides of most streets. Now many people with good intentions are trying to substitute the flame tree for these acacia trees. The flame tree is unquestionably a beautiful tree when it is in bloom. But that is only for a few weeks. The rest of the time, it is not as attractive as the acacia tree.

It is my dream to, one day, see Metro Manila into a garden metropolis. We are now in our mid-eighties and it does not take much to see that I will not live long enough to realize that dream. But I still want this to happen for the benefit of my children, grandchildren and of course, the entire future generation.

Our cities are faced with the worsening problem of pollution that is caused by heavy traffic. To date, the only answer to this problem is to plant trees. Sad to say, no city in Metro Manila has gone into a program of greening their respective cities. As we said earlier, trees will definitely enhance the cities that make up Metro Manila. In Ayala Avenue, Makati, for instance, there is an aisle in the middle of the streets that is almost totally vacant. We hope to see the day that Makati City Hall turns that sector into a miniature forest. We do not want to be repetitive but it will first beautify the area; second, it will help bring down pollution.

We note that Bambi Harper, Intramuros Administration head, has scheduled the planting of flame trees at the Plaza Roma (formerly Plaza Mayor) fronting the Manila Cathedral and at the Maestranza Park beside the Pasig River. Again, maybe planting acacia trees would be better. Before this, we were saddened to see 29 age-old mahogany and rosewood trees at the Plaza Roma that were mercilessly cut down against Harper’s instruction that the trees must be balled and moved to provide a better view of the Cathedral. As part of Bambi Harper’s plan to re-launch Intramuros as a “new tourist destination”, we strongly suggest incorporating the “greening” plan for the historic Walled City.

Maybe trees can be planted along the path that our martyred nationalist Dr. Jose P. Rizal treaded from the prison cell of Fort Santiago when he was about to be shot.

It is true that only God can make a tree but anyone can plant a tree. And when we plant a tree, it is something that will enhance the life of not only the present generation, but also of future generations. In short, a tree is one of the things that we can leave behind when we go to the next world.

i once lived in manila when i was still a student of mapua. actually, i lived in the squatter area. my landlord, the nunez family says that they own the whole compound of squatter. i never believed them. the worst all electricity and water were/are tapped. i believe that intramuros must be developed and make it a city once envied by our asian neighbors.

there are tacky builidings that are not supposed to be there including my school mapua. i believe that as an engineering and architectural college they should make their building cohesive with its surrounding. those tall buildings must be scratched down. the tunnels must be revived for tourists and cobbled streets should be back. some of ruins like former UST buildings should be turned inot a library or musuem or even business/office space.

^^ tama ka dyan manila_eye o sana maayos muna na mukhang marangal ang lugar then change it to a better state.

The greening of Metro Manila (http://www.philstar.com/archives.php?aid=2008092499&type=2)
ROSES & THORNS By Alejandro R. Roces
Thursday, September 25, 2008
One of the pleasant memories that I have of the pre-war days were the acacia trees that lined both sides of most streets. Now many people with good intentions are trying to substitute the flame tree for these acacia trees. The flame tree is unquestionably a beautiful tree when it is in bloom. But that is only for a few weeks. The rest of the time, it is not as attractive as the acacia tree.

It is my dream to, one day, see Metro Manila into a garden metropolis. We are now in our mid-eighties and it does not take much to see that I will not live long enough to realize that dream. But I still want this to happen for the benefit of my children, grandchildren and of course, the entire future generation.

Our cities are faced with the worsening problem of pollution that is caused by heavy traffic. To date, the only answer to this problem is to plant trees. Sad to say, no city in Metro Manila has gone into a program of greening their respective cities. As we said earlier, trees will definitely enhance the cities that make up Metro Manila. In Ayala Avenue, Makati, for instance, there is an aisle in the middle of the streets that is almost totally vacant. We hope to see the day that Makati City Hall turns that sector into a miniature forest. We do not want to be repetitive but it will first beautify the area; second, it will help bring down pollution.

We note that Bambi Harper, Intramuros Administration head, has scheduled the planting of flame trees at the Plaza Roma (formerly Plaza Mayor) fronting the Manila Cathedral and at the Maestranza Park beside the Pasig River. Again, maybe planting acacia trees would be better. Before this, we were saddened to see 29 age-old mahogany and rosewood trees at the Plaza Roma that were mercilessly cut down against Harper’s instruction that the trees must be balled and moved to provide a better view of the Cathedral. As part of Bambi Harper’s plan to re-launch Intramuros as a “new tourist destination”, we strongly suggest incorporating the “greening” plan for the historic Walled City.

Maybe trees can be planted along the path that our martyred nationalist Dr. Jose P. Rizal treaded from the prison cell of Fort Santiago when he was about to be shot.

It is true that only God can make a tree but anyone can plant a tree. And when we plant a tree, it is something that will enhance the life of not only the present generation, but also of future generations. In short, a tree is one of the things that we can leave behind when we go to the next world.


Back to top

^^ Sidewalks, center islands, kahit saan na pwedeng lagyan ng puno!

Pag napuno na ng puno ang buong Metro Manila, baka maging Jungle and City in One.

That would be one of a kind. :|

I'm not sure if this has been posted before. It's a nice video of Manila 70 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvpbsyNcI3I

^^ Hmm... mero pala tayong mini-bus noon na hinihila lang ng kabayo? (dalawang kabayo kada bus) Ngayon ko lang nakita ito ah.

Makikita sa video na ito na kahit noon pa, wala talaga tayong disiplina sa kalsada. Kanya-kanyang singit ang mga sasakyan at yung mga tao naman basta basta na lang tumatawid... :ohno:

Life on the streets of Ermita, still beats life back home in the barrio (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/123780/Life-on-the-streets-of-Ermita-still-beats-life-back-home-in-the-barrio#)

CLAIRE DELFIN, GMANews.TV

Article posted September 29, 2008 - 06:53 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Mary Grace Pulido, 17, is from Ermita. She was born there, grew up there, and lives there. She even found her man there. Her life is on the street.

She and her family often move from one corner to another but Mary Grace has known no other home except the sidewalks of this tourist district of Manila, a stone’s throw from the US Embassy.

Her parents came to the Philippine capital in the 1980s from Baguio City, 240 kilometers north of Manila, with hopes of finding a better life. But like so many others before and after them, all they found instead were the realities of a harsh life and tried to survive in a city without work. Within days and with no money or prospects for returning home they ended up on the streets, begging, living and bringing up a family as best they could.

Their belongings comprise some folded cardboard they use as sleeping mats, pots, pans and plate for cooking, and some clothes. When the rains come, it is very easy to gather everything up together and run into a nearby church for shelter.

When they feel nature’s calling, they use a nearby public toilet costing PhP 10 (US cents 22) a visit. They also use the showers here while many other street families make do simply with the monsoon rains in the wet season and a hosepipe and soap in the dry months.

Perhaps because they always keep together and are always moving around, they have never been victims of violence nor recruited by criminal gangs.

Mary Grace claims she made it to Grade 3 in school, but was forced to quit because her parents could not afford to keep her in class.

“I earn PhP 50 to 100 a day," ($1 to $2)," she told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “On some days I get nothing save a handful of coins."

Mary Grace wants a change in her life as she prepares to have her own family with her partner Chris Dela Cruz, 12 years her senior.

Chris is also a beggar, something that Mary Grace doesn’t want her children to become.

“I don’t want to have many children," she says. “Maybe one or two will do, so they can all go to school."

As she speaks, her eyes watch the children – half-naked and filthy -- playing in the street. Five of them are her sister’s children.

Foreign tourists

Mary Grace and her family are among the hundreds of street dwellers in Ermita, a district known for its pubs, clubs and restaurants frequented by foreign tourists who the police say unknowingly attracting the beggars to this part of the city.

Superintendent Rogelio Rosales, chief of Manila Police District Station 5, says many beggars choose Ermita because tourists would rather give a few pesos than be jostled or harassed.

It is a common tactic for beggars, particularly young children to crowd around a passing tourist in small groups, following him until he takes out some change. The police have received complaints from visitors who claim they have been surrounded and robbed by young gangs.

In response, the police have run operations to clear the streets, bringing the children and their families to government-run temporary shelters where social workers try and help them from returning back to the streets.

“But it seems though all our efforts are futile," complains Rosales. “Within three days you see them again all back on the streets. It’s an endless cycle."

Rosales adds that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) needs to examine its programs and policies to see what is not working and why.

Responsible party

But the DSWD points to local government units (LGUs) which should give aid to street dwellers, calling these as the ‘first line of defense’ against homelessness. DSWD insists its role is simply to support LGU initiatives.

Ricardo De Guzman, chief of staff of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project said the city has one shelter for child beggars and another for the aged beggars. These provide support on a long-term basis and address basic needs such as education for the children and health care for the elderly.

The problem however is that each shelter could only accommodate 200 persons. “Right now, all these shelters are full so we don’t really know where to put everybody else," says De Guzman.

Alongside the two long-term shelters, the city provides temporary places where street families can stay, eat and rest free for up to a week only. Adults are provided livelihood trainings while those from the provinces are given tickets back home and a small allowance to help them start anew.

The city has set up a system to monitor the beggars as soon as they step out of the shelters. Unfortunately, some of those given assistance to go home have returned to the same streets where the police found them, says De Guzman.

Poverty

DSWD Undersecretary Alicia Bala says the proliferation of beggars is a basic issue of poverty. “These street dwellers go back to their province, try to start anew with their new skills, but there is no economic activity there so they come back to Manila."

Bala says this is true not only for street dwellers in Ermita but for all those across Metro Manila. Other highly-urbanized areas around the country like Davao and Cebu have the same dilemma, she says.

The problem of delivering real and lasting change compelled groups such as Caritas Manila to redirect focus. Until 2004, the Catholic relief organization provided direct services to street dwellers all over Metro Manila.

But review of its program indicated that Caritas only reaped temporary and unsustainable results. It also faced difficulty in tracking and monitoring effects of its services due to the inherent mobility of street dwellers.

Caritas later decided to focus on specific social needs of the poorest families – housing and land tenure, justice, jobs and family, including health and education issues.

Not enough

The government’s Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) admits efforts of government and non-government agencies to provide services for those people and families living on the street “never seem to be enough."

There are now about 350 of these agencies responding to an estimated 45,000 street children and their families nationwide, CWC says. Five per cent of the children are said to have suffered abuse or have engaged in illegal activities such as dealing drugs.

Services include health and nutrition, educational assistance, effective parenting sessions, livelihood and skills training, residential care, foster and adoption. CWC maintains that as long as there are not enough jobs being made available, children will continue to live on the street.

But De Guzman from the mayor’s office partly disagrees that poverty breeds begging and street dwelling. It could also be about choice, he adds.

“Sometimes, it’s not all about how much the government and other people have provided you, it’s also about how much you are willing to give to change your life."

He recounts incidents where parents sit happily under a shade of tree to gamble or play cards while their children are out in the heat, begging. There are also a number of cases when parents are the ones pushing and teaching their kids to beg.

Just last week, the Manila City Council has passed a local law penalizing parents and guardians of children who were forced to beg or work in the streets.

“We never run out of options. All we need to do is think which one is better," De Guzman says as he tries to tell parents to be responsible of their children’s welfare. - Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project

(The author is a television news reporter of GMA Network, Inc. and a regular contributor of special reports on women, children, health, education, and the environment to the network's news and public affairs website, GMANews.TV.)

^^^^ sana maalis na yung mga financially challeged people sa ermita.... tapos eh divert yung mga jeeps sa taft... tapos turn the ermita area like salcedo, villlage, makikitid na road na puros mga high rise ang nakatayo.... *sigh,,,,

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a89/overtureph/5b78_1.jpg

San Agustin

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2881933018_37af3bcfc9_b.jpg

Photo by nate0924 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12094255@N02/2881933018/sizes/l/)

I'm not sure if this has been posted before. It's a nice video of Manila 70 years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvpbsyNcI3I

Guys, Hinde nyo ba napansin na dito sa video nato. Un Traffic ng Pre-WW2 Manila ay parehas na parehas sa traffic ngayon sa modernong manila! Pati un ugali natin na tawid lang ng tawid ay nasa dugo parin natin :lol:

Mga pinoy talaga :lol: !

Kahit nawala na un dating ganda ng maynila, katuwa parin na makita na un ugali natin ay walang pinagbago kahit ang dami ng nangyari sa bansa natin.

Is it me or is it that the banner today looks like Manila's Skyline except with a lot more of buildings.

Planning a spookfest (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/10062008/companies06.html)

A GROUP of young professionals who call themselves “The Hints” is paying good money for an overnight stay sometime this month at the Manila Film Center (MFC). For this group who want to experience new things, the idea is to hold a spookfest and see who chickens out before dawn.

As everybody knows, there were 48 workers who died during the construction of MFC in the early 1980s. More “sensitive” people who have visited MFC claim the number of disembodied beings has since tripled to also shelter those lost at sea or murdered along the stretch of reclaimed land before it was developed.

By the way, the ladies washroom is said to be the place with the most action—day or night.

****

Did you know 1: Government workers complain that their loan applications—whether for salary or housing loans—with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) have not been moving as quickly as they should because of so-called glitches in the pension fund’s computer system.

On the contrary, the Union Bank of the Philippines, which manages GSIS’s computer system, claims everything is fine and running.

Did you know 2: Development Bank of the Philippines president Reynaldo David insisted on having the last say at the rather-serious Senate hearing on the exposure of local banks in collapsed Lehman Brothers.

He greeted chairman Sen. Ed Angara a “happy birthday” on behalf of all the bankers. Naturally, everybody cracked up and the hearing ended with everybody smiling.

Did you know 3: Megaworld’s negotiations to enter a joint-venture agreement with Nayong Pilipino (NP) inside the Entertainment City project of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is still ongoing.

You see, NP head Charito Planas wants the theme park to be operational by this Christmas even if that means that Megaworld Corp. chairman Andrew Tan has to authorize three shifts of workers to work on the project round the clock.

In exchange, Megaworld wants to put up a building of its own from which it can generate income.

Meanwhile, there’s a group which wants to rent the man-made lake inside the old Nayong Pilipino near the international airport. Here’s the business concept: no-charge fishing unless you want to have your catch cooked.

****

AIG’s decision to sell its profitable Philippine operation will not only cover The Philippine-American General and Life Insurance Co. and valuable real estate such as the head office on Paseo de Roxas in Makati, the old sprawling headquarters on UN Avenue in Manila, and Philamlife president Jose Cuisia Jr.’s favorite office near his Alabang home.

AIG also has a savings bank, which rebranded only late last year under former Citibank consumer banker Joven Reyes.

And there are also AIG’s investments, including those in Shopwise (the hypermarket concept of the Tantoco Group of Rustan’s) and in Stradcom (at least for the Land Transportation Office’s computerization project).

I think the "friendly forum" bit just went out the window...

jbkayaker, relax. We aren't a first world country, and we also don't have the best reputation in the world. People are bound to have preconceptions about us. It isn't worth getting riled up about.

Old post, but me wants to reply lah...:)

Agreed! The questions were a bit naive. Now why some peeps reacted overly negative to his post is a bit wierd (from lack of adjective i used the word weird :lol:).

I think humoring maxxam80's question gave him a much better impression of us than being suspicious of his motive did...didnt it?

Going back to his questions, which I will answer in one long article...

Philippine building code and construction is one of the strictest and the strongest in the region, if not the world. That's my personal opinion. Why u say? We get hit by atleast 20 typhoos and scores of strong earthquakes each year but you dont see CNN covering a story about a skyscrapper collapsing in Manila. For those of you who were old enough to remember the 1990 Luzon earthquake, did you hear of any sky scrapper toppling down in Metro Manila during that big one? (Hyatt Baguio was an exemption. The building collapsed because it was designed to look like the Banaue rice terraces. The design could not handle the stress, plus it was built on top of a mountain amplifying the effect of the shock) That's one of the strongest earthquakes in the history of the Philippines, 7.8 or 7.7 in the reichter scale depending on the source you read and lasted for almost a minute including the aftershock. I remember it being so strong that I had to stay on my knees with both hands touching the ground so I don't go off balance from the shaking. All the sky scrappers back then are still standing today...Philippine buildings/skyscrappers are built to resist earthquakes and typhoons.

Building design is another topic.

i found this pics in multiply, credits to the photographer, mr.paelo pedrajas

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2918222661_cef98187e5.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2119/2918223989_8b853dba70.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3213/2919070418_b64471cd9a.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2919070302_7a6ed8596d.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/2919070188_1b23022972.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/2918223661_2ac81e62d6.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/2919070078_f579c9294e.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2919069950_84a1ba700f.jpg?v=0

2nd installment.. pics of paelo pedrajas

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/2918223239_91e025b597.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/2919069682_0d0120d8c3.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/2919069630_fc5b5b228b.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2918223079_edb8ac8385.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2919069358_c9f4e6f4e8.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2918222747_6394584a3e.jpg?v=0

Baywalk is pretty at night. :righton:

Havent been there in a long time. Are the street bars still there?

Baywalk is pretty at night. :righton:

Havent been there in a long time. Are the street bars still there?

not anymore. they were transfered near the malate church.

not anymore. they were transfered near the malate church.

Kaya pala ala na dun sa pics. I just heard from a freind whose friend visited there about 2 years ago I think :lol:. Nabalitaan nila ala na nga raw. so it is true pala...tnx

Dun na lang tayo mag inuman sa may church. Inuman na!!! tapos sabay simba muna bago umuwi!!! :lol:
:cheers1:

Baywalk has better lights now.

^^you mean the lightposts designs are different now?

I hope some one could post a picture of the strech of Bay walk at night and day time...pwetty pweeeezzz with arnibal on top!!!...havent seen it for more than 3 years and Im dying to see what it looks like now...:booze:

^^ go Waldenstrom! :cheers:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2922736145_4a2500c8ef_b.jpg

^^you mean the lightposts designs are different now?

The local government installed additional new street lights nearer to the shore. The old taller street lights are still there and generally well maintained.