Laguna Province

[vince_rilian]

EDIT: Los BAÑOS thread Merged with the thread: LAGUNA: Resort Province of the Philippines

original first post of Laguna thread:

Originally Posted by Skyblue_Navyblue

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Los BAÑOS - SCIENCE AND NATURE CITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
errr... well, the Science and Nature City of Los Baños (LB) is currently enjoying a booming era after the slump in sometime in 1997 (probably due to the asian financial crisis?)

i'm not sure about this, but i think the current tallest structure is the islacom (or is it a part of globe network already?) cellsite in batong malaki, not sure about the height though...

pero the tallest concrete structure? yung rizal centennary memorial carillon, designed by Leandro Locsin, sa UPLB, dunno about its height also.... there was a time (about a year and a half ago) nag jog ako and my route takes me to the carillon, parang nasa hong kong ako kasi may mga chinese (or vetnamese) nationals na nag tai-chi doon.... every morning sila eh... di ko alam kung meron pa rin ngayon...

malls? small malls only....
(inclusive of commercial centers/supermarket):

-South Supermarket (1990's) - basta malaking supermarket yun...

-Vega Centre (1998) - Mostly Dining Establishments/Restaurants/Fastfood chains

-Olivarez Plaza (1999? or 98?) - i dunno if its still owned by vice gov olivarez, rumors here and there... hehe

-Robinsons Town Mall (2001? i've forgotten...) - Super downsized robinsons place, wanna know why? because yung mga ahente (middlemen) between ng lot owners and robinsons, doubled the price of the piece (set by lot owners) of land that robinsons was interested to buy....so robinsons said no... hehehe

there are rumors of SM LB (stories consistent of its location somewhere in Maahas, near Bay).... much more now that SM Calamba will not be built (accdg. to Calambeños)... however, some say that the lot under negotiation is actually in Bay (the closed ECCO-ASIA Plant Site)... dunno...

Other Large Structures worth noting:

-APEC Center for Technology Exchange and Training for Small and Medium Enterprises (ACTETSME), Science Park, UPLB
-UPLB Main Library, Nat'l Arts Center, D.L. Umali Hall (Auditorium) and SEARCA Int'l Residence (all designed by Leandro Locsin)
-NCAS in UPLB
-New EE/CEAT Building in UPLB
-Anest Tower, and LB Doctors Hospital
-UP Open University Headquarters
- i dunno if that building is PCARRD bldg. but its somewhere in that place often referred as PCARRD, it has a very large lobby with blue colored glass facade, its concrete parts of the facade painted light golden yellow (reminded me of Shangrila Plaza)

-and the latest and most modern addition would be the Trace College Campus in Los Baños, boasting with very modern facilities (including the Trace Suites and Trace Aqua Sports Complex and Museum, host to the SEAGames Aquatics 2005)

-well, all this yaddah yaddah, but i'm sorry, i dont have pics here... lemme search the net first.... if you could find some before i could post them, then i'm inviting you to post them too...

[vince_rilian]

by the way, that TRACE Aquatics Complex costs AT LEAST 6 million US Dollars.... (roughly 324 million pesos) and thats the aquatics complex only... hehehe



here's a pic of the trace aquatics complex...the most modern aquatics complex in the philippines



UP Open University Headquarters



ACTETSME



small pic of Robinsons LB



UPLB Main Library

[Francis20]

NICE thread @ vince.
I missed the place a lot! Unfortunately, I didn't have any decent cam back in college.
Your mentioning of PCARRD reminds me of DOST Region V office near the PCARRD office. Being on the slope of Mt Makiling, these two structures enjoy a breathtaking view of Laguna and Laguna de Bay plus some part of Metro Manila. You could see Metro Manila skyline from the place.

Hay...nostalgic! Di niyo alam ang memory ng place na yan sa akin at sa aking mga kaibigan. Being DOST scholars, we have to visit the place regularly to submit a photocopy of our grades for the sem. (Pacenciya na off topic)...And sometimes, to reimburse our tickets. I remember myself walking that kilometer long (mas mahaba pa ata) stretch from the provincial road to DOST office to complete the process. Nagtitipid kasi ng pamasahe. alam niyo na...kaya nga naging scholar kasi walang pera pambayad school.

Nakakatuwa din malaman na me mga ganung ka modern facilities sa part na yun ng bundok. Hehe...pagbisita ko diyan, humanda sila...kukuha ako ng maraming photos.

[Sinjin P.]

Nice thread but is Los Baños even a city already?

[Rodel]

Yeah, Los Banos isn't a city yet!

[ritche]

at last a thread for my second hometown...

[ritche]

actually, according to my sister, LB is already qualified to be a city, just like sta. rosa and san pedro. only the mayor didn't go for it yet....

[vince_rilian]

fyi, hehehe, the status of los baños as a city is quite disputed...

On August 7, 2000, Los Baños was declared as a "Special Science and Nature City of the Philippines" through Presidential Proclamation No. 349 in recognition as a center for science and technology in the development of agriculture and preservation of the environment.

through this proclamation, los baños can be classified as a special city.... however, its government still operates as a municipality, and officially, it is still a municipality.... @ritche's sister is right, LB is already over qualified to be a city by itself, however, we residents and maybe even mayor perez and councilors realize that there's not much need to be a chartered city through congress & plebiscite YET and i think it would be better for now for LB to remain a municipality, while enjoying this boom in infrastructure as the low taxes associated with municipalities would be attractive to investors...

[demented_pigeon]

i thought munoz was a science city.

[vince_rilian]

yup, munoz is a science city, only that it is a chartered city compared to LB... i dunno why Estrada made two science cities... in just a year (or was it two years....)

i checked wikipedia and other googled pages, it turns out LB is more populous and has more scientific institutions than Muñoz... only that LB didn't take the opportunity to be a full fledged chartered city...

[demented_pigeon]

what perks or benefits does a science city get?

[JAMAICUS]

Any pics of the Rizal family's ancestral home???

[vince_rilian]

oh! rizal shrine is in calamba city, not in los baños, hehehe.... but anyway, calamba, los baños, and sto. tomas, batangas, form the urbanized area around makiling....

@demented_pigeon: i'm not sure though....

[JAMAICUS]

Oh sorry about that.... anyway, more pics of UPLB???? I know there is a modern research center within it....

[ritche]

plenty of memories at the library, as well as at the dl umali park...hmmm, the student union building will be renovated soon?

[vince_rilian]

yup, the student union building is under renovation, commercial establishments will be put up within that building to bring back the life of that building, it has a lot of potential.........

research center? which research center? hehehe, there are plenty within the campus: IRRI, PhilRice, Biotech UPLB (this is the lab referd in the Head and Shoulders commercial, CASLab, where i'm doin my thesis), IPB, NCPC, and many more....

[ritche]

i actually saw the SEA Games swimming competition in November last year at the Trace Aquatics Center...it's definitely world class!

[vince_rilian]

guys, there will be an upcoming Philippine Olympics Festival, the Aquatics Fest to be held at Trace Aquatics Center, here in LB, Laguna from June 16 to June 25... its your chance to visit the place... banners/tarpaulins are all over LB...

[Francis20]

hmm..sure. there was a ticket for the SEA games, each price at Php100 yata. how about this one? will surely go there!

[vince_rilian]

dunno about the price, well, last SEAGames, apart from the ticket for access to the aquatics complex, theres also the ticket for entering the campus... pinoy nga naman talaga oh... hehehe... but anyway, that Php 20.00 ticket (or was that 10?) is worth it since they really have great facilities... only that the space is a little crammed.