Something is Brewing in Greenhills

View of Greenhills Shopping Center from the roofdeck carpark

When someone wants to buy fake shoes, bags, shirts, watches, clothes, heck! Almost everything you’d imagine to be a copy. But there’s a transformation brewing inside Greenhills Shopping Center, hopefully to decongest the nighmarish traffic and improve its reputation for providing things beyond fake items.

I came across an e-mail from my high school alma mater’s (La Salle Green Hills) alumni association where it was encouraging members to invest in one of the four high-rise condominiums inside the shopping complex, in return for a portion of the list price being donated to the association’s projects like the adult night school, scholarship funds and outreach programs.

I didn’t know that for 80 years, Ortigas and Company has been developing prestigious communities such as Greenhills subdivisions, Greenmeadows and Valle Verde. There are newer development projects like the Luntala Valle Verde, Ortigas. However, Greenhills Shopping Center has been a melting pot of different religions, races and views for the past decades, and has been a hub for bargain hunters and value-shoppers, so to speak. Today, it is undergoing a redevelopment plan that hopes to transform itself into a complete live, work and play community.

The plan calls for doubling the shopping space that will enhance the “tiangge” shopping style while allowing for a wider array of well-known fashion and lifestyle brands. This will be supported by improvements in the entertainment corridor that includes more dining options, as well as cinemas that showcase the latest in digital technology. In the middle of these, the plan calls for bringing back the community gathering place feel, like the Avenida de Ortigas and the Spanish Steps. An underground parking is under development, to be operational by December this year. And soon, enjoy life in a more personal way at Viridian, the first luxury condominium to rise in Greenhills Shopping Center.

And so the saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words.”

“Greenhills, I’m looking forward to this awesome transformation!”

Top title photo by elaineverri at Flickr.com

Other images and photos are the property of the La Salle Green Hills Alumni Association (LSGHAA) and GH Heritage Realty Inc.

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The redevelopment plan of Greenhills Shopping Center

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More shopping, dining and entertainment choices

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Artist's perspective of the redevelopment plans

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Some actual photographs

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Philippine Tourism Budget Increased for Mindanao

Colorful vinta sails overlooking Basilan Strait

The former Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), now called the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), has recently reported to allocate more money to develop the tourism industry in Mindanao. The southern region of the Philippines garnered a 35 percent share of the TIEZA budget, up from the usual seven to ten percent the past decade. This was announced by Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

She added that MinDA shall continue in its efforts to secure financing support for the Mindanao initiatives by engaging more public-private partnerships while advocating for a fair share in the national budget. According to the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Development Framework Plan (Mindanao 2020), tourism development “can be a win-win for the economy and environment and must be pursued vigorously through policy reform and public investments. The promotion of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) as premier ecotourism destination also provides substantial growth potential in Mindanao tourism.

Read more at Minda News

Photo by eric_m.e. at Flickr.com

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Philippines and Vietnam Sign Open Skies Agreement

Photo of Vietnam Airlines

The Philippines and Vietnam have recently signed its latest bilateral agreement in announcing an open skies deal, liberalization air rights between the two countries. Based on the new deal, Manila and Ho Chi Minh cities will both allow 2,650 seats per week of travel.

“The provision for unlimited flights to all points outside Manila is in line with the government’s efforts to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, while at the same time promote countryside development,” writes Paolo G. Montecillo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Source: Asia News Network

Photo by tuvancong2003 at Flickr.com

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Lea Salonga to Judge 2011 Miss Universe in Brazil

Lea Salonga has been chosen to be a judge in the live telecast of the 2011 Miss Universe beauty pageant to be held in Sao Paolo, Brazil

The Philippines’ very own Lea Salonga, globally acclaimed for her role in the musical Miss Saigon of which she a Tony and numerous other awards, has been asked by no other than Donald Trump to be one of the judges in the upcoming Miss Universe beauty pageant. The other judges include Connie Chung, Helios Castroneves, Vivica Fox, Isabeli Fontana, Amelia Vega, and Adrienne Maloof.

The 60th Miss Universe Pageant will be broadcast live from Credicard Hall in São Paulo on September 12, 2011 (the morning of September 13, 2011, in the Philippines). The Miss Universe Organization is a joint venture between tycoon Donald Trump and NBC Universal. Online voting began last August 19 and will end on September 11 at www.missuniverse.com.

Representing the Philippines is Shamcey Supsup

The Philippines’ candidate in the pageant is Shamcey Supsup, a University of the Philippines (UP) magna cum laude architecture graduate, who hails from General Santos City in Mindanao. She topped the architecture licensure examinations in the Philippines last year and was recently given special recognition by the UP Alumni Association.

Sources: Yahoo! News | Lea Salonga Office Website | Miss Universe Official Website

Photo items from LeaSalonga.com and MissUniverse.com

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Filipino-American Victims to be Remembered at 9-11 Anniversary Memorial Services

Second plane strike at the World Trade Center on 9/11

Filipino-American organizations are commemorating and remembering the 20 victims of the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001, twenty people who had Filipino origins. Two of those were actually on board the planes that hit the twin towers. Their biographies will be read at the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Vigil for Filipino American Families on Sept. 9, 2011, from 7pm to 9pm at the Asian American Writers Workshop, 110-112 West 27th Street, Sixth Floor, New York, NY. This event is open to the public.

The sponsors of the event are as follows:

• Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Metro New York Chapter;
• Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI);
• Kalusugan Coalition, Inc.;
• Damayan Migrant Workers Association;
• Collaborative Opportunities for Raising Empowerment (CORE);
• Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE);
• UniPro, BaranGAY, NYU International Filipino Association (IFA);
• Outstanding Filipino Americans (TOFA) in New York Committee.

There was also one other Filipino-American who died in the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

The name-reading activity was suppose to be part of the upcoming memorial celebrations but Mayor Bloomberg decided to scrap this tradition. A lot of the family members were angered when this announcement was made, saying the reading should remain part of the ceremonies. Still, there are others who agree to discontinue it as a requirement.

Half-way around the world, Marie Rose Abad, a New York-born daughter from an Italian immigrant family and one of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, has her name emblazoned in a village in the Philippines called the Marie Rose Abad Village where her Philippine-born American husband, Rudy Abad, had a community of about 50 one-story houses built in 2004 in her memory. Marie Rose was a senior executive at the 89th-floor office of the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods when the second plane slammed the building.

The 21 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who died in the World Trade Center attacks and the Pennsylvania plane crash were the following:

• Grace Alegre Cua;
• Cesar A. Alviar;
• Marlyn C. Bautista;
• Cecile M. Caguicla;
• Jayceryll M. de Chavez;
• Benilda Pascua Domingo;
• Judy Hazel Fernandez;
• Ramon Grijalvo;
• Frederick Kuo Jr.;
• Arnold A. Lim;
• Manuel L. Lopez;
• Carl Allen Peralta;
• Maria Theresa Santillan;
• Rufino Conrado (Roy) F. Santos;
• David Marc Sullins;
• Hilario (Larry) S. Sumaya;
• Hector Tamayo;
• Cynthia Betita Motus Wilson;
• Ronald Gamboa (plane crash);
• Ruben Ornedo (plane crash);
• Manolito Kaur (plane crash).

Both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama are expected to attend the Ground Zero memorial services. The 9/11 attacks claimed the lives of 2,977 people, including 246 victims on the four planes and 411 emergency workers from the FDNY, NYPD, PAPD and EMT.

Sources: Inquirer Global Nation | Filipino Reporter | Huffington Post | Wikipedia

Photo by stevenbaker at Flickr.com

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