The Urban Roamer has talked about a few times about Intramuros’ past grandeur as the city’s, and the country’s, spiritual center. The “Vatican of the East” if you may, thanks in part to the dominating presence of eight Catholic churches in the Walled City. But as we all know, World War II changed drastically the landscape of this part of the city. And as far as those churches go, only one managed to remain largely intact: the San Agustin Church. Two of the churches were eventually rebuilt on their original sites, with one of those two only rebuilt just recently after decades in idle development. Two others were also rebuilt…
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An SM Mall Story (As Told By 3 Malls) – Part 5: Revisiting and Expanding
Even after making a mark in the metropolitan landscape, SM is still working on making their 3 flagship SM malls bigger than ever.
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An SM Mall Story (As Told By 3 Malls) – Part 2: A City Opens in the North
The second part of the Urban Roamer's SM mall story looks at how SM City North EDSA first defined the PH mall experience.
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Balara’s Hidden Park
Whenever one hears the mention of the place called Balara (or, more formally, Matandang Balara), it evokes either of the two things: being the area right across the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus and being the center of the metropolis’ waterworks authority. Even in the current setup where Metro Manila’s waterworks administration is divided between Maynilad Water Services Inc. in the western portion and Manila Water Company in the eastern part, both companies as well as the government body that oversees them, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) are still based in the Balara compound. Inscribed at the top of the gate of the Balara compound is the…
