As part of the changes set for The Urban Roamer, the site will be having some features once in a while called “Roamer tidbits.” This will be a feature related to news regarding this site or exclusive events attended by the Urban Roamer as deemed appropriate
The Urban Roamer was honored to be part of the recent Bloggers’ Night 2014, held at the Megaworld showroom at McKinley Hill (which was convenient for me since my workplace. was just a few blocks away) This event was hosted by FAME Publishing, the folks behind the publications H&L, Zen Health, Diabetease, Travel Plus, among others. My deep thanks to the folks over at FAME Publishing for the invite.*
*That being said, let me disclose that I am not a contributor for any of the publications of FAME. At least not yet at this time of writing.
It is that time of the year once again! The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) recently opened its doors to everyone, especially those who are passionate about Philippine arts, for this year’s open-house arts festival at the CCP known as Pasinaya.
Many of us may not know what the word “precast” means or what it’s about, but its importance in the shaping of the urban landscape that we know today cannot be emphasized well enough. We may not know it, but the sights we see in our city from the classical monuments to the columnar designs to the ornamental details of edifices, they all have precast figured into their designs.
But apologies for getting myself go further without explaining what precast is about. Anyway, it is defined as a material, usually of concrete or plaster, that is cast in a mold to be brought to a site for installation. Precast comes in many forms, the more common perhaps would be what is called “ornamental precast” which is used primarily as a decoration element with organic or geometric designs.
Ornamental precast in itself is something that requires skill and artistry that has to be done by skilled hands and not left to modern automated methods that are employed in many fields today. Luckily, there are a few that still specialize in creating and installing works made in ornamental precast. In the Philippines, one name stands out as the oldest and one of the leading (if not the leading) craft house that specialize in it. Its name speaks for itself: the House of Precast.
With so many residential enclaves found in this metropolis to serve as home to its growing population, (housing issues aside, but that’s another story) a few can perhaps rival the colorful history and vibrant atmosphere of this residential community in the southern part of the metropolis. Today, the Urban Roamer will be exploring BF Homes Parañaque. which was also known largest residential community, even in Asia.
Beginnings of BF Homes
Telling the story BF Homes Parañaque would not be complete without mentioning the pioneering efforts of the man who envisioned it, Tomas Aguirre. Coming from a family whose business was, and still is, mainly in the pawnshop business, he wanted to venture beyond the pawnshop business, Thus, he established Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank* in 1964. With its innovations introduced in the Philippine banking industry, the bank soon became one of the top savings banks in the country, and its success gave Aguirre the needed capital to venture in a new business: land development.
an Aguirre pawnshop in BF Homes, possibly owned by an Aguirre kin
Aguirre set his sights to develop on what was then a sprawling 768-hectare agricultural land in straddling mainly Parañaque and neighboring towns of Las Piñas and Muntinlupa. With Banco Filipino’s stellar reputation then, he decided to append the bank’s initials in the realty development he established: BF Homes Incorporated. What was to become BF Homes was opened up for sale in 1968; from then until the 1970s sales skyrocketed as more and more families settled in, transforming a vast farmland into a bustling residential community of mostly middle-class households.
Along with the bustling property sales and the growing population in the area as a result, the BF Homes area, and southern Greater Manila as a whole, experienced a significant boost in commercial activity.
