The Urban Roamer

Divisoria: Manila’s shopping mecca

August 10, 2014December 9, 2012 by The Urban Roamer

Since it’s Christmas, the Urban Roamer presents to you one of Christmastime’s favorite shopping destinations. Then again, this place is an all-time favorite shopping destination

Juan Dela Cruz Band’s “Divisoria”

If there can only be one place that would be named as THE shopping mecca in the metropolis, it would not be some fancy mall or high-end shopping district. For many not only in Metro Manila but perhaps in the entire country as well, nothing equates shopping more than that famed district in Manila that we call “Divisoria.”

But of course, Divisoria itself needs no further introduction. It has become such an iconic landmark destination that every one in the metropolis is familiar with, at the very least. It originally pertained to the area that is part of San Nicolas district, particularly the area near the district’s boundary with Binondo, hence the name “divisoria” which meant division or boundary. In recent years though, Divisoria grew that its boundaries today are no longer clearly defined as it encompassed the southern tip of Tondo and the northwest area of Binondo.

The Bonifacio according to Guillermo Tolentino

August 10, 2014November 25, 2012 by The Urban Roamer

Surprising as it may seem, there is not really much documentation about that prominent figure in Philippine history that is Andres Bonifacio. In fact, there is only one known photograph of him that exists, and he is wearing not a camisa but a coat and tie. It is the scantiness of information about him, along with the circumstances of his life and death, that the Bonifacio legend began to grow shortly after his infamous death in 1897.

For a people seeking a tangible symbol of sorts to identify themselves with, a puzzle arose as to how to depict a man like Andres Bonifacio. Thus was born the popular perception of Bonifacio as a man crying out in defiant anger, armed with a bolo on one hand and ready to charge. This image of Bonifacio became the prevalent depiction in many works of art about him that arose over the years, In one prominent example, a monument erected in memory of the First Cry of Balintawak which depicted a man with an unbuttoned camisa and holding a bolo and a flag was associated with Bonifacio even though it was not actually depicting the man.

Of railways, shopping, and Andres Bonifacio: the story of Tutuban Center

August 10, 2014November 18, 2012 by The Urban Roamer

It may be hard to imagine it today, but this particular part of Manila at first did not look like the bustling, at times chaotic, place of commercial activity that we know of today. In fact, this area was then a thriving agricultural community where the people there make a living manufacturing a coconut-based alcoholic drink called “tuba.”

It would be in this community along Azcarraga Street where a significant event would occur on November 30, 1863: the birth of who would become the founder of the secret society known as the Kataastaasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (otherwise known as the Katipunan or KKK) that would pave way for the Philippine Revolution. I’m talking about no other than the Supremo himself, Andres Bonifacio.

Gone Korean at the Korean Cultural Center

August 10, 2014November 9, 2012 by The Urban Roamer

Cultural institutions are normally associated with a country’s traditional arts and culture and the documentations and studies about them. Or at least a place where can learn foreign languages.

While it is important for one to learn and understand the arts and culture of these countries as a way to promote harmony, it is also understandable that there would be those who will find places like these as too “stiff” and “high-brow” for them to take and catering more to scholars than to regular folks who wish to know more about other cultures.

Then there is the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines, which is considered to be one of the more “hip” cultural institutions out here.