The Urban Roamer

calamity in the city: Typhoon Ondoy’s fury

May 9, 2014October 1, 2009 by The Urban Roamer

The events during the last weekend of September (from the 26th-27th) was something for the record books, as the country, and Metro Manila in particular, bore witness to what was probably one of the most severe storms that have ravaged the city in recent memory.

While there have been many storms in the past (especially the ones I can recall from way back) that have caused much damage to the city throughout history,the damage done by those typhoons was nothing compared to what Typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) in just a day or two. People say it was the worst flooding Metro Manila has experienced since the early 1970’s.

Bacood untied

May 9, 2014September 24, 2009 by The Urban Roamer

Situated along the banks of the rivers Pasig and San Juan, quite removed from the busy and traffic-laden streets of Manila’s Santa Mesa district is a community (more like a subdistrict or a sitio of sorts) known as Bacood. Bacood’s name comes from the Tagalog word “bakood” which would mean either an elevated area or a cane plantation. It has been said that the area back then served as a plantation for various crops. But in the early days, Bacood was known as Cordeleria, a Spanish term for a shop that sells ropes. This was because the place back then was the center of rope-making and selling activity in Manila and in surrounding suburbs. One of those people who owned such a business was a Katipunero named Sancho Valenzuela, who would soon lead a failed assault against the Spaniards at the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in 1896 and became one of the first martyrs of the Revolution. His memory now since invoked in the naming of the street that leads to Bacood.

at the Philippine Bar Exams 2009 (Day 2)

May 6, 2014September 15, 2009 by The Urban Roamer

Outside collegiate sports, I cannot think of any event that makes a show out of academic pride and spirit other than the Philippine Bar Exams. (those who disagree with this are welcome to voice their opinions though)

Held on four successive Sundays of September every year, hundreds of law graduates take (or retake) the bar exams, hoping to make the cut and become a full-fledged practitioner of law here in the country.

Traditionally, the exams were held at the De La Salle University campus in Taft Avenue, Manila since the school is one of the few universities before that did not have a law school. But with the news that DLSU plans to have its own law college, the holding of future bar exams there seem uncertain at this point. For now, this year’s bar exams are still held at the DLSU campus.

in memoriam: SM Megamall’s Ice Skating Rink

May 6, 2014September 8, 2009 by The Urban Roamer

To be honest, I was not surprised to see it coming as the rumors have been circulating its impending demise for a long time. Then again, I was also hoping these rumors would remain as they are: just rumors that are to be taken with a grain of salt.

So when I visited SM Megamall earlier this week, I was surprised to see this:

To think that the place was still there 2 weeks ago when I last came here, that was quick.