From Tunasán to Macati: a tale of two San Pedros

Some of you must have already heard that unfortunate incident which befell me and my family last summer: we received death threats from two filthy rich politicians (who are infamous power-hungry brothers from Iloílo City, if I may add) because I have been very vocal of my support for our city mayor whom they loathe so much. And because of the threat to our lives, concerned officials had to pull us out from our dear adoptive city.

Palm Sunday 2014 at the San Pedro Apóstol Parish Church two weeks before our lives were threatened.

At first, I really didn't give much attention to those threats; I found them too cowardly and hollow. But a death threat's a death threat no matter what. Maínam na raw ang nag-iiñgat. Besides, "rumors" are rife that our main antagonist ordered the assassination of a rival politician two years ago. Therefore, if it is true that he had masterminded the dastardly act to that public servant in question (and many people from his barrio do believe so), just imagine what he could he do to ordinary citizens like us here in La Familia Viajera (and on two video clips, he implicitly manifested his intent of harming us). He has several armed thugs —his private army, actually— wherever he goes. So for the sake of my wife's peace of mind and our safety, I finally gave in to the advice that it's time for us to move out.

On the evening of May 6th, immediately after filing a blotter report against those two brother thugs posing as public servants, we were escorted out of our apartment unit in haste. Noticing the firearms of those kind men who helped my family move out of our place made me realize the gravity of the death threat (looking back blithely, that thought suddenly reminded of Rocket's sarcastic "It's real!" retort to Star-Lord). And with my wife in tears and our kids puzzled with all that was happening, we bid our neighbors and our city —our home for the past decade— farewell...

But where did we go? Well, it's not exactly the type of place that fugitive families ever dreamed of going...

The official seal of Makati City, historically known as San Pedro Macati.

My apologies if I started this blogpost with negative vibes and bad people. This blog is supposed to be family friendly and filled only with joyful pictures and words about my family's travels. But I just felt the need to share our plight to you to explain the cause of our sudden exodus to San Pedro Macati City. Oh, yes, you read that right. The traditionalist that I am, I prefer to call Makati City by its original name: San Pedro Macati, much like the way I refer to San Pedro City as San Pedro Tunasán.

And I think by now, you should be able to see some similarities and differences between the two cities. When West was fused with East, both of their native titles were attached to the Spanish name of Saint Peter the Apostle. A coincidence? Also, the peculiar thing is that the other city lost its native name later on (City of San Pedro) while the other one lost its saintly appelation (Makati City). A reverse parallelism?

Be that as it may, these quirks of history that were tied up to our predicament was not lost on me, and they amazed my wife and our kids. We left San Pedro Tunasán but moved to another San Pedro — San Pedro Macati, that is.

And speaking of our kids, all of them were born in San Pedro Macati! In fact, my wife is scheduled to give birth to our fifth child tomorrow morning (August 11, Monday; please pray for her and the baby), on the same hospital where all our children first saw not the light of day but the bright lights of the delivery room.

Another interesting note to ponder: the evolution of the early communities of both San Pedro Macati and San Pedro Tunasán were under the guidance of the Jesuit fathers. Macati was founded as a población in 1620 while Tunasán in 1725 (and not 1763 as is frequently reported). Was attaching the name San Pedro to both places intentional? Were they meant to be "twin towns"? After all, both Macati and Tunasán are only about 23 kilometers away from each other, aside from the fact that both are very close to Laguna de Bay.

Mómay y Yeyette delante de la Iglesia de San Pedro Macati.

As a Spanish-created community, today's skyscrapered city of Makati used to be a rustic territory of the arrabal or district of Santa Ana de Sapa (or simply Santa Ana today) in Manila. In 1670, it became a full-fledged municipality bearing the name San Pedro Macati whose matrix is situated, as always, in the población. Locals call it endearingly as "Sampiro", an indigenized pronunciation of San Pedro. From historian extraordinaire Nick Joaquín who, as a child, used to spend summer vacations in San Pedro Macati's Barrio Olimpia by the Pásig River, we can get a glimpse of the city's yesteryears as completely rustic, pastoral, rural:

...Sampiro was then pure boondocks, very different from today's ultra-modern Makati. What's now Ayala Avenue and Forbes Park was then rice paddy, fodder field, and carabao wallow.

Ayala Center (North Drive) at night.

It was the Zóbel de Ayala family who turned San Pedro Macati into the economic behemoth that it is today. The city's main attraction, the Makati Central Business District, is the sole reason why it is called "The Financial District of the Philippines" since the head offices of many of the country's biggest multinational corporations, law firms, construction firms, stock brokerages, and banks are located here. High-end malls, private homes, and condominiums also abound all over the place. Beautifully designed skyscrapers are a trademark feature of Makati City for years that whenever one speaks of a Philippine urban setting, that city automtically comes to mind.

Incidentally, Makati's "twin", the City of San Pedro, seems to be headed towards the same direction already trodden by the former because the current administration's "San Pedro Urban Renewal" project (an offshoot of the much larger San Pedro Road Map 2020) is dead set of equalling —if not surpassing— the economic and cultural achievements of the latter. Such, in brief, is the tale of these two San Pedros by the great lake.

Mirrored selfie at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4.

At Greenbelt Park on Momay's 10th birthday.

Skyline of Makati City.
© mjlsha

Washington Sycip Park.

And what of our status? For security purposes, I cannot divulge much. All I can say is that, quite ironically, instead of hiding, we've been touring much that there is to visit since our exile to San Pedro Macati. So in the coming blogposts, we'll share more photos and stories of our viajeng Macati. I might even one day thank the Brothers Ynión (Eugenio and Rommel) for threatening to kill us. Because if not for their pompous mafioso attitude, we wouldn't have enjoyed and got to know San Pedro Macati up close and personal.

Yeah, such are the quirks not only history but of happenstance.

The Alas kids at the Legazpi Active Park.