They don't call this beauty Greenbelt Park for nothing!

Greenbelt Park has been living up to its name — as a quaint, green world tucked within the ultramodern trappings of an award-winning mall!

La Familia Viajera kids enjoying the pool with its fishes and turtles.

Ate Krystal!

I've been telling my kids that back in the day, Macati, Quezon City, and San Juan (particularly Greenhills) were the only places people frequented to do their shopping, groceries, and other money splurging activities: watching movies, night-out with friends, etc.. For us southerners (I grew up in the Parañaque-Las Piñas area), Macati was the place to be. Back then, much of Metro Manila was not as highly urbanized as they are today. And there were very few malls, most of which are located on those three places I cited above. Krystal was surprised to learn that me, her Tito Jason (my brother), and Abuela Tess (my mom) had to travel all the way to Macati just to buy groceries. It was that "difficult" many years ago (gosh, I feel so old). But we do that only once or twice a month, particularly it's time to receive money from dad who was abroad during those years. The construction of SM Southmall and SM City Sucat in 1995 and 2001 respectively proved to be a shocker for all of us living south of the National Capital Region as we were accustomed to EDSA being the malling area of the metropolis.

Enjoying a shaded moment.

As a young boy, one of the places that we visited during those monthly sojourns to Macati is Greenbelt. But not as frequent as SM Makati, Landmark, and QUAD (now Glorietta). Those three were the only establishments we usually visited because Greenbelt was tucked deep within Ayala Center. Back then, there was only one Greenbelt to speak of, and with much space for parking lots. But now, there are five Greenbelts. The spacious parking lots of Ayala Center disappeared during the last decade to give way to mall expansions (nowadays, parking lots are either underground or in small buildings serving as car parks to save more space).

Now THIS is a true jump shot!

I remember Greenbelt as the quietest place in Macati, hugged by the deep green colors of garden vegetation: huge leafy tree trunks hovering above with vines hanging down to touch the heads and shoulders of busy people walking on concrete. If memory serves well, Greenbelt Park was much smaller compared to today, and the only serene area was the one surrounding its circular chapel, Santo Niño de Paz. As much as I can remember, most of this chapel's physical features, particularly its familiar concrete dome, is still well-preserved.

Today, Greenbelt Park is still serene, but more spacious and with more greenery than before. Its landscaped gardens filled with ornate trees and trimmed hedges are a sight to behold. Birds and butterflies flutter here and there. There's even a man-made lake shaped like a tadpole (I do not remember that lake being there during my childhood) and is filled with brightly colored koy fishes and turtles large enough to be carried by two hands. The head of this tadpole-shaped lake points northwestward towards Calle de la Rosa and Avenida Ayala (Ayala Avenue). At the center of this head is where the old chapel is located, virtually serving as the lake's island. The chapel can be accessed by three covered foot bridges connected to a walkway coursing throughout the park. The tail of this tadpole lake is shaped like a river and swishes on a southeasterly direction, pointing towards Greenbelt Drive and Calle Esperanza. Foreign-looking ducks roam the park freely. They seem to be already accustomed to people who, thankfully, enjoy merely gazing at them (well, its Ayala Center).

With our birthday boy! All pictures from this blog were taken during his 10th birthday last May 13 during the feast day of Nuestra Señora de Fátima.

If you notice, my childhood memories of Greenbelt Park and its old malling area (now Greenbelt 1) are a bit shady because we didn't frequent the place that much. I remember only snippets of it. But yes, the dominant color of those vague memories was green. But when my children grow up, they will surely have tons of greener memories of this place. Remember that we took refuge in Macati last summer. As a matter of fact, we were here at this park almost every day last May since it's just walking distance from the place where we transferred to.

"All in green went my love riding!"

One of the best things we like about this park is that nobody's minding the crazy things we're doing on the grass!

This beautifully landscaped park is surrounded by high-end boutiques and department stores, sit-down restaurants, and bars which enliven the place at night!

Krystal by the turtle-like concrete dome of the Santo Niño de la Paz Chapel.

Momay and Juanito beside the chapel's old bell.

Juanito and Jefe examining this Tug-Of-War bronze sculpture right outside the chapel.

A carabao each for my boys!

Juanito's wondering how he can reach those ducks without getting wet.

Capilla de Santo Niño de Paz.

This snow-white cat is unmindful of shoppers and passersby while having its siesta. Even my wife's presence didn't bother it.

Yeyette and Juanito.

There's an area in Greenbelt Park (Greenbelt 5) called "ArtPark" which features avant garde sculptor Eduardo Castrillo's peculiarly shaped bronze and brass sculptures amid a sea and shade of green.

¡Felicitaciones a la Familia Zóbel de Ayala

por hacer reluciente de limpio este

parque lleno de verdor y belleza!

Click here for more of our green adventures in Greenbelt Park! ¡Hasta la vista!

Sunday meetup at Greenbelt and Glorietta

As mentioned in an earlier blogpost, we were compelled to move to San Pedro Macati —now known as Makati— last summer because of the death threats we received after I incurred the evil wrath of two power-hungry politicians from Iloílo. A few days after moving in to our "hiding place", we arranged a meetup with my sisters for a merienda to tell them about our ordeal. But it wasn't all that bad. After all, Makati is Makati, where the sights and sounds never fail to entertain and captivate the senses.

We had our rendezvous at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4.

Here's my family with my sisters Jennifer (seated) and Jessica (standing). If I am not mistaken, this is the biggest Powerbooks branch. It was also here where me and Arnaldo Arnáiz met historian Ambeth Ocampo and well-known travel blogger Glenn Martínez for the first time in 2008. At that time, this branch was then known as "Powerbooks Live!"

Jefe and Momay below Powerbooks' famous logo.

Reflected selfie.

Little Juanito holding our purchases.

After our purchases and checking out a couple of books, we proceeded to newly opened Pizza Warehouse in Glorietta 3. My sisters were the ones who found out about it. After trying out its pizza a few days before, they were hooked. And so were we. It has since become Yeyette's favorite pizza.

This store opened only a few days before, hence the balloons.

Look at the huge excitement on the faces of Jennifer and Krystal!

This huge and satisfying 18" combo pizza can certainly fill you up! It's all worth it!

Family friend Valerie Devulder joins us. This multitalented French-Filipina stunner is the granddaughter of National Artist Francisco Coching. Like her grandfather, Valerie is also into arts (painting) aside from being a captivating flamenco dancer. She was one of the performers during my "tertulia filipina" wedding reception with Yeyette last year.

Me and my sisters Jennifer and Jessica.

After parting with my sisters and Valerie, we proceeded to Family Mart also in Glorietta 3 for more snacks before going back to our "hiding place". It's a convenience store but much larger compared to the usual ones we're familiar with (such as 7-Eleven and Ministop), and it's family oriented too.

Click here for the complete photo album! And please stay tuned for more of our exodus to San Pedro Macati. ¡Hasta la vista!

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.