ILOILO: HEART of the PHILIPPINES

Photo from Barbas_Bigote of Urbanscape Philippines Forum Click image to enlarge Slated to open by March 2016 is Robinson's Place Jaro located at the former site of De Paul College Iloilo along E. Lopez Street. The newest mall in Jaro distirct will have a total Gross Floor Area of 30,000 sq m and Gross Leasable Area of 23,000+ sqm good for 250 tenants Photo from Manila Bulletin Anchor stores will be Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Grocery, Handyman, Robinsons Appliance Center and Robinsons Cinemas. It will also have boutique shops, fastood chains, cafes and restaurants. (NOTE: De Paul College has stopped functioning as a school for years now. Much of the property has been sold (or leased?). Robinsons Place Jaro will stand on the lot/football field. The main building, to the right, of the former school will be untouched.) As of July 2016 (c.o Bryan Laude and Vener Galono FB) Photo by BluSparks

River crusin' along the Iloilo River Photo by Ross John Peconcillo A cruise on the Iloilo River - once a dream, now it's quite becoming a reality.  Cruise Boats powered by Solar energy will soon become Iloilo's newest attraction Photo by Mike Caling from Mayor Jed's FB Page As announced in the Facebook Page of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog , the first solar cruise boat in the country will officially open to the public soon. With a capacity of 40 persons, this flat bottomed and roof boat is among the two boats that will see action on the Iloilo River.  The first one is a donation from the One Meal Foundation and another one (to follow soon) will come from DENR.  These solar river cruise boats is part of the APEC 2015 preparations wherein the beauty of the Iloilo River as well as developments alongside it will be showcased to the delegates. It is also part of the award-winning redevelopment plan of Iloilo City for the upcoming internationa

'Tis the time of the year when excitement builds up as everyone prepares to " deck the halls with boughs of holly ", or waiting for someone who " is coming to town ". While some are getting ready to " rock the night away " or just do some " pa rum pum pum pum ", other just prefer a " silent night ". No matter what the choices are, it only means one thing - Christmas is really just around the corner! And so SM City Iloilo brought the Yuletide cheers by sharing A Christmas Moment with the Ilonggos  as it unveiled its MerrySMChristmas centerpiece with musical spectacle. SM City Iloilo mall manager Gilbert Domingo welcomed guests and while Iloilo City Mayor delivered a cheerful message of thanks to SM for its support to the development of the city. The event also launched SM Cares'  Bears of Joy project that will bring cheers to the less fortunate children this Christmas. For PhP200, donors will get two stuffed bears

I renewed my Philippine Passport (expiring next month) yesterday at the Department of Foreign Affairs regional consular office inside Robinsons Place Iloilo. And it was just a short 2-3 hours of transaction or it could have been shorter if I already knew a tip or two Opened only last February of 2014, the (relocation of the) DFA regional consular office at the 3rd level of Robinsons Place Iloilo is among the government's thrusts of making its services more convenient, accessible and available to the people. I've applied and renewed my Philippine passport at the old DFA office along Yulo Street before and back then it was already sort of orderly and convenient. But nothing beats the convenience the new DFA has to offer on top of the prime location. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT REMINDER: -------------------------------------------------------------------- On-Line appointment through  http://www.passport.com

Iloilo City recently made headlines when it was declared as among the winners of the 1st Livable Cities Design Challenge. The said competition seeks to encourage cities to plan and design their cities for resilience and livability. The objectives of the competition is to get city planners to better plan their respective cities for a climate-defined future. At the same time, city planners will be encouraged to design livable cities that offer safety, convenience, livelihood, lifestyle, and sustainability, thus attracting people to live, work and play, further enhancing the overall competitiveness of their cities. The Livable Cities Design Challenge conceptualized by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) in March 2014 together with the following institutions:  Asia Society Philippines, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction (ASSURE), APEC 2015 National Organizing Council (APEC 2015  – NOC), Microsoft Philippines, Urban Land Institute Philippines and the World Wide F

Recognized as the first SM built outside Manila, SM Delgado has been delighting the Ilonggos for more than 35 years with shopping, food, grocery and other conveniences. SM Delgado in the 80s Photo from Old Iloilo FB Page From a single building back in 1979, it grew to two buildings in the 80s. Then the two buildings were connected and a mezzanine level was built. Eventually in 2005, coinciding with its 25th year anniversary, it was relaunched into a mini-mall with anchor  stores like the SM Store, SM Grocery, SM Appliance Center, BDO and ACE Hardware (situated in an annex building). The newly launched SM Delgado in 2004 Photo from JRP Design Inc Now, on its 35th year, renders of a more modern SM Delgado surfaced online from design firm Point Design Inc. , speculating a bigger and better renovation works for the three and a half decade SM Store. Though, there's no official press release about the said expansion - only this set of 5 photos. Everything's sti