ILOILO: HEART of the PHILIPPINES

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

The biggest mall in the region gets even bigger as SM City Iloilo gears up for expansion and more development. Information from all over the internet reveals that the mall is not going only to expand the main building but also complement the existing structure with other developments.From  the projects contractor's website  MONOLITH , here's how the expansion building will look with the construction details. Online information ( unofficial ) state the following developments for SM City Iloilo: INJAP Tower across SM City Iloilo provides a bird's eye view of the mall's expansion. A 4-level mall expansion (to be "attached" to the current building ) which is rumored to include stores like Forever 21, Uniqlo, Vikings Buffet , among others. Public transport terminal being constructed in front on the existing building with access to the pedestrian overpass New SM City Iloilo jeepney terminal under construction. A 150-room hote