Refuge

Hidden among the tall office and condominium buildings of Ortigas Center is the tiny Ortigas Park, which has several cafés nearby. We were there on New Year's Eve—the first time I've been there—and most of the benches were occupied, I assume by residents of the many condominiums in the area. Metro Manila needs more havens like it.

Hacienda

The commercial, residential and shopping complexes that are now Greenhills and Ortigas Center, which straddle four cities in Metro Manila, began as part of the estate of the Augustinian Order in the Philippines. The religious order sold 4,033 hectares to a group of prominent Spanish-Filipino businessmen in 1920 who called it Hacienda de Mandaloyon (or Mandaloyong). This relief map of the origins of the area—and the history of the company that founded it—is in the tiny Ortigas Park.

Solo act

At the Ortigas Park.

Third

The son of Francisco Ortigas (Don Paco), Francisco Jr. (Don Paquito), was the president of Ortigas and Company from 1935 to 1998, and it was he who led the development of Hacienda de Mandaloyon into what is now some of the busiest areas of the cities of Pasig, San Juan, Mandaluyong and Quezon. Don Paquito's son Rafael also became a president of the company and he established its corporate social responsibility arm, the Ortigas Foundation. I couldn't find anything about him, but I assume that the third person in this third relief at the Ortigas Park, Joaquin Ramirez, was also a president of Ortigas and Company.

Of car parks and malls

I don't have figures to back me up, but I honestly believe that Metro Manila has more malls and shopping centers per square kilometer than any other city in the world. The stretch of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) between Ortigas Avenue and Shaw Boulevard in the cities of Pasig and Mandaluyong has five malls, and there are two more within walking distance. You're seeing two in this photo. I'm standing on the 7th level of the car park building at the east side of Shangri-La Plaza mall looking northwest. The area with lots of trees is the mall's open car park, and the yellowish building to the left is its other car park building. I don't know what the low white building after the trees is—I suspect it's a power generator—but it belongs to SM Megamall, which is the long white and blue building on the right receding to the distance. The wavy roof in its open car park is the pedestrian walk which leads from EDSA to the mall. You can also see the elevated track of the Metro Rail Transit System, better known as the MRT, on EDSA. And notice the tall tower on the right? That's the Galleria Corporate Center and at its base is the Robinson's Galleria, the third of the five malls in this stretch.

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