A giant in Philippine telecoms

Another round of introductions today, this time with one of the Philippines' most powerful men, who happens to still be eligible too. Manuel V. Pangilinan is the Chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the country's largest telecommunications company, and Smart Communications, the country's leading and most popular cellphone company. That's just the tip of the iceberg but I am not about to list all his positions in the many other private companies, sports commissions and social development organizations that he is involved with in the Philippines. Let me just add that he is also the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Pacific, a Hong Kong-based investment and management company with operations all over Asia. He is turning 63 today so: Happy Birthday, Mr. Pangilinan!

Rough rear

This is the Giant Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) at the Manila Ocean Park. According to the sign beside its tank, it is the largest living arthropod in the world and is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years. Because it is a particularly old species of crab, it is often referred to as a living fossil. I think he got tired of all the people staring at him and all I could photograph was his rear end.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

This should have been scenic

Standing on the outer walls of Fort Santiago beside the Pasig River, one can look east and see Binondo (Manila's Chinatown) across the river and the Manila Central Post Office building just beyond Jones Bridge. The 25-kilometer Pasig River connects Laguna de Bay (the largest lake in the Philippines) and Manila Bay. During the Spanish colonial era, it was a very important transport route, but because of uncontrolled population growth and industrialization after WWII, the river was neglected. Factories and scores of informal settlers on its banks dumped—and continue to dump—their waste in it, using it as their personal sewage system. Since the 1990s, the Pasig River has been considered ecologically dead. Needless to say, its pollution also affects Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. There have been several attempts to gather support for the river's rehabilitation through the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, but they have been intermittent and never gained much ground. With 50,000 to 100,000 potential voters settled (illegally) on its banks, and national elections coming up next year, I don't think that any attempt to rehabilitate the river will succeed any time soon.

A butterfly's sister

Meet Pia Guballa, an 18-year-old freshman Psychology major who has a passion for photography. When she was seven years old, her brother Migi, who was only four at the time, died of a congenital heart disease called Tetralogy of Fallot. As a way of providing her an outlet for her grief, her mother Cathy gave her a journal to write or draw anything every time she remembered her little brother. So she did. And this year, Cathy and Pia re-wrote one of those stories and turned it into a children's book illustrated by Frances Alcaraz. It is the story of Migi's hospitalization and death from the point of view and experiences of Pia as a little girl, and is the first of a series of special topics for children planned by Anvil Publishing. It's about time.

The first 'black pope'

This is the statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) which stands inside the main campus of the Ateneo de Manila University. Ignatius (also Iñigo or Ignacio) is the Basque founder of the Society of Jesus. The sculpture depicts an important moment in his life, when he decided to turn his back on his military past and dedicate the rest of his life to following and serving God. He went to the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat where he left his sword and military vestments before an image of Mary. If you look closely, you'll notice that the sword is chained to Ignatius' wrist. It's an almost-irresistible temptation for graduating students who want a special memento of their Ateneo years. It's still the rainy season in the Philippines and our skies in Metro Manila have been this dreary almost everyday this past week.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Soft and silken

One of the most common street snacks in the Philippines is taho, though it probably came to us through China. It only has three ingredients: fresh soft tofu, arnibal (a syrup made from caramelized brown sugar), and tiny sago pearls. It's filling, high in protein, provides a quick dose of energy because of the sugar, and, most importantly for many Filipinos, it's cheap. This serving in a regular-sized plastic cup costs only 10 pesos (US¢20) and they're available in the smaller, water cooler-sized cup for half the price. Don't let its looks deceive you—taho is delicious! You can see a taho vendor in one of my Baguio City Series posts from last year.

Rainforest waterfall

The most beautiful environment of the Manila Ocean Park is the Agos (flow) section. Ferns, vines and a waterfall provide a wonderful and dramatic backdrop to the fish tanks that contain creatures found in river ecosystems, like the Giant Arapaima which I posted back in March.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

Operatic

Those who visit this blog regularly may have noticed by now that I have a thing for restaurant interiors. This is Café Puccini, an Italian restaurant at the Fort Strip in Taguig City's Bonifacio Global City. In this case, it was the stone oven and the golden chandelier that caught my eye. Our shy server didn't quite know where to look when she saw me taking pictures in her direction.

The east concessionaire

Back in 1997, the water distribution system of Metro Manila was privatized to raise much-needed revenue for the government and to provide better services. The metro was divided between two companies, with the Manila Water Company getting the eastern areas. The initial contract with the government-owned Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) is for 25 years but just last month, the contract had already been extended for another 15 years. I'm glad. They have been replacing old water pipes throughout their service areas and, aside from the fact that this conserves precious clean water, ever since Manila Water took over we have had no problems with weak water pressure or, worse, interrupted water supply—not uncommon in the years before 1997.

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The verdict is out: the August 1 theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is Night. And don't forget to vote for the September theme!

Challenged

I've shown you photos of the pretty rooftop gardens of Trinoma mall here and here. Right across that huge mall is another huge mall, SM City North EDSA. SM, owned by the Sy family, was the first modern mall in the northern part of Quezon City, but through the decades, it had come to look a bit seedy and it never had upscale American or European brands and shops, so the more affluent residents of Quezon City and Caloocan City still had to go south to Makati City to do their shopping. When the new and more beautiful Trinoma, owned by the Zobel de Ayala family, opened with its designer boutiques a few years ago, rich Caloocan and Quezon City residents finally had a place to shop. And since it also had the more affordable local stores, not to mention numerous restaurants and cafés around its green terraces, Trinoma pulled away quite a lot of SM's customers. So SM City North was forced to renovate extensively, building The Block then razing The Annex to the ground and rebuilding it. It also built this Sky Garden above what used to be its open car park. The Sky Garden opened the week after I took this photo. Next time I go to SM City North, I'll try to walk down its 400-meter length just to see what's there.

Ringing for world peace?

The very first World Peace Bell was a gift of the Japanese people to the United Nations in 1954. It was founded with coins donated by delegates to the UN's 13th General Conference in Paris in 1951. It symbolizes the countries' wish for a peaceful world free from wars and the threat posed by nuclear arms. The original is in the UN Headquarters in New York, Japan has five, and fifteen other countries have one each, including the Philippines. Ours, given in 1994, is inside the Quezon Memorial Circle, and it desperately needs some maintenance. The paint is all faded and I don't think it even has a clapper anymore. Sadly, I think it's a reflection of the state of Philippine politics.

A city of shoemakers

Marikina City is known as the shoe capital of the Philippines. The industry started here back in 1887 and it continues to be the biggest source of leather goods in the country. The city lies in a valley, and the hills in the background are part of the Sierra Madre mountain range. The green area in the foreground (behind the tree that's blocking the view) is the Loyola Memorial Park, a cemetery. I took this photo from the ridge that marks the eastern border of the Ateneo de Manila University, which is in Quezon City. The orange glow is merely a reflection of the sunset behind me.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Zombie plaza

One of the few industries that continues to grow in the Philippines is business process outsourcing (BPO). The most common services offered here are customer contact services, finance and accounting, and human resource. Eastwood City (the same place with the pretty mall) was one of the first property developments that offered office buildings specifically targeted to the BPO industry. E-Commerce Plaza is only one of the eight there and collectively, they're called the Eastwood City CyberPark. Now, why my title? Well, with clients from all over the world, most BPO companies operate 24/7, especially call centers. All their employees get assigned the graveyard shift at one point or another, hence the nickname for them: call center zombies.

And it will remain so

THEME DAY: EMPTY • At the chancel of the Manila Cathedral, there is a lovely pulpit on one side of the altar, but it has stood empty for many years because priests now give their homilies at the lectern on the other side. Above the retablo is an image of the Immaculate Conception, the patroness of the Archdiocese of Manila and after whom this minor basilica is also named.



Containing nothing, not occupied, lacking substance or value, the absence of activity, having no purpose, and to remove the contents of. These are the different meanings of empty and we're bound to see all illustrated by City Daily Photo bloggers. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.