P

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The Magazine for Poblacion Makati

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ROCKWELL

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POBLACION
ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
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Kalayaan Avenue

Vol. 2 No.1 Q1 2023

www.pob1210.com
 Editor’s Note
My Poblacion
P
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Vo l . 2   N o. 1   Q 1 2 0 2 3
by L loyd Ra mos T ro n co
PUBLISHER

Antonio Verzosa
Editor’s note: Beginning this quarter, we will feature stories about Poblacion
EDITOR IN CHIEF from the viewpoint of barangay residents and transients, including those who
Joseph Araneta Gamboa used to live or work here. The pilot edition of “My Poblacion” is by Lloyd Ramos
ART DIRECTOR Tronco — an artist, writer, and advertising professional whose work spans the
Elias B. Guerrero Jr. visual arts. In 2021, he created the Philippines’ largest abstract painting titled

ADVERTISING HEAD
“Alab ng Sining” on a massive billboard along EDSA. Read on!

I
Maria Melizza S. Gonzalez
DIGITAL MEDIA CONSULTANT can proudly say I’m a real Poblacion kid, not because Poblacion has be-
Lloyd Gerald Ramos Tronco come the hip place it is nowadays but because I did grow up here. My
POB 1210 is published by Poblacion Consulting Inc. parents were married at the Saints Peter and Paul Church on Easter
with offices at 1210 Kalayaan Avenue, Barangay Poblacion, Monday 1967. A year after, I was born and had my baptism at the same
Makati City 1210, Philippines. Email: [email protected].
church.
Website: www.pob1210.com
The first few years of my life were spent in nearby Bel-Air, yet
other significant firsts in my life took place in Poblacion. My first hair-
Advertising Rates cut as a child was at Barberia Burgos next to the Insular Bakery along P. Burgos
Street. I went to nursery and kindergarten at Massabielle, a school for children
situated at Polaris Street, right where Felipe Street meets it.
Due to their daily visits to that area, my parents noticed one day that a house
was being put up for sale at 10 Felipe Street. So they bought it and decided to
Full Page Half Page Quarter Page
PHP 10,000 PHP 6,000 PHP 3,500
move to this new address partly because my late father ran a graphic design
studio and this location would be more convenient for his artists to access.
For inquiries, please email [email protected]
This home office was our family’s address that later became 5785 Felipe
Street. I was here when the fire at Rockwell thermal power plant took place. The
Contibutions Welcome! heat of the blaze could be felt all the way to Felipe and surrounding areas. We
Got a cool story about your Poblacion experience? Hit us up at contri- were also in Poblacion when Alba’s came into the neighborhood. The original
[email protected] and share it with our growing community! Masan Garden was one of our favorite places being at the corner of Polaris and
Felipe. This was the real Poblacion as I knew it.
MAKATI CITY HALL
SAINTS PETER
All these memories came alive when I recently test-drove the Maserati Le-
AND PAUL CHURCH P
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B
The Magazine for Poblacion Makati
vante Hybrid around Poblacion. [scan QR code below to read the review]
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Vol. 2 No.1 Q1 2023

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www.pob1210.com

About the Cover

Map of Poblacion by Hannah Dreyfus Dormido
Illustrations by Jennifer Padilla

The map shows the eight zones of Poblacion based on the official
map provided by the Barangay Council. It uses the “Dormidots” style
of cartography invented by Filipino journalist Hannah Dormido, who
works in the Washington Post as graphics reporter and cartographer.
Prior to joining The Post, Dormido was a data visualization journalist
at Bloomberg News in Hong Kong and she led the Asia graphics team
at the Financial Times of London.

2   POB1210 Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023

Streets of Poblacion

Eduque St.
*named after a prominent Makati family

BERJAYA MAKATI HOTEL

7835 Makati Avenue corner Eduque St.
Barangay Poblacion, Makati City
Phone: (02) 7750 7500 / (0917) 8444325
Email: [email protected]

Malaysia in Manila Scan QR code

A
for more details:
t the heart of Poblacion
can be found the Berjaya
Makati Hotel (BMH),
the first 100% Malay-
sian-owned and 100%
halal-certified hotel in the
Philippines. It opened in
2010 and is operated by a subsidiary of Ber-
jaya Philippines Inc., which is listed in both
the Philippine Stock Exchange and Bursa
Malaysia (formerly Kuala Lumpur Stock
Exchange).
According to BMH Director Azhar
Mahmood, the prime location was selected
because “it’s the center of entertainment for
tourists in a city that never sleeps.” BMH has
223 rooms and suites as well as the Dewan
meeting halls with six function rooms and
banquet facilities for a combined capacity of
up to 360 persons.

R E STAU RAN TS AND BA R S :

B Café (Mezzanine)
The Sala (Ground Floor)
T Corner (Mezzanine)

B Café is the hotel’s coffee shop serving

Southeast Asian, North Indian, and Middle
Eastern favorites for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner. The lobby lounge known as The Sala
has nightly band entertainment from Tues-
days to Saturdays featuring various genres
(acoustic, ‘80s, and contemporary hits). De-
lectable appetizers and snacks are available
at T Corner along with a wide selection of
cocktails and spirits.
Among the bestsellers in these three din-
ing outlets are roti canai (flatbread), samosa
(triangular pastry), sup ekor (oxtail soup), and
teh tarik (milk tea). BMH also has a catering
service for events outside the hotel, such as
the recent Philippine state visit of Malaysian
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in
Malacañang.

Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023 POB1210  3

 Locations & Coordinates

San Miguel Village:

Poblacion’s Gated Community

Artist’s perspective of SMV Main Gate renovation.

(Image courtesy of Architect Rueben Jarviña)

T
ucked between the Makati City Shortly after moving in, the first residents of Above: An artist’s perspec-
Hall complex and Bel-Air Village SMV formed an association and applied for incor- tive of SMV Main Gate
poration with the Securities and Exchange Com- renovation. (Image cour-
(Phase 2) is San Miguel Village
mission. The corporate registration of San Miguel tesy of Architect Rueben
(SMV), the only gated residential
Village Association Inc. (SMVAI) was approved on Jarviña)
subdivision in Barangay Poblacion
and the smallest among the Makati December 1, 1961.
Opposite page, clockwise
villages developed by Ayala Corpo- SMVAI’s original incorporators were Silvio
from top: Amenities at the
ration’s predecessor, Ayala y Compañia. Barcelon, Edwino Bulahan, Valentin Dones, Adelfo San Miguel Village Park:
SMV was originally called Santiago-B subdi- Josue, Jose Lopez, Cayetano Pineda, Manuel Reyes, Playground, Social Hall,
vision, the undeveloped portion of present-day Rafael Tayag, and Juan Umali. They also served as SMVAI Administration Of-
Santiago Village (formerly Santiago-A). In the late the pioneer Board of Governors of the association. fice, and Covered Court.
1950s, the Soriano owners of San Miguel Corpora- Interestingly, the registered postal address of SMVAI
tion (SMC) requested their Zobel de Ayala cousins to was the San Miguel Brewery at 1112 J.P. Laurel Street Below, left to right: A
reserve Santiago-B for SMC’s officers and rename it in San Miguel District, Manila. map of San Miguel Village
San Miguel. Don Andres Soriano y Roxas was the SMC Presi- (courtesy of MapCarta),
Thus, SMV was established in 1961 during the pe- dent at that time and he initiated the building of the and the SMV logo.
riod when the Makati Municipal Hall was under con- company’s new headquarters in Makati at the corner
struction along J.P. Rizal Street right across SMV’s of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. He was also the
northern side. That was the same year when Inter- founder of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and through his
national School Manila (ISM) transferred its campus efforts, the request of PAL’s 200-man pilots’ union
from Pasay City to a property right beside SMV for a residential subdivision in Makati was granted
by Ayala y Compañia and that was Bel-Air Village
(Phase 1).
Over the past decades, SMV has grown into a cen-
trally located community with easy access to the rest
of Metro Manila while maintaining peace and quiet
for its residents. It has stood witness to Makati’s
amazing transformation from a laidback municipal-
ity to become the Philippines’ financial capital.
At the turn of the millennium, SMV’s immediate
surroundings also got transformed after the con-
struction of the 22-storey Makati City Hall and ISM’s
transfer to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. Since the For directions to these locations,
2010s, the former ISM campus along Kalayaan Av- please scan the QR codes.

4   POB1210 Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023

 Fast
Facts
San Miguel Village (SMV) is a
compact residential neighbor-
hood in Barangay Poblacion
bounded by the Makati City Hall
complex (north), Century City
(east), Bel-Air 2 (south), and
Santiago Village in Barangay
Valenzuela (west). It consists
of 278 households spread over
eight internal streets that have
been donated to the San Miguel
Village Association Inc. (SMVAI)
by Makati Development Cor-
poration (MDC), a subsidiary
of Ayala Corporation (AC). Ad-
ditionally, several commercial
buildings along portions of J.P.
Rizal and Nicanor Reyes Streets
are also part of SMV’s territorial
jurisdiction.

SMVAI is a non-stock,
non-profit association duly
registered with the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(SEC) since 1961. In 2011, the
SEC extended its corporate
life for another 50 years up to
2061. Formerly based at the
San Miguel Brewery in Manila’s
San Miguel District, the SMVAI’s
Administration Office has
since been relocated to the
SMV Park bounded by F. Zobel
enue has been replaced by the Century City complex and M. Layug Streets, sharing
the common space with the
that includes the country’s two tallest residential
following facilities owned by
condominiums: the 73-storey Gramercy Residences the association: Social Hall,
and the 57-storey Trump Tower Manila. Three retail Playground, and Covered Court.
malls have sprouted in the neighborhood within a A small portion of the park has
short walking distance from SMV, namely: Century been retained by MDC for the
use of Manila Water Company,
Mall, SM Jazz Mall, and Power Plant Mall. The latter
another AC affiliate.
is located at Rockwell Center, which used to be the
site of Manila Electric Company’s Rockwell thermal
power plant. Land Area
SMVAI’s current Board of Governors is com- 118,092 square meters
(or 11.81 hectares)
posed of the following officers: Rueben Jarviña
(President), Tono Verzosa (Vice President), Joji
Ramos-Luz (Treasurer), Lulu Chung (Auditor), Population
Veron Yao (Governor for Construction), Catrice dela 1,297
Calzada (Governor for Village Development), Gladys
Santiago-Zafra (Governor for Social Events), Albert
Gamboa (Corporate Secretary), and Kelly Boncan
Households
278
(Immediate Past President).
Many of them have previously served the as-
sociation in various capacities, but it was during the Average
pandemic when their leadership qualities came to Household
the fore. As their extended terms end in June 2023, Size
they are pleased to bequeath a series of completed 5 (including household staff)
signature projects to the next set of SMVAI officers
as well as to the present and future generations of
SMV residents.

Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023 POB1210  5

Barangay Matters

Q&A with SK Chair

Jullian
San Mateo
A
s the Sanggunian
Kabataan Chair of Po-
blacion, Jullian Kyle
G. San Mateo repre-
sents Generation Z in
the Barangay Council
and serves as Vice
President of Makati City’s SK Federation.
He comes from a family of public servants,
including incumbent incumbent Poblacion the Sulong Karunungan
Kagawad El San Mateo Vasquez and former scholarship program for
Poblacion Barangay Chair Josie Vasquez. indigent children. We also
Jullian was a volunteer with Pobla- supported the Barangay
cion’s Task Force on Youth Development Council’s sports programs
for four years prior to his election as SK like the Bike for Health,
Chair in 2018. An alumnus of Paco Catholic the League of Champions,
School, he took up legal management at and the Makati Games in
San Beda University. He also chairs two which our Poblacion ath-
committees in the Barangay Council of letes emerged 2nd place
Poblacion, namely Physical Therapy and overall. For the latter, we
Youth & Sports Development, while serv- provided uniforms includ-
ing as vice-chair of the committees on ing jerseys and shoes for
Education, Social Services, and Women, our basketball, volleyball,
Children, & Family Affairs. badminton, darts, and
table tennis teams.
Before the pandemic, what SK projects Did you hold any activities during the
did you initiate in Poblacion? lockdowns of 2020 and 2021? Any new projects for the remainder of
When we took office in 2018, there were no In 2020, we conducted online seminars/ your term in 2023?
guidelines from the Commission on Audit workshops and virtual training sessions We are reviving the search for the Ten Out-
(COA) regarding fund management and for the youth. The Poblacion SK helped in standing Youth of Poblacion (TOYP) in-
financial transactions for SKs. At that time, the distribution of ayuda, COVID kits, and volving those aged between 15 to 30 years
Republic Act No. 10742 or the SK Reform emergency “go bags” to barangay resi- who excel in their fields of endeavor. The
Act of 2016 was in the early stage of imple- dents. In 2021, we assisted in the Barangay last TOYP was held before the pandemic
mentation. So we were not able to use the Council’s livelihood projects for pandemic- in 2019, with the winners coming not only
SK budget allocation from 2018 to 2020. affected constituents such as giving out from public and private schools but also
Instead, we relied on corporate sponsor- baking tools, flower pots, and vegetable from Poblacion’s young workforce. Now
ships, donations from families, and direct or fruit seeds when the plantito/plantita that face masks have become optional, we
funding from the Barangay Council of trend started. will bring back the Inter-Kalbaryo League
Poblacion to continue hosting the Linggo during the Lenten season consisting of
ng Kabataan in August and the Amazing With the easing of restrictions in 2022, some 50 kubols on the streets of Poblacion.
Race during the Poblacion Fiesta in June has the SK resumed normalcy? Personally, I want to carry on serving the
as well as the traditional Trick or Treat Fortunately the COA budget guidelines citizens of our Barangay in any capacity
every Halloween. had been released by then and we restarted after my stint as SK Chair.

6   POB1210 Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023

Only in Poblacion POB1210
*products and services that can only be
found in Makati’s Heritage District

INSULAR BAKERY
5051 P. Burgos Street,
Poblacion, Makati City

Year Established: 1924

Specialties: assorted breads,
special ensaymada, carrot cake
Contact Person: Cecile Ortiz
Contact Details: (02) 8896-
8222, 889-50257

ELEMENT
BOULANGERIE
4950 Guerrero Street,
Poblacion, Makati City

Year Established: 2016

Specialties: artisan French
bread, Mediterranean cuisine
Contact Person: Armand Lafare
Contact Details: (02) 8805-
1360, (0967) 442-1388

Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023 POB1210  7

MAKATI CITY HALL
SAINTS PETER
AND PAUL CHURCH

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