During the 70’s, almost all my family constantly visit Marikina. For one, my aunt and uncle lives there and secondly we have to visit the grave of my grandmother and sister at the Loyola Memorial Park. It used to be a quiet town on the outskirts of Metro Manila. I remember it as when I pass the main road from Cubao we have to pass the U-tex factory. (Remember U-tex back then even though a small town as Marikina it was represented in the PBA with imports of the famous Otto Moore and the sweet shooting, 3 dribble foul throw hoopster Larry Pounds.) My aunt and uncle also has a shoe factory at their home making fashioned mens and ladies shoes with their famous mocassin shoewear. They were one of the pioneer shoe makers of Marikina and also one of the first exporters to the Middle East. Their store in Cubao at the Marikina Shoe Expo keeps most of my aunt and uncle’s family employed. As I went overseas more frequently in the 80’s after high school it took me less and less time to visit the place as I got more pre-occupied.

Loyola Memorial Park

After more than a decade, on December 8 1996 the town of Marikina became a chartered city and this town that used to be a part of the Province of Rizal has flourished and became a highly urbanized city. Thanks also to the husband and wife mayor tandem of Bayani and Marides Fernando, who has led the transformation of this quiet town to one of the most respected and awarded city in the country. The “Shoe Capital of the Philippines” which is the heart and soul economy of Marikina City, became more succesful than ever. The shoe industry has led to be one of the finest in Asia and the world as of today. Mayor Marides Fernando has indeed led the way for the city to be one of the National Capital Regions succesful business district. She was also one of the finalist in the 2008 World Mayor Awards and the only one in the Asia - Pacific Region who belongs to the list. The year 2008 served as a blessed year for Marikina City as the River Banks Center has been declared as one of the fast developing business and financial district of the NCR. Also the year celebrated the grand opening of SM City Marikina, which is situated along Marcos Highway and near the River Banks Center.

SM Marikina City

Marikina City also boasts with many interesting activities such as the Fashionista, Experience Marikina and a tour of its shoe industry. While these daily activities for travel and tourism awaits its visitors, its annual festities such as the Rehiyon - Rehiyon Festival celebrated during the 9th of December, participated by the baranggay’s and choses any particular region in the country for which they would represent dressed in ethnic attire with street dancing and most of all cultural presentations. The Sapatos Festival highlights the celebration of its shoe industry.

World's Biggest Shoes

For more information on the City of Marikina visit their website at www.marikina.gov.ph

Victory Liner Caloocan Terminal

Caloocan City is one of the highly urbanized cities in Luzon, where it is subdivided into two congressional districts, the Caloocan City North and South. This city is situated at the northern part of Metro Manila. Based on the latest National Census it placed the 4th largest city of the country, in terms of population, where there are approximately 1.4 million residents, and based on the land area, it ranked 2nd as the largest city in Metro Manila. Tricycles are the main mode of transportation in the area, though these vehicles are small yet it is very affordable. On the other hand, jeepneys also ply the city based on their respective routes. The City is also well known for drop off points for buses coming off from the northern provinces with Victory Liner and other coaches have their major terminals. Former Mayors who have contributed to the growth of the city such as Mayor Asistio and Rey Malonzo should also be credited and mentioned worthwhile.

Caloocan City Hall

The famous landmark of Caloocan City is the Bonifacio Monument which is located at the intersection of EDSA and Rizal Avenue . This monument is famous as it carries with it the work of a nationalist, Guillermo Tolentino, not to forget that the monument honors the first encounter of the revolutionary group, the Katipunan, lead by Andres Bonifacio, one of the country’s hero. Also a famous landamrk is MCU, a university which the name is embedded on all jeepneys plying the routes.
In the city, you can also find the Gubat as Ciudad Resort where several swimming pools and other water facilities for the whole family are offered. Tala Leprosarium can also be found here, which is deemed as the oldest leprosarium in Asia founded in 1940. There are also other tourist attractions for Caloocan City. Some of which are the Bamboo Organ, a unique bamboo organ only found inside the St. Joseph Church; the salt beds, the city is noted for its salt-making industry; and The Filipinas Heritage Library, described as an electronic library because it engages in digitization projects, CD-ROM publishing, development of web pages and electronic database.

Caloocan City Monumento

There are still a lot of tourist attractions and historical places that the City of Caloocan houses. In order to see and experience an exceptional tour of the place, go and see for yourself. By the way, I have to mention some few friends and acquaintences in the city such as Tonton Asistio, Bing Nazareno and former councilor who have past away a decade ago Cesar Zagala.

One of the important thing to know about when visiting the capital is the different health facilities. For the local population some do have knowledge of nearby hospitals but most don’t. Knowing the places and having a quick access to what and where are the important factors. A good health is always favorable but there are certain times when someone needs to be taken to the hospital for unavoidable conditions. Its always a great idea to be prepared and have the nearby places of health facilities, meaning a handy list for emergency purposes for both the local population and travelers alike. Paraiso Philippines gathered this information for reference purposes.

City of Manila
De Ocampo Memorial Medical Center
Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital
Gat. Andres Memorial Medical Center
Hospital of the Infant Jesus
Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center
Manila Doctors Hospital
Mary Chiles General Hospital
Mary Johnston Hospital
Medical Center Manila
Metropolitan Hospital Medical Center
Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center
Ospital ng Sampaloc
Ospital ng Tondo
Philippine General Hospital
Saint Jude Hospital
San Lazaro General Hospital
Seamans Hospital
Tondo Medical Center
The Family Clinic, Inc. Hospital
Unciano General Hospital
United Doctor’s Medical Center
University of Santo Tomas Hospital
Our Lady Of Lourdes Medical Center
Chinese General Hospital

Caloocan City
Diosdado Macapagal Hospital
Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital
Martinez Hospital College of Nursing
Manila Central University-Filemon Dionisio Tanchoco Medical Foundation

Las Piñas City
University of Perpetual Help Rizal Dalta Medical Center
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Hospital
Las Piñas Doctors Hospital
Las Piñas Medical Center
Las Piñas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center

Makati City
Beverly Hills Medical Group
Makati Medical Center
Ospital ng Makati
St. Clare’s Medical Center

Mandaluyong City
Mandaluyong City Medical Center
Medical City General Hospital
National Center for Mental Health
Unciano General Hospital
Victor R. Potenciano Hospital

Marikina City
Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center
St. Vincent Hospital
Sta. Monica Hospital

Muntinlupa City
Asian Hospital and Medical Center
Ospital ng Muntinlupa
Research Institute for Tropical Medicine
Medical Center Muntinlupa

Parañaque City
Olivarez Hospital
Ortanez University
Sta. Rita de Baclaran Hospital
Medical Center Paranaque
Protacio Hospital
Paranaque Community Hospital
Paranaque Doctors Hospital
South Super Hi-way Medical Center

Pasay City
Air Force General Hospital
San Juan De Dios Hospital
Manila Adventist Medical Center
Pasay City General Hospital

Pasig City
Javillonar Clinic & Hospital
Mary Immaculate Hospital
Pasig City General Hospital
Rizal Medical Center
Sabater Hospital
St. Camillus Hospital
St. Therese Hospital
The Medical City
Mission Hospital
Salve Regina General Hospital
Zhallou-Luis Medical Center

Quezon City
Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center
Bernardino General Hospital
Capitol Medical Center
Casaul General Hospital
Jesus Delgado Hospital
East Avenue Medical Center
Far Eastern University
General Miguel Malvar Medical Foundation Hospital
Lung Center of the Philippines
National Children’s Hospital
National Kidney and Transplant Institute
Neopolitan General Hospital
Philippine Orthopedic Center
New Era General Hospital
Novaliches General Hospital
Quezon City General Hospital
Quirino Memorial Medical Center
Philippine Children’s Medical Center
Philippine Heart Center
J. P. Sioson Medical Hospital
St. Luke’s Medical Center
United Doctors Medical Center
University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Hospital
Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center
Villarosa Hospital
World Citi Medical Center

San Juan City
Cardinal Santos Medical Center
Saint Martin de Porres Charity Hospital
San Juan Medical Center

Taguig City
Fort Bonifacio General Hospital
Manila Naval Hospital
Taguig-Pateros District Hospital

Valenzuela City
Fatima University Medical Center
Calalang General Hospital
Valenzuela General Hospital
Angelus Medical and Maternity Clinic
Santissimo Rosario General Hospital

San Juan Municipal Hall

The City of San Juan was formerly a part of the Rizal Province before Metro Manila was created. Now it is the smallest city found in Metro Manila based on its land area. The name of the place was in honor of their patron saint, St. John the Baptist. The celebration of their feast day is what made the place famous.  Every 24th of the June, the people of San Juan celebrate their fiesta by dousing the streets with water, which obviously make the passers-by soaking wet, locally known as “Basaan Na“. This is likened to the baptism as described in the Bible. As this is their tradition, the people, even the newcomers are already used to it and are aware of this yearly event, so they just enjoy the celebration.

Greenhills Commercial Center

Among the many interesting places in San Juan are the Pinaglabanan Shrine, which marks the first battle of the Katipunan - the site where the first gunfire was shot during the Filipino war against the Spaniards; the Greenhills Commercial Center, which includes a shopping center where good buys from cellular (mobile) phones, to computers, clothes, accessories, to exotic plants, home furniture and furnishings, jewelry, and precious stones and pearls can be found and the rows of restaurants where in and near Greenhills along Ortigas Avenue, and in Wilson Street can be found a variety of restaurants that cater to people of all walks of life and tastes. Other places of interest and are popular destinations in and around the city are the Agora Complex, the famous and elegant Club Filipino, the Music Museum, the Tanghalan ng Masa, The Arena and other exciting places which would surely fascinate everyone and entice your appetites.

Club Filipino

San Juan City is also dubbed as “Town of Philippine Presidents”, although not officially. Among the last nine presidents since the Philippines became a Republic in 1946, four of them were official residents of San Juan when they took their office. These four Presidents are/were the Diosdado Macapagal, Sr., the incumbent, his daughter Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Ferdinand Marcos (although from Ilocos Norte have frequented San Juan because of Dona Josefa Edralin and brother Pio who are long time residents), and Joseph Estrada. Also, the second President of the 3rd Republic, Elpidio Quirino (1948-1953) retired to this town after leaving his service at Malacañang Palace.
Want to visit this place ? Buses and jeepneys are the most common mode of transportation in San Juan. Major roads Aurora Boulevard and Araneta Avenue pass through San Juan. Less major routes include Nicanor Domingo (more known as N. Domingo), which heads towards Cubao in Quezon City and Pinaglabanan/Santolan, which leads towards Ortigas Avenue and eventually Quezon City.

San Juan Water Throwing Festival

We use to live at F. Roman in San Juan and since its boundary is near the Quezon City at R. Magsaysay Blvd. I was born at the UERM Hospital which is nearby the used to be Queens Supermarket and Sta. Mesa market and have participated in countless Water Throwing Festival. Nice to reminisce sometimes.

The only municipality in Metro Manila with the smallest land area as well as in resident population and the only first rated urban municipality. Even though that is the case, its popularity has become a mighty word to all walks of life in the Philippines and in the world for its famous industry of duck raising and the world renowned egg “Balut“. Balut …the exotic Philippine food that is hyped to be a potent aphrodisiac is from the Municipality of Pateros. Balut is a duck egg incubated for 17 to nineteen days. The egg is boiled and eaten with salt. Apart from being an aphrodisiac, balut is touted to be an excellent source of energy. Duck raising, balut and salted egg making are considered to be the prime source of livelihood of the people in Pateros. Duck raising was a thriving business in Pateros as the place is rich in kuhol, tulya, and susu which are the food sources of itik (Mallard ducks). This famous industry that has been handed down from generation to generation is considered to be a tourist attraction of the Municipality of Pateros. Pateros used to be an agricultural community. Presently however, fishing, manufacturing, quarrying, construction are the sources of income of the people. Additionally, it can be discerned that the Pateros economy is service based given that quite a big percentage of the population are employed. Pateros is also considered as the biggest manufacturer of alfombra slippers in the country.

In 1700, Pateros used to be a barrio of Pasig. Back then Pateros was known as barrio Aguho due to the numerous Aguho or shade trees the profusely grow along the banks of Pateros River. Embarcadero which means port was also a name given to Pateros during those times as this barrio with a small land area served as the hub of trade and commerce for Pasig and the neighboring municipalities. Moreover, Embarcadero served as a port of call for foreign traders like the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Swedish. Because of the brisk trade, Pateros is considered to be the most progressive barrio of Pasig. The Chinese traders eventually became settlers and they were the ones who introduced the balut industry and the manufacture of alfombra slippers to the people. It was during this period that the name of Barrio Agoho or Embarcadero was changed to Pateros as the name came from the word “pato” which means duck and “sapatero” which means shoemaker.

Balut making is considered to be the biggest tourist attraction of Pateros. This is the reason why this municipality is called the Balut Capital of the Philippines. Here are some facts to get things straightened out for this native delicacy.

• Only duck eggs can be made into Balut. More specifically, it is the egg laid by the local duck variety called the “pato”, sometimes more commonly referred to as “itik”. They should not be confused with the common white-colored duck, which we call “bibe”. The eggs laid by itiks can be distinguished by its hard shell. In the olden days, these ducks were raised in the Pateros River, where abundant shellfish were conducive for ducks to produce these hard-shelled eggs. But now the river is dead and the ducks are gone, thus Pateros imports the eggs it uses to produce balut from Laguna. Some towns have tried to imitate balut by using chicken eggs. Believe me, you will not like what you will see when you crack open those bogus baluts. So make sure the shell is hard enough before buying that balut.

• Fresh duck eggs are called “sariwa”, which literally means fresh. This can be boiled like ordinary chicken eggs and eaten with salt, or made into delicious omelets. The “sariwa” is also the base for another famous Pateros product – the red egg. The fresh duck eggs are immersed into a salty concoction for some time, then boiled and colored red to distinguish it from its more famous cousin. The best “maalat” or “itlog na pula”, as the red eggs are called by locals, are those that have yolks oozing with natural oil. Definitely yummy, especially with fresh tomatoes and rice, or as filling for hot pan-de-sal.

• Those that are selected to become balut are put into large drums made from bamboo strips filled with dried rice husks and kept in warehouses called “kamalig”. This is the native and completely organic version of an incubator used to keep the eggs warm. The counting of the days need to be precise, or else you may end up with embryos that are either too small or too large. Monitoring is done through “pagsisilaw” or putting the eggs against a small hole carved out of a wooden box with a high-wattage bulb inside working pretty much like an x-ray machine. The ideal incubation days would be between 16 to 17 days for a perfect “balut sa puti”.

• When an egg fails to fertilize during this period, it becomes another incarnation of the balut, the “penoy”. Remember, your friendly balut vendor always shout “balut! penoy! balut!” as immortalized in that catchy folk song. The Penoy is a Balut that failed to fertilize, and is boiled like an ordinary egg and can become either a “higupin”, meaning it is creamy and can be sucked from the shell – literally, or like an ordinary hard boiled egg but with the yolk and the white already mixed together – imagine scrambled egg but still inside the shell. There is also the “heko-heko”, which is a bit blackish and had a slight pungent smell. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

• As in any pregnancy – which is what balut is all about anyway, things can go wrong along the way. The fertilized egg can “die” before it reaches the ideal maturity date – a miscarriage if you may call it. The embryo stops developing and start to rot inside the shell. Ordinarily, these rotten eggs will be thrown away, or put into better use by being thrown towards the direction of rotten politicians. But in Pateros, there is a special name for this – the “abnoy”. It is a delicacy that requires an acquired taste. It is not for everyone, especially if you do not relish eating a rotten egg. But like the durian, its connoisseurs swear that it might smell rotten like hell, but it sure does taste like heaven. Just be careful in case you want to be adventurous with what you put in your mouth.

The Manggahan Shrine that separates Pasig City from the town of Pateros is the place where Marcos Lozada and Macario Almeda, two of the heroes that defend the town were killed. Every 29th of August, a program that commemorates the heroes is held in the Manggahan Shrine. The Dulong Bayan Monument, the same as the Manggahan Shrine, is a historical site that depicts the Filipinos bravery and resistance to Spanish colonizers. Guillermo Manalo and Eusebio Hermosa are only two of the brave Filipinos who defend the town. Another point of interest is the San Roque church that was built in 1815. Although the church interior is furnished with chandeliers and new pews, the exterior and the main church is a legacy of the past to the people of Pateros.