P

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The Magazine for Poblacion Makati

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POBLACION
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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: editor@pob1210.com.
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 advertising@pob1210.com
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
butions@pob1210.com 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: manila.inquiry@berjayahotel.com

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
T
ucked between the Makati City
Hall complex and Bel-Air Village
(Phase 2) is San Miguel Village
(SMV), the only gated residential
subdivision in Barangay Poblacion
and the smallest among the Makati
villages developed by Ayala Corpo-
ration’s predecessor, Ayala y Compañia.
SMV was originally called Santiago-B subdi-
vision, the undeveloped portion of present-day
Santiago Village (formerly Santiago-A). In the late
1950s, the Soriano owners of San Miguel Corpora-
tion (SMC) requested their Zobel de Ayala cousins to
reserve Santiago-B for SMC’s officers and rename it
San Miguel.
Thus, SMV was established in 1961 during the pe-
riod when the Makati Municipal Hall was under con-
struction along J.P. Rizal Street right across SMV’s
northern side. That was the same year when Inter-
national School Manila (ISM) transferred its campus
from Pasay City to a property right beside SMV
4   POB1210 Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023
Artist’s perspective of SMV Main Gate renovation.
(Image courtesy of Architect Rueben Jarviña)
Shortly after moving in, the first residents of Above: An artist’s perspec-
SMV formed an association and applied for incor- tive of SMV Main Gate
poration with the Securities and Exchange Com- renovation. (Image cour-
mission. The corporate registration of San Miguel tesy of Architect Rueben
Village Association Inc. (SMVAI) was approved on Jarviña)
December 1, 1961.
Opposite page, clockwise
SMVAI’s original incorporators were Silvio
from top: Amenities at the
Barcelon, Edwino Bulahan, Valentin Dones, Adelfo San Miguel Village Park:
Josue, Jose Lopez, Cayetano Pineda, Manuel Reyes, Playground, Social Hall,
Rafael Tayag, and Juan Umali. They also served as SMVAI Administration Of-
the pioneer Board of Governors of the association. fice, and Covered Court.
Interestingly, the registered postal address of SMVAI
was the San Miguel Brewery at 1112 J.P. Laurel Street Below, left to right: A
in San Miguel District, Manila. map of San Miguel Village
Don Andres Soriano y Roxas was the SMC Presi- (courtesy of MapCarta),
dent at that time and he initiated the building of the and the SMV logo.
company’s new headquarters in Makati at the corner
of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. He was also the
founder of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and through his
efforts, the request of PAL’s 200-man pilots’ union
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.
 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
Kagawad El San Mateo Vasquez and former
Poblacion Barangay Chair Josie Vasquez.
Jullian was a volunteer with Pobla-
cion’s Task Force on Youth Development
for four years prior to his election as SK
Chair in 2018. An alumnus of Paco Catholic
School, he took up legal management at
San Beda University. He also chairs two
committees in the Barangay Council of
Poblacion, namely Physical Therapy and
Youth & Sports Development, while serv-
ing as vice-chair of the committees on
Education, Social Services, and Women,
Children, & Family Affairs.
Before the pandemic, what SK projects
did you initiate in Poblacion?
When we took office in 2018, there were no
guidelines from the Commission on Audit
(COA) regarding fund management and
financial transactions for SKs. At that time,
Republic Act No. 10742 or the SK Reform
Act of 2016 was in the early stage of imple-
mentation. So we were not able to use the
SK budget allocation from 2018 to 2020.
Instead, we relied on corporate sponsor-
ships, donations from families, and direct
funding from the Barangay Council of
Poblacion to continue hosting the Linggo
ng Kabataan in August and the Amazing
Race during the Poblacion Fiesta in June
as well as the traditional Trick or Treat
every Halloween.
6   POB1210 Vol. 2 No. 1 / Q1 2023
Did you hold any activities during the
lockdowns of 2020 and 2021?
In 2020, we conducted online seminars/
workshops and virtual training sessions
for the youth. The Poblacion SK helped in
the distribution of ayuda, COVID kits, and
emergency “go bags” to barangay resi-
dents. In 2021, we assisted in the Barangay
Council’s livelihood projects for pandemic-
affected constituents such as giving out
baking tools, flower pots, and vegetable
or fruit seeds when the plantito/plantita
trend started.
With the easing of restrictions in 2022,
has the SK resumed normalcy?
Fortunately the COA budget guidelines
had been released by then and we restarted
the Sulong Karunungan
scholarship program for
indigent children. We also
supported the Barangay
Council’s sports programs
like the Bike for Health,
the League of Champions,
and the Makati Games in
which our Poblacion ath-
letes emerged 2nd place
overall. For the latter, we
provided uniforms includ-
ing jerseys and shoes for
our basketball, volleyball,
badminton, darts, and
table tennis teams.
Any new projects for the remainder of
your term in 2023?
We are reviving the search for the Ten Out-
standing Youth of Poblacion (TOYP) in-
volving those aged between 15 to 30 years
who excel in their fields of endeavor. The
last TOYP was held before the pandemic
in 2019, with the winners coming not only
from public and private schools but also
from Poblacion’s young workforce. Now
that face masks have become optional, we
will bring back the Inter-Kalbaryo League
during the Lenten season consisting of
some 50 kubols on the streets of Poblacion.
Personally, I want to carry on serving the
citizens of our Barangay in any capacity
after my stint as SK Chair.
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
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