SM Aura: The Civic Center That Wasn’t

For months, I’ve been wondering what the huge construction along C-5 was. At first, I surmised that it’s a BPO center or something. Later, I heard rumors that it is a new SM mall. But it was only a few weeks ago that I learned that it is definitely an SM mall named SM Aura. It was all quite strange since normally you’d see huge signs indicating what’s being constructed.

It turned out that there was a reason for all the hush-hush. It seems that the land was supposedly provided to the local government by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for use as a civic center. The local government in turn leased it to SM who then developed a mall with space allocated for a civic center. Or a civic center with space allocated for a mall depending on how you look at it. But no matter how you look at it, that’s indication of wilful deceit in the part of  SM.

Admittedly, SM Aura is way better looking than your typical SM monstrosities . But it’s still too big, too densely built. Such volume of people in that amount of space can only result in traffic congestion in the surrounding roads. And sure enough when it opened, traffic in that part of C-5 and Global City was snarled for hours. And I don’t expect it to get any better. Global City prides itself as a master planned development. And then something comes along and messes things up.

Reason’s like these are why I will not patronize SM as much as I can help it.

Car Maintenance Day

Jeanne had to skip class today because I had to have the car fixed. The accessory belt had been squeaking for weeks, and a few weeks ago, I noticed a leak in the power steering hose. Finally, this week, the air conditioning conked out. Probably another leak. So first thing in the morning, we dropped off Michelle at her office. Jeanne and I then went on to Fusion R to get the accessory belt and the power steering hose fixed.

Fusior R was still closed when we got there so we had to wait until it opened. Good thing Jeanne was sleeping for most of the time. After they opened and leaving the car with the mechanic, we went to the battery shop to talk to Eric. But he wasn’t there so we instead went to the mall to have wait out the repairs. We got there early and it was  still closed. So we stood around, bought breakfast (yogurt drink, hopia, and bread sticks) at a convenience store.

Once the mall opened, we windows shopped, visited the bookstore for a reading session, visited the toy store, and visited the bookstore again for another reading session. Finally, we had lunch (gyudon bowl). After lunch we went back to Fusion R to pick up the car.

But it’s wasn’t over yet. We went on to Frigid Zone to get the aircon fixed. I thought they had a problem figuring out where the leak was and after a while they showed me tiny bubbles coming out of a hose. I figured a leak is a leak so I asked them to proceed.

After the car got fixed we went to a nearby coffee shop to meet and finally talk to Eric. After an hour or two discussing plans, we headed home. Jeanne was very appreciative of the fixed aircon. She said “It’s good that we got it fixed, dad.” But alas, it wasn’t so. Gradually the cooling disappeared and soon it was just hot air coming out. But it was already late and the shop was already closed. So we just picked up Michelle and headed home.

UPDATE: Went back to Frigid Zone and they fixed another leak. And I bet that was the main/real leak.

WTF: Money Ban

The seasonal dictatorship that is the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has imposed a ban on cash withdrawals if more than P100,000 from banks and other financial institutions. They are also banning possession, transportation, and carrying of more than P500,000.

And for what? For its detrimental impact on trade and commerce what do you get in return? There may be a money ban but you can bet there will still the same vote buying. There’s a gun ban but many, even more than normal, are killed during the election period. There’s a liquor ban but people still choose the wrong candidates.

Lost and Found

This morning while preparing for work, I was looking for my watch but couldn’t find them. I suspected that Jeanne squirreled them somewhere. But she was still sleeping so I asked Lola Becky to ask Jeanne when she wakes up. And true enough she had them. Lola Becky asked her if she played with the watches and told her I was looking for them. She immediately went inside the room and got the paper bag containing the watches. So cute. Her memory is really good :)

Financial Literacy

What’s the difference between the rich and the poor? The rich knows how to handle money. The poor doesn’t. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the poor are poor because they don’t know how to handle money. I’m saying the poor don’t know how to handle money because they’re poor. They weren’t able to handle money much to begin with. These days, as wealth supposedly trickles (trickles!) downward from the improving economy, as salaries from new jobs come, as OFW relatives remit cash, as lotto tickets win, the beneficiaries of this money need to learn to budget, to save, to invest. Otherwise, much of the money will go to waste.