A Bird's-Eye View

There's something about being on a high place and having a sweeping view of the landscape below.  It gives you a momentary sense of being above it all, and of literally seeing your horizons expand.  This was our experience the other day when my son and I went up to the 11th floor roof deck of the Malabon City Hall.

We went there with a mission.  I wanted to have an updated version of this old photo of Rizal Avenue Malabon as seen from the second floor of the old Municipio:

Circa 1962 (photo from Arch. Richard Bautista)

We succeeded not only in updating that 1962 street scene photo, we were able to take great pictures of the other vistas of Malabon as well.



RIZAL AVENUE MALABON TODAY. On the right side are two places I remember fondly from my St. James days:  Betsy's Cake Center (with the red roof) and Nels-Ofel School Supplies (now Nels-Ofel Building with the red stripes).  It just doesn't show up too well on this photo, but when we were up there, looking straight on Rizal Avenue, we were able to make out the building of Puregold in Monumento in the horizon. And on clearer days, our guide told us you could even see the condominium buildings being constructed by SM at North EDSA (Quezon City) as well as the SM Valenzuela mall.

The TANONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL building on Leono Street is dwarfed by the Star J Mall beside it.

SAN BARTOLOME CHURCH with the Parish Office and Multipurpose buildings to its right, and ST. JAMES ACADEMY to its left -- two places that occupy a special corner in my heart for starting me on the road to learning and spirituality.  In the distance you can also see the IGLESIA NI KRISTO Lokal ng Malabon located on General Luna Street.

The SAN BARTOLOME PARISH CEMETERY looks quite crowded already.  I didn't know that one half of the cemetery is also allocated for the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH.

The newly constructed ORETA SPORTS CENTER at PLAZA RODRIGUEZ behind the City Hall. The Malabon Public Library is no longer located at the Plaza; it has transferred to the Barangay Catmon area.  We heard that a general hospital will soon be constructed where the Puericulture Center was located.  Across the river, you can also see the Navotas City Hall.

A close-up of the familiar arch of PLAZA RODRIGUEZ.  This appears to be the only original structure and the only patch of green left in the Plaza.

SHIPYARDS across the river create an interesting tableau.

The MALABON-NAVOTAS BRIDGE.  It's amazing to see that after you cross the river there's just a sliver of land and it's the Manila Bay already beyond it. 

The MALABON PUBLIC MARKET.  I have not been to this market in nearly two decades since we transferred residence from Bayan to Barangay Potrero.  I should come back one of these days and find out how it has changed in 20 years.

At the MALABON CITY HALL ROOF DECK. 

Thanks to Mr. Bong Padua, Chief of the Public Information Office of Malabon, and Mr. Ronnie Gumatay who accompanied us to the roof deck, we were able to experience seeing Malabon from a great vantage point.

I have to admit -- being up there and seeing a grand panorama of Malabon made me feel even more that, inspite of everything, this is the town my heart will always call "home."

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The Municipio

I still like to think of Malabon as a town, maybe because I'm sentimental but also because a town always feels cozier, where people know each other and do things with a sense of community.  And I want Malabon to always be that way.  Cities seem so crowded and impersonal. 

And yet, looking around, I know that my wish may be next to impossible.  Malabon is now a city.

For starters, our Municipio (municipal hall) of old has entered into the 21st century.

THE MUNICIPIO - CIRCA 1963 (photo from Arch. Richard Bautista)

This photo circa 1962 was obviously taken from the bell tower or kampanarya of San Bartolome Church.  Note the original brick and adobe walls of the kampanarya. (Photo from Arch. Richard Bautista)

The Municipio - now the MALABON CITY HALL - today is a far cry from the two-storey building constructed in 1939.  Inaugurated in 2008, the new City Hall is a modern, 11-storey building with state-of-the-art facilities, and is the highest building in the city. 

I have been inside the Malabon City Hall many times before on various errands.  The first time I went inside, I made sure to take the scenic elevator just so I could have a good view of the street scene on Rizal Avenue.  I must say that with more floors to accommodate all the offices of the local government, it is so much more convenient now to  transact business at the City Hall unlike before when everything was crammed into two or three floors (as a third floor was also added to the 1939 structure at some point).


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