Rediscover Cubao
By Ellen Joy Anastacio
August  2004

I found myself one rainy Sunday afternoon on a trip to Cubao. It’s been quite a while since I’ve last been there, save for occasional shows at the Araneta Coliseum. But aside from that, zilch. What I remember about Cubao as a kid are eating at Jollibee then going to the biggest National Bookstore in the Philippines, rides at the Fiesta Carnival (who can forget the airplane, huh?), and bump cars at SM Cubao’s food court.

Nowadays, Cubao to me is that place that’s always indicated in bus signs: Cubao Ibabaw and Cubao Ilalim. And I’m sure lots of nice people live in Cubao; I just don’t know any of them. Which, maybe, explains why I never go there.

So it was with great interest that I found myself exploring Cubao. Not the Cubao of the buses, but the Cubao of the masses. And what better way to start it than to ride the MRT to Cubao! The MRT is clean, cool, and uncrowded. Whether the latter has something to do with it being a Sunday, I don’t know, but it was truly a pretty comfortable ride, despite the fact that we chose to stand the whole way through. And unlike other MRT stations, this was actually directly connected to a mall, Farmer’s Plaza! So there’s no need to walk out of the street immediately to reach a mall. I think this is the way MRT stations should be, actually: connected directly to main destinations. I assure you, this will mean passengers with better temperaments, less pedestrians on the streets, and hey, maybe even better revenues to merchants.

Anyway, going back to Cubao, my first glimpse of Farmer’s Plaza was a typical mall, with shoes, bags and more on display everywhere. But I knew things were going to be different when we saw the Barong Filipino store carrying all sorts of barongs imaginable, from the plain cream to the more flamboyant varieties. And going through the other malls in Cubao, it was so striking to see so many barong stores in the area. Barong Filipino even has another branch in the adjacent mall! Is Cubao barong central? Hmm.

   

And where else in the world can you find a Binibining Pilipinas boutique? In Ali Mall, where else? Owned by Mrs. Stella Araneta, this caters to the beauty queen in you; from casual wear to evening gowns to tiaras. It even has Binibining Pilpinas casual wear for men - go figure. A Fairmart store, an arts and crafts store with interesting items from Thailand, even a *gasp* sex store, would you believe? Who says Pinoys are prudish? I’ve never seen another store like that elsewhere..only in Cubao, I guess!

 We also went inside Farmer’s Market, which, even at three in the afternoon, was still clean, and filled with goods: from sugpo at P250 kilo (around half the price in supermarkets), fresh fruits like atis, rambutan, dalandan, to knick knacks like P10 fans, slippers, bilaos, dimsum steamers, pabitin racks, and more. I’m not a market-goer, but Farmer’s Market was actually ok. It was clean, and not bad smelling, with a wide variety of goods. If I lived in Cubao, I don’t think I’d mind going to the market there at all.

So we walked around Cubao a bit more. We went to SM (which still carries the name SM Shoe Mart, unlike other SM malls), the Rustan’s Superstore with its old décor, we even saw Glenmore’s Barn Bootery. Originally from Recto, this bootery was very popular in the 60’s and 70’s. Amazingly, they can still make designs from that era as well. Boots were everywhere, from simple black ones to more elaborate green crocodile leather boots.

We walked past Eco Park, which is actually a man-made lake or pond of sorts, after the building that was supposed to be built there didn’t push through. It’s actually a lot of water poured into the foundation of that building, so diving into it wouldn’t really be a good idea due to the steel railings that are probably there, not to mention that it’s not really that clean anyhow.

We saw Cubao’s version of the ukay-ukay, which seemed very organized: all the clothes (P50 each!) were neatly hung in clothes racks. It also sells bedsheets, shoes, stuffed toys, the whole lot, I guess. And come to think of it, that whole strip seemed like one long ukay-ukay strip to me. There was a store that specialized in used books, but also sold punching bags, boxing gloves, used dinner plates, an organ, a piano, an old sewing machine, even dinner plates! Next door, you can find toys, TV sets, old computers.

 But Cubao isn’t just a place for nostalgia and old things. The Fiesta Carnival has been moved to an outside location, where you can hear kids screaming their hearts out on the rides. This was to give way to Shopwise’s biggest branch in the metro.

   

 Soon to rise is The Gateway Mall, which will offer five levels of shopping and dining, as well as be the direct link to two major transit lines in the metropolis. And the Araneta Center is now more hip, with cool joints and restaurants around the Big Dome.

And speaking of the Big Dome, we were lucky to be given a treat to go inside the Coliseum during a UAAP game. And not just an ordinary UAAP game, but a game between the two biggest rivals of the league: Ateneo and La Salle. The atmosphere was amazing, the school spirit palpable, as cheers echoed throughout the dome everytime a shot was made, or cheers to get that ball could be heard. The huge Araneta Coliseum was filled to the rafters; with a visible separation between green and blue. It was the perfect way to end the trip to Cubao: with the vitality emanating from all these people.

Cubao on the one hand seems like it hasn’t moved on; it was a big blast to the past seeing old buildings still there. On the other hand, it is also a place where so many changes are taking place. But for whatever reason, Cubao remains interesting, and certainly worth a look-see.

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