The SM Seaside City finally opens for business

Time indeed flashes ever so fast. Last Tuesday was the 9th death anniversary of my dear friend and mentor, the late Sir Max Soliven, publisher of the Philippine Star. Today is the 36th death anniversary of my father, Atty. Jesus “Lindong” Avila, who passed on to eternal life at a very ripe young age of 59 in 1979. I was only 28 years old when the baton was passed to our generation. Thankfully, I had my uncle, the late Prof. Ramon Dizon who managed our theaters to guide and help me manage the theaters.

I used to be called by my father’s friends as the “Son of Lindong” especially with his peers at the Cebu Rotary Club (Mother), the club that my maternal grandfather Capt. Valeriano Segura helped found, which my paternal grandfather Mr. Jose Avila was also a member. I’m still a member of the same club, one of the few members who belong to the third generation. Perhaps only a few members like Dr. Ibarra “Baba” Panopio or Orly “Nene” Israel remembers my father. The rest have never met him.

I joined the Rotary Club when Amb. Frank Benedicto was the president and it brought down the median age of the club. But it sort of aged me quickly because the members were friends and barkada of my late father, so I had to call everyone by their first names instead of the usual “tito.” But life has to go on. With the passing of my father (he was a fan of Max Soliven) and life has been a blessing for the family even after his death. May I request our pious readers to please pray for the repose of the soul of Atty. Jesus Avila.

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Who would believe that someday, shopping in Cebu City would be upgraded or up scaled that it would become one of Cebu’s newest tourist destinations? SM City introduces Forever21, then Uniglo and Ayala Malls opened H&M. Well today is the grand opening of the new SM Seaside City at the South Road Properties. In my book, the SM Seaside City is for us Cebuanos, a shopping mall that Cebuanos can be so proud of that we’d tell our friends and visitors that when they come for a visit to Cebu, we’d take them to SM Seaside City as it will be Cebu’s “Must see” tourist destination.

Looking from my vantage view from Alta Vista Golf & Country Club, you’d think that the SM Seaside City is a huge luxury vessel. But from the air as you arrive from Manila, SM Seaside City looks like a huge alien spaceship that landed at the SRP. Kudos to Mr. Henry Sy and his son Hans Sy for expanding SM to the south. If they are so blessed, it is because they first gave honor to God. Remember in Matt.6: 33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Before the first nail was hammered to build the SM Seaside City, the Sy Family constructed the San Pedro Calungsod Chapel, which by the way is now a parish and yes, I just learned that even TripAdvisor gave this chapel a Certificate of Excellence for the Year 2015. It turns out that the San Pedro Calungsod Chapel is now the second most coveted place to hold weddings next to the Metropolitan Cathedral, that even people as far as Manila and other places would like to hold their weddings here.

More importantly for Cebu, the opening of SM Seaside City became an opening for Cebu to improve its mass transportation systems when SM came up with those 77 Hybrid air-conditioned buses to ply certain routes within Cebu City. This is happening today because the private sector just can’t wait for government anymore. The Bus Rapid Transit has been so delayed that by the time it operates, that is, if it gets off the ground in the first place, SM might just add more buses to the 77 Hybrid buses that are already here.

Again kudos to the Sy family, especially to Marissa Fernan, for their vision to make the SRP a true tourist destination for Cebu and for the years to come. Finally I heard that SM will already be constructing the ARENA for Cebu, and I hope it will be as big if not bigger than the one in Mall of Asia!

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A few days ago, I asked the question whether the holding of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit was worth the trouble in hosting it in Manila? The answer came in a form of a column from a fellow Philippine Star columnist and famous economist, Gerardo Sicat who in his column “Crossroads” wrote, “APEC Summit in Manila cost us between P18 to P30-Billion in GDP loss!” Let me reprint a portion of his column for your appreciation.

“The APEC Summit was a success but at a very high cost to the nation. In sponsoring the meeting, we had options to make it less costly. The government threw away that opportunity by unwise decision to hold it in Manila where the country incurred big losses in output as a consequence.” These losses only happened in just four days. This is how reckless PNoy has become in trying to promote the nation and himself! Shame on  PNoy!

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