ABS-CBN Town Center?

There’s Alabang Town Center in Alabang, which was once upon a time a farming district, and then there’s UP Town Center in Katipunan. The property used to be the home of the UP Integrated School. Both developments are from Ayala Land Inc., the property giant of Ayala Corp., the country’s oldest conglomerate.

ALI is developing yet another mixed-use estate as revealed last week, this time, in ABS-CBN’s historic headquarters in Quezon City.

Who knows, we may soon see another Town Center added to ALI’s portfolio – will it be called ABS-CBN Town Center? How about Celebrity Town Center or Kapamilya Town Center?

An exclusive story on Monday, March 10 by The STAR’s private sector reporter Richmond Mercurio quoted ALI as saying that the property developer is bringing the township vibe to the ABS-CBN property.

The Lopez Group has made the painful yet practical move of selling a huge portion of ABS-CBN's headquarters to ALI for P6.24 billion.

ALI is looking to transform the 30,000-square-meter ABS-CBN headquarters into a mixed-use project. The sale covers 30,000 sqm of the total 44,027.30 sqm of the property.

As Richmond reported:

“We are currently in the masterplanning phase, assessing the best use for the property,” ALI said in a statement to The STAR.

“The focus is on creating a mixed-use development that complements the surrounding community,” it said.

The property houses several buildings, including the network’s production facilities. ABS-CBN’s offices and studios will be consolidated within the remaining 1.4 hectares of the property, which it will retain after the transaction, according to Richmond’s report.

Not surprisingly, ABS-CBN insiders are sad and even former employees are feeling nostalgic about it, especially because that sprawling HQ was where so many memories were created, not just of the employees themselves but memories of the Filipino people and our nation of 120 million.

It wasn’t just memories, but also a great deal of history. ABS-CBN’s storied journey is intertwined with that of the country’s history.

First TV broadcast in the Philippines

Here’s what’s written on one of the markers of the National Historical Institute found within the HQ:

“Unang Brodkast sa Telebisyon sa Pilipinas

“Inilunsad ng Alto Broadcasting System (ABS) sa DZAQ Channel 3 ang unang brodkast sa telebisyon sa Pilipinas, 23 Oktubre 1953. Itinatag ni Eugenio J. Lopez ang Chronicle Broadcasting Network, 1955. Nabili ang ABS, 1957, at ang dalawang network ay nakilala bilang ABS-CBN. 1963, naging ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. Ipinatayo itong sentro ng pagbo-brodkast ng network ng radyo’t telebisyon sa Bohol Avenue, 24, Pebrero 1967. Pinasinayaan, 18 Disyembre 1968.”

Imagine that. What a piece of history.

As The STAR columnist Boo Chanco pointed out, the broadcast tower is also a historical monument of EDSA ’86.

I don’t know how ALI can develop the property without erasing history or diminishing the HQ’s historical value.

There’s no doubt that developing the property makes perfect business sense, and ALI is a master at unlocking the values of land.

Remember how Nuvali used to be just a barren, cogon-filled, miserable-looking patch of earth? Now, it’s become a dream residential community for some Filipinos.

For the Lopez Group, this is of course a practical move. Since losing its franchise, ABS-CBN has been cornered into a tight spot and has struggled to get up. It certainly needs the money.

I hope that all those who voted to revoke the network’s franchise are at least being hounded by their conscience. But then again, that might be wishful thinking, considering the kind of lawmakers we have today. That’s another story, though, which I’ll save for another day.

Preserving history

Moving forward, the government must have a say in which historical places developers can or cannot touch. As it is now, historic preservation almost does not exist in our country.

But there must be a department in charge of preserving buildings and structures, including churches that have historical significance, just like in many European countries.

For example, the National Museum has the right of first refusal when it comes to artworks that have historical value. Maybe we can have something like that when it comes to heritage properties.

And maybe there must be a limit on what assets private developers can acquire and develop or how they must develop them.

While we’re at it, maybe we should make sure that schools and university campuses that have been around for decades remain untouched by private developers, too, for as long as they are still functioning as educational institutions.

Campuses are important and they represent an institution’s identity.

Renovating school buildings is one thing but destroying existing buildings to make way for another mall or commercial development is absurd.

It also erases the deep history and the countless memories the students have made.

Places remind us of our history and identity. Buildings and structures are testaments to the rich and colorful journeys that brought us to where we are today.

It’s also about preserving communities and spaces, and allowing shops run by local artisans to thrive.

Take UP Diliman, for example. There’s now a popular fast-food restaurant inside the campus. In reality, many of the students can’t afford to eat there. They prefer to eat at their go-to community eateries, which sell their food at affordable prices.

It’s a changing world I know, but erasing the history of a place or a community for yet another mall or condominium tower is not always the kind of change we need.

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Email: eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.