By Jonas Reyes

OLONGAPO CITY – Becoming one of the hottest tourist site in the city, a haunted house here plans to give its earning to the less fortunate kids in Abra and Samar. The Kinier Homes, an apartment building, has again made a part of their establishment into haunted house.

Every night, around 400 customers visit the Halloween attraction in Olongapo, bringing much-needed finances for their humanitarian cause. With an admission fee of P75, customers get a scare and a laugh while helping out the community.

According to owner Ron Harkins, a 75-year-old expat from the United States, the “Haunted Maze for a Cause” started six years ago with the mind to help the less fortunate children in the Philippines. He said that the proceeds gained will be going to the Trust and Believe In Me Foundation (TBIMF).

“The proceeds for the haunted maze will fund two projects: a medical mission in Dolores, Abra; and building a school in Western Samar in the
mountains. They have 92 children there who live in nipa huts trying to study,” Harkins said.

“So everything we get from this, we return to the community,” he added.

Harkins, along with his Filipina wife Nieva Harkins, manage the apartment building all year round but transform it into a Halloween attraction. The two bought the apartment building 20 years ago and started the Halloween tradition in Olongapo more than five years ago.

They sold their property in the states and built the TBIMF and has been helping children in far-flung communities ever since.

Source: zambalesherald.blogspot.com

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THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) said a commercial agreement with China for the Subic-Clark Railway may not be ready for signing when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits next month.

The DoTr said it has yet to receive a shortlist of turnkey contractors to which the Philippines will issue its request for proposals.

“As soon as we receive it, everything will be ready, including bid documents, and the joint bids and awards committee with the BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority) has been organized,” DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John R. Batan said in a briefing on Wednesday.

He said the target is to have the agreement signed within the year or early next year with construction starting immediately after.

Mr. Batan noted that Mr. Xi is expected to sign in November the loan agreement for the Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Long-Haul Project, which will extend the train line to Bicol.

The loan scheduled for signing in November will fund the hiring of the PNR South Long Haul project management consultant, the services of which were initially procured this month, he added.

Mr. Batan told reporters after the briefing that the project management consultancy for PNR Bicol is worth P14 billion, with other components of the project expected to be finalized and awarded by the first quarter of 2019

He said the consultancy loan currently represents “roughly 70% to 80% of the contract price.”

On the Subic-Clark Railway project, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the Philippines needs to wait for the pool of nominees from the Chinese government, because it is a China-funded project.

“When a project is Chinese-funded, those who want to be involved must come from a list of nominees for accreditation from the Chinese government. We’re now at the stage where we are waiting for the nominated consultants for the feasibility study. When they finish the list of three nominees, we will do a bidding. The winner will do the feasibility study and come up with the data and details for the engagement,” he said.

Mr. Tugade also said he believes time is still sufficient to meet the 2021 timetable for completing the Subic-Clark Railway.

The Subic-Clark Railway Project is a P50.03-billion, 71.13-kilometer project approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board in April. The PNR South Long Haul is a P151-billion, 581-kilometer railway that is expected to be partially open in 2022.

Both projects were presented for China loan financing when senior government officials visited that country in August. — Denise A. Valdez

Source: bworldonline.com

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By: Christia Marie Ramos, Consuelo Marquez – @inquirerdotnet

Some local government units suspended work in government offices and classes in public and private schools on Wednesday, Oct. 31, due to Typhoon “Rosita,” interntionally known as “Yutu.”

Here is the list:

Metro Manila
Muntinlupa – classes in all levels
Ilocos Region
La Union, entire province, including City of San Fernando – classes in all levels

Pangasinan, entire province – work in government offices and classes in all levels

Ilocos Sur, entire province – classes all levels

Cagayan Valley
Ifugao

Aguinaldo – classes in all levels
Isabela – work in government offices and classes in all levels

Quirino – classes all levels

Nueva Vizcaya

Bayombong – classes in all levels
Cordillera Administrative Region
Abra – classes in all levels

Central Luzon
Bulacan

Calumpit – classes in all levels
Pampanga

Angeles – work in government offices and classes in all levels
Guagua – classes in all levels
Masantol – preschool to grade school classes
San Fernando – classes in all levels
Tarlac, entire province – classes in all levels

Zambales

Iba – classes in all levels
Masinloc – classes in all levels
Palaguig – classes in all levels
Calabarzon
Batangas – classes in all levels

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

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Inspired by the iconic neighborhood in New York City, Chelsea Parkplace will rise in Capital Town, San Fernando, Pampanga.

By Mark Louis F. Ferrolino
Special Features Writer

MEGAWORLD Corp. has officially launched Chelsea Parkplace, its first residential project within its Pampanga township, as part of the company’s plan to bring the live-work-play lifestyle to northern Luzon.

The 12-storey Chelsea Parkplace is a condominium development inspired by the distinctive Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City.

The residential project is set to rise on a 1,858-square-meter (sq.m) lot in Capital Town — Megaworld’s 35.6-hectare integrated urban township in San Fernando City.

Eugene Em Lozano, Megaworld Pampanga’s first vice-president for sales and marketing, said Chelsea Parkplace will be ideally located in the center of the township.

“As a future resident of Chelsea Parkplace, one has the front row seat advantage of seeing the growth and development in this area,” Mr. Lozano said in a press briefing last week.

The condominium has a total of 193 units, all designed with a balcony to give residents a view of the township. At present, nearly 30% of the units have been sold.

Studio units are sized from 29 sq.m to 31 sq.m, while one-bedroom units range from 41 sq.m to 45.5 sq.m, and two-bedroom units span from 67 sq.m to 88 sq.m. The rate per square meter is at P140,000.

Amenities include a retail area on the upper ground floor, swimming pool, events hall, daycare, and fitness center. It will also have a first-of-its-kind speakeasy bar, “The Other Room,” which will serve as an ideal venue for residents to celebrate special occasions.

The Andrew L. Tan-led company is targeting working professionals in their mid-30s to mid-40s as the primary market for this residential project.

“Most of them are based in Makati but they have roots in Pampanga, and also those who live within the Pampanga but wanted to explore a different kind of lifestyle. We are bringing a unique lifestyle concept that is not available yet in Central Luzon,” Mr. Lozano said.

“I think we are offering something unique du’n sa mga anak ng mga families na nandu’n sa Pampanga, so they might consider staying there other than living abroad or working in Metro Manila,” he added.

An artist’s rendering of a condo unit at Chelsea Parkplace. — MEGAWORLD CORP.

Megaworld expects to complete the project by 2022. The company might launch another tower next year, depending on the market’s demand.

Mr. Lozano said that living in Chelsea Parkplace, located within Capital Town, will bring the convenience of having well-suited amenities, recreational spaces, unique dining destinations, world-class retail establishments, prime working hubs, and an overall safe and dynamic neighborhood within reach.

Across the condominium will rise the Central Square, where the Casa de Emperador and BPO offices will be located.

A few blocks down will be the Shophouse District, a six-hectare retail space set to become the center of the city’s entrepreneurial ventures.

Megaworld started selling shophouse lots a year ago, and has already sold 99%, according to Mr. Lozano.

“The lots are set to be turned over next year. And we expect the property prices to soar even higher once we are near the completion of the Shophouse District,” Mr. Lozano said.

Events trade hall, outdoor amphitheater, museum, mall, cinema complex, and transportation hub are also set to rise within the township.

Anticipating Capital Town to be a busy township, a 30-meter wide San Fernando Boulevard will be built. This main township road will be equivalent to six lanes, traversing Capitol Boulevard all the way to Jose Abad Santos Avenue (Olongapo-Gapan Road).

Mr. Lozano said that land developments within Capital Town already started last year and construction is already in full swing.

Last year, Megaworld said that it will be investing around P30 billion over the next 10 years to develop the township.

Source: bworldonline.com

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Subic Bay Freeport— All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween, a tradition believed to have originated from the Gaelic pagan festival Samhain, conjures images of ghosts, witches, and wandering spirits. But what started as a scary commemoration is now as festive as every other modern celebration.

Here in the Freeport Zone, the practice is as commercial as it can get. Hotels, restaurants, bistros, shopping malls, business offices, and residential areas are all dressed up in pumpkins, cobwebs and bats, and flying broomsticks, and almost everybody is preparing for some themed Halloween party.

Establishments such as the Segara Hotel and the Lighthouse Marina Resort are holding their own family-oriented Halloween parties, and are encouraging visitors to stay overnight for the special Halloween entertainment treat.

Liberty Sports Bar, a more “mature” establishment, even has a costume contest that is open to the public, with goodies and cash prizes to be given to winners.

With these kinds of parties expected to be held in most parts of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, it’s no wonder that Royal Duty-Free Store, SM City Olongapo, and Harbor Point Ayala Mall are displaying Halloween merchandise to make each child (and parent) keep up with the Halloween crowd.

What parent would allow his child to dress down and be left out in a Halloween party? Fortunately, toy shops are selling faux bloody murder weapons, masks, and full-body costumes for little fairies, and witches, and skeleton ghosts.

Of course, stores have also stocked up on candies, chocolates, and ghoulish cupcakes, cookies, and other food that visiting trick-or-treaters would later expect each time they knocked on doors.

Meanwhile, the residential areas of Kalayaan and Binictican here have transformed into virtual Halloween Land adorned in spooky decorations. One could find here various versions of lawn cemeteries, decapitated dolls hanging from trees, ghouls popping out of the bushes, chairs that rock by themselves, SUVs that look like the Ghostbusters’ Ecto 1, and other creepy offerings.

In the past few years, these areas in Subic have been swamped during Halloween with children attired as fairies, witches, zombies, vampires, mummies, or superheroes that the SBMA police had to close down some inner roads to vehicular traffic.

While the neighborhood associations have not announced any Halloween party this year, a fair number of neighborhood children are expected to go trick-or-treating.

Residents said some houses here actually vie for the coveted title of the “scariest residence” in the community. And some of them, of course, look forward to winning the “scariest costume” during private Halloween parties among friends. Yes, despite the fun and festive air, scary still sells in Subic.

Source: manilastandard.net

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