Ang Bagong Tambayan ng Bayan - Mall of Asia

By M. Fernandez

The sprawling Mall of Asia complex is owned and operated by SM Prime Holdings, a publicly listed company, under the able leadership of Henry Sy, a Filipino-Chinese business tycoon, reportedly one of the wealthiest men in Asia. (Forbes 2006 ranks him as the 14th richest person in Southeast Asia, and Henry Sy and family as the 74th richest person in the Asia and Australia region).

SM has come a long way since it opened its first department store in 1972, the SM Manila in Echague.

In the 90's as a Travel Editor based in Singapore my trips to the Philippines were primarily on media junkets, arranged specifically to Manila's more accessible tourist highlights (we had to pander to the preference of our ?not-so-intrepid¹ readers).

Fifteen years on, as a freelancer, I can now afford to venture off-the-beaten track and pick and choose what I want to see.

In June of this year, it was not one of nature's tourist attractions that took my fancy in the Phili-ppines, but a man-made wonder - the current talk of the town, the thrilla in Manila - I am referring to the newly opened SM Mall of Asia (MOA). The largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 3rd largest in the world.

In terms of gross floor area, it is next to the Golden Resources Mall in China and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada.

The MOA was officially inaugurated on May 20, 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and opened for business the next day.

Erected within the reclamation area, west of Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, overlooking the Bay, the mall consists of four buildings linked by walkways; the Main Hall, Entertain-ment Mall and the North and South carpark buildings.

To encourage you to shop till you drop, a 20-seater tram is available to whisk you around the complex.

It's true, big is good. My first impression of the Main Hall (two floors) was its opulence, spaciousness and spotlessness. Perhaps this is what differentiates MOA from Manila's older shopping centres.

In comparison, I thought it also had a lower level of noise pollution (in some of the other malls I felt the high decibel level of background music emanating from the shops and the din of voices echoing through the building both excruciating and distracting for shoppers and children).

All in all, the wide isles, high sweeping ceiling and enormous floor space taken up by the anchor tenants make this a seductive environment for shoppers - putting you in the right frame of mind to splurge.

This is quite an impressive emporium in terms of presentation and range of product. It is eventually expected to accommodate about 600 stores.

The South Parking building houses the SM Departmnet Store and the North Parking building the SM Hypermarket.

The Pacifica Entertain-ment Plaza offers bowling, billiard facilities and 10 theatres including the Director's Club and the first ever IMAX Theatre in the Philippines - the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX theatre with the largest screen in the Philippines at 22 x 30 metres, equivalent to the height of an eight-storey building.

The MOA also features an Olympic sized skating rink and a science museum. If you want to take the weight off your feet and recharge, the MOA offers about 150 outlets in its food courts.

Asked about her feelings about the MOA, a Kiwi Pinoy put it quite succintly: The Philippines has finally arrived!

A detractor felt that from the outside the MOA appears to be beautiful, but inside it seems to look just like Megamall.

Nothing really special except for the skating rink, IMAX, view of Manila Bay and probably SM Hypermarket and also the fact that it's currently the biggest mall in the Philippines.

Personally I found it so easy to lose track of time exploring this very pleasant shopping wonderland.

I am really looking forward to a more leisurely visit to the MOA on my next trip to the Philippines.

M. Fernandez, Travel Editor - Pinoy.Net.NZ