Serenitea SM Bicutan Now Delivers!

Serenite SM Bicutan now delivers your favorite milk tea right at your doorstep. For a minimum order of PhP300 you can have milk tea delivered to your home, just call +(632) 551-7563.

The Wrath of Typhoon Glenda

I noticed that I've been writing about typhoons on my blog - well those that have either rattled me or those that I did some work for. Typhoon Glenda is one of those typhoons that worried me. She did not bring a lot of rain like Typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng, but she brought a lot of wind. News agencies said that Typhoon Glenda was going to be like Typhoon Milenyo. I missed Typhoon Milenyo because I was in the US, but I remember it was one of those typhoons that hit hard and it was days before power was restored in our neighborhood.

I woke up at around 3 in the morning because it was raining. It wasn't raining hard yet during that time, but I guess due to Typhoon Ondoy my body's wired to the weather. I kept tossing and turning and finally got up before 5 in the morning since Sweetie started giving me updates about the typhoon. We lost power just before 6 in the morning so I tried going back to sleep. The wind started to pick up then so I just gave up and walked around the house.

I was also afraid that our veranda glass door might shatter due to the wind. Sweetie had to run out to bring in some of the things we had in our veranda (table, chairs and a plastic case) to keep it from flying out and hitting someone. The huge tree at the back of our place was dancing wildly. Toyota was lucky that the tree wasn't uprooted because it would've hit a number of their inventory.

The wind became stronger at around 7 in the morning and our tiny radio crackled and the reporter said that the typhoon was near Manila already. At around 8 in the morning the wind's direction moved and started pounding on our sala's veranda door. The howling wind was pushing in the glass door and I thought it was going to break. I prayed hard that it won't. During that time the typhoon's eye was in Manila Bay. The news said that the typhoon changed direction because it hit some mountains on the way to Manila and hit Cavite instead.

When we finally got power back I saw in the news that Muntinlupa City was hit hard. One of the schools lost its roof and unlike in our area a lot of the business establishments were not able to open. I'm so thankful that the typhoon headed to Manila Bay instead of the city. The devastation would've been really huge if it hit Metro Manila. My family was unscathed. The only damage we had was our decades old mango tree which was uprooted (huhu).

Goodbye my dear mango tree :(

I hope everyone's okay and have power back in their homes.

Here's the crisis map made by the community.

The wind was so strong it blew off people -

Sbarro Opens at SM Bicutan

Sbarro recently opened a new branch at SM City Bicutan.  Sbarro, known for its Italian menu comprised mainly of pizzas and pastas since 1990 in the Philippines, opens its newest branch located at the food court on the 2nd floor of Bldg. B, SM City Bicutan.  Their newest branch in Paranaque city joined the more than 1,000 Sbarro branches worldwide.  According to the official Sbarro Philippines website, the first Sbarro branch in the Philippines was located at the Annex in SM North Edsa in 1990, and is the First Sbarro in all of Asia.

Going to Work From Paranaque On A Bike is Possible

Patrick Paez, News 5 News Production head features biking as an alternative mode of transportation.

As part of his feature entitled "Padyak", Patrick rode a bike from Bicutan in Paranaque City to Mandaluyong on a work day.  Some footages include Barangay Sun Valley and East Service Road.  See Patrick share his experience biking from Bicutan to Mandaluyong and what obstacles he encountered.

"Padyak" was featured on Kaya, a documentary series featuring stories of triumph amidst limitations on TV5 last April 5, 10:30pm.

To watch the entire video feature, click here:

• Part 1 of 4
• Part 2 of 4
• Part 3 of 4
• Part 4 of 4

Check the hashtag #padyaktv5 for discussion on this feature.

Related Links:
Kaya TV5 Official Facebook page

Post by Kaya.TV5.

Google Street View Car Spotted in Paranaque City

Since its launch in January 2014, Google Street View, which has been popular for making it so much easier to virtually tour streets and places in the U.S. with this technology, brought the same technology to the Philippines.  For the 1st time, Google Street View capturing tools were going to capture Philippine streets and locations.  The Google Street View car started going around taking imagery to attach to Google maps.  And in places where the Google Street View car couldn't fit (think eskinitas and other terrain that a car couldn't traverse), there was a backpack version of the Google Street View device where a person could just strap the backpack and walk around capturing the same imagery.

Last week, the Google Street View car was spotted along Dona Soledad entering the Skyway from Bicutan in Paranaque City and exited somewhere around Magallanes in Makati City.

 If you've seen it elsewhere in Paranaque City or around the Philippines, post a comment and let us know where you saw it.

e-Pass Service Center in Bicutan Closed from April 17 to April 20

e-Pass released a Holy Week advisory regarding list of dates their offices will be non-operational, which includes Nichols and Bicutan.

In anticipation of the April holidays, please be informed that we will have no e-Pass operations in our offices in Bicutan, Biñan, C5, and Nichols on these dates:

April 17- closed for Maundy Thursday
April 18- closed for Good Friday
April 19- closed for Black Saturday
April 20- closed for Easter Sunday

For those who need to load or check their balance during these dates, they may do so at www.epass.com.ph. A one-time registration entails that you use e-Pass support services beyond office hours and even during holidays.

e-Pass offices resume on April 21, Monday. For other questions, please call hotline (02) 888-8787 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, including holidays.

Sun Valley Barangay Hall

We only visit our barangay hall once a year to get a new cedula (Community Tax Certificate) and so we just found out that all the office functions of Barangay Sun Valley has been moved to the building on Sun Valley Drive.

The office is at the second floor of this building.

Located at the end of Sun Valley Drive you can now get all your requirements for cedula, business permit, transfer certificate, police clearance etc. at the barangay hall from Mondays to Fridays. There's a photocopy machine at the ground floor in case you need to submit duplicates of requirements.

This building houses a daycare and the police desk. 

Southeast Asia's First Olympiad Figure Skater is Paranaqueno

According to the article by CTV News the 17-year old Filipino delegate to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Michael Christian Martinez, was born in Paranaque. The only representative of the Philippines for the winter olympics is also the first figure skater Olympiad to come from Southeast Asia.

Here's a video of Michael competing -

Holiday in Paranaque Today!

PNoy declared February 13,2014 as a special non-working holiday in Proclamation No. 715 s2014. Today Paranaque celebrates its16th Cityhood anniversary.

Happy Paranaque day everyone!

Ref: http://www.gov.ph/2014/02/07/proclamation-no-715-s-2014/

Starbucks Dona Soledad is Now Open!

After a long wait residents of Better Living got a big surprise when Starbucks opened its doors last January 30, 2014, Thursday. The popular chain originally announced that they were going to start brewing in Dona Soledad in March 2014.

Starbucks Dona Soledad started brewing coffee last Thursday and opened its doors at 7 in the morning. The shop has 2 floors with an outdoor area on both floors. It's parking space can accommodate about 8 cars. You can now enjoy your favorite regular drinks. A quick look at their food selections showed that they have their regular sandwiches and you can also get healthy snacks (veggies + dip). We also spotted a generous number of sockets so you can hang-out to work/study. We didn't see any wifi routers though so best to bring a pocket wifi.

The popular Starbucks Card system isn't available yet though.

Welcome to the neighborhood Starbucks!