For the past few years, malls have become so generic, in fact anyone can just enter it- regardless of status or income in life.
In fact, mall developers like the Sy family are planning to put an SM shopping mall every 30 minutes of each city- which will make shopping malls just a typical place-nothing special.
Thanks to families like Henry Sy, the tradition of seeing malls as something classy is out of the picture.
Filipinos have the tendency to associate material wealth with the idea of being able to make it in life, if you are able to eat in Jollibee, if you are able to eat in some new fancy restaurant inside the mall, if you are able to drink an expensive coffee- then you are one of them...you are no longer the probinsyano that you are.
Some Filipinos have come to believe that if they are able to buy clothes inside shopping malls they are already "cool", they are already "in"-- but this thoughts are way too outdated- even the fashion world believes that second hand clothes look way much better than the generic t-shirts and blouse sold in SM shopping malls.
This is the best trick the "oligarchs" have created so far- the best trick that Filipinos bought- Mang Juan sold his farm, sold his carabao and his peace of mind in the province- to get hold of what shopping malls can give him.
Mang Juan sold his children's land for an education in the city-- that his children may be transformed into a city girl or city boy--they sold an identity in exchange of a promise that one day they will also look like them--mestizo, chic with a brand new Ferrari-- but who are we kidding right?
Their children will be working for a minimum wage salary, will be paying huge amount of rent and would hardly get by-- when in fact, a more comfortable life could have happened in the province if they learned how to truly cultivate the land.
Filipinos are so willing to exchange their parcels of land to mall developers, so willing to have one sign of shopping mall in the area- in order that they may be called Developed- without thinking of the consequences--
A shopping mall inside a small province--would mean more jobs- more jobs that pay less and provide no SSS benefits and more traffic, more trees to be cut--more competition for small business owners who are striving hard to make a name in their respective town.-just look at Baguio City--it invited developers like Henry Sy and look at what happened in the city--look at what Ayala developers are trying to do with JohnHay--soon--Baguio will be out of Pine trees and filled with cement--true to the dream of the City Mayor Mauricio Domogan.
Because shopping malls are plentiful, they are in every corner- it has ceased to become a statement of anything, in fact a lot of people no longer want to purchase their clothes inside a mall and would rather buy second hand clothes just to avoid looking generic while walking in their city.
Shopping malls are everywhere- pretty soon people will get so sick of them- they are too many- and the only way to get some peace of mind is to go to a very far province once in a while just to get some fresh air--
But then soon they realize--going back to nature is no longer free- if you want to experience trees, and the healing of nature you have to enter an expensive Spa center that will offer you a rejuvenating way to relax--something that has always been free since the beginning of time.
Most of the cities that we have in the Philippines like Baguio City is already beautiful in its own right--however, some developer had convinced the Mayor of the city that it would be better to cement the entire park for progress.
Provinces like La Union, Pangasinan, Vigan, Batangas and cities like Davao and Cebu are already beautiful just the way they are- we are not really in need of this so called progress that some people are talking about in the government.
The idea of progress by this people--is to put up a generic looking shopping mall- in exchange for everything that a Filipino family has.
Shopping malls are the new tiangge, anyone can enter them- they are no longer a sign of anything- malls will fill up the entire country...at a much faster rate- it will be everywhere and it will be sickening to see.
Because trees will be gone, fresh air will be gone, because trash and traffic will be everywhere...
The truth is that we are giving up on this...in exchange of a cement structure----nothing is free-- you pay for everything...
And the crazy thing here is that sooner or later--we would be so willing to pay thousands of pesos just to be able to see nature--thousands just to see Mt. Pulag, thousands just to see the beaches of Palawan, thousands just to be able to see what Panagbenga Festival in Baguio looks like---
We will soon pay thousands of pesos just to get out of the city--that we once called our Ultimate Filipino Dream of Success.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shopping_malls_in_Metro_Manila
Photo Credits: San Benito Farm, Batangas
