Sison Building along Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard in Sta Mesa was probably one of the earliest low-rise apartments in Metro Manila. Built in the mid-1960s, the four-story structure had commercial spaces on the ground floor and a penthouse unit with a generous deck on the fifth level. Across the street was Embassy Theater, a moviehouse.
It is where I lived from the time I was born until Grade 4, when my parents decided to move back to their hometown, in the province of Sorsogon.
It was hard to miss Sison Building, especially at night, thanks to the big metal signage with neon lights on its rooftop that screamed MOTOLITE. Most of our guests from the province would ask the taxi driver to pull over at the “Motolite building”.
Our flat was the last unit on the third floor and my parents had built a wooden gate for privacy, since hardly anyone ever walked up to where we were. The building had only one staircase and no elevator, and the floor plan was typical 1960s, with the toilet and bathroom outside the flat. Sometimes, we would see our neighbors half-naked, wearing only a towel, walking from the toilet back to their house.
At the roof deck of Sison Building, which was co-opted as a playground when there was no tenant on the penthouse.
Because there was no garden on the ground floor, the long corridor served as our playground. When there was no tenant at the penthouse, we would go to the roof deck to play. That wide open space was a paradise for the children living in our building: we flew kites, played badminton, and more. The corridor was our common play area for typical Filipino games like piko, tumbang preso, habulan, sipa, yoyo, tex; sometimes, a neighbor having her siesta would scream at us to keep the noise down, but children are children and it was common to be noisy when playing games.
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Each residential unit had its own balcony, which overlooked the boulevard. It was from there that I witnessed several historical events. We knew when then-President Ferdinand Marcos and the First Lady were going to pass use the road, because the Metrocom patrol cars would arrive ahead of them to clear both sides of the boulevard. There was a great flood in the 1970s and it was my first time to see an amphibian naval boat. Everytime there was a red alert, I would see several trucks loaded with army soldiers, or tankers would pass. During rush hour, it was dazzling to see red-colored tail lights on one side and bright yellow lights on the other side, from the thousands of vehicles passing by. I remember there was water shortage in the 1970s. We had to go down and walk a block away to fetch water and bring it up to our unit for our daily use. From the balcony, you could see a queue of multicolored pails and containers on the street.
The heavy volume of jeepneys and cars passing through meant heavy pollution. The balcony was always covered with black dust. That’s were I developed my asthma. Despite this, we would still play games outdoors and point at the cars we wished to own; whoever called first dibs was the winner. But now that they’ve built an LRT line along the boulevard, the view is partially covered. The sunlight can only peek through the asphalt road during the day, and it is dark especially at night.
The location of Sison was very central. We walked to the wet market, supermarket, bakery, cinema, church and post office. School at Centro Escolar in Mendiola was just one jeepney ride away. Once, we even managed to walk home from school soaking wet in the flooded streets of this boulevard.
In a way, my early years in this apartment building influenced my pursuit of architecture. I never new then this is what’s called “urban living”. How to live and adapted to the concrete jungle of the metropolis is what I experienced first hand here. I realized the importance of open space, a place were we can meet and greet, security and privacy, social behavior in a contained space, and even anti-social behavior.
Sison Building still stands there. The original tenants are practically gone. The Motolite neon sign is gone. The Philippine Airline ticketing office on the ground level is now occupied by a 7Eleven. Every time I pass Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, I always turn my head and look at Sison Building and some memories always flashes back: Mang Arsing, the ever patient and reliable man of the house who slept under the stairs, and who multi-tasked as building manager, security man, concierge, messenger, and handyman, has also long been gone.
I can still recall memories of the few people who lived there. The joy, the fun, the neighbors’ quarrel, a few scenes of domestic violence, some passionate scenes along the corridors, some thieves trying to steal the clothes hanging on the clothesline, the silence when someone passed away, the excitement when there was a commotion at the boulevard, everybody going to the balcony and watching the unfolding of events down below. Significantly, I remember the big fire that hit our neighbor, a lumberyard. Thanks to the solid concrete firewall, the building was saved. We were “refugees” for a few days until it was safe to come back to our flat. Oh, and of course, how will I forget, my mom hit the headline of the tabloid when she was photographed coming down from the building like a lady Santa Claus with a big bundle of our personal things. She bravely and strongly managed to lift every steel manhole on the balcony of each floor, to get through the ladder-type fire exit. That was the importance of a fire exit and fire escape, to never put obstruction along the path.
When I design my next condominium projecdt, I will definitely use the good spatial elements and experience from this building and avoid the mistakes of the concrete jungle of the 1960s and 1970s.
James Jao is an architect, interior designer, furniture designer and urban planner with an MSc degree in City Design and Social Science from London School of Economics. Do you want to share a story about where you used to live in Metro Manila? Post your article on http://manila.coconuts.co/contribute or send us an email at manila@coconuts.co with ‘I lived here’ in the subject title.
MORE ‘I LIVED HERE’ ESSAYS
– 97-C 4th St, New Manila, Quezon City by Noelle de Jesus
– East Capitol Drive, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Maya Calica
– 62-A West Point St, Cubao, Quezon City by Ichi Batacan
– 20 A Fernando St, Marulas, Valenzuela City by Tina Gomez
– 28 San Ignacio St, Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City by Cindy Karingal
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