ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Architectural firm Casas+Architects specializes in architecture and interior design, of high-rise,

mixeduse, commercial, institutional, and hospitality structures. Its services include master planning,
green design consultancy, project research and feasibility, and Building Information Modeling
services to cater to evolving clients’ needs. Its design masterpieces now populate the skyline of
Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and the rest of Metro Manila.
Over 20 years ago, Fort Bonifacio was a former camp of the Philippine Army. The camp is one
of the military installations under the stewardship of the Bases Conversion and Development
Authority (BCDA), a development corporation that oversees the conversion and redevelopment of
former military bases. BCDA partnered with Ayala Land Inc., Evergreen Holdings, and formed Fort
Bonifacio Development Corporation which spearheaded the development of BGC.
Fast-forward to today, Fort Bonifacio is now home to BGC — a cosmopolitan metropolis and a
modern wonder of contemporary living, mixing business, residential and pleasure with remarkable
architecture showcasing modern designs, amenities and facilities.
Many have considered the city as a locality of quality and privileged living that is beaming with
intensity and vitality. Aside from being home to world-class business and residential developments, it
is also home to myriads of luxury shopping centers, dining spots, and recreational options. It is also
the heart of practically everything — from five-star hotels, a performing arts theater, to places of
worship.
The BCDA Icone Tower is a proposed skyscraper that is envisioned to be the iconic landmark
of the Philippines, similar to those of Paris’ Eiffel Tower and New York’s Empire State Building. As
designed by Hong Kong-based firm Henning Larsen Architects, elements of the Filipino culture and
landscape were integrated into the tower. When completed, the building is envisioned to be the
highest in Fort Bonifacio. It will rise as a dramatic spire and serve as benchmark to the skyscrapers in
Metro Manila, revolutionizing the Philippine skyline like never before. It is envisioned to be a symbol
of humanity — of how a tall structure could give back to a city and its people and how it can revitalize
an entire urban area. It will showcase an area honoring the service of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP), the biggest stakeholder of the BCDA. With the local consultants on-board, Arup
Group as the Engineer of Record and Casas+Architects as the Architect of Record, the designers are
now boldly carrying out this vision.
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Dealing with the problems of the Philippines means making sense of its cities. Half of all
Filipinos live in 143 cities across the archipelago. This will increase to 84 percent by 2050, with more
and more rural citizens trooping to Metro Manila, Cebu and other regional centers in search of the
proverbial better life. However, many of the nation’s fundamental challenges are embedded in its
streets and buildings, in the urban fabric of our communities.
Manila infamously has one of the lowest densities of public transport infrastructure among
major global capitals. Crushing traffic jams occur just outside gated subdivisions. Glittering condos
rise above informal settler communities where access to water, electricity, toilets and quality jobs is
uncertain. Name-brand supermarkets have chased off local palengkes and sari-sari stores. The only
civic spaces left are the malls.
Even secondary semi-rural cities such as Baguio, Naga, Bacolod, General Santos City,
Mandaue and Puerto Princesa are starting to feel the pinch. While there are a number of sustainable
tourism and cultural heritage projects in the country, these initiatives are almost always seen as mere
window-dressing, when clean, safe and comfortable spaces where people can live, play and work are
luxurious exceptions to the norm. The effect on mental, emotional, financial, physical and social
health is less than positive, to say the least.
Man-made and natural hazards aside, all urban structures are shaped by human choices over
time, individually and collectively. As such, Tacloban, Zamboanga and Marawi are just more extreme
examples of a more disturbing reality: Philippine cities are the ultimate man-made disaster!
 But the state of our cities and their infrastructure are just a reflection of social realities. In 1938,
urban planner and historian Lewis Mumford said that cities are “the point of maximum concentration
for the power and culture of a community,” and that one of the chief functions of the city is to “convert
power into form.” All architecture and urban design immortalize and glorify certain social values and
ideas, in the same way that our built environment affects us in different ways, whether consciously or
unconsciously. In the words of Winston Churchill, we shape our buildings and our buildings shape us.

LITERATURE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Spoken word is slowly but steadily gaining momentum in the country. Since its rise in
popularity, spoken word has been an effective outlet for people to express their views on different
subjects. Because it is free-form, any topic under the sun can be used as motivation for a poem.
During Reverie, topics ranged from talking about losing love, to bullying, to dignity, and even to death.
There are people who make art or write music to express their feelings; some post Facebook
updates while others turn to alcohol—then there are those who write and perform poetry. Spoken
word poetry has made its way into the hearts of many Filipinos, and the increasing number of
restaurants and events hosting open mic and poetry slams is proof of that.
It is a kind of poetry wherein poems are not only confined to the page but rather, through
memorization, performed on stage. It focuses more on word play and story-telling and heavily relies
on the poet’s delivery to get its message and depth across, building from the age-old art of poetry.
Spoken word poetry in the Philippines has given such an impact both on the writers and to the
audience. I guess it affects them. It’s a form of expression, a form of art. It’s something that makes
you feel. I think people would love to have something to feel and [something] to grasp on. Like when
a poet performs a piece and you go ‘I felt this way’, you see the effect it has on people.
Contrary to popular belief, spoken word poetry did not begin as of late. The tradition of orally
passing down historical and cultural knowledge exists in many cultures, particularly in Africa and
Greece. Meanwhile, modern day spoken word poetry existed in the underground Black community
during the sixties with The Last Poets, a poetry and political music group born out of the African-
American Civil Rights movement. Even Martin Luther’s I Have A Dream speech and Soujurner Truth’s
Ain’t I A Woman have heavily influenced history.
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Allen Lau, the 46-year-old Canadian founder and chief executive of Wattpad, is changing the
world of literature and the way people read and write in an unprecedented manner. His company, a
mobile platform, gives a million writers access to more than 30 million readers globally, including five
million in the Philippines, which he visited recently. Wattpad hosts the biggest community of readers
and writers in the world.
Wattpad has given amateur writers a chance to publish their stories. Over a decade after Bob
Ong published his first book and created a stir in the academe, academics still ask, “Is there space in
Philippine literature for popular fiction?”
This year saw a swell of readers on Wattpad, mostly in their teens.Some Wattpad stories,
which receive a tremendous following based on the number of views, were recently turned into book
form. 
In March 2014, Summit Media, one of the country’s leading book publishers, inked a
partnership with Wattpad to print stories for their Pop Fiction imprint.Bianca Bernardino’s “She’s
Dating the Gangster,” originally published on CandyMag.com's Teen Talk section, has already been
read over 1.1 million times on Wattpad. Like Bernardino’s novel, Wattpad stories have been adapted
into teleserye and movies. 
The surge of Wattpad readers is paralleled by the growing fanbase of Marcelo Santos III. The
latter’s Facebook page has 4.1 million likes. Every post, no matter how mundane it is, spawns
thousands of likes and shares.