I am proud to say that I used to live and grew up in Quezon City. Even when I am familiar with the streets and famous landmarks of Quezon City, I can still say that there are still a lot of things for me to discover and do in this Place. Through the years, Quezon City is still evolving just like any other cities in the country.
Now, it has become a Lifestyle City and also declared officially as the City of Stars because major Television Companies (ABS-CBN and GMA 7) are situated here. Everything you need is found here such as prominent educational institutions, major businesses and employment opportunities, tourist attractions and even historical places, among others. Famous and major College and Universities like Ateneo de Manila, Miriam College and University of the Philippines Diliman are located here. For business and employment opportunities, numerous BPO companies, as well as, local and international corporations have chosen to put their main offices here in Quezon City. For these reasons, locals of Quezon City and even people from other cities and provinces have greater chance of employment here.
Anyway, Quezon City has just celebrated their 75th Jubilee Anniversary where the City Government prepared a two-day activity last October 10-11, 2015, where the highlight was last October 11, with a grand concert and fireworks display to officially welcome the 75th Founding Anniversary of Quezon City On October 12, 2015.
In line with this celebration, bloggers were invited on the first day of Activity. I was one of the invited bloggers so I got the chance to have a closer look at Quezon City. We were divided into groups. The group where I belonged was scheduled to meet up at the QC City Hall. After that, we had our lunch at Wingman UP Town Center and we were toured around UP Campus thereafter. We visited the Vargas Museum, the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice (a Catholic Church), the Church of the Risen Lord (a Protestant Church), the Carillon Tower, the famous UP Oblation, the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory and the TechnoHub.
Vargas Museum displays authentic Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo paintings. These paintings are some of the collections of former politician Jorge Vargas (obviously, the Museum was named after him). As we were told, Mr. Vargas was not just fond of paintings, he was also into music. Actually, his favorites are still played in the hall and performed by the Philippine National Police band. Aside from the displayed paintings in the Museum, exhibits are also held in the museum from time to time. During our tour, there was an exhibit held there entitled “Hand Made Violence” by Bembol dela Cruz, which was about being a responsible gun owner.
Then, we went to the Church of the Risen Lord, a Protestant Church built around 50 years ago through a Protestant student group named the Christian Youth Movement (CYM).
Next stop was the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, which was famous for its architectural design and was even recognized as one of the National Historical Landmarks by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, formerly the National Historical Institute and Cultural Treasures, as well as, a Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines.
We also happen to tour around the Carillon Tower. It is one of the permanent landmarks inside the UP Campus and is considered as equally famous tourist spot within the campus, thus securing its place in history and identity of the University. It is the only carillon tower here in the country and in Southeast Asia that is manually played by a clavier or a wooden keyboard and is about 130 feet tall.
Of course, the tour inside the UP Diliman Campus will never be complete without seeing the popular UP Oblation statue. Need I say more?
The last stop of the tour was at PAGASA Astronomical Observatory. Inside was a 45 centimeter computer-based telescope and the biggest ever acquired by the PAGASA since it was established in 1954. Currently, this telescope is held as the largest operational telescope in the country where enthusiasts can have effective observations of stellar bodies and other distant space objects.
Then on our way back to Quezon City Hall, we happen to passed by the UP TechonoHub. The TechnoHub is an IT hub both developed by the University of the Philippines Diliman and Ayala Land developer. It is about 20 hectares and occupied be several businesses like Convergys, HSBC, IBM, Teletech and Nokia, among others.
After the tour, I was able to realize that though I grew up in Quezon City, I am still a stranger to this place. There are still a lot of things that I have to learn in this City.
