1.
Mexico, Pampanga
–
Mexico is a first class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it had a population of 154,624 people, the town was renamed after Mexico, a country in North America after being confused with its native name Masiku which is often taken as Elbowed. Some theories attribute the name to Siku, an Old Kapampangan term for Chico or Sapodilla which grew richly in the town and it has residential, commercial and recreational developments such as SM Pampanga and Beverly Place. It is a first class municipality which has educational institutions including Our Lady of Guadalupe School. Mexico is administratively subdivided into 43 barangays, upland products such as deerskins and beeswax became important commodities to the 16th-century Japanese who made candles out of beeswax and samurai armours out of deerskins. From there, the river is all the way to its mouth at Uáuâ. Enterprising merchants from Lusòng Guo and perhaps even from Japan and China formed a base at this natural checkpoint known as Makisíku or Másíku. After the Fall of Lusòng Guo in 1571, Makisíku or Másíku became an important center for the Spanish colonizers and they renamed it Nueva México and made it the capital of the newly formed Province of Pampanga. Gaspar de San Agustin wrote that being the capital, Mexico was one of the most “beautiful, a lavish church made of stone and tiles, the Parish of Santa Monica, was built in 1581 with Masangsang and Matúlid serving as its visitas. Another Maniago from México who distinguished himself in the service the Spanish King was Master-of-Camp Don Francisco Maniago, but he distinguished himself more in the service of a much nobler cause as leader of the Kapampángan Independence Revolt of 1660. In 1700, another Maniago form Mexico placed himself in history as the first graduate of the University of Santo Tomas with a native surname and he was Bachiller Don Juán Mañago, who was ordained priest by Archbishop Camacho in 1705. The Spanish colonial authorities stripped México of its importance after the Kapampangan Independence Revolt of 1660 by moving the provincial capital further downstream to Bacolor. But it retained its strategic economic importance especially among the Lúsung Chinese, México was still a regular drop off point of forest products from the upper reaches of the Ábakan River. It was also a destination by merchants from as far north as Pangasinan. By the 18th century, the Lúsung Chinese and their descendants living in México, Guagua and Malabon had formed and maintained business. Cascos and sampans maintained the flow of goods along the Malabon-Guagua-México chain, like the Chinese section of Manila, the commercial center of México became known as the Parian. By the 19th century, the Chinese mestizo families not only dominated México’s economic scene, novel ideas and radical movements also flowed along Malabon-Guagua-México chain. In 1892, the gobernadorcillo of México, Don Ruperto Laxamana was mentioned as one of the founders of Masonic triangles in Pampanga, in 1897, the first cells of the Katipunan in Pampanga was formed in Guagua and then in México
2.
Pampanga
–
Pampanga or Pampaŋga is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Angeles City, while geographically within Pampanga, is classified as a first-class, highly urbanized city and is governed independently of the province. The name La Pampanga was given by the Spaniards, who encountered natives living along the banks of the Pampanga River and its creation in 1571 makes it the first Spanish province on Luzon Island. The town of Villa de Bacolor in the province served as the Spanish colonial capital when Great Britain invaded Manila as part of the Seven Years War. Pampanga is served by Clark International Airport, which is in Clark Freeport Zone, the province is home to two Philippine Air Force airbases, Basa Air Base in Floridablanca and the former United States Clark Air Base in Angeles City. By 2015, the province has 2,198,110 inhabitants, ancient Pampangas territorial area included portions of the modern provinces of Tarlac, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. Pampanga was re-organized as a province by the Spaniards on December 11,1571, due to excessive abuses committed by some encomenderos, King Philip II of Spain in 1574 prohibited the further awarding of private estates, but this decree was not fully enforced until 1620. The encomiendas of La Pampanga at that time had eighteen thousand six hundred, Pampanga, which is about 850 square miles in area and inhabited by more than 1.5 million people, had its present borders drawn in 1873. During the Spanish regime it was one of the richest Philippine provinces, Manila and its surrounding region were then primarily dependent on Kapampangan agricultural, fishery and forestry products as well as on the supply of skilled workers. As other Luzon provinces were created due to increases in population, during the 17th century, The Dutch recruited men from Pampanga as mercenaries who served the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, known as Papangers part of the larger Mardijkers community. Their legacy can be found in North Jakarta, however, there are few traces of their descendants, except for a small community in Kampung Tugu. The old Pampanga towns of Aliaga, Cabiao, Gapan, San Antonio, the municipality of San Miguel de Mayumo of Pampanga was yielded to the province of Bulacan in the same provincial boundary configuration in 1848. However, in 1873, the four towns were returned to Pampanga. On December 8,1941, Japanese planes bombed Clark Air Base marking the beginning of the invasion of Pampanga, between 1941 and 1942, occupying Japanese forces began entering Pampanga. The establishment of the general headquarters and military camp bases of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was active from 1935 to 1946. The Philippine Constabulary was active from 1935 to 1942 and 1944 to 1946 in the province of Pampanga. S. military forces fight the Imperial Japanese armed forces. The June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo displaced a number of people with the submersion of whole towns. Pampanga covers a area of 2,002.20 square kilometres occupying the south-central section of the Central Luzon region
3.
San Fernando, Pampanga
–
The regional center of Central Luzon, it has a population of 306,659 people according to the 2015 census. It is located 66 kilometres north of Manila,73 kilometres east of Subic in Zambales, the city is named after King Ferdinand VI of Spain and placed under the patronage of Saint Ferdinand III of Castile and León, whose feast is celebrated every 30 May. Popularly known as the Christmas Capital of the Philippines, the city holds the annual Giant Lantern Festival every December where large parol are displayed in competition, the City of San Fernando is politically subdivided into 35 barangays. The town of San Fernando was founded in 1754 from the towns of Bacolor, the first church was built in 1755 with wooden walls and nipa roofing. The municipal tribunal was erected later in the year in front of the town plaza using durable materials, Don Vidal de Arrozal served as its first gobernadorcillo that year. In 1796, after serving as gobernadorcillo the previous year, Don Ángel Pantaleon de Miranda retired to Barrio Saguin, the barrio was separated from San Fernando on the December 8,1829 as the new town of Angeles, with the Los Santos Ángeles Custodios as titular patrons. An expediente requesting the transfer of the capital of Pampanga to San Fernando was signed on the August 6,1852. Real Cedula 745, approving the transfer of the capital of Pampanga from Bacolor to San Fernando, was signed on September 11,1881. The said transfer would not materialize, in 1878, actions were made to create the town of Calulut. This plan did not materialize due to opposition from the parish priest of San Fernando. The station was only to Manila in revenues that year. On June 27 of the year, Dr. José P. Rizal made a stop-over in the town as part of his mission to recruit members to the La Liga Filipina. On September 1,1896 the town was declared to be in a state of war despite its peaceful situation, brigadier General Diego de los Rios arrived on December 2 to calm the revolution that started in Manila on August 30. General Ruiz Serralde took over the Rioss post on June 26,1897 to maintain the peace in San Fernando, the revolution was not yet at its height with occasional exchanges of fire in some places in Pampanga. On October 9, Aguinaldo, together with his cabinet visited the town and was welcomed with so much applause and he proceeded to the convento which was served as the military headquarters at that time. On May 4,1899, Philippine revolutionary troops led by General Antonio Luna burned the casa municipal, on June 16, due to the strategic location of the town, Aguinaldo himself led Filipino forces in the Battle for San Fernando. The plan to retake the town proved unsuccessful, Calulut fell to the Americans on August 9. On August 15,1904, the Pampanga provincial government was transferred to San Fernando from Bacolor
4.
Central Luzon
–
The region contains the largest plain in the country and produces most of the countrys rice supply, earning itself the nickname Rice Granary of the Philippines. Its provinces are, Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Central Luzon Region is located north of Manila, the nations capital. Central Luzon produces the most rice in the whole country, excess rice is delivered and imported to other provinces of the Philippines. The City of San Fernando, in Pampanga, is designated as the regional center, Aurora was transferred from Region IV through Executive Order No.103 on May 2002. Eighty percent of the population of Central Luzon is Roman Catholic, other religions represented are Protestants, Islam, and Iglesia Ni Cristo. The Members Church of God International headquarters is located in Apalit, there are also other denominations such as Jesus Is Lord, Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ, Jesus Miracle Crusade, United Methodist Church and others. Central Luzon comprises 7 provinces,2 highly urbanized cities,12 component cities,116 municipalities,3,102 barangays The Central Luzon Region has fourteen cities. San Jose del Monte is the city with the most population while Angeles is the most densely populated city in the region, Tarlac City is the largest based on land area. 2007 Central Luzon hog cholera outbreak Super regions of the Philippines Central Luzon Local Search North Luzon Super Region, Potentials North Luzon Super Region, Projects Executive Order No.103
5.
North Luzon Expressway
–
It is a component of Expressway 1 of the Philippine highway network, and Radial Road 8 of Metro Manilas arterial road network. It was built in the 1960s, the expressway begins in Quezon City at the Balintawak Interchange with EDSA as a continuation of Bonifacio Avenue. It then passes through Quezon City, Caloocan, and Valenzuela in Metro Manila, and it currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of Central and Northern Luzon. There is a direct interchange between the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and this will be located 3 km. north of its current terminus at Sta. The segment between Santa Rita Exit in Guiguinto and the Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City is a part of the new alignment of the N1, the expressway, including Andres Bonifacio Avenue, has total length of 88 kilometers. The expressway segment has a length of 84 kilometres, a major upgrade and rehabilitation has been completed in February 2005 and the road has now similar qualities as a modern French tollway. To help maintain the safety and quality of the expressway, various rules are in effect, such as restricting the left lane to passing vehicles only and banning overloaded trucks. The original stretch of the expressway, from Balintawak Interchange up to Guiguinto Exit in Bulacan, was completed on August 4,1968. It is a fully fenced limited-access highway that consists of a rural divided roadway, nine twin bridges, one railroad overpass, seven underpasses. Originally a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways and it was carried out under the private financing scheme provided by Republic Act 3741. Additional work required by the government included the construction of the Balintawak - Novaliches Interchange Complex, the Tabang Interchange, in 1989, under Corazon Aquino administration, the expressway was extended by another 5 km from its terminus at Dau Exit up to Sta. Starting 2003, it took under rehabilitation on the expressway and these include the widening of the Balintawak - Valenzuela Exit from 6 to 8 lanes, Valenzuela - Sta. Rita segment from 4 to 6 lanes and the Sta, Ines retain the same number of lanes. Other projects include asphalt overlay, and demolition of old tollbooths and it continued until February 2005 and operations and maintenance was transferred from the state-owned Philippine National Construction Corporation to Manila North Tollways Corporation. North Luzon Expressway begins in Quezon City at the Balintawak Interchange with EDSA as a continuation of Bonifacio Avenue. The Candaba Viaduct carries NLEX above the Pampanga River, the expressway currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of Central and Northern Luzon. There is a direct interchange between the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. The interchange is located 3 km. north of Sta, currently, the Spur/NLE exit served as the connection between the expressway and the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway via Clark Spur Road
6.
V-Cube 7
–
The V-Cube 7 is a combination puzzle in the form of a 7×7×7 cube. It was invented by Panagiotis Verdes and is produced by the Greek company Verdes Innovations SA, like the 5×5×5, the V-Cube 7 has both fixed and movable center facets. The puzzle consists of 218 unique miniature cubes on the surface, six of these are attached directly to the internal spider frame and are fixed in position relative to one another. The V-Cube 6 uses essentially the mechanism, except that on the latter the central rows. There are 150 center pieces which show one color each,60 edge pieces which show two colors each, and eight corner pieces which show three colors each, each piece shows a unique color combination, but not all combinations are present. Currently, the V-Cube 7 is produced with plastic as a base, with red opposite orange, blue opposite green. The fixed black center piece is branded with the letter V, unlike the flat-sided V-Cube 6, the V-Cube 7 is noticeably rounded. This departure from a cube shape is necessary, since the mechanism used on this puzzle would not function properly with layers of identical thickness. The V-Cube 6 and V-Cube 7 both solve the problem by using thicker outer layers, the rounded shape of the V-Cube 7 results in corner stickers that are similar in size to the center stickers, which helps hide the unequal thickness. The 7×7×7 is the only pillowed cube allowed in competition by the World Cube Association, there are 8 corner cubies,60 edges and 150 centers. Any permutation of the corners is possible, including odd permutations, seven of the corners can be independently rotated, and the orientation of the eighth depends on the other seven, giving 8. ×37 combinations. There are 144 movable centers, consisting of six sets of 24 pieces each, within each set there are four centers of each color. Centers from one set cannot be exchanged with those from another set, each set can be arranged in 24. Assuming that the four centers of each color in each set are indistinguishable, the reducing factor comes about because there are 4. Ways to arrange the four pieces of a given color and this is raised to the sixth power because there are six colors. The total number of permutations of all movable centers is the permutations of a single set raised to the power,24. 6/. There are 60 edge pieces, consisting of 12 central,24 intermediate, the central edges can be flipped but the rest cannot, nor can an edge from one set exchange places with one from another set. The five edges in each matching quintet are distinguishable, since corresponding edges are mirror images of each other
7.
Rubik's Cube
–
Rubiks Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. As of January 2009,350 million cubes had been sold making it the worlds top-selling puzzle game. It is widely considered to be the worlds best-selling toy, in a classic Rubiks Cube, each of the six faces is covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours, white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. In currently sold models, white is opposite yellow, blue is green, and orange is opposite red. On early cubes, the position of the colours varied from cube to cube, an internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to have one colour. Similar puzzles have now produced with various numbers of sides, dimensions. Although the Rubiks Cube reached its height of popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known. Many speedcubers continue to practice it and other twisty puzzles and compete for the fastest times in various categories, since 2003, The World Cube Association, the Rubiks Cubes international governing body, has organised competitions worldwide and kept the official world records. In March 1970, Larry D. Nichols invented a 2×2×2 Puzzle with Pieces Rotatable in Groups, Nicholss cube was held together with magnets. Patent 3,655,201 on April 11,1972, on April 9,1970, Frank Fox applied to patent his Spherical 3×3×3. He received his UK patent on January 16,1974, in the mid-1970s, Ernő Rubik worked at the Department of Interior Design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest. He did not realise that he had created a puzzle until the first time he scrambled his new Cube, Rubik obtained Hungarian patent HU170062 for his Magic Cube in 1975. Rubiks Cube was first called the Magic Cube in Hungary, Ideal wanted at least a recognisable name to trademark, of course, that arrangement put Rubik in the spotlight because the Magic Cube was renamed after its inventor in 1980. The first test batches of the Magic Cube were produced in late 1977, Magic Cube was held together with interlocking plastic pieces that prevented the puzzle being easily pulled apart, unlike the magnets in Nicholss design. With Ernő Rubiks permission, businessman Tibor Laczi took a Cube to Germanys Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 1979 in an attempt to popularise it. It was noticed by Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer and they signed a deal with Ideal Toys in September 1979 to release the Magic Cube worldwide, the puzzle made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg and New York in January and February 1980. After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it could be manufactured to Western safety, a lighter Cube was produced, and Ideal decided to rename it
8.
SM Mall of Asia
–
It is currently the 4th largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 11th in the world. The mall is the project of SM Prime at the SM Central Business Park. The mall would have opened before Christmas Day of 2005 but had been delayed due to hitches in the delivery of construction materials, frequent rains in the last quarter of 2005 also delayed the turnover of mall space to tenants. SM Prime decided to move the date to March 3,2006. On February 27,2006, local newspaper Manila Standard Today, reported that a team of Pasay City engineers found huge cracks underneath the structure, when questioned about the inspection, the Pasay City Engineering Department denied making any statement regarding defects in the Mall of Asia. SM Prime, however, decided to move the opening to May 21 of that year, the mall was officially inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a special screening of Everest in the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater. The movie was shown three days after Philippine tri-athlete Leo Oracion reached the mountains summit. Mall of Asia consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways, the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, the Main Mall includes shopping and dining establishments and the food court. The Entertainment Mall is a complex, most of which is open-air. The malls 5,000 parking spaces are divided across two, six-story parking buildings conveniently designated the North and South Parking Buildings, the South Parking Building houses the malls official The SM Store, while the malls supermarket, the SM Hypermarket is located at the North Parking Building. Since its opening in 2006, visitors to the mall have been welcomed by large steel framed globe on a roundabout at the tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. In 2009, the globe was turned into Globamaze, an LED display, the mall includes branches of all of the standard anchor stores found in most of the SM Supermalls. The first-ever branch of Taste Asia, one of the SM Supermalls food court brands, is located right outside the malls supermarket, the San Miguel-Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre is one of the worlds biggest IMAX screens in 3D including 2D screenings. In addition to the malls special theaters, it also has six regular two-tiered movie theaters similar to the found in almost every SM Supermall. Two new digital theaters were opened at the side of the entertainment mall. The mall features the Philippiness first Olympic-sized ice skating rink, at 61 by 30 meters, the rink is described as the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia. It can accommodate both recreational and competitive figure skating, as well as ice hockey, along with plain access and skate rentals, the rinks operators also offer training programs in both figure skating and ice hockey. Several ice skating competitions have been held at the ice skating rink
9.
SM Megamall
–
SM Megamall is a shopping mall located in the Ortigas business district of Metro Manila, Philippines. It is currently the second largest SM Supermall, the mall was developed and is operated by SM Prime Holdings. The mall has a capacity of 4 million people. The SM Megamall was constructed in 1989 and opened its doors on June 281991 and it is the third SM Supermall ever built by Henry Sy Sr after the SM City Sta. Mesa and SM City North EDSA, the mall is located in the Ortigas Center, at the portion encompassed by Mandaluyong City. It stands along the main EDSA thoroughfare and is almost adjacent to the Ortigas MRT Station and it also boasted the first ice skating rink as well as one of the first trade halls in the country. The mall has two main buildings, Building A features the SM Cinemas, Food Court, Toy Kingdom and other anchor tenants. Building B features the SM Department Store, Cyberzone, and other tenants, and has been expanded with the Mega Fashion Hall. The SM Supermarket is featured on both buildings, the Bridgeway connecting the two main buildings of the mall contains several eateries. This section of the mall was completed in 2009, the 16,000 m2 Mega Atrium is an addition to the existing two buildings. The Atrium bridges the gap between Buildings A and B, and was completed in 2008, the Atrium features various shops and restaurants, and can also be rented out as an event venue. Building C is a recent addition to SM Megamall, opening on October 11,2011. Located near EDSA to the west of Building A, it was formerly the Building A parking facility, the building also contains a transport terminal and offices for the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Mega Fashion Hall is the latest expansion of SM Megamall, aside from clothing stores, the expansion includes dining establishments, houseware stores, service shops, and a Bingo area on the 5th level. The Mega Fashion Hall also houses an IMAX theater, a 56-seat Directors Club Cinemas with butler service, an Olympic-sized ice skating rink, a food court. After the soft opening of the newly constructed Building C Carpark, with the opening of the Mega Fashion Hall, the current gross leasable area is 500,000 m², allowing the mall to reclaim the title of the largest mall in the Philippines. The addition of the Mega Fashion Hall building added 125 new retail stores, 90% of which are global brands, a 50-storey office tower, named as The Mega Tower, will be built next to the Mega Fashion Hall formerly occupied as an open carpark. The S-shaped tower will be connected to the Mega Fashion Hall and will feature three levels of basement parking and multilevel parking
