Wedding At Shrine and Parish of St. Paul of the Cross in Marikina City

A wedding on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon at the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Paul of the Cross in SSS Village Marikina, under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antipolo (Diocesis Antipolensis.)

SSS Village: The Neighborhood That Originally Housed 500 Lucky Raffle Winners

SSS Village is one of the longtime neighborhoods in Marikina City. a lively residential place that is full of life. But its story doesn't start with builders and plans. Instead, it starts with a lucky break and a dream of owning a home.

A Raffle, A Dream, and 500 Lucky Filipinos: One of President Ferdinand Marcos's new ideas in 1969 was to hold a draw where 500 members of the Social Security System (SSS) would have the chance to own their own homes. The prize? A chance to own a house in a brand-new community called SSS Village. Our family was one of the lucky raffle winners given the chance to live in this Barangay in Concepcion Dos.

Colorful Beginnings: The lucky 500 moved into their new homes in 1975, full of joy. The homeowners' group was faced with their first challenge: naming the streets. Filipino song names were considered but not chosen because they were too long. They then looked at colors, and presto! Streets in Phases 1 and 2 of SSS Village were given bright names like Aquamarine, Green, Tangerine, Velvet, Olive, and Crimson.

From a humble start to a thriving community, SSS Village has grown over the years. As more phases were added, more schools and churches popped up, and people really cared about each other. Many of the people who lived in the village when it first opened saw their children grow up and start their own lives in the same place they knew so well. The village did face its own set of challenges and difficulties, such as floods, road repairs, renovation, and commercialization.

More Than Just Houses: These days, SSS Village is more than just houses. It’s a place where some businesses have sprouted, like a hotel, a convention center, and a couple of restaurants. Schools and places of worship are also accessible within SSS Village.

What's next for SSS Village after "Bricks and Mortar"? As Marikina City changes, SSS Village is ready to change with it and do well. Its great location, close-knit neighborhood, and long-past history show how strong home is and how dreams can bring people together.

Don't forget to visit SSS Village the next time you're in Marikina City. You may find one of your favorite colors as a street name. You might catch a glimpse of the community's lively energy. It all started with a raffle, a dream, and 500 lucky people.

Lilac Food Fest 2015 Amidst the Typhoon

Despite rainy weather caused by Typhoon Lando, the 2015 Lilac Foodfest proved to be a successful one last October 17, 2015 with people dropping by to sample different cuisines and types of food offered.

Similar to popular Food street destinations such as Maginhawa in Quezon City and Kapitolyo in Pasig City, Lilac Street in SSS Village, Marikina City is slowly becoming another food street with various non-food chain restaurants and cafes each worth visiting and checking out.

Garbage Disposal Problem Brought About By Typhoon

Typhoon Ondoy has destoryed several belongings of Marikina residents from the floods. SSS Village residents have cleaned up and placed all their respective garbage for disposal on the sidewalk for the garbage truck to collect. However, due to the huge volume of garbage the typhoon has spawned, MMDA, says the amount is 10 times more than the regular volume. And so even at full force and utilizing all the trucks and manpower the city has, it is still not enough to be able to collect all the garbage.

Here is footage from Tangerine and Aquamarine streets in SSS Village, near the Marikina Hotel.

Colorful Beginnings of SSS Village

In 1969, former president Ferdinand Marcos spearheaded a project giving SSS members an opportunity to own their own houses with long-term but convenient plans.   The idea was to offer 500 SSS members a slot for the opportunity to avail of the low-cost housing via raffle.  The area where these houses would be located was to be known as SSS Village.

My mom, which was then looking for a house to own, joined the raffle and luckily won a slot.   And she, along with the other 499 lucky draws all became the first homeowners of this brand new village.

Since the village didn't have any street names to begin with, all the houses were addressed by lot and block numbers.  Since it was confusing, the homeowners association decided to hold a meeting and brainstorm for possible street name themes.  One of the proposed themes were Filipino song names, like Sarunbanggi.  Fortunately, it didn't receive such a favorable response due to its difficulty in coming up with several names not to mention difficult ones.

The theme which was finally agreed on were colors.  And so, up to this day, Phase 1 and 2 of SSS Village all comprise of colorful street names.  Aquamarine, Tangerine, Olive, Crimson, Peach, Gold, White, Purple, Azure, Scarlet and Russet are just a few of the names within SSS Village.

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Three Neighboring Churches

In SSS Village, there are 3 churches that are all right beside each other.  Only walls separate the lots of these three churches.

Adhering to the standard architecture of their facades, a mid-sized Iglesia ni Cristo church is located along Sapphire St. 

To its left is St. Paul of the Cross Parish.  This Catholic church has been established in 1975 and caters to thousands of Catholic families within SSS Village and Rancho.  The lot used by the parish is the biggest of the three churches.   Originally run by Passionists Priests, it was turned over to the Diocese of Antipolo.  

And adjacent to both of these churches is Christ's Beloved Community (CBC). Inside their compound is where the Marikina Christian Integrated School (MCIS) is also located.  Their Sunday worship services start at 9:00am.

You could imagine that on Sundays, this area becomes heavily populated as church-goers visit and attend mass in their respective churches.

Be a Blood Donor

On Palm Sunday, April 5, 2009 from 8am till 12 noon, the Sacred Heart Room at the St. Paul of the Cross Parish in SSS Village will be accepting blood donors. This is a joint project by the Parish Pastoral Council and its satellite ministries and organizations, spearheaded by the Social Services Ministry with the Gabay Aral Committee as point person. The have a target of 175 donors on that day as to support the "save lives" mission.
Any male of female aged 16 to 60 (donors below 18 need parental permission), with weight of at least 110lbs, regular pulse between 60-100/min, blood pressure between 90/60 to 140/100 and hemoglobin not less than 125g/100ml are eligible to participate in the blood-letting event.

Individuals with active pulmonary tuberculosis, diabetes under insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs, rheumatic fever, asthma within two months of last attack, chronic eczema, dermatitis or recurring boils, cardiovascular diseases, convulsions, epilepsy or other mental diseases, acute gastric ulcer within the past two years, current allergic reaction, cancer, filariasis, yaws and other long-standing skin diseases, hepatitis B, liver disease, syphilis and other sexually transmitted disease, HIV infection or anyone who had a serious illness within the past 3 months are not eligible to donate blood.

For more details, please call the parish office at 490-7973.

Ongoing Creek Dredging in SSS Village

The Balanti Creek, which is more popularly known as "Sapa" separating Marikina City from Cainta is currently being dredged. Part of the bike lane along Green Street in SSS Village is now occupied by some heavy machinery to clean up parts of the creek and remove any hindrances from waterflow.

The bike lane (yellow grills in the photo) which follows the curvature of the creek starts from Sumulong Highway and ends at Lilac street near Soliven. During rains, this creek is one of the main water passages leading rainwater from out to Marikina River.

Hopefully, this will reduce the chance of any flash floods during the rainy season.

Florings Bids Farewell

Florings, the long time minimart, and grocery along Rainbow St. and Lavander St. has now closed. This store within SSS Village has been around for decades.  I remember when I was little that Florings was one of the reliable stores to buy food and body products if we ran out of some or needed something quickly.  My mom used to buy canned goods, crackers and some knick-knacks at Florings in the '70's when they moved to Marikina.  It started out as a small sari-sari store and slowly grew occupying a bigger corner lot.

I guess with the advent of a myriad of convenience stores which have all been more accessible than before, that Florings naturally was going to lose out to them.

Nevertheless, Florings has served the thousands of residents within the vicinity for nearly four decades.  To Florings: thank you for your service.