Being Filipino and the Mall

Kasaysayan 112 Paper

Jessica J. Manipon
2007-20959
BS Economics

Submitted to:
Prof. Neil Santillan
The Mall and Being Filipino - Introduction

There are many things unique in being Filipino—the history, land and
language, even the way Filipinos use their lips to point a direction or serve
six meals a day to a guest. Filipinos like to sing and laugh and lend a helping
hand; but among other things, Filipinos truly like to shop. Especially around
the Metro Manila Area, one does not need to go far to prove this.

Malls are a booming industry in the Philippines. Malls are quite different here
in the Philippines compared to other countries because of their sheer number
and size. It is found in as many streets in the Metro as museums are in
France. Foreigners are fascinated by the number and size of malls here in
the Philippines. Malls have all the things imaginable one would need, a sort
of one-stop-shop for anyone—from clothes to toys, game arcades to medical
clinics, salons to concert stages. Unlike in other countries where people get
buy a specific item in malls and leave, malls in the Philippines are like parks
where people go to for entertainment and leisure. The big names in the mall
industry like SM have bowling alleys and skating rinks. Ayala Malls seduce
you with Zen gardens and green plants smack in the middle of their
buildings.

Usually, malls tower to four floors and take up hundreds of square meters of
land. Architecture varies from one mall to the next, but consistently, its
exterior is always grand, eye-catching and inviting. However, malls are more
than just buildings. Malls have other variations too. Big grocery stores that
resemble mall structures are as epidemic as malls. These grocery stores may
not have cinemas or concert stages, but the size and variety of things sold in
them make them more than just a grocery. Other variation is the tiangge
where a variety of items are sold at a lower price. The famous ones in the
Metro area are Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan, St. Francis Square in
Ortigas and 168 in Manila. These are usually crowded and congested with
stalls selling similar prices are literally side-by-side. Sellers can only market
their products through mere sales talk and haggling with customers. The
ambiance of these establishments are not as comfortable as the bigger
malls, but the cheaper prices make it just as attractive to the lower to
middle-income classes.

At first glance, it may just be any venue full of people and merchandise, but
beneath all that, malls can also be a manifestation of a society’s culture.
There is an irony from the Filipino’s mall culture: for a developing country
struggling to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor, it has more
malls than a developed country.
How did the Filipinos end up at this mall phenomenon? How has this affected
the Philippines? What are its implications in Filipino culture? This paper will
give insight to these questions.

The Malls of the Philippines

To trace back the roots of the structure that became part Filipino culture,
documents would tell us that Ali Mall is the first major shopping mall in the
Philippines. Ali Mall was built after Muhammad Ali’s victory over Joe Frazier
in a boxing match in Araneta Coliseum during 1975, more famously called as
“Thrilla in Manila”. Muhammad Ali himself said that a mall should be built
near the Coliseum in his honor of his victory, and that precisely has been
done. Isetann was next to build an enclosed storied mall in Manila in their
branch in Carriedo.

Even though the first mall was opened 1975, the mall craze was pioneered
by no other than SM ten years after. Without a doubt, the term mall in the
Philippines is invariably associated with the word SM. This mall giant started
as a shoe store in Quiapo aptly named “Shoe mart” that soon became SM for
short, although now, the SM is far from being just a shoe store. The first SM
mall was put up in North EDSA during 1985. The reason why SM was a much
bigger success than the previous malls is that it offered more than just
stores. The exterior was modern; the size of it was unlike any has seen; and
its location was very convenient to commuters, and importantly, it had good
air-conditioning. More than just a department store, SM North EDSA has a
food court, bowling alley and numerous new stores that were once
underground. Stores like Bench, Karimadon, Cardams, Alexandre and Video
City started their business in SM North EDSA and still are alive today in the
same mall, and they are now even bigger and more successful, thanks to
SM. Six years later, the next turning point for the industry was the SM
Megamall which was the largest mall in Southeast Asia that time. It was an
indicator that Henry Sy, owner of SM, could see Filipinos’ fascination for
shopping with the success of SM North EDSA.

Needless to say, these SM malls became a Metro Manila attraction. It

became a symbol of the Metro. When Filipinos from provinces come to
Manila, they just jut have to see SM. Every time a new mall is opened,
people flock to it, not really to buy something but to amuse themselves.

The success of SM was followed by other entrepreneurs who saw this

venture as very profitable. Filipinos loved these malls, for some reason, and
businessmen saw profits in this. Big shopping malls were built left and right
of the city. The Aranetas improved the area around Ali Mall. Greenbelt was
built as one of the Ayalas flagship projects. SM Megamall was simultaneously
opened with Robinson’s Galleria which is owned by John Gokongwei, then
another from the Ayala family with Glorietta mall in Makati. Using one of
Henry Sy’s effective marketing tools, these business giants placed their
malls wisely (in main business districts and along major roads) with well-
functioning air-condition and designed them as modern and chic. The goal,
perhaps, was to make the customers feel richer with high-class architecture
without compromising the prices the products inside.

However, SM saw that the market was not just in Metro Manila. White Gold
Department Store, for instance, owned by the Gaisano family, was the first
in Cebu and the predecessor of what is now Gaisano Malls. Gaisano Malls are
the biggest malls in Visayas and Mindanao, opening malls in Ormoc, Digos,
Tagum, General Santos and Davao in the 1980s alone. Henry Sy, seeing that
Gasiano Mall’s success, brought SM to Cebu with SM Cebu.

SM malls have been catering to the lower and middle income classes every
since its creation. But Ayala saw a different market: the upper class. Thus,
the Ayala Center Cebu was opened months after SM Cebu geared towards
attracting the upper class of society. With the success of Ayala Center Cebu,
Ayala proved that, indeed, the upper class wanted something else than the
average malls being built.

Years later, malls and its variations have appeared like mushrooms all over
the country. Yet most of these malls were mostly marketed for the lower and
middle income class even though some upper class stores could be found in
other malls. As time passed, so did the designs and trends in malls. The
architecture that was thought of as modern now faded into old-school. The
architecture and ambiance of the usual malls tire the people, especially the
upper class. But Ayala was not bounded by time; they kept up with it.

The Ayala was distinctively among the first to turn malls into a luxury
experience. Greenbelt was among those renovated. Ayala Malls had a
distinct character to them. Their architecture and design was updated.
Management was improved and educated. The mall area was well-kept,
clean and tranquil. Their retail stores were very unique and imported, and
some of which were never thought of to sell in the Philippines. The
restaurants offered exquisite cuisines and fine dining. Ayala malls were not
afraid to sell expensive items. They knew the market was out there, waiting
to be tapped, and indeed the market existed. These establishments were
“too far up” for the lower classes, but the upper class was happy. Ayala
provided them a place of refuge. Eastwood City mall in Libis, Quezon City
resembled that of the Ayala Mall character and brought the Greenbelt
experience to North of the Metro. Now, no one was isolated in the mall
culture—all people of different classes in different places had somewhere to
belong to.

As the Mall Giants (SM, Robinson’s and Ayala) clamor to build in provincial
cities, the rest of the Philippines was not secluded from this mall boom, most
especially major provincial cities. Gaisano Mall was not the only mall in the
Visayas and Mindanao any longer. There are Lopue’s in Negros Occidental,
Koronadal Commercial Center or KCC Mall in Mindanao, Mindpro Citimall in
Zamboanga and New City Commercial Corporation or NCCC Mall in Metro
Davao and Palawan. The rest of Luzon regions were no longer dominated by
SM, Robinson’s and Ayala. Examples of which are City Supermarket, Inc. or
more commonly known as CSI in Pangasinan and Ilocos area, Centro Malls
and Mart One Malls in Northern Luzon and Liberty Commercial Center or LCC
Mall in Bicol Region. These mentioned are the considerably the big malls in
their respective provinces. Not including the rest of the literally hundreds of
malls in the Philippines were done to save resources.

In the 2000s, the mall industry was unstoppable. Before, a new mall opening
was big news, but now, Filipinos were used to it already. The competition
became stiffer for SM as malls like Ayala Malls and Eastwood found a way to
attract another, more willing to spend market. SM renovated their major
malls to make them more marketable to the upper class like adding the
high-end annex to SM North EDSA called The Block. The demand for high-
end malls was high. The middle-class wanted to experience how the upper-
class lived, even if it was just temporary. Gateway in Araneta Center became
another attraction for the high-end way of life. Serendra and Bonifacio High
Street resembled the posh lifestyle people wanted to experience. Greenhills
that used to be known as tiangge added the Promenade mall as its high-end
counterpart. Everywhere in the Metro, the mall phenomenon was morphing
into the façade of the wealthy lifestyle. SM was not taken aback with these
changes. SM Prime Holdings proves to still be number in retail with the SM
Mall of Asia as one of the top ten largest malls in the world in terms of gross
land size, along with SM North EDSA. Throughout the course of history,
malls have been merged and closed, joint ventures and expansions. The
continuous construction of malls in the Philippines shows that this is a strong
industry with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

The Economic and Social Implications of the Mall Boom in the

Philippines

It has been established enough in the previous section that there are a lot of
malls in the Philippines (in Metro Manila alone, there are more than 40
shopping malls of various classes and sizes), and inevitably, this has big
effects in our society. The retail industry became an important contributor
to the Philippine economy as it accounts for roughly 15% of the Philippines’
total Gross National Product (GNP) and private consumption accounts for
around 70% of the country’s GDP, higher than that of Indonesia, Thailand,
Malaysia or Vietnam. There is steady expansion of private consumption with
fast growing population. In Metro Manila alone, there is a potential 3.9
million shoppers who visit the malls at least once a week spending a
minimum of 4 hours per visit. This retail industry mostly channels itself
through malls and sari-sari stores and private consumption is its partner in
moving the economy. The argument would always be that consumption and
spending is healthy for the economy, and the malls are precisely enticing for
Filipinos to do just that.

Its estimated middle class size of 15 million provides support for

consumption of higher-quality imported, branded items. The Philippines has
growing urbane and sophisticated consumer market fascinated by globally-
known brands which continues to lure investors with foreign brand names,
such as Marks & Spencer, Starbucks, Louis Vuitton and Hard Rock Café.
Moreover, the recent passage of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, which
eases restrictions on foreign ownership of retail establishments in the
country, unleashes even bigger growth opportunities for Philippine retail
operations. This makes it harder for local businesses to thrive in the market
especially if they are competing with strong foreign brands. The government
speaks of making local brands more competitive and world-class; however,
not all local businesses have the capital to compete. At the end, only the
well-educated ones or the affluent businessmen get to stay in the business.

Not only do these malls become a major source of retailing, they also are
source of jobs, employing 33% of the entire services sector. It employs
some 5.25 million people, representing a significant 18% of the Philippines'
work force. From constructing the mall to maintaining them, definitely malls
need a huge amount of human labor. This labor includes salespersons,
cashiers, security guards, drivers and administrative officers. It may be a
significant contribution also to the economy, but the concern should also be
whether these jobs are stable or not. Contractualization of labor has made it
difficult for the lower ranks, such as baggers, checkers and cashiers, to
maintain their jobs and receive benefits. Contractualization is a typical
employment strategy of the bigger malls to keep labor costs low and
maintain the supply of labor flexible [ CITATION Tee06 \l 1033 ]. Contractual
employees have lower wages and do not receive benefits like the regular
employees do. While the bigger malls do promise a lot of jobs, these jobs
are not as beneficial as it should have been for more Filipinos.
Moreover, these malls raise the real estate and land values of those around
them. A district that used to be isolated, once inhabited by a mall, becomes
an attraction for real estate and other business prospects. It is either a mall
is placed first before the local subdivision or condominium or vice versa.
Regardless, the assets become more attractive with a mall near a home. In
fact, seeing this effect, mall owners themselves have branched out to real
estate investments to take advantage like SM Prime Holdings and
Robinson's.

However, building these numerous and gigantic malls have a price to pay.
And this price is paid by the environment. The SM Mall of Asia, for example,
stands at a reclaimed land from the Manila Bay, dumping tons of soil over
the ocean to make way for business. Added to this, negative externalities
associated with malls such as waste and trash, pollution and traffic a mall
creates, especially during weekends and sales, are among that could
potentially outweigh the “benefits”. In Metro Manila, as malls are
continuously built, more and more people are enticed to live in already-
overcrowded cities.

Local community markets or palengke have also paid the price. Of course,
malls impose a big threat on their business. Consumers would rather spend
their shopping in an air-conditioned space and in comfort than in a crowded
and wet palengke which eventually kills the sense of community especially in
provinces [ CITATION Pab02 \l 1033 ]. Regardless, the palengke still exists for those
consumers who cannot afford the pricey goods in malls. Local governments
very much oblige when malls propose to build in their city or municipality.
Aside from the tax government will receive from it, a mall for them is a sign
of development of their city or municipality.

Another important fact is that malls promote a sense of the rich and the
poor. It deepens the divide into the Filipino consciousness, and it does this
not directly but in subtle manner through informal and suggestive notions of
malls [ CITATION Bal02 \l 1033 ]. Ever Gotesco, for example, is known to cater to
the lower to middle income classes. Greenbelt, however, would not have a
single store that the lower classes could afford buy in. Even though
Greenbelt would not overtly stop urban masses to enter, these people would
not even dare to enter simply because they don’t feel that they belong. One
would be immediately embarrassed by entering Greenbelt in only slippers
with baggy shorts where the trendy socialites and the English-speaking mall-
goers might eye on him, irked.

Nor would the upper class enter Ever Gotesco unless there is an immense
grave need for it. Even though everyone can enter a mall since it is a public
place, not everyone does so. Starting from the entrance of the mall, security
guards can stop people whom they deem “inappropriate” to enter. Quoting
Rimmer and Dick in their 1998 paper, “The attitude of the middle class in
south-east Asia towards the urban mass is also not so very different from
that of the colonial Europeans to their indigenous subjects. A common
language does not bridge the cultural gap or the economic divide.”

According to Tolentino in his column, malls, especially the high-end ones,

gives a person a sense of oneself—what do you not own and what you
should have. Filipinos have this notion that they are better-off in life, not by
how they live their life, but by the things they could purchase in a mall,
hence, finding happiness in the things they purchase. It’s not that that’s a
bad thing to find happiness in that way, but it is the temporary happiness
that consumerism brings. By entering the nice malls—like Trinoma or SM
Mall of Asia, not Ever or Isetann—and sharing the same space among those
who can afford to buy these products, Filipinos create a fantasy of
themselves.

In sum, on one hand, the Philippines has this hundreds of malls that
promote consumption and retail, encourage investments and
entrepreneurship and provide jobs to the people which in turn contribute to
the economy. Malls provide entertainment and venue for family bonding and
socializing. The unique number and design of malls create a sense of Filipino
identity or the “Walang ganyan sa States” mentality. On the other hand, it
takes up too many resources in an already-hyperurbanized cities, kills small
businesses in the palengke, increases the sense of the divide between the
rich and poor and the sense of what individuals lack. These adverse
implications of malls are subtle and informal. These are not explicit unlike
the advantages. Certainly, there is a threshold for everything—even the
existence of the giant malls in cities—but when and where this threshold will
be put is yet to be felt.

Explaining the Fascination

There could be numerous explanations of why Filipinos are fascinated with

going to the malls. There are malls because people want to go to them. At
some level, the explanation could only be individualistic. Different people
have different reasons, but if seen on a higher level, it could be more than
that. Simply, malls are convenient. It has everything in it for everyone. It is
near our houses—perhaps one or two jeeps away or a fifteen-minute drive.
Filipinos save time and money because of this convenience. This is not to
say that Filipinos are spending fanatics. Filipino consumers still value
discounts and sales, and malls make sure they maintain their consumers by
giving them just that regularly.
Moreover, going to malls is a good way to bond. Families spend their
weekends in malls. Friends catch up when they eat, watch a movie and shop
together. More time is spent on socializing rather than buying in stores. The
air-conditioning and well-lit atmosphere make it comfortable to stay for an
hour without doing much at all. Malls are the grander, contemporary and air-
conditioned version of plazas in the old times. The major difference is that
malls are enclosed and walled spaces to separate the chaos of the outside.

Malls are a refuge from our lives outside the mall—the pollution, traffic,
danger and the street children. When people are inside the mall, their eyes
are shielded from the reality of the outside world where there are poverty
and people whose money can barely afford a three-meal day. This shield
makes it easier for consumers to buy without guilt. According to Tolentino,
malls create a middle-class fantasy where there is nothing dirty; it is safe,
comfortable and not humid; all kinds of products and services are within
reach and where everyone is equal.

Ultimately, Filipinos find fun in going to malls. But why malls? Don’t Filipinos
have other places that to spend pastime with that has at least some
characteristics of malls? As was previously said, museums to some European
countries are like malls to the Philippines. This comparison indicates
something about a society’s culture and history. Definitely the Philippines
have sprinkles of museums, parks and zoos across the country, but the
activities done in these places are nothing compared to the ones in malls, or
the comfort malls provide. If the Philippines had top-notch museums in
every city with no entrance fee, will the Filipinos choose it over going to a
mall?

Perhaps, innately, Filipinos lack a sense of history or this sense wasn’t

instilled in Filipinos as much to enjoy spending time in museums or parks.
Walking around the city—another pastime of non-mall crazed societies—is
neither an option for Filipinos as streets are polluted and dirty, hold-ups
could happen and as raging drivers can run pedestrians over.

In the end, the substantial reasons to spend in the mall overpower the
abstract ones. After all, Filipinos don’t think about “middle class fantasies” or
finding refuge from society’s imperfections when they enter malls. But in the
bigger context, this mall culture is a manifestation of a society’s identity.

Summary and Conclusion

Malls and consumerism are a global phenomenon, but what makes the
Philippine mall culture unique are the number of malls and the irony it
presents. How could a country with generally low income be so fascinated
with malls so much? Certainly, it is not because Filipinos like to purchase
products, but because in malls, Filipinos are able to isolate themselves from
the opposite realities of society that the mall presents. This phenomenon is
particularly striking in the Philippines because most Filipinos love malls so
much to the point that it has become part of who Filipinos are already.

People like malls because of its convenience and comfort, because it is fun
and entertaining, because it is a place for bonding and socializing and
because there is satisfaction in buying new things. The government
promotes it because its significant contribution to the economy—in both side
of the producers and consumers—and the structure is a sign of development
for them.

As it is with many things in this world, malls create predicaments. Space

becomes more constrained especially in the cities. It emits pollution and tons
of waste. Mall owners cut back on labor costs to the point of compromising
the welfare of workers. It causes the demise of personal relationships in a
community. It deepens the unspoken divide between the rich and the poor
and creates a fantasy.

The Philippines cannot offer a better alternative for malls in the moment.
Even if alternatives arise, it could be too late in a society that has already
been immersed and used to the “malling” experience. Whether the mall
culture is beneficial for Filipinos depends on how society will balance the
advantages and disadvantages of it. Whichever perspective the mall culture
may be viewed at, malls are here to stay for a long time.
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