Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rizal Avenue, used to be called Avenida Rizal and the longest national road befo
re EDSA was built, still remains full of history, although admittedly could fade
into obscurity soon if not for the efforts to revive it.
With the fairly recent prominence of shopping centers located in posh areas else
where in Metro Manila, the prospects for the revival of Rizal Avenue's previous
stature as an economic center are not very encouraging.
It seemed in previous years that this area, once the downtown of Manila where ev
erybody went to shop and have fun, could no longer recover from the gloom that t
he Light Rail Transit (LRT) has brought upon it some decades ago.
Since the government chose to build the LRT in pursuit of an efficient transport
system that will decongest a growing metropolis, the curse that an elevated rai
lway system brings has been cast and had gradually crept into the famous avenue
it was built on, driving away businesses which lost their clientele to the shopp
ing malls.
But residents in this area appear to hold on to the old memories that Rizal Aven
ue brings, helping this area keep some of its charm over citizens who have only
fond memories of this place while they were growing up.
Perhaps these fond memories, together with the efforts of the government and the
private sector to clean up Rizal Avenue, are the ones that still keep the hopes
alive that this historical avenue can regain some of its lost glory.
It helps that real property around this area is still considered as prime proper
ties.
City of Manila, market values of lots in this area have kept in pace with those
of other areas in Metro Manila.
Historical premium?
It is arguable whether a historical background of a particular property could ac
tually put a premium that would make the fair market value of that property unus
ually high.
Hernandez said that sometimes the price of a parcel of land on which a historica
l building stands could be boosted by its historical background. He cited the re
sidence of former President Jose P. Laurel along Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong C
ity which was sold to former Senator and another Nacionalista Party stalwart Man
uel Villar as an example of a parcel of land that has appreciated in price faste
r due to its historical background.
However, some appraisers would disagree as to the premium to be given to some of
the old buildings along Rizal Avenue, which were built way back during the Amer
ican occupation.
During the heyday of the "bodabil" era, or the local adaptation of vaudeville wh
ich is the theatrical genre of variety entertainment in North America in the lat
e 1800s up to the period before World War II, there were many art deco architect
ure built along Rizal Avenue, most of them designed by renowned architects and N
ational Artists Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) and Pablo Antonio (1901-1975).
Nakpil designed, among many others, the Avenue Theater (demolished in 2006) and
the State Theater (demolished in 2001), both formerly found along Rizal Avenue.
Antonio, on the other hand, designed the Ideal Theater (demolished in the 1970s)
and the Scala Theater (which is still standing but is in a dilapidated conditio
n).
According to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), these
theaters along Rizal Avenue, back when it was still called Avenida Rizal, used
to be the venues for theatrical performances, then they were converted to become
movie houses during the 60s and the 70s when the Philippine movie industry flou
rished.
The storied Capitan Pepe Building, designed by Nakpil in the 1930s and still sta
nding at the corner of Claro M. Recto Avenue and Rizal Avenue, used to house "Th
e Moonlit Terrace" and "The Central Hotel" which used to be popular venues for p
rom nights and graduation balls. During the Japanese occupation, it used to hous
e a military police (Kempeitai) headquarters.
But now, even though some of these historical buildings are still standing, thei
r historical background would not be a premium on the value of the land if sold
to a buyer who has other purposes for it aside from rekindling and capitalizing
on its very historical background.
Engr. Jose Ocampo, a licensed appraiser, said that some of these old buildings c
ould not be considered as improvements in the appraising of the properties, and
could actually be a nuisance because the buyer of the properties would still hav
e to demolish the old building if he intends to something else to the property.
While it may be possible that the historical background of these properties coul
d amount to nothing in the appraisal process of their fair market values, Ocampo
said that properties along Rizal Avenue could still fetch a high price, althoug
h at a wide range of prices from P60,000 to P150,000 per square meter, depending
on the peculiar circumstances of a particular parcel of land.
These peculiar circumstances include, among others, the adjacent properties and
their uses, the size of the lot, the size of the streets adjacent to the propert
y, and all other details considered by appraisers in determining the fair market
value of a particular property.