SUPERMALL JUGGERNAUT:

THE RISE OF THE MALLS

AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

by

Randy Renier I. Espinoza

A Paper

Presented to

Prof. Floro Quibuyen

Asian Center

University of the Philippines Diliman

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Subject

Philippine Studies 222

4 April 2005
Introduction

This study was prompted by my own interest in the phenomenal growth of the

malls and its ramifications for national development. I have personally witnessed the

rise of two local malls in my home city and the changes corollary to such a development

process, and I found out that although it may appear as an indication of progress for the

city, the growth of the malls has actually dampened local commerce. As the malls were

constructed at a considerable distance from the central business district – or the

poblacion, as it was called in colonial times – they lured away majority of the public from

the traditional places of economic activity into their enclave, thus undermining

homegrown businesses and retail trade.

I have seen a parallel trend in the insidious drawing power of mammoth malls in

Metro Manila. Not only have malls attracted a great portion of the consuming public,

they also have apparently contributed to the disintegration of former commercial centers

in the metropolis. Moreover, they have evolved a distinct culture that revolves around

the unique experience of going to the mall and being affected and drawn into the “spirit”

that has made the mall, or malling, a popular culture that has permeated our

consciousness.

Malls have become the most popular destination for metro denizens and the

provincial folks alike. As Metro Manilans could not resist the lure of the malls, so people

from the country would not end their trip to Manila without ever having visited any of the

more popular shopping malls in the metropolis. Field trips of provincial high school and

grade school students to Metro Manila will not be complete without a “trip” to a mall; in

fact, they almost always culminate in the student’s mall tour.

 The prevalence of the culture of malling has been so pervasive that the malls

have become the center around which people have conducted their social life, thus

challenging the centrality that parks and churches have traditionally assumed in shaping

public consciousness. Malls have apparently been a part of the everyday life of many

Filipinos and have replaced the traditional economic and cultural spaces that once

defined our social identity and constituted our collective consciousness.

The study of the malls is relevant for malls have become a vital part of the

Filipino culture, have become “powerful catalysts for urban development,” and have

grown in economic importance since they employ large numbers of people and support

many small entrepreneurs who rent the mall’s spaces and those who provide the goods

that are sold in them (Hidalgo 2-3).

I thus view this study as one embracing both the economic and cultural aspects

that define the dominance that the malls have come to exert upon the metropolitan

population. The phenomenon of the mall is not seen as an exclusively cultural sphere of

analysis or an exclusively economic one. These two spheres are deemed as co-

determining the dynamics of the mall. “Malling,” as used throughout the paper, refers to

both the economic and cultural characteristics of this particular social practice. Thus

malling refers only to the act of going to the mall for the purpose of purchasing a

product, an economic activity, but includes other aspects that constitute its cultural

dimension – e.g., watching movies, meeting someone, strolling, etc.

Methodology

This study aims to trace the development of malls, describe how they have
become dominant economic and cultural structures in recent history, and draw

implications from the assumed hegemony of malls as a popular culture. In

accomplishing these, I employed the historical approach and contextualized the

development of malls in relation to the development of traditional cultural or commercial

spaces that once served the function/s that malls now assume. The findings that I drew

from this historical description were culled from library materials and my subjective

observation of the mall’s dynamics vis-à-vis traditional commercial and cultural centers.

To concretize my assumption that the malls are now the dominant social force

that exert influence on the consciousness of the people, I did what I would call a quasi-

or pseudo-ethnography of Megamall, as I was scarcely familiar with the methods of an

ethnographic study and had not enough time to immerse myself more deeply into the

culture of the mall. This quasi-ethnography is a two-pronged methodology oriented

towards analyzing the economic and cultural dimensions of the mall as constituted, I

believe, in the experiences of mall employees and mallers, or mall goers, respectively.

For this purpose, I chose Megamall as the sample mall in which to do my quasi-

ethnography as I believe it is the mall that is representative of the ethos of malling. The

quasi-ethnography consists of two phases: (1) observing the malling dynamics that go

on inside the mall and interviewing mallers, and (2) interviewing representative mall

employees.

The first phase entailed going to and staying at Megamall for one or two hours for

one week and conducting random survey of mall-goers regarding their reasons for

patronizing the mall. Because of the difficulty involved in choosing, approaching, and

talking to possible respondents, only six people, three males and three females, were
surveyed. It’s interesting to note that more female mallers declined being interviewed

than male ones (five females and one male begged off). The second phase involved

interviewing two former cashiers of Megamall, both female, who agreed to be cited only

by their first names, Joy and Tin-tin.

The results and findings of this paper do not attempt to be definitive, as the

library and ethnographic data collected were insufficient and limited. They are limited to

the scarcity of materials available on the subject, the observations and surveys in

Megamall for a limited period of time, and the interviews with two former Megamall

employees. Furthermore, a lack of understanding of ethnographic research may reveal

flaws in the simple methodology used, which may render some data superficial and

inexhaustive.

Patterns of Development: From Downtown to Megamall

The mall is increasingly seen as a convenient model of development, as a

barometer of economic progress for local and regional economies, in that the

urbanization or a city or an urban area is gauged by the mere existence of a mall or

malls (Tolentino). The operation of a mall is expected to bolster the local government’s

revenue and bring jobs to people (“Shifting”). What is more compelling is the perceived

cultural development that the establishment of malls achieves for a locale. Malls are,

therefore, received as signs of economic and cultural development.

The rise of the malls, however, has emasculated small-scale retail stores and, in

the provinces, usurped valued customers from local establishments. On a more general

level, the formation of mall complexes across Metro Manila has greatly altered Metro
Manila's urban geography. The former centers of business and commerce that once

served as the cornucopia of economic and cultural life for the population where they

converged to do their personal and social needs – shopping, dining, dating,

entertainment, leisure, and cultural activities – gradually succumbed to the increasing

popularity of new commercial hubs and, later, the malls.

Early Centers of Commerce and Culture: Binondo, Sta. Cruz, and Quipo

Nick Joaquin succinctly explained the phenomenon of shift in power and prestige

among metro centers: “Binondo was the commercial capital of the Philippines through

most of the 19th century. Sta. Cruz displaced it as ‘downtown’ in the 1900s and was in

turn displaced by Quiapo in mid-century. All these have been displaced by Makati and

Cubao” (268).

He then went on to trace the development of these former city “downtowns.” “By

the 1640s,” he wrote,

Binondo boasted of a stone church with 50 large windows and adorned with
handsome tapestries and paintings. The village, with a mixed native and Chinese
population, was becoming a printing center, a port, and an emporium. It was the
place that gave birth to a Filipino middle class . . . Sta. Cruz was then already
known for its heavy traffic and its commerce, but the heavy traffic was on the
canals and the commerce was mostly in green groceries. (269)

Sta. Cruz, which was an area of Jesuit mission and a part of an hacienda engaged in

truck farming, developed as a district in the 1720s.

After the Chinese were from the ghettos, they settled in great numbers in

Binondo” (15). The “Tagalog aristocracy” then began to leave the area and moved to

Sta. Cruz. By the 1900s, Binondo was on the decline and Sta. Cruz was on the rise.

The Escolta had become the urbanite street and the Plaza Sta. Cruz had become the
center of the city. The forming of Avenida Rizal, which was formed by joining

Dulambayan and Salcedo streets and necessitated the demolition of houses between

those streets, prompted the exodus of Sta. Cruz’s aristocratic residents. Thus,

exacerbated by the development and expansion of suburban areas, Sta. Cruz slowly

depreciated in status as an urban center as the city of Manila was downgraded by the

development of neighboring and outlying towns.

In tracking the historic flourishing of Binondo as a city center, Joaquin focused on

the central roles of plazas and streets. This centrality is further drawn upon in his

discussion of the rise of Sta. Cruz as the downtown of its era:

From the 1900s on, money and power passed from Binondo to Sta. Cruz; and
Plaza Goiti, Plaza Sta. Cruz, the newly opened Avenida Rizal and the old Escolta
became ‘downtown’ for us . . . Plaza Goiti was the center of the city’s transportation
network, meaning the tranvia. The Escolta was carriage trade, meaning luxury
shop. Plaza Sta. Cruz, was entertainment, meaning bar and vaudeville. And
Avenida Rizal was Main Street, meaning bazaar, movies, hotel, office, restaurant,
and bank. In Sta. Cruz sprouted our first night clubs . . . and our new Rialto: the
porch of the Monte de Piedad on Plaza Goiti, where businessmen caught the news
before it broke. Such was our ‘downtown’ during the American era. (16)

With the decline of Binondo and Sta. Cruz, an area isolated from the adjoining

districts emerged to become the new downtown. “Since the immediate prewar days,

‘downtown’ has meant Plaza Miranda and all the streets leading to it. . . . The

transformation of Quiapo into a rugged downtown in the 1920s, when the Friday

devotions to its Nazareno intensified to a city-wide cult, especially among the masses,

lured crowds and businesses to jazz up the city’s new hub.” (16) The traffic and thriving

commerce that centered around Plaza Miranda resulted in the construction of Quezon

Boulevard and Quezon Bridge, the rule in local film industry that play dates must fall on

a Friday, and the rise of the Plaza Miranda as the plaza of the people, the venue of
commerce as well as political activity.

Joaquin anchored his account of Quiapo’s development into a downtown,

besides the influencing factor of the Nazareno cult, on the evolution of the Plaza

Miranda as the hub of social and cultural, not to mention political, activities. Thus we

can see a correlation between the plaza and the development of a locale: Plaza

Binondo and Binondo, Plaza Sta. Cruz and Sta. Cruz, and Plaza Miranda and Quiapo.

An area’s rise as a city center was determined and defined by the centrality that its

plaza assumed, which is in turn measured by the concentration of economic and

cultural activities within and around the immediate vicinity of the plaza. The plaza thus

served as the hub around which life, not only in the area but the city as a whole,

revolved.

The plaza is part of the plaza complex1, the layout plan of most towns during

the Spanish regime which is characterized by a grid-iron arrangement with criss-

crossing streets. “The plaza complex . . . consists of the plaza proper and its immediate

vicinity. In most cases the municipio, marketplace, school, and Catholic church will be

found on one side of the plaza, where the community is built around a central plaza”

(Hart 11). The development of the plaza complexes of Binondo, Sta. Cruz, and Quiapo

into major commercial and cultural centers of their respective eras accounted for the

concomitant development of these areas.

Subsequent “Downtowns”: The Shopping Centers

Quiapo enjoyed its “downtown” status until the 1960s (Joaquin) 16), during which

time there had been a trend towards multicentrism, a phenomenon in which multiple

urban centers were established away from the former downtown areas centered in
Manila. “Caught up in the fever of rapid renewal and change, Manila exploded out of the

traditional boundaries delineated by the old city center and the surrounding residential

areas. In that decade after the war, Manila moved to the suburbs.” (Kasaysayan vol. 8,

261). The country saw the rise of Cubao and Makati as new, alternative downtowns

which later overshadowed Quiapo in prominence and sophistication. “Most of the

businesses moved out of Binondo to occupy spaces in the fashionable modern

buildings, that lined both sides of broad Ayala Avenue in Makati, starting the decay and

signaling the death of the traditional Manila center. . . . Cubao grew from a

transportation crossroads in suburban Quezon City into a major commercial center”

(26).

Clive Darlow offers an explanation for the deterioration of former city centers:

Many town centers have become overgrown with too many conflicting uses which
overburden the road network, the limited parking facilities, public utility services
and transportation, and despoil the downtown environment. Some of these uses, it
is now recognized, can be transplanted and allowed to grow in suitable suburban
locations. One such use is convenience or day-to-day selection of comparison or
durable goods, some social/cultural/recreational facilities and the ‘district’ or
suburban shopping centre emerges.

The 37-hectare Araneta Center, the first shopping center complex in the country,

was built in 1957 (Ortiz 5). The first to rise was the Araneta Coliseum, which was

followed by the rapid construction of supermarkets: Farmers’ Market and Farmer’s

Plaza. Shortly thereafter, Fiesta Carnival was built. In 1977 Rustan’s and Ali Mall Phase

I was built. 1981 saw the construction of SM Cubao, the first massive Shoe Mart

shopping center. Thus the Araneta Center developed into a major shopping center with

its building and units scattered in a neat, grid-iron layout.

A 30-hectare development soon developed soon followed in 1962, the Makati

Commercial Center (8-9). Rizal Theater was the first building that was constructed,

followed by other shopping units (bookstore, restaurant, arcade, departments stores

appliance stores, etc).

Another development was the Greenhills Shopping Center, a 14-hectare

commercial space began in 1965 with the construction of the Green Lanes bowling

lanes and billiard hall (9). Construction of buildings ensured: the Greenhills Theater and

Unimart in 1970 and commercial buildings such as the Manila Bank Arcade, PCI Bank

Building, Padilla Arcade, Shoppersville, and Virra Mall in 1979.

The development of commercial centers outside Manila occurred as a

consequence of rapid suburbanization after World War II and the need for new, more

accessible establishments for the burgeoning suburban population. Furthermore, it was

brought about, as Joquin had argued, by the movement of many of the aristocratic and

middle-class population of Manila’s former downtowns towards the more upscale areas

in the newly progressing towns outside Manila.

These new commercial centers did not take on the kind of development that

Binando, Sta. Cruz, and Quiapo evolved. Their development did not revolve around a

central plaza. But despite the absence of the plaza, these new centers still involved the

concentration of a cluster of big commercial establishments within the perimeter of the

complex.

New Centers: The Malls

The 1970s saw a new development, the emergence of one-stop, enclosed malls

Still another development was the Harrison Plaza, which was began in 1976. It was the

first building to offer “a complete line of merchandise and services under one roof (9).
Moreover, the Broadway Centrum was built in 1978, and the EDSA Central Shopping

Center, straddling EDSA and Shaw Boulevard, was completed in late 1979.

In 1985, SM City opened at North Avenue corner EDSA. Soon, other malls were

opened across Metro Manila: Manuela, SM CEnterpoint, Robinson’s Galleria, Quad in

Makati (which is know now as Glorietta), Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, the Park Square

Makati, Shangri-La EDSA.

Then in 1993 SM Megamall, at the time the biggest mall in the country, opened

its doors to shoppers. It has since shaped the malling culture that has become so

deeply ingrained in the Filipino consciousness.

Megamall

Since its operation, Megamall has been the model of mall development in the

country.2 It heralded the dominance of the malls in the urban geography of Metro Manila

and major urban centers in the country. It triggered a boom in mall construction and

inspired rivalry from other major mall operators. Robinsons, the Ayala Group followed

strategy of SM; they expanded and erected malls in major areas within and outside

Metro Manila. Old-time and new mall operators joined the bandwagon and constructed

their own brand of malls.

Megamall’s colossal success inspired the construction of more SM supermalls.

Apart from its SM old department stores, SM Prime Holdings now has a total of 23

supermalls across the country, whose combined cinema houses total 132. These e

supermalls have a combined averaged daily pedestrian count of 1,532,138 average on

a given day (smprime).

Despite the expansion of SM in prime areas in Metro Manila and in the

provinces, Megamall still looms large in the psyche of the Filipinos as the quintessential

supermall that represents the malling culture that has so defined this generation’s

popular culture. Described by Ronald Baytan as the “queen of all malls,” Megamall has

long been enshrined in its throne and has so far been enjoying an unopposed reign.

Shifting Dominance: From Center to Periphery

In the foregoing discussion, we have seen a centrifugal dispersion of commercial

and cultural activity from its former concentration in downtown areas of Manila outward

and dispersed among the neighboring and outlying cities and municipalities – a

movement from the established center, Manila, to the peripheries, the former towns of

the provinces bounding Manila on the north, east, and south which were later integrated

to form the Greater Manila area or the National Capital Region.

The development of Binondo, Sta. Cruz, and Quiapo as downtowns is itself a

result of the expansion of Manila’s urban population beyond the walled city of

Intramuros3. In fact, Intramuros was the first urban center established during the

Spanish conquest, the hub of political, economic, and cultural activity of the colonial

regime. It was the first plaza complex of the colony, the archetype of town planning of

the colonial government. Large settlements outside Intramuros, the Inner Manila, and

the consequent emergence of districts which were later to form the Outer Manila

necessitated the establishment of a center outside the rather elite, fortified center

located within Intramuros constituted what were then the suburbs.

Although Intramuros still held power when Binondo, Sta. Cruz, and Quiapo

emerged as city centers, it only functioned as the administrative center and its prestige

was hinged on its being the seat of the colonial government rather than on its
commercial and cultural preeminence for the majority of the population. What first grew

as suburban areas outside Intramuros, then rose to become the more popular centers,

the downtowns for the many Manileňos.

The transfer of economic and cultural activity in Makati and Quezon City,

centering in Cubao, was in turn brought about by the suburbanization that rapidly took

place outside Manila after the war, which necessitated the creation of new centers that

will respond to the increasing unattractiveness of former centers.

Supermall Juggernaut

The rise of the malls is a phenomenon. Their development was not caused by

the deterioration of Makati and Cubao or the need for a new center. What is strange is

that malls are also found in Makati and Cubao. The malls are a new innovation brought

in from the Center/Northern countries and, as such, are structured to cater to the needs

of the growing middle-class population of the metropolis.

The word “mall,” according to Ibon Facts & Figures, is coined “from the avenue

along the north side of St. James Park in London. Mall was then associated with alley

and in time, it was used to refer to shaded walks . . . Today in the U.S. and in Europe, it

means shopping space, presumably with shaded walks that connect building and

stores” (2). But in the Philippines, the mall has evolved into a one-stop, enclosed

shopping complex that offers the same products and services as did the traditional

commercial centers.

But if malls are also located in commercial centers and offered the same

conveniences, what does their dominance constitute? The missing link is the supermalls

and their rise independent of the commercial centers. These supermalls – such as SM
North EDSA, the very first one, and Megamall – transcend the traditional functions of

the mall and command a huge following despite their location away from traditional

centers. Robinsons Galleria and Megamall, in fact, event antedated the development of

Ortigas Center. It can thus be argued that the Ortigas Center owed its development to

the these two great malls that border this now-upscale area.

Supermalls have supplanted the influence and significance of traditional

economic and cultural spaces. The malls have displaced the park or the plaza as a

favorite destination for recreational activities and entertainment in the same way that

they have dislodged the public market or palengke as the prime shopping destination.

Luneta has been losing its former appeal as an attractive place for recreation and public

gatherings. Even Quezon City Circle has of late been being ignored, perhaps partly due

to its shady reputation as a love nest. Human traffic inside the mall far outweighs the

number of visitors at the National Museum or the National Library.

Florinda de Fiesta Mateo provides an insight into the phenomenal impact of malls

on the people’s consciousness:

The shopping malls have become standard features of our cities. They have
become the Meccas of city dwellers. They are not only providing one-stop
shopping convenience for the people. They have also taken the place of parks and
amusement centers. With the . . . the heat of the tropics, and the worsening noise
and air pollution, people have come to seek refuge in the air-conditioned comfort of
the malls. The malls have also become the cultural centers of the urban dwellers
and, especially the classes that cannot afford the prohibitive costs of tickets in
cultural shows. (172-173)

Rolando Tolentino, on the other hand, asserts that malls have evolved to become

the “modern plaza of the people”:4

Kung ang konstruksyon ng mga lumang bayan ay nakabatay sa sistemang pueblo,

na sentral ang simbahan sa arkitektura ng local na kolonisasyon ng espasyo, ang
plaza naman, mula sa panahong ito, ang siyang nagiging sentro ng ekonomiya at
cultural na kalakaran. Ang lumang plaza ay pinalilibutan ng mga strukturang
 political tulad ng munisipyo, relihiyoso tulad ng simbahan, cultural tulad ng
paaralan at palabas, at ekonomiya tulad ng palengke. Ang modernong plaza ng
mall ay naglalaman pa rin ng gayon – mayroon pa ring lugar ng Katolikong
pagsamba, botika, palabas, tiangge, fastfood at stasyon ng pakain, hardware,
bilihan ng gamit sa bayan, tienda ng tiket, perya at themepark, at iba pa. (21)

While displacing the traditional economic and cultural centers where people used

to go, the malls have appropriated the plaza, in the form of the atrium, as the

centerpiece structure located at the heart malls’ architecture. If the postwar suburban

centers got rid of the plaza, the malls have retained its central function, which perhaps

explains their popularity as cultural venues. The atrium serves the same cultural

function that the plaza did for the plaza complex of the former downtown centers. The

malls are thus the modern plaza complex, the modern city centers for the urban

populace.

Megamall: “The Queen of All Malls”

To understand the development of the mall and its economic and cultural

ascendancy, a semi-ethnography was conducted. The mall was studied by focusing the

analytic lens on two aspects: first, malling or cruising and shopping of the people at

different sections of the mall, and two, the experiences of employees. In the analysis of

the culture of the mall, an ethnography of mallers and workers was proven to be useful

in coming up with significant findings on the influence of the mall as a cultural and

economic force.

The Mallers

My observation of the human traffic and social interaction inside SM Megamall

and interview of six people regarding their malling experience points to the fact that

majority of mallers are middle class, perhaps owing to the mall's location in the relatively
upscale location of Ortigas5. However, a sizable number are also from higher and

upper-lower classes. Five out of six of the respondents surveyed fall under the category

of middle-class. Most of the mallers are of the young generation, the teenagers and the

20-somethings, although a sizable number are of the 12-year-and below and 30-and-

above age brackets. However, five of my respondents are all within the 20’s range (from

23 to 29), with the exception of one who is aged 50.

Based on my casual interview with the subjects, three of them reveal that they go

to the malls more than once per week. Two respondents go to the mall once per week,

while one visit the mall only once a month. These findings seem to indicate that people,

or at least for the respondents, go to the mall on a relatively frequent level.

Meanwhile, based on the responses put forward by the respondents regarding

their reasons for visiting to the malls, the number reason that prompts people to go

malling is shopping with four respondents citing it as a reason. Pamamasyal and waiting

for someone/friend were each cited by three respondents, while watching movies and

eating were each cited by two respondents. Accompanying friends passing the time,

meeting a friend, enrolling in a computer school were each given by a one respondent

as a reason.

Based on these findings, I have come up with eight major spheres of activity that

account for the centrality of the mall as a commercial and cultural center of Philippine

life. The following are spheres of activity that people normally do when they go to the

mall: shopping, pammasyal, waiting/meeting somebody, eating, watching movies,

accompanying friends, passing the time. All of these account, and many more that were

not covered by the limited sample of the survey, for the all-embracing and totalitarian
hegemony of the mall in the psyche and consciousness of the people.

A tour of the mall, meanwhile, provided an insight into the structure of the

Megamall. The mall is composed of two buildings, Building A and B. A street cuts

through the center and bisects the ground level. The center piece of the ground level of

both buildings is the atrium, the modern plaza of the mall, the focal point of cultural

activity where shows and performances are held. The upper levels were designed in

such a way that people could still glance at the atrium. Throngs of people on the ground

floor converged around the atrium during shows and performances to partake of the

activity and people from the upper levels lean on the railings to look down and witness

the event.

On the other hand, the SM Department Store, the SM Supermarket, the SM

Foodcourt, the SM Cinema – all regular sections of every SM supermall – contribute to

the comprehensive and extensive nature of the services and products that Megamall

and other supermalls offer to mall-goers. The Skating Rink, the distinguishing feature of

Megamall, further adds to the attractiveness of the mall as an activity center.

Based on the foregoing findings and observations, there’s a strong case for

asserting the dominance of the mall as an economic and cultural center of the

metropolis. This is supported by the frequency of people’s visit to the malls and the

varied and diverse reasons that motivate them to patronize the malls. Furthermore, the

malls have evolved the atrium as the modern plaza that serve as the cultural center

within the mall, with a host of commercial services and cultural activities that abound on

every level from end to end.

The Workers
 An interview with Joy and Tin-tin, former cashiers at SM Megamall, reveals

valuable insights regarding the labors practices that govern the mall's activities.

Employees are hired as contractuals for a period of employment lasting only 5

months, after which time the employee is forced to resign. They are barred from

reapplying at any SM branch for at least one year after the expiration of her contract.

Regularization is almost impossible. A contractual employee aspiring to be absorbed by

the company as a regular must not incur any late or absence for the entire duration of

her employment. For a cashier, she must not have incurred shorts or chargebacks to be

qualified to run for regularization.

Employees work 6 days a week and are required to render overtime work when

the need arises – which is almost always the case – and during the Christmas season

and other special holidays. The employee doesn't have the freedom to choose her

schedule and is compelled to accept any shifts assigned to her.

Employees follow rigid and strict rules, a minor infraction of which will lead to

warnings and a major violation of which is equivalent to penalties such as suspension or

dismissal. They are required to wear the uniforms provided by the company (of course,

at the expense of the employee) even outside the store premises. Female employees,

particularly, cashiers and sales clerks in the department store are forced to wear above-

the -knee, body-hugging, one-piece uniforms. They must stand by the counter all day

and are not allowed the leisure of sitting around or taking a short rest, and they are also

encouraged to lessen their trips to the CR as much as possible. Moreover, they conform

to security procedures such as frisking, searches before and after the shift. They can

only wear undergarments that have been patched with logo to avoid suspicion of taking
items out of the store.

Cashiering, in comparison to the jobs of other mall employees such as the

bagger or sales clerks, is a vulnerable and stressful job. It requires extraordinary

customer service skill that entails patience and tolerance towards insensitive and

inconsiderate customers – a precarious balancing act of efficiently handling the cash

register and graciously responding to customer needs and whims. A single error in

punching items and discrepancy in sales inventory may mean trouble for the cashier. An

overcharge of a short of even a peso translates to a deduction from her salary. Tintin

revealed that she once took home a measly P800 for a 15-day pay period.

Meanwhile, the requirements for employability in the service sector rests on

physicality and personality. Successful applicants for employment are those of legal age

not exceeding 25 years, should be at least 5'7” in height for men and 5'2” for women,

and should possess a “pleasing personality.” Furthermore, an interesting revelation is

the priority given to members of the Iglesia ni Cristo, apparently because their religion

prohibits union membership and organization. Although she enjoyed her working

rapport with her former co-employees, Joy lamented that the wage she earned is

disproportionate to the demands of the job. Tintin complained of the stressful nature of

the job.

This insider account of the labor practices within SM sheds light into the

characteristics of the service economy. The service sector that subjects the workers to

extreme working conditions, puts a high premium on physicality and personality of its

service providers, and adopts anti-labor practices that do not provide secure

employment. Inside the mall, unabated and systematic operation of regulation and
regimentation of workers are in place. What occurs is an existing practice of labor

contractualization and the inhibiting working conditions that go with it.

Conclusion

The mall confronts us today as a powerful force that exerts its influence on our

psyche and consciousness. Its activity is not merely restricted to the economic function

that traditionally was the function of shopping centers and the first malls. It has become

a domain where both economic and cultural activities engage in a dynamic interplay that

defines the mall. It has become one of the most pervasive popular cultures of our time

and has been a veritable commercial center where both consumers and workers meet

and interact to form the distinct ethos that constitutes the economic culture of the mall.

People find the mall a very convenient and accessible place to do almost every

economic and cultural activity, from shopping to watching movies and from withdrawing

from an ATM terminal to singing at a Videoke machine. Despite undesirable working

conditions and unstable work tenure, on the other hand, hundreds of aspiring mall

workers still line up to file applications because a job at the mall seems to be the easiest

to find for a college graduate.

With the multiple functions that the mall has come to assume, it has evolved into

the modern plaza complex. It has become the new centers of the metropolis, with the

atrium serving as the plazas from which radiates cultural and economic activities. The

malls’ levels and pathways are the streets and blocks that serve the purpose of

accommodating human traffic, while the different sections represent the palengke,

palaruan, sinehan, and the other mainstays of the old centers. Even schools, banks,
and churches have filled the mall’s ever-expanding spaces. And now that NBI renewals

are now possible inside Megamall, I won’t be surprised if government agencies soon

construct field offices within the mall. When that happens, the mall shall have a

complete domination of society – the economic, cultural, and the political.

ENDNOTES
1
Prof. Leslie Bauzon, my teacher in Kasaysayan I, asserted that the plaza complex was the
legacy of Spanish colonialism to the development of most Philippine cities and towns and that it
was the layout plan that the Spanish colonial administrators used in planning towns and cities.
2
This part is based on my personal observations since I lived in Quezon City in 1997 and was a
frequenter of malls.
3
This part is based on my own knowledge of Intramuros and the development of Manila’s urban
population.
4
This is my own English translation of “Ang mall ay ang modernong plaza ng mga bayan.”
5
There exists a difficulty in ascertaining class since there’s no clear-cut indicators of class, so
this contention has been made solely on the basis of appearance and outward manner and, on
the part of the respondents, their occupation.
 REFERENCES CITED

Books

Baytan, Ronald. “SM Megamall – EDSA, Mandaluyong.” The Milflores Guide to Philippine

Shopping Malls. Ed. Antonio A. Hidalgo. Manila: Milflores Publication, 2000.

Darlow, Clive. Enclosed Shopping Centers. London: Architectural Press, 1973.

Hart, Donn Vorhis. The Philippine Plaza Complex: a Focal Point in Culture Change. New

Haven: Yale University, Southeast Asia Studies, 1955.

Hidalgo, Antonio A. The Milflores Guide to Philippine Shopping Malls. Manila: Milflores

Publication, 2000.

Joaquin, Nick. Almanac for Manileňos. Manila: Mr & Ms Publication, 1979.

Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People. v 8. Ed. Maria Serena I. Diokno. Manila: Asia

Publishing Company Limited, 1990.

Mateo, Florinda de Fiesta. The Malling Culture of Quezon City. Diss. University of the

Philippines Diliman, 2002.

Ortiz, Gilbert Roland C. An Explanatory Study on Shopping Center Trip Generation. Thesis.

University of the Philippines Diliman.

“Shopping Malls: Grand Illusions of an Easy Life.” Ibon Facts & Figures, 15 December, 2003.

Tolentino, Rolando B. Sa Loob at Labas ng Mall Kong Sawi Kaliluha’y Siyang Nangyayaring

Hari: Ang Pagkatuto at Pagtatanghal ng Kulturang Popular. Quezon City: UP

Press, 2001.

Internet

http//www.smprime.com.ph.

“Shifting to a Mall Culture.” http:/news.balita.ph.

 APPENDIX A

Results of Survey

Respondent 1
Sex: Female
Age: 29
Occupation: self-employed businesswoman
Frequency of visiting the mall: once per week
Reasons for visiting the mall: weekly shopping, pasyal.

Respondent 2
Sex: Male
Age: 29
Occupation: pahinante sa mall
Frequency of visiting the mall: once per month*
Reasons for visiting the mall: waiting for someone, watching movies, pasyal, shopping,
*Since he goes to the mall everyday for his work, this frequency accounts for his visit
during non-working days.

Respondent 3
Sex: Female
Age: 23
Occupation: student
Frequency of visiting the mall: 2-3 times per week
Reasons for visiting the mall: accompanying friends, shopping, waiting for a companion,
enrolling for a computer school

Respondent 4
Sex: male
Age: 27
Occupation: salesperson
Frequency of visiting the mall: almost everyday
Reasons for visiting the mall: watching movies, pasyal, shopping, gala.

Respondent 5
Sex: Female
Age: 24
Occupation: Nurse
Frequency of visiting the mall: 3-4 times
Reasons for visiting the mall: meeting a friend, eating, mag-ikot

Respondent 6
Sex: Female
Age: 50
Occupation: businesswoman
Frequency of visiting the mall: once a month
Reasons for visiting the mall: shopping, eating, passing the time.

APPENDIX B

Frequency Distribution
Frequency of and Reasons for Visiting the Mall
Frequency of visiting the mall:

Almost every day - 1

3-4 times per week - 1
2-3 times per week - 1
Once per week – 1
Once per month - 2

Reasons for visiting the mall:

Shopping – 4
Pasyal – 3
Waiting for someone/friend- 3
Watching movies – 2
Accompanying friends – 1
Eating – 2
Pass the time – 1
Meeting a friend – 1
Enrolling in a computer school – 1