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Monday, January 16, 2006
P500M mall rises from ruins of 1976 quake
A DEPARTMENT store in Cotabato City is making a comeback with the recent opening of its P500 million facility, said the Department of Trade and Industry on Thursday last week.
The store was virtually knocked to the ground in 1976 due to a 7.9 magnitude quake that rocked Mindanao.
Ibrahim Guiamadel, Central Mindanao trade and industry director, said that South Seas Mall opened several weeks ago as thousands trooped to the city's first ever giant superstore.
"The turnout of people destroyed one of the escalator's glass sidings and hand rail," Guiamadel said.
The Store Zone Corporation manages the establishment, known as South Seas store in 1976, when it was leveled by the devastating quake.
Guiamadel said the minor destruction during the opening day did not bother the management but in fact "pleased" them.
This is because Chinese businessmen viewed such little accidents as "good omen."
In years back, when Jollibee opened an outlet in Cotabato City, its glass door shattered because of the volume of customers.
"But Jollibee has been performing exceptionally well since then," the official said.
For now, South Seas Mall houses fast food chains Greenwich Chowking and Goldilocks, wines and liquor shop, apparels specialty stalls, among others.
Nearby establishments of the mall, like Penshoppe, also experienced an increase in sales following the opening of South Seas, Guimadel said.
Two years ago, Cotabato City's economy was predicted to collapse following the flight of regional branches of National Government agencies to Koronadal City as a result of the realignment of regions across Mindanao.
Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema said that South Seas operation proved that the locality remains a viable business location despite the exodus of the regional offices.
In August 1976, a 7.9 magnitude tremor shook Mindanao, triggering a tsunami that devastated more than 700 kilometers of coastline bordering Moro Gulf in the North Celebes Sea.
"It was an earthquake that resulted in massive destruction of properties and great loss of lives. The tsunami generated contributed immensely to the devastation," a briefer from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
According to surveys following the event, the tsunami was responsible for 85 percent of deaths, 65 percent of injuries, and 95 percent of those missing.
After the sea spent its fury and rolled back to its natural flow, at least 10,000 people were reportedly left dead, others homeless or missing, and millions of pesos lost with the damages of properties. (RBS)
(January 16, 2006 issue)
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