SM to open 36th shopping mall in Cavite, San Pablo by 2010

THE COUNTRY’S BIGGEST shopping developer SM Prime Holdings Inc., owned by tycoon Henry Sy, will open Thursday its 36th domestic retail complex in Rosario, Cavite.

The new mall, which has a gross floor area of 52,142 square meters, will be SM Prime’s fourth mall in the province of Cavite. It is located along General Trias Drive in Barangay Tejeros, SM Prime disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday.

SM City Rosario is the last SM mall slated for opening in 2009—after SM Naga and SM Center Las Piñas as well as after the expansion of SM Fairview, SM Rosales and SM North Edsa (with the opening of Sky Garden).

“Rosario is a vibrant municipality in Cavite, a province which we consider to be a high-growth area, being a prominent part of the progressive Calabarzon (Calamba-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon) region. It is a relatively well-off, urban municipality in the province of Cavite and is home to the Cavite economic zone,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said in a statement.

“Our three existing malls in the province are doing very well. Thus, as we eagerly open the doors of SM City Rosario, we expect it to likewise adequately service the various needs of our loyal customers in Cavite,” Sy added.

The major tenants of the new Rosario mall are SM Supermarket, SM Department Store, Ace Hardware, SM Appliance and personal care products distributor Watsons. Other tenants include quick service restaurants Jollibee and KFC, Savory Chicken, Max’s and Red Ribbon, fashion and apparel retailers Penshoppe and Bench, and National Bookstore, among others.

Next year, five new SM malls are scheduled to open to add 279,228 sq.m. to gross floor area, which will hit a total of 4.8 million by end-2010. The new malls are SM City Calamba (41,394 sq.m.); SM City Novaliches (55,085 sq.m.); SM City Tarlac (103,340 sq.m.); SM Supercenter Masinag in Antipolo City (45,000 sq.m.) and SM City Supercenter San Pablo (34,409 sq.m.). By the end of next year, the company will have 41 malls all over the Philippines.

The SM chain has 10,374 domestic tenants and the biggest network of cinemas numbering 201 with a total seating capacity of 125,382.

SOURCE: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20091118-237096/SM-to-open-36th-shopping-mall-in-Cavite

‘Santi’ leaves 17 dead, brownouts in S. Tagalog

SEVERAL PARTS OF SOUTHERN Tagalog remained without electricity and under floods while the number of casualties continued to rise days after Typhoon “Santi” (international name: “Mirinae”) packed strong winds in the region.

In its latest report on Tuesday, the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) recorded 17 deaths and 2 missing persons in the region.

Laguna accounted for 11 deaths with the recovery of another victim identified as Fidel Reyes, 26, in a river in Calamba city late Monday, said the RDCC.

Quezon and Cavite reported one death each; Rizal recorded two deaths; while in Batangas, the bodies of a father and a son who perished after a bridge collapsed were retrieved on Monday.

Anthony Espedido, 51, from Pagsanjan and Anthony Candelaria from Liliw in Laguna, however, remained missing.

Power supply has not been restored in the towns of Alaminos, Magdalena, Liliw, Victoria and San Pablo City in Laguna; Candelaria, Sariaya, and Tayabas in Quezon; and in Jalajala and Pililla in Rizal.

The flood reaching five feet high remained in Pagsanjan while water remained at knee to waist level in some villages in Los Baños, Mabitac and Liliw in Laguna.

The Department of Public Works and Highways-Calabarzon estimated P133 million damage in infrastructure after the bridges of Colong-colong and Matingain in Lemery; and the “Bridge of Promise” in Batangas City collapsed due to the flashfloods.

In Majayjay town in Laguna, the San Isidro bridge remained closed to traffic.

It also estimated a P1.8 million worth of damage in the collapse of bridges in Quezon.

In the Bicol Region, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council in Camarines Norte, which was hard hit by Typhoon Santi, reported a death toll of 11 as of Tuesday. Causes of death included drowning, extreme cold (hypothermia), and being hit by falling trees. Maricar P. Cinco, Karen Lapitan, Jonas Cabiles Soltes and Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon
SOURCE: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20091103-233868/Santi-leaves-17-dead-brownouts-in-S-Tagalog