The national road that starts from the Tagaytay Rotonda junction in Cavite and ends at the Main Post Office along the banks of the Pasig River in Manila used to be the only land link between Southern Luzon and the rest of the island, before the South Super Highway (SSH) was built. In those days, the road had only two names: Taft Avenue from the Post Office to Pasay, and National Road from Pasay to Tagaytay.

It was a vital link for people from Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Mindoro provinces who could not travel north without crossing the historic Zapote Bridge which also serves as a boundary for the towns of Las Piñas and Bacoor. All the municipal halls, markets, churches and important buildings were on this road, one of the most colorful, vibrant and historic avenue in the Philippines.

These days, much of the motorized traffic prefers to drive through the SSH or the Marcos-built Coastal Road to avoid the pedicabs and human traffic on the old National Road, where millions live, work and study. From Cavite all the way to Manila, prestigious schools, colleges and universities attract students even from the Visayas and Mindanao, all of whom need affordable housing close by.

De La Salle has a campus in Dasmariñas, with more than 12,000 students enrolled in courses related to the medical field. There are several technical, IT and nursing schools in Imus and Bacoor. Nurses and doctors train at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Pasay, where  Southeastern College and Arellano University have graduated hundreds of thousands since the 1940s.

The prestigious sister schools College St. Benilde and De La Salle University after Vito Cruz continue to expand, both in the size of their student population, and in erecting campus extensions in the streets beside and behind their main campuses. Sadly, a Taft Avenue school I attended for two years (1956-58) near San Andres, is now gone. Francisco Law School, which became Francisco College, was established in the 1940s by Senator Vicente Francisco, considered one of the most brilliant legal minds at the time.

A block away (between Malvar and Nakpil streets) is the Philippine Women’s University, home of the world-famous Bayanihan Dance Company which continues to reap awards around the world while spreading Filipino culture everywhere. Next door (corner Pedro Gil street) is the Philippine Christian University, a Protestant institution established by American missionaries after World War II.

The University of the Philippines Manila campus is across the street, occupying a humungous block from Pedro Gil to Padre Faura, graduating the country’s top dentists, doctors and nurses who have the run of the Philippine General Hospital during their training.

Across the PGH are the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice, adjacent to the Court of Appeals and the new National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) compounds.  The old NBI facilities have been taken over by the Emilio Aguinaldo College, offering courses related to the fields of hospitality and medicine.

A block away is the Adamson University, established 80 years ago by a Greek immigrant. It’s entered from Taft through a covered walkway that leads to the main campus on San Marcelino.  The Technological University of the Philippines, formerly the Philippine College of Arts and Trades, is several steps away on the corner of San Marcelino and Ayala. It is a highly specialized institution producing thousands of entrepreneurs as well as workers.

Next door at the corner of Taft and Ayala is the Philippine Normal University, originally established in 1901 by the American Commission as the Philippine Normal School to train teachers to supplement the Thomasites.  To this day, the PNU, simply referred to as “Normal” continues to be revered as one of the best training grounds for public school teachers.

The next block houses the Manila City Hall building with its iconic postcard favorite Clock Tower. A city-owned college sits next door, beside a main LRT station.  Cross the road and you enter Intramuros, the original Walled City of Manila. Within its walls are several thousand students and faculty of the Lyceum University, Mapua, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Manila High School and Letran College.

Intramuros is also the address for the Bureau of Immigration, the National Press Club and the Commission on Elections. All are a short walking distance from Taft Avenue jeepney routes.

GOODBYE GARDEN — These schools and institutions along Taft involve thousands, perhaps millions of commuters, who these days have to adjust their lifestyles and living habits to adjust to high transport costs and space limitations of city living. All these changes challenge many Filipino traditions, especially our ideal of a house surrounded by a small garden and a white picket fence.

The most affordable and convenient survival technique these days is to live near one’s place of work or school, to reduce travel time and gas or commuting expenses. But city living means smaller homes with no garden, no picket fence, and using multi-purpose rooms and furniture.

The Japanese are masters at this, with their apatu or “mansion” measured in terms of how many tatami (grass mats) can fit on the floor. My brother’s home in Sakai City outside Osaka is nothing but a long room with sliding dividers, a tiny bathroom/toilet, kitchen sink, folding short-legged dining table and spreadable futon as bedroom.

There is no space for hoarding useless, outdated stuff. All furniture pieces do double duty: the dining table serves as computer or working table when everyone’s done eating. Upon waking up, everyone folds and stores the futon, and the floor space becomes the living/dining room.

PINOYS EMBRACE CHANGE — Walking along Taft Avenue, one observes how Filipinos have, however grudgingly, accepted the need to adjust to the times. Everywhere one looks, there are residential high rise buildings going up, from Ayala to Pasay and even my barrio Pulang Lupa in Las Piñas, where the old factory compound of Francisco Motors is abuzz with hundreds of construction workers building condo towers.

As a Malate-addicted person, I veer towards retiring in a small condo in the area where I have lived and loved since 1960. And I have been looking around for at least 10 years. My one condition so far is for the place to be one jeepney ride from Divisoria, Quiapo, Blumentritt, Pasay, Baclaran, Commonwealth, Cubao, Dangwa, Pier.

So far, there are a few strong candidates, including one along Vito Cruz near Taft, Pedro Gil across a mall, Taft near La Salle. The one near La Salle along Taft Avenue means a few years of waiting, but it is the most overwhelming and promising.

Green Residences, between La Salle and the San Andres-Quirino junction, is one of the biggest real estate projects in the country. When finished, the  50-storey Green Residences will have 3,440 housing units, more households  than some barangays.

Because it is developed by SMDC, several of the lower commercial floors will house commercial spaces, including a hypermart-type SM outlet. Other stalls will have beauty shops, laundry, internet-computer services, fast food outlets, drug store, shoe/bag repair, money transfer, bank etc. Like a gated exclusive village, the building will have a large swimming pool, jogging path, library-cum-social area.

Smart parents cornered 80% of all the units within months of offering; most of the buyers were OFWs looking forward to investment, although a significant number of buyers plans use of the units by their children and/or grandchildren. After all, monthly payment for the units is lower than dormitory rentals in the prime area of Malate.

As for retirees like me, a room with a view of Manila Bay’s sunset is more than we could wish for. Everything else is a bonus.