Quezon City/Commonwealth and Fairview
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Commonwealth Avenue is Quezon City's second major thoroughfare, with its cacophonous traffic and contrasting areas, with a mix of opulence and poverty. Lying to the north of the Commonwealth Area is Fairview and Lagro, a low to mid-class community to the north, centered on three malls facing each other along Quirino Highway. This article also covers Pasong Tamo.
Understand
This part of the city is sprawling, with a mix of car-dependent subdivisions and noisy slums, and the district's main artery, Commonwealth Avenue, known for its cacophony and high accident record mitigated by a speed limit and pedestrian overpasses, is more catered for travel by bus, jeepney or car. Walking in the areas is more of a strenuous activity that exposes you to the dangers of the city's heat and the district's criminal den. Shopping options are rather far apart, with just only one mall, some supermarkets, and non-air conditioned public markets.
Fairview is more of a mid-class neighborhood, but it is just as sprawling as the Commonwealth area. There are just a few places to visit, like its commercial district dominated by three malls, and the La Mesa Ecopark, and the rest is just sprawl. The MRT Line 7 project will mostly boost the district's growth by providing a faster connection to the rest of the city, but the line is not expected to open until between 2020 and 2021.
Fairview is more of a mid-class neighborhood, but it is just as sprawling as the Commonwealth area. There are just a few places to visit, like its commercial district dominated by three malls, and the La Mesa Ecopark, and the rest is just sprawl. The MRT Line 7 project will mostly boost the district's growth by providing a faster connection to the rest of the city, but the line is not expected to open until between 2020 and 2021.
Get in
The wide Commonwealth Avenue, a 6 to 18-lane highway, also the namesake for the area and a barangay along it, is the main thoroughfare for this district. Travel is quite a breeze with many bus and jeepney routes plying it, and the wide carriageways that makes it look more of a superhighway, yet you must watch out for many quirky local driving habits if you try to drive through it. Ongoing construction of the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (or MRT-7) also created many bottlenecks on Commonwealth Avenue, so reconsider any travel by car.
See
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Iglesia Ni Cristo Templo Central
phone: +63 907 583 1440address: 1 Central Avenue, New EraCentral Temple of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). The Central Complex includes the Central Temple, which is an 8,000-seat church with one of the largest pipe organs in the Philippines; the Iglesia Ni Cristo Museum, which showcases the history of the Church in exhibits and artifacts from all over the world, marking its global expansion; the Tabernacle, a large multi-purpose meeting and presentation hall; and the New Era University and College of Evangelical Ministry, which are the flagship educational campuses of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, established in 1979. La Mesa Eco ParkA beautiful 5-hectare eco park on the outskirts of Quezon city. A haven for people who'd like to get away from the heat and dust of the city. Quite hard to find though, and there is little public transport going there.
Payatas DumpsiteClearly not for the normal traveller easily shocked by the stench and the poverty, this dumpsite, which receives a third of Metro Manila's waste, is one of the district's local landmarks. This was once an empty ravine until it was converted into a landfill to replace Tondo's Smokey Mountain. Though touring the facility requires advance permission, you can see the life of Payatas's poorer families from roads surrounding this fenced-off pit. There is a monument erected to the northeast, dedicated to the victims of a garbage landslide that killed over 300 on July 10, 2000.
Buy
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Litex Market
address: Commonwealth AvenueThe wet and dry market frequented by residents of the surrounding slum areas. It is also a metonym for the surrounding area.
Sleep
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Pacific Park Hotel
phone: +63 2 711-4445address: 35 Regalado Avenue, Fairview -
McHotel
phone: +63 2 350-4595address: 370 Regalado Highway, Greater LagroIn-hotel restaurant has limited service. Rooms have digital TV provided by ABS-CBN's TV Plus, but have no cable TV.
Stay safe
The area around barangay Commonwealth is the seediest corner of Quezon City, notorious for almost everything: slums, fires, thugs and drugs, you heard it. Illegal drugs are just another concern, especially in regards to shabu (crystal methamphetamine), and they operate clandestinely in houses while police and drug enforcement agents routinely raid them. Residential fires, most commonly triggered by illegal electricity connections, are another danger. Exercise caution when walking as a stroll may lead you near slums; drug addicts, pickpockets, holduppers, hypnotists (budol-budol), drunkards might be just waiting to commit their dirty business if they sight you. If you don't have a good reason to visit the slum, don't go there or ask a resident.