by Antonio M. Ajero
Rufino Ferraris Jr., single, presiding judge of Davao City’s, Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MCTCC) Branch 7, will be one of the more than a hundred personalities who are expected to spend their Christmas this year in the Magallanes Residences, particularly in the first of three medium-rise condominiums of DMC Urban Property Developers, Inc. along historic Bolton Street in Davao City. The seven-storey condo, named Valencia Building, will be ready for occupancy by December, according to engineer Leonora Gutierrez, DMC UPDI area manager. Valencia Building has a total of 115 units, more than half of which have been sold out.
It was open house day for the Magallanes Residences last Monday. Msgr. Paul Cuison blessed the condominium’s marker, the newly completed gate and driveway, the clubhouse with its air-conditioned function room, coffee shop, outdoor party area, playground, gym and swimming pool and the company’s property management office (PMO). “This day also marks other milestones in the life of DMCI in the city,” according to architect Victoria J. Adriano, general manager, who bared the company was awarded by Housing Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) XI a development permit to start constructing Barcelona, the second building of the project.
On the same day, Adriano said, the firm was likewise given by the Davao City government the go-signal to start developing Hacienda, a nine-hectare high-end property in Catalunan Pequeno, which will be in two phases.
Adriano also announced that state-of-the-art equipment for the gym will arrive sometime in September to be installed at the second floor of the clubhouse. The clubhouse will also house the property management office (PMO) at the basement, where the CR and showers are also located. The blessing rites were graced with the presence of Councilors Peter T. Lavina and Arnulfo Cabling, lawyer Aster Cruzabra, Bien Garcia, DMC UPDI Vice President Jose L. Merin, Judge Ferraris and Ms Brigida Cualing, who had also bought a unit in the Ecoland 4000, the first medium-rise condo project of DM Consunji at the back of SM City in Davao City.
Judge Ferraris, who still has 10 years in the judiciary before retirement, plans to move in as soon as the Valencia building is ready. This means leaving and selling his 25-year old bungalow in Flores Subdivision in flood-prune sitio Bangkal. The MTCC judge bought a 64-sq m unit at the corner of the first floor facing the clubhouse.
Of all the amenities, Judge Ferraris loves the swimming pool the most.
“I like it here because it’s near everything,” the judge said, marveling at how close the condo was to City Hall, City Council, Museo Dabawenyo, the Register of Deeds office, the stores and eateries along San Pedro, and, of course, the St. Peter’s Cathedral.
The community will also be very secured, said the judge, who is originally from Iloilo City. Other condo unit buyers are Ms Cualing, contractor Ramon Allado, and other prominent businessmen and professionals in the cities of Davao, General Santos, Koronadal and Cotabato. There are foreign buyers too, Gutierrez said. Each condo building will have two elevators. Open house day was also an occasion to hold a brokers’ meeting, where the brokers were briefed by engineer Gutierrez on the new developments, new payment schemes, promos and other freebies for brokers and buyers. “We have this promo we call Kadayawan Gift Getaway for three days-two nights’ stay with breakfast at Alta Vista de Boracay, another beautiful project of DMCI,” Gutierrez said.
