There is, however, a shopping mall chain that’s been around for decades that might be familiar to urban dwellers. Ever Gotesco was once a major player in the retail industry, with several malls spread out around Metro Manila and nearby provinces. But today it is a shadow of its former self and has gradually diversified its business into other industries.
I think one sordid memory I have of Ever Gotesco Grand Central is when I chose to watch an MMFF movie there, all alone. It was a PG movie, so none of that “strangers in the dark” stories, but man, the floor is sticky, and it was late 90’s di pa uso yung reserved seating, at uso pa ang standing-room only, so mejo siksikan. I don’t think I managed to enjoy the movie at all. Then the rest of the mall felt claustrophobic. Maraming tao as it was December 25, but it felt so off. Wala ka rin namang matambayan na matino, so I just opted to go back home. I thought I would have been better off just watching the movie in the nearby movie house, as it’s as dingy, though the “novelty” of going to a relatively far place made things better.
Then nung una naman akong nakapunta sa Ever Commonwealth was early 2010’s na, so mejo may status na sya as being old and rundown. It’s far livelier than Rockwell though, so IDK.
Ever Ortigas naman… I think I’ve only been there once or twice? Both of them are fairly recent pa. It’s probably the eeriest mall I’ve ever been to. I can hear my own footsteps echoing, and … yeah!
The Asian financial crisis crippled businesses worldwide and Go wasn’t spared. Because he had incurred debt going into a diversification spree in the early to mid-90s, Go was left to pay for borrowings that had doubled because of the effects of the crisis. OCBC closed on Valentine’s Day 1998, and by October that year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board ordered the bank’s closure, placing it under the receivership of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). OCBC had the dubious honor of being the first bank that became the victim of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It wouldn’t be the last.
Go and some of his associates would eventually face charges of fraud. In 2021, he was convicted of seven counts of estafa and sentenced to imprisonment for a minimum of four years and two months to a maximum of 19 years, for each of the seven criminal cases. He and his co-accused were also ordered to pay the PDIC P159 million.
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