Forbes Park, Manila
Indian Nobel-prize winning economist, Amartya Sen, once wrote that India comprised islands of California, floating in a sea of sub-Saharan Africa.
Much the same could be said for the Philippines. And the Manila suburb of Forbes Park is sometimes referred to as the “Beverly Hills of Manila”.
For a suburban boy like me from Australia, Forbes Park is rather amazing. It is a gated community, with armed guards at its entrances. If you are invited to someone’s house, as we are on rare occasions, it is like travelling to a different universe. Extraordinary, magnificent homes, each managed by an army of servants – maids, drivers, cooks, care workers, body guards, dancing instructors etc.
Indeed Forbes Park is a private residential subdivision, gated community, and barangay (village) in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was established in the 1940s partly out of the nearby barangay Pinagkaisahan. It was was named after William Cameron Forbes, the fifth American governor-general of the Philippines during the American Insular Government.
It was the first gated village in the Philippines to be developed by Ayala Corporation, and was considered a catalyst for urban development in Makati. It is also home to the Manila Golf and Country Club and the Manila Polo Club. Forbes Park has been called the “Beverly Hills of Manila” because many of the country’s wealthiest families, as well as foreign diplomats, live there.
Our dear residents of Forbes Park receive spiritual protection from the Santuario de San Antonio Parish, a Franciscan church, and are also well served by San Antonio Plaza, a small commercial center, which lies between North and South Forbes Park. Further religious protection is also afforded by the Church of the Holy Trinity, an Anglican-Episcopalian pro-cathedral, across the road.
If you are ever invited to Forbes Park, please accept the invitation gleefully, especially if you are a social or cultural anthropologist.