PARENTS want nothing else but the best education they could bequeath their children. This is the reason why many of them who could afford send their children to universities in Cebu, a better alternative from the hustles and bustles of Metro Manila. Yet, to those who don’t have relatives there, or would rather not be a bother to their kin in Cebu if they have any, they are concerned if their teenagers would live and study in comfort.

“I would also not be able to sleep well back home anxious if my kids are safe at where they stay,” adds Anne Marie Sanchez, a mother of two she and husband Marvin have enrolled at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City. Sanchez recalls of tales from neighbors in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte and some friends in Bohol and elsewhere in northern Mindanao of their children living in boarding house being bullied upon by fellow boarders or harassed by bystanders drinking at nearby street corners. “So my husband and I thought, how about getting a condo unit for them, if one is affordable and readily available, and located just near USC,” recalled Sanchez of a family discussion when the idea came to fore of providing their children college education in Cebu.
Downtown

Lo and behold, a family friend suggested the newly-built 148 Residences beside the historical Hotel de Mercedes on Pelaez St., a walking distance from USC and the downtown business district. They checked the place in no time and found it to fit with what they had in mind. It is near churches, department stores and supermarkets, affordable eateries and other schools, as University of San Jose – Recoletos, University of Cebu and University of the Visayas. They liked the place for it has 24-security guards on duty and that it has CCTV cameras in common areas to help the guards monitor the environs. The Sanchez couple acquired and purchased a 21-square-meter unit at the 9th floor from the developer — Johndorf Ventures Corp. (JVC) — and hired an interior designer to come up with a functional place that would maximize the space yet keep some degree of privacy for the kids. The designer placed a mirror on the wall that hides the sleeping area from the sala with a sofa that looked spacious and created a nice effect with the scenes on the wall-mounted 42-inch LED TV being reflected on.

In the sleeping area, a neck-high divider separates the spaces where Sofia Lorraine, 16, and her elder brother Emilio Anton, 22, would sleep, eat and study. Their personal belongings are kept in drawers under their beds.
Good investment

The toilet and bath room is just a few steps from their nooks. Situated beside it and in between the main door and refrigerator is the kitchen area where the siblings take turns in cooking and washing the dishes, while their laundry is taken cared of downstairs.
“Well here, the kids learn a lot about living independently, not anymore depending on mom or yaya to do the chores for them,” noted Mrs. Sanchez with a smile as she also realized she made a good investment for a place that requires only P1,800 for common use service and maintenance.
“For P20,000 a month to pay your loan, the place becomes mine,” she points out. “It’s just like you get to own the place you supposedly rent for,” she said, adding that they could have the unit rented out if neither of their children would continue to use it after completing college.

More importantly, Marvin and Anne Marie Sanchez are at peace as they tackle the daily demands of their whole rice and corn trading and milling business in Cabadbaran.
They know that, as Sofia Lorraine studies Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Emilio Anton grinds in Law school, their children are at home and in comfortable living at 148 Residences.

For inquiries about 148 Residences, one may contact Johndorf • Prohomes on Facebook, call 266-6190, or visit the Johndorf • Prohomes offices at the 14th floor of Ayala Life – FGU Center at the Cebu Business Park across the Terraces of Ayala Center Cebu. (PR)