Robinsons Starmills: Mall destination of the north

MANILA, Philippines - You don’t have to be a resident of Pampanga to be able to enjoy this mall located right along the San Fernando exit of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), as many tourists and travelers bound for places north of Metro Manila have discovered. With the fully operational NLEX, Robinsons Starmills Pampanga is just 30 minutes away from Balintawak and Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City, making it even more accessible than Makati or Alabang, if you were coming from that side of town.

“It is the must-visit destination in the north,” says Jodee Pineda-Arroyo, Robinsons Land group property manager. “Robinsons Starmills Pampanga, one of the full-service malls of Robinsons Land Corp., is a sprawling retail heaven.”  

It houses Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Appliance Center and Handyman Center, together with outlet stores of popular international and local brands such as Mango, Guess, Olympic Village Outlet, Folded & Hung, People are People, Space, Collezione, and Adidas, among others.

But the mall is not just a place for shopping. Under an agreement with Robinsons Land Corporation, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently opened its Consular Office at the second floor of Robinsons Starmills, which is part of Robinsons Malls’ Lingkod Pinoy Center, a one-stop facility where Filipinos can avail of various government services such as NBI clearance, SSS, and Pag-Ibig.

10 processing counters for fast and efficient service at DFA Starmills. Computers at the work-stations and artworks on the wall

The Consular office will serve passport applicants not only from Pampanga but also from other neighboring provinces such as Tarlac, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and even Metro Manila. This is consistent with the DFA’s commitment “to bring its services closer to the people,” by opening offices in shopping malls nationwide under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, Arturo V. Romua, officer-in-charge of DFA San Fernando, explained.

Its services include new passport applications and passport renewals, as well as assistance to Filipinos in foreign countries and their families. Starting in July, authentication of public and personal documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, school diploma and other school records, contracts as well as other services that are needed by Filipinos abroad can also be done here. This makes it even more convenient especially for our overseas workers.

The consular office is open following mall hours so applicants don’t need to be absent from work and can have their passports processed and released even after regular office hours. With 10 processing counters, the queue moves fast and efficiently. Since it opened at the end of May, some 30,000 passports have been processed as of mid-June, averaging about 1,400 per day, Romua revealed. He has a lean staff of 24 regular office workers plus a number of on-the-job trainees, working under the most pleasant conditions, with the help of technology and computers at their fingertips.

Arturo V. Romua is the officer-in-charge of DFA San Fernando in Pampanga

With artworks by local artists from Region 3, 90 percent from Pampanga, hanging on every available wall it seems, the 995-sqm. consular facility can very well double up as a virtual art gallery. The furniture in the conference room was sourced from the shops of the famed furniture makers in Betis, Pampanga. “We are proud to showcase our local artists and craftsmen,” Arroyo remarked. As well as their local cuisine, one must add.

A trip to Pampanga would not be complete without sampling the famous Kapampangan cuisine. Fiesta Kapampangan at Robinsons Starmills is “a pocket within the mall that provides an authentic Kapangpangan culinary experience,” Arroyo noted. “Since the DFA office opened, we noticed a big increase in the number of our customers,” said Anita Manalese of Kanan Kapampangan, which offers authentic Kapampangan kakanin. Manalese describes her dishes as “lutong bahay.” A favorite original recipe is their sinigang na lechon.

“People who come here to the mall are not just window shopping but they actually buy, and often in big volume,” Edelyn Sitchon Canero observed. Canero is the owner and general manager of Edelyn’s Homemade Nuts. Her specialties include dry roasted cashew nuts, greaseless peanuts, special garlic chips, pili nuts and special cookies — great for take home and balikbayan pasalubong.

Another pasalubong favorite is Navarro’s cashew marzipan, described as “chewy candy with cashew chips.” Navarro Foods International owner and general manager, Gil M. Navarro, relates that he used to bring his homemade products in a basket and offer them house-to-house when he was just starting back in 1978.

Today, you can find his products on grocery shelves, among them, Navarro’s Crab Paste (taba ng talangka), definitely one of his bestsellers.

Pista sa Pulilan serigraph print on paper by Claude Tayag hanging on wall leading to conference room

Asan Danum, which literally means food and water, specializes in seafood such as sizzling blue marlin and steamed tilapia. Their bestseller is crispy buntot-yellow fin tuna. Everything is freshly cooked upon order, says Jason Jingco, who owns and manages his stall at Fiesta Kapampangan at Robinsons Starmills, together with his wife, Janice.

A true Kapampangan original is Aling Lucing Sisig, the pioneer and inventor of that favorite dish and pulutan from the 1970s. They have two stalls at Robinsons Starmills — at the Fiesta Kapampangan on the first floor and the Sisig Festival on the second floor. And for refreshment, there’s Kabigting’s Halo Halo, naturally.

At Fiesta Kapampangan, it’s a fiesta every day, but even more so during the annual celebration of the traditional fiestas such as the “Pyestang Tugak” (Frog Festival), “Sinukwan,” and the “Giant Lantern Festival” in December, making Robinsons Starmills the “home of Kapampangan cuisine and festivals.”

Robinsons Starmills is easily accessible to commuters as they can be dropped off right at the mall’s entrance by jeepneys with various routes within Pampanga. A bus terminal is also located at the rear of the Mall, which is used by Victory Liner passenger buses from Pasay, Manila, Cubao, Tarlac, Tuguegarao, Olongapo and Baguio, as well as by other bus companies with routes in the northern provinces.

Robinsons Starmills is located at Brgy. San Jose City in San Fernando, Pampanga, (6345) 875-1462 ; (6345) 961-17884; Fax

(6345) 875-1324.