MANILA, Philippines — A decade from now, when people think back on the ill-starred year that was 2020, they will choose to remember the good in the bad, the triumph after the tragedy, the beauty of life amid vulnerability.
Blessed are the ones who, in the middle of a menacing pandemic, found a renewed family life and a higher purpose of serving the community. Such are the stories of Leah Castañeda and Abby Go-Ogilvie, which draw inspiration from secure and meaningful living within Nuvali.
Quality life in quarantine
“I considered the lockdown as a blessing because I have been able to spend so much time with my children,” shares Castañeda, who has transformed her home into her office, a bakeshop and her children’s classroom.”
Abby Go-Ogilvie bought her property in Nuvali in 2009 and moved there in 2016, knowing it is the best place to raise a family.
In the early months of the quarantine period, Xavier School Nuvali opened its doors as a temporary home to Qualimed Hospital’s frontliners.
There were mixed reactions among the homeowners, but Castañeda, together with “a team of ladies who were so willing to step up and share their talent in cooking and baking,” quietly raised funds and provided packed meals for the health workers on a weekly basis.
“I am truly grateful for living in a village where the sense of community is so strong. The homeowner’s association, with the help of the admin office, have done everything they could to make the lockdown not so bad for us. They arranged for vendors to come on a weekly basis, so we do not have to venture outside,” she says from her home in Nuvali.
Aptly, Nuvali created this residential area to introduce a lifestyle that warmly nurtures close family and community ties in a healthy, comfortable and eco-friendly environment.
Castañeda is grateful to her neighbors for lending their hands and supporting each other especially with homemade products that they post on the village Viber group.
‘New Weekends’ In Nuvali
Ogilvie saw the rise in the number of home bakers during the lockdown and so, she created the Viber community where Nuvali homeowners now post and sell pastries and other crafts and goods.
“I saw a sales opportunity for my parents’ small bakery supplies business. They had to close their store during ECQ and they had no choice but to rely on deliveries to generate revenues. I saw this as the perfect chance for me to ‘give back’ to my parents,” she says.
From coordinating deliveries of baking supplies to the village, the online group has included other product postings, allowing Ogilvie’s small community to be a platform for awareness.
“I do not know how big of an impact it is, but I am happy to know that I am able to help my community in my own little way,” she adds.
“Coordinating the deliveries is a bit tiring as it takes time away from my weekends. However, my heart is full knowing that I am able to help both my parents and the Nuvali home bakers.”
A Decade Of Evolutionary Living
Today, Nuvali has over 15,000 residential units sold under ALI’s four residential brands — Ayala Land Premier, Alveo, Avida and Amaia — catering all the market segments, from the most luxurious to affordable mid-rise.
Ten years ago, Castañeda and Ogilvie were both enthralled by Ayala Land and Nuvali’s promise of a revolutionary mode of living within an integrated, self-supporting eco-city. The development, which was launched in 2009, has stood by its commitment and evolved into one of the most coveted addresses in the South.
Castañeda’s brother, who is an avid cyclist, told her about Nuvali in 2008 when he joined a duathlon. “That was the grand launch of Nuvali at the lake. I wasn’t in the market for real estate, but I reserved my property before I went home that day,” she says.
She adds that she was sold when the sales associate told her about “the efforts to make the air clean, that Xavier was going to build a co-ed school, and that it was an Ayala development.”
Like Castañeda, Ogilvie also resides in a Nuvali residential subdivision built alongside a man-made lake, a wildlife and bird sanctuary, professional active lifestyle amenities, and essential commercial developments such as a LEED silver-certified office space, an Ayala Malls Solenad and Seda hotel, and prestigious educational institutions.
“I invested in Nuvali when I was still single and had no intention to live there back then. When I got married and had a kid, my husband and I thought that it would be nice to raise a family there,” she remarks.
The family moved in 2016 and has since noticed how Nuvali evolved into what it is today. “When I mention to people that we live in Nuvali, I mostly get positive reactions. For each time, I cannot help but feel gratitude — to my parents for their encouragement and support, to my spouse for giving me the courage to go for it and live here, to my job for providing me with the means, and to God for giving me a good life,” she explains.
“This gives me a sense of pride in being a Nuvalizen and reinforces that I made the right decision.”
Some residential developments highlight beautifully themed communities. Some, unique natural surroundings and expansive greenery. Others, the closeness to transport hubs and business districts. Nuvali has captured all these and more.
And while waiting for better days after the current crisis, Nuvali’s community of beautiful people can only grow more for the better — physically apart but closer in heart.