The HEART of San Mateo

>.< (to summarize everything in this site) >.<

Guitnang Bayan I, the heart of San Mateo, in the province of Rizal. A baranggay where all of your needs and neccessities could be find. A wonderful place to live in: clean, proper and quiet.

LOCATION:
        Brgy. Guitnang Bayan I is located between Brgy. Ampid II and Brgy. Dulong Bayan, approximately 45 minutes to 1.5 hours from University of the Philippines-Diliman, depending on the traffic status (especially in Marcos Highway, Marikina City, and some part of San Mateo: Banaba and Ampid) and the route you will use. (well... based only on my own experiences... hahaha).
        Basically, you have three different routes to get to Brgy GB1 from UP Diliman:
                 a) Katipunan Route
                 b) Tumana - Balara Route
                 c) Commonwealth Avenue 
       Well, what I usually use is the Tumana - Balara route. This is kind a short and time-saver. This route only takes 30 minutes to 1 hour.

DESCRIPTION:

1. RELIGION - This baranggay has the center church of San Mateo: Parish of Nuestra Senora De Aranzazu. It is located near the town plaza and the Municipal Hall. Other than the Parochial Church, Brgy. Guitnang Bayan 1 has also chappels in its subdivisions. Being a "faithful" rurban town; San Mateo celebrates occasionally the parade of Lady Aranzazu, the Marian Procession and Exhibit, and regular mass.

2. EDUCATION - A typical rurban baranggay where the town plaza could be find, as well as the Municipal Hall and the Parish Church- Nuestra Senora De Aranzazu. This baranggay has public elementary school- Guitnang Bayan ES, public high school- San Mateo National HS, colleges- San Mateo Municipal College and ICCT College, and private schools- Nuestra Senora de Aranzazu Parochial School and Roosevelt College-San Mateo. 

3. MARKETS AND STALLS - Brgy. GB1 is a very productive baranggay. It has commercial buildings ready to serve the needs of its people. It has printing and photocopying stands, cellphone and accessories repair stands, internet shops, barber and parlor shops. Some fast food chains are also located here. It has Jollibee, Mcdonalds, Greenwich, Pizza Smile, Mang Inasal, etc. It also has convenient stores such as 7 eleven and Grocer E. And it has also wet and dry markets.
Well actually, Brgy GB1 has two different markets:
        a) located near San Mateo Municipal College
        b) located near San Mateo River)
For me, though the market near San Mateo Municipal College is not as organized as the other one, here you can still have many choices to select since every street has stalls... :D

4. SECURITY AND PROTECTION - Brgy. Guitnang Bayan1 assures that every people in its community is protected. It also maintains discipline and orderliness. San Mateo Municipal Hall, San Mateo Police Station, San Mateo Municipal Jail, San Mateo Fire Station, and of course, Baranggay Hall, these are all located here in Brgy GB1. Other than that, you can see some guards in every commercial buildings and subdivision. Brgy GB1 has 1-2 fire trucks; 1-2 police vans excluded those police mobiles, 2 baranggay mobiles, and 2 ambulance from the Municipal and Baranggay Hall. 

5. HEALTH - Though there is no hospital located particularly in Guitnang Bayan I, this baranggay has health centers and private medical centers and clinics. 

6. TRANSPORTATION - The place is open for any kinds of vehicles (well maybe not for those super giant trucks like 10 wheeler trucks, i dunno...) since the road is quite good and it is wide. There are jeepney stations, taxi and fx stations. There is also a place for bus station (San Mateo-LRT Pasay). There are also long lines of tricycles and pedicabs in the baranggay.

7. RECREATION AND ENTERTAINMENT - Other than the town plaza, where you can have your practice, your plays, your meetings, this baranggay has courts. One of the common and most used courts is the covered court located beside Baranggay Hall. Moreover, baranggay hall has multi purpose building ready to sustain the needs of its people for some recreational activities. The baranggay also has cockpit arena, where men gather around and make Sunday, the bussiest day ever. San Mateo as a whole also celebrates Flores de Mayo, Fiesta, and others. At Christmas, the place is always alive especially its center where the town plaza and the church located, Barangay Guitnang Bayan 1.

8. OTHERS - We are all informed that this generation is so much civilized. Almost all of us, people, have emails, yahoo or google accounts, facebook and twitter accounts, since almost all of us have computers, laptops or smartphones. We have internet access so that's why we are so modern. We can't also forget our cellphones... we text or call someone if we need to, or if we want to. But this baranggay still cares those people who don't have cellphones or internet access. A post office, still functioning, is located here, ready to serve people who wanted to remenish the past, who want letter writing than texting. There is also a building for senior citizen located in front of the San Mateo River. This building is intended for the Federation of Senior Citizen Association, San Mateo branch.

Brgy. GB1 has one cemetery located infront of General Luna Street, near ICCT College, the San Mateo Public Cemetery. (Well actually there is another cemetery near Brgy. Guitnang Bayan I. It is a private cemetery, known as PARAISO Cemetery. For me, it looks more an eco park than cemetery since the place is very peaceful and quiet, and there are lots of trees planted there.)