“Revisiting the Embassy and Remembering Our Construction Journey”

Canva edited the lead picture.
Last week, I went to the Philippine Embassy to process an invitation visit for my gay child and his friend. It had been a long time since I visited, and I saw many changes. I come early, and it's a weekday all kababayan are working, so the embassy is not crowded.

When I arrived, the first thing I saw beside the embassy was one of our past projects — a hotel called The Ruma. Seeing it brought back many memories of when I used to visit the site almost every day. Our company handled various steel works for that building, and I spent a significant amount of time there during construction. Standing in front of it again reminded me of those busy days at work.

Across the road from The Ruma is another project we were involved in — the Permata Sapura Tower, a 52-storey building. Our company was one of those projects. My husband and brother-in-law watched the work to make sure it followed the plan. We worked on big projects like The Ruma and Permata Sapura. After COVID-19, the construction business became very hard, and our company was affected too.

We went bankrupt twice during that period. It was a very hard time for our family. After many years of working, everything suddenly stopped. We lost ongoing projects, clients, and workers. It was not easy to recover from that. Even so, we did not lose hope. My husband has started quoting new jobs again recently, trying to rebuild our business step by step. Starting over in construction is not simple, especially after financial losses, but we believe that with time and effort, we can return to the field. If everything goes well, maybe in one or two years we can resume operations fully. Our specialization has always been structural works, particularly in steel construction. Over the years, our company has completed some projects such as factories, residential housing, condominiums, and hotels. We handle different types of steel fabrication and installation, which require technical knowledge, precision, and strong coordination. These skills were developed through many years of experience in construction.

The company is not working on big projects now, but they still have skills and good contacts. A visit to the embassy reminded the writer of past work on big buildings like The Ruma and Permata Sapura Tower. Even though the visit was for documents, it made the writer feel proud and hopeful. They are now working to restart the business—checking old projects, updating tools, and talking to new clients. The writer feels thankful for past work and believes they can rebuild the company with time and effort. Their experience in steel and building work gives them the confidence to start again.