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MANILA, Philippines – When TriNoma opened in Quezon City in 2007, QC residents (myself included) were elated that Ayala Malls was finally coming to their neighborhood. Now they didn’t have to go to Makati, a good hour and a half away in decent weekday traffic, for their favorite stores. Plus, the design of the mall was nothing seen before in this part of Metro Manila. TriNoma blends the best of leisure, entertainment and shopping offerings in a setting that elevates mall architecture and design.Quezon City is a diverse market made up of upper and middle-class families, students from the country’s top universities and high schools, MRT commuters, and, of course, celebrities.The big TV and movie studios are located only five to 10 minutes away, so it’s not a surprise that on any given day and at any given hour, you’d see celebrities walking around the mall, taking a breather from marathon tapings.Another young star that can be seen in the mall with his family or between tapings and classes at Ateneo is Robi Domingo, who’s currently taking summer classes as a prerequisite to his course, BS Health Sciences. A finalist on ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition and a Myx VJ like Nikki, Robi comes from a family of doctors. His mother is a pediatrician and his father is a surgeon. His long-term goal is to become a doctor, but in the meantime, he manages quite skillfully to balance his time between studying, sports, and his showbiz career. “When I’m in TriNoma, I eat, I get packages from Bench (which he endorses) Skechers, hang out with friends, watch movies with my brother Maro and just relax.”Having grown up in the Commonwealth area of Quezon City and studying in Ateneo on Katipunan Avenue, for him TriNoma makes for a convenient hangout with friends and family.“Dos amigos lang kami ni Maro,” he says of his 15-year-old sibling, whom he took out for a movie at the TriNoma Cinemas for his birthday. When he was about to enter Kuya’s House for Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition, Robi and his classmates watched a movie and “we said our last goodbyes in the mall,” he says with a laugh.Robi’s TV career includes celebrity guestings on variety shows like Pilipinas Game KNB?, The Singing Bee, Kapamilya Deal or No Deal, and Wowowee.Like Victor, Robi is also into sports — basketball, baseball and swimming.How is it that the young stars get to roam the mall without being mobbed? For one, the TriNoma crowd is not the mobbing kind and the two boys always wear a baseball cap, which they swear works.“I usually wear a cap and do my own thing,” says Robi. “By the time people recognize me, I’m far away from them already. I don’t mind that kind of attention. After all, I owe the people what I have now. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been a Pinoy Big Brother finalist.”“All work and no play makes Robi a dull boy,” he says. “You have to count in leisure time in your schedule and malling is my leisure.”

CREDITS TO: Tanya T. Lara, Philippine Star, May 16, 2009