The search for reliable Ongpin gold sellers

Our mother dear turns 50 today. Happy 50th birthday, Nanay! I love you so much.

Because it's her 50th year on Earth, what would be the most appropriate gift? Yes, we gave her a set of 18k gold jewelry: earrings, pendant, and bracelet. 

On my search for reliable gold sellers, I almost stumbled on online resellers who quoted us prices ranging from P2200-P2500/gram of 18K gold. Until I found some online threads discussing the gold in Ongpin.  These threads shared a number of advices/tips when buying gold as there are many reported scammers in said place. I shortlisted four (4) reliable gold sellers with their active contact numbers:

Capitol Goldsmith - (02) 2440329 (unattended)

Helen Yu Jewelry Shop - 09178582078

Ty Po Huat - 09209550946, 09228489839, 09209724155

Diamond Fire Fine Jewelry - (02) 313-8460

On 2 July, Saturday, we went to Ongpin. From SM Fairview our travel time was almost 2.5 hours. Weew! Unfortunately, we were caught by Manila City Hall's traffic staff for minor violation because they explained that the inner most lane along España is for left turning vehicles only. Please note that there were no signs/notices about this traffic rule  Thank God the enforcers absolved us with a strict remark that they implement a one-strike policy in Manila.

We reached Ongpin at 12:30pm. We had lunch at David's Tea House for P600 (3pax) and parked our car there. Parking is free for 3 hours for minimum order of P200 food meal.  The parking lot is covered and has a roving security personnel.  We were lucky that the owner of the Tea House was there during our visit.  He is very pleased with my baby Yves and gave us some free delicacies :)

At 1:15PM, we started looking for the 4 shortlisted sellers through our cellphone GPS. We were unable to find Capitol Goldsmith and no one can point us on the exact location of Capitol Goldsmith. So again we roam around Ongpin with our fussy toddler. We found Ty Po Huat. The owners are very accommodating. They quoted us P1850/gram for 18k gold. Because our toddler was acting up, we considered the selection of Ty Po Huat and did not bother to visit Helen Yu and Diamond Fire. We were really looking forward to visit the other stores if only the odds are with us.

Ty Po Huat has limited designs of jewelry when we visited their shop. But we were able to get a good design for our mother. Our total price for the set was P11,100 and was discounted to P10,800. If in any case you wish to visit Ty Po Huat, please look for Ms. Joanne Freznosa.  Her calling card is provided below.

We were heading home at 2:30PM and depended on the our GPS for the route.  Unfortunately, we were again caught for another traffic violation, turning right on a no right turn road.  The GPS was pointing us to that route but because of newly imposed traffic rules in Manila, this are not reflected in Google Maps *sigh*.  Moral of the story: please consider commuting when going to Manila, it's really a pain in the ***! :-p