Last week I wrote about the visit of Pope Francis and the multitude that attended the culminating Mass at Rizal Park the Sunday before he left. Reports of a record-setting six million attendees were broadcast over media. The actual number was somewhere around three million, but if one counted all the people who went to the streets along the route and those looking out of building vantage points, then maybe the figure would be closer to four or five million.
Regardless of the actual number, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event for Catholics in the Philippines. There was, however, a price to pay in the staging of the event, and especially at the Rizal Park. This was the damage done to the park itself, which has been undergoing redevelopment and improvements that are not yet complete. The Rizal Park is the metropolis’ greenest space. It is visited by millions of locals and tourists each year, with the numbers growing every year. It does, however, have its limits when millions visit it in one single day.
At a press conference a few days ago, National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) executive director Elizabeth H. Espino reported on physical impacts on the park because of the visit. Director Espino first expressed the sentiment she shared with the rest of the park’s staff that, despite the negative physical impact on Rizal Park, “…the 2015 visit of Pope Francis is an event that NPDC personnel will forever cherish in their hearts since the park was again graced by the presence of a pope, as well as the large number of people who attended the Papal Mass at the Quirino Grandstand.”
That said, the director Espino proceeded to inform the audience that they estimate the cost of rehabilitation for Rizal Park at around P6.8 million. “Rizal Park’s total area is 54 hectares but the green area is only around 16 hectares. Out of the 16 hectares of green landscaped areas, around 30 percent was damaged.” Espino pointed out that the most affected part of the Park was the Rizal Monument area (which had just completed renovations mentioned earlier).
She further clarified that this figure did not include the civil works that were impacted, including the marble cladding at the Kilometer Zero Flag Pole. All in all, an estimate of P8.5 million will be needed to restore the park, explained Espino. She continued, stating that the NPDC could not cover this amount with their regular budget. They are requesting the needed funds from their mother agency, the Department of Tourism, as well as DBM to extend financial assistance to NPDC so that, “…the agency may do the rehabilitation work as NPDC prepares for ‘Visit Philippines 2015’ and APEC 2015.”
For full disclosure, this writer is a consultant of the NPDC. My design firm and I assisted in the preparation of the park’s redevelopment master plan and detailed landscape architectural designs for key areas including the central core around the Rizal monument that was the most affected.
It has to be explained that the effort and cost of developing and maintaining a park is no small matter. Singapore spends a billion dollars a year maintaining its greenery and parks. The money it pours to keeping their city-state in its pristine green condition pays back several-fold. This is by way of investments pouring into that country, in tourism dollars spent, but most importantly in creating a garden city that residents value and visitors return to consistently.
It was not only the Rizal Park that bore the well-intentioned weight of millions of feet. The ongoing Roxas Boulevard redevelopment (for which my firm and I are also consultants) suffered over a million pesos in damages. This was mostly in the loss of recently planted shrubs and other landscape elements.
Both the park and boulevard need to quickly recover and prepare itself for this year’s other important events. I do hope the NPDC and the boulevard projects are able to find the necessary funding for this. Money could also be raised not just for the rehabilitation of the park from the damage inflicted by the throng, but also to build the park back better.
Recommended in the original master planning process were reinforced lawn areas, enhanced automatic irrigations systems, additional public toilets, pedestrian bridges (to link the three sections of the park), a fully staffed clinic (an amenity introduced in the ‘70s but has since disappeared), and better security. Rehabilitation and improvements to tree planting and support facilities like visitor parking and pedestrian connections to the LRT station and the surrounding districts were suggested. Sadly, the budget approved for the park improvements could not cover all these suggestions and the NPDC had to make do with whatever was given.
The importance of parks and parkways (linear parks like the intent for Roxas Boulevard) is a necessary green infrastructure that should have equal footing as infrastructure for cars, ships and airplanes. The cost of building and maintaining these green amenities should be considered investment in prime elements of our metropolis, without which we would not have suitable venues to host cultural, festive, religious or political events considered important.
Parks and open space such as the Rizal Park and the Roxas Boulevard parkway are also important because they, as shown in the papal visit, are accessible to all and bring together people of every social and economic stratum. They are inclusive spaces that engender community spirit and a common sense and pride of place that many modern so-called master planned lifestyle centers just cannot provide.
The benefits to the public, therefore, brought by attending to the proper design, construction, care and maintenance of parks and civic space far outweighs the costs that need to be shouldered for ensuring they continue to serve us as refuge from stress, venue for celebrations and sanctuary for our urban soul.
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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.