So many things are happening, almost at the same time, and just before the Christmas spirit begins to fill the air.
For one, there are unusually high recorded temperatures. In Taipei, it should be cold by now, between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius. Well, it’s still in the 20s. In Manila, it’s still in the lower 30s when it should be in the lower to mid-20s. Climate change is truly upon us, no thanks to years of wanton disregard in emitting carbon, and no thanks to the industrialized countries who used gazillions of barrels of oil and mega-tons of coal to fuel their mega-bucks.
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Coming as a sudden jolt was the resignation of Vice President Leni Robredo after receiving a text message from the Cabinet secretary that her presence as HUDCC chairperson was no longer welcome in Cabinet meetings.
Sad.
There must have been deeper reasons, information known to the President and his closest staff only, that triggered the decision to pull out the welcome mat from Cabinet meetings. That the Cabinet secretary included Commission on Higher Education chairperson Patricia Licuanan, a hold-over from the Aquino administration on account of her fixed term of office, indicates that there is a graver reason than merely the opposition to the Marcos burial at the Libingan, or the periodic comments on the ferocity of the drug war. The President may have known something he has verified, but need not tell the public at this point.
But while it came too soon, parting was not entirely unexpected. It was just a matter of time. She was named chairperson of a coordinating council that supervises housing, but she has not been able to get her own choices appointed to key positions in the line agencies supervised by the HUDCC. Not the pivotal Pag-ibig Fund, which has some P15 billion in funds at its disposal. Not the National Housing Authority. Neither the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
Then again, while a Cabinet is not supposed to be unanimous in its views and opinions, and members may freely debate policy options among themselves and in the presence of the man who appointed them, it must come out as one and solidly behind the President once a decision has been made.
That is the presidential system.
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I read somewhere that the Rizal Memorial where we used to watch National Collegiate Athletic Association games in our younger days, and the title to which is deeded to the City of Manila, is soon to be demolished to give way to another shopping mall. Huwag naman sana.
Huwag po, Mayor Erap.
There are very few heritage buildings still standing in the nation’s capital, and very few examples of art deco-inspired architecture anywhere in the country.
Even if there is a proposed mega-sports stadium and complex planned for the Green City in Clark, that is yet a plan, and besides, the City of Manila, of itself and by itself, should have enough public spaces and sports centers for its 2 million population.
Another mall at the heart of Manila would be another urban blight, another ugly pantheon to crass consumerism, and would add to the daily traffic woes experienced by Manila residents and Metro Manila commuters.
See what Robinson’s mall in Ermita has done to the surroundings. See how traffic is botched up in Arroceros beside the City Hall because then Mayor Fred Lim allowed SM to put up a mall in what used to be YMCA’s wide expanse. Or Lucky Chinatown in what used to be the Meisic jail and a public school in Binondo. Or how a private developer is now tearing down El Hogar Filipino beside the Pasig.
These malls should be in suburbia, not at the center of our already-congested cities.
We have to look beyond raising revenues and solving short-term financial problems, and into preserving heritage. Meanwhile, why doesn’t the City assert its ownership over the Philippine Ports Authority-controlled Port Area bounded by Manila Bay on the west and on the east by Bonifacio Drive? All it takes is legislation to repeal or amend a presidential decree. And so many other properties of the City which were transferred to the national government during Martial Law?
But then again, will the City plan as well as the then-First Lady Imelda Marcos and Dr. Jaime Laya did on how to optimally use these publicly-owned real estate? As it is, even these projects have gone to pot through years of indifference and neglect.
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Looking at the Osaka Aquarium beside the sea and wharf of the bustling southern city of Japan evokes memories of how the same designers and planners had been conscripted to design an Oceanarium for Manila during the short-lived Erap term. This was supposed to complement the Manila Bay Marina development, a 1.4-hectare “island” at the back of the Quirino Grandstand where a one-stop, low-rise tourism center was to be put up.
With an iconic architectural design, the glass-encased building to be constructed atop the platform was supposed to house art galleries, souvenir stores, an inter-active tourism destination map and planner, and restaurants showcasing the diverse regional cuisine of our islands. No Jollibees, no McDos, no Dencio’s, just strictly-supervised gustatory offerings from Ilocos, Pampanga, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, and other regions. And plenty of open areas for people to watch the sunset from.
Beside it was supposed to rise the Oceanarium, on what used to be the skating rink, plus other properties owned by the City but deeded out to the Department of Tourism during martial law.
This is exactly the same site as the Osaka Aquarium which juts out in front of the bay and beside the piers.
The Arroyo administration instead built an “oceanarium” cum-hotel called H2O (a commercial project leased to a Singaporean developer with bad taste) atop the platform, which was already finished when they took over Erap’s abbreviated term. Sayang.
Again, Kompadre-Mayor: spare the Rizal Memorial Center from crass commercialism.