The Taguig City government has transformed dumpsites in Barangay Lower Bicutan into an amusement park and an urban farming place for residents.
“We’ve always wanted to stay true to our ‘probinsyudad’ principle, striking a balance between modernization and tradition, advancement and the environment, urban and rural,” said Mayor Laarni Cayetano, referring to the Taguig Lakefront Community Park and Taguig Integrated Urban Farm.
“It comes naturally that we convert unused, vacant or abandoned lots so that they work to the benefit of our people and our understanding of the kind of city we are,” she said.
A makeover turned a dumpsite into the TLC Park, a 600-square-meter lot. The park was inaugurated in 2014.
“We are creating a place where every visitor—regardless of their social status—can enjoy themselves, with the company of their families or friends,” said city’s Manpower Training Center officer-in-charge Maria Anabelle Santos.
TLC Park offers activities for various purposes, all free of charge. It has traditional Filipino games for youngsters, a train ride for toddlers, biking for families, film showings for barkada. Hoopers can use the basketball court. Students can study or practice there, with so much room to go about.
Park personnel have conducted daily afternoon classes for kids who’ve become regular visitors, where they teach some lessons in basic literacy, good manners and, of course, song and dance.
A much bigger land conversion project was the 2500-square-meter farm right beside Lakeshore Hall, known as the Taguig Integrated Urban Farm. The farm, launched in December 2017, now marries the urban with the rural, when for years before the Cayetano administration it served as a dumping ground for garbage.
The urban farm showcases various methods to do farming in the context of a city: vertical farming, wooden rack, and pole gardening. All these ways can be learned in a bamboo classroom dedicated to urban agriculture.
It has a coffee shop and an orchidarium surrounded with fruit-bearing trees and vegetables, from tomatoes to eggplants, okra, lettuce, cabbage, and mustard, among others.
The harvest does not go to waste, noted City Agriculture Office chief Emelita Solis. “Our produce usually goes to the feeding programs conducted by our local government and, in some cases, to different institutions like Bahay Pag-Asa and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.”
The farm exhibits sustainability, wise land use, livability and food security for Taguig residents and visitors, she added.
Mayor Cayetano said “We’re trying to teach people that all this is possible in the city setting. You can turn neglected spaces into places of engagement or showcases of livability. You can carve out in-city spaces, so you can take people’s minds off all the hustle and bustle, and provide them a place to slow down, breathe deep and appreciate life.”
Escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and visit the two sites. TLC Park is located at 393 C-6 Road, is open “ªfrom 7 am to 9 pm every day, except on holidays. Taguig Integrated Urban Farm is located beside Lakeshore Hall in Barangay Lower Bicutan. Non-Taguigeños are welcome.