Maelstrom at the Mehan

All functional cities must provide good, well-linked places and spaces for living, working, playing and learning. That our metropolis does not is an indication of its current and pervasive dysfunctionality. We live hours from where we work. We study hours from where we live. We have little open public space left to play in and, more often than not, these are far from public transport routes.

When Manila still had some form of planning and growth management, schools were located close to residential areas – hence all the older folk’s stories of being able to walk to school. Work was one ride to "downtown," when there was still only one downtown. Parks and playgrounds were provided for; they were spacious and adequately landscaped as well as child-accessible – not leftover traffic islands with six lanes of deadly traffic on either side.

Today, we have a situation where central city governments are constrained by a diminishing tax base – industry and business have moved to the boondocks or "hamletted" themselves in urban islands where privatized utilities ensure a semblance of functionality. Residents have also moved to the suburbia (or further away to exurbia) in search of the illusion of quality of life. With no money to build civic amenities, local government units have to turn creative or corrupt to generate income.

City governments also have no more space to expand or provide better facilities – having sold off municipal property years ago for short-term profit, or having had these commandeered by the national government for other purposes. To complicate matters, fractured governance further handicaps this exploding metropolis where little is coordinated among the 17 towns and cities. This situation makes an integrated public school system or park system almost impossible.

Along this path of a half-century of metropolitan ruin, we have (and still have) sacrificed our health, our heritage, our civility and our sanity, not to mention an urban economy that seems to have lost its perk from too much politics.

The Issue At Hand

This seems like a long preamble to the main subject of this week’s column – the plight of the Mehan Gardens and the City College of Manila. I thought that I’d do it the other way – this time by painting the big picture first before focusing on the micro-mayhem brewing at the Mehan.

The problem is not really micro because what is endangered is one of the last landscaped parks of any size that the City of Manila has jurisdiction over (the Rizal Park is a national park under the NPDC/DOT). The city also needs a site for its City College (previously squatting in an old PNB building), which will eat into the garden for this. To complicate matters, a parking building has already been constructed in the Mehan despite an earlier cease and desist order from the DENR (an indication of the city government’s priorities – that of putting parking ahead of education?).

Civil society and civic groups like the HCS have desperately tried to help Manila find a site for the college without compromising its already diminished stock of public parks and open space. There was a glimmer of hope late last year in a scheme for the colleges to be situated in the old Ateneo municipal grounds at the Intramuros (which is under the Intramuros Administration, not the City of Manila). But negotiations have bogged down and the city seems bent on constructing wherever it finds land it controls – and that brings them back to the endangered Mehan Gardens.

An Open Letter To The President

The Society has sent out a last appeal for help to all concerned citizens including the No. 1 Manila resident by the Pasig – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The open letter addressed to her and written by the HCS Chairman, architect Augusto Villalon goes:

Dear Madame President:

Soon after becoming aware of Mayor Lito Atienza’s two proposed projects – to be located at the Mehan Gardens – the construction of the Park and Ride building and the transfer of the City College of Manila – the Heritage Conservation Society, Earth Day Movement, Foundation for Philippine Environment, Artists for the Environment, Winner Foundation and other concerned organizations protested the plan on the grounds that the historic site must be preserved as the open area that it has always been and that green areas should remain to serve as the "lungs" of the city. Historically, during the Spanish era, Mehan Gardens was the location of the old Parian, later becoming the Jardin Botanico, one of the earliest Botanical Gardens in Asia. It was renamed Mehan Gardens during the American era. In support of the historicity of the site, it was designated as a historic site by the National Historical Institute and likewise designated as an archaeological site by the National Museum.

The Department of Natural Resources revoked the Environmental Clearance Certificate for both projects on the grounds that construction clearance was not secured from the National Historical Institute or the National Museum. Subsequently, the DENR convened a search committee to identify alternate sites for the City College of Manila. The most appropriate site found was the former Ateneo Municipal de Manila in Intramuros, owned by the Intramuros Administration. Other sites identified were the Avanceña High School in Quiapo and the Veterans Bank Building on Arroceros Street.

Secretary Richard Gordon, chairman of Intramuros Administration, informed us that he has no objection to the use of the old Ateneo property as the new site for the City College of Manila but on condition that the school be renamed the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, be managed by the Jesuit fathers, and be fully funded by the City of Manila.

We are aware of the pressing need to move the students of the City College of Manila to a new campus. We are further aware that the faithful reconstruction of the former Ateneo building and its reuse as an educational facility is in consonance with internationally-accepted conservation practices and will add to the heritage qualities of Intramuros. We support the move of the City College of Manila to Intramuros and welcome the life the students will bring to the historic area.

We respectfully request your intervention to settle the dispute between the two agencies and to bring a solution to the pressing problem of the relocation of the City College of Manila so that Mehan Gardens can be restored as an open green space for Manila residents.

Losing What We Cannot Recover

This letter was sent earlier in the week. We all hope that a solution can soon be found for this immediate problem. It would also be good if all citizens, NGOs, LGUs and the central government sit down to find long-term solutions to the problems of the city and the metropolitan region.

Any sustainable effort needs to address the bigger-picture issues of urban economy, heritage conservation, culture and education, land-use and environmental planning, population management and urban governance.

In the meantime, let us not make the mistake of losing what we cannot recover – open space, natural resources and an appreciation of our heritage and culture. Without these, we cannot develop our humanity, engender a sense of local community or strengthen our national identity.

Remember the Jai Alai. Save the Mehan Gardens!

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For more information on the issues above, call the HCS directly at (632) 521-22-39; cell phone: 0917-830-02-93. Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the author at citysensephilstar@hotmail.com.