Carlos Celdran, HCS development officer said all officials of the agencies working on the final design of the CCM building want the structure to be as classical as the five-story building of Manila City Hall.
Celdran said all Manila, NHI and HCS officials also want to ensure that the entire ground floor is open, no trees would be cut and the park would be further developed.
Manila Mayor Lito Atienza has been pushing for the construction of CCM at Mehan Gardens, in which free education would be available to poor but deserving students in the city.
Atienza’s plans have been the subject of criticisms from conservationists, who insisted that Mehan Gardens should not be touched because it would devaluate the historical importance of the park. Conservationists maintained that NHI declared Mehan Gardens a historical site, being the area of the former Parian, where the Spanish colonials quartered the Chinese.
They said it was also the site of the Jardin Botanico, developed in 1858 upon the request of the City of Manila. Maps of the botanical garden show that its boundaries stretched from the present Burgos Drive to the Pasig River.
Atienza said the NHI declaration was made just recently and months after the local government started the plans to put up the school building. – Cecille Suerte Felipe