Museo Pambata gets new 50-year free lease

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has granted Museo Pambata (MP), the first interactive children’s museum in the country, 50 years of free use of the Elks Club building.

Lim made the announcement during yesterday’s inauguration of the annex building that would house the museum’s administrative office, library and resource center.

Present were Manila Reps. Jaime Lopez and Naida Angping, Fr. Sonny de Claro of the Ermita church, Teresita Ang-See of Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran Inc., and members of the MP board of trustees.

When Lim asked MP president and chief executive officer Nina Lim-Yuson how many years she would want their lease on the building, she replied “forever.”

But Lim, a lawyer, said under the law it could not be “forever” or perpetual.

“Under my authority I will grant you (MP) 50 years. In my sense, that is perpetual already. This MP should last forever because it is for the children, they would enjoy and be educated here. This is not for any commercial purpose,” he said.

In December 1993, during Lim’s previous term as Manila mayor, the City Council of Manila signed a memorandum of agreement giving the MP a 10-year free of lease use of the building.

But once the lease expired in 2003, the MP encountered problems because then mayor Lito Atienza reportedly decided to allocate one of the buildings in the compound, previously used as MP’s administrative building, for the Manila Dance Center.

The museum was forced to relocate to the Karapatan Hall, which affected some of its programs such as storytelling for children.

Finally, they were able to get a grant and with the help of the Manila City government, C Com Foundation, and architectural services from the Leandro Locsin Partners, the MP was able to construct an annex building.

Yuson described Lim as one of the MP’s “heroes.”

“It was a miracle when Mayor Lim won. It was like sunshine again,” she said.

She hopes that all politicians would continue to support their program because all their plans and programs would benefit the children.

But Lim declined the honor of being called a “hero.” “I’m just an ordinary public official who tries his best to serve his people,” he said.

In 1993, Lim had just arrived from a United Nations seminar for mayors in Mexico on the rights of children, when Yuson’s mother, former social welfare and development secretary Estefania Aldaba-Lim, approached him and proposed that they build a children’s museum in the city, Lim warmed up to the idea.

He admitted that businessmen, who wanted to put up a restaurant in the Elks Club, asked for his permission but he declined. One of MP’s founding members was The STAR’s founder, Betty Go-Belmonte.

The museum currently has eight “theme rooms” where children are encouraged to handle the items on display.

These are the Kalikasan (Environment), Maynila Noon (Old Manila), Bata sa Mundo (Children in the Global Village), Tuklas (Science through Technology), Paglaki Ko (Career Options), Craft Room, Pamilihang Bayan (Marketplace), and Katawan Ko (My Body Works).

They also have monthly schedules for storytelling sessions, shadow plays, and puppet shows.

MP public relations officer Chie Sales said they are also currently helping establish children’s museums in other parts in the country, such as the Museo Sangbata in the Visayas.