Makati to beautify all city entry points

The Makati City Council has approved a P100 million budget for the beautification of all the entry points to the city. This started with what was done at the underbelly of the Gil Puyat Avenue and Osmeña Highway flyover, but now it will extend to the city boundaries in Manila, Mandaluyong and Pasig. Makati is the commercial center of Metro Manila and it will be good if people get this feel when they are entering the city. The program will include beautifying the streets around these areas. What would be good is if all the entry points to Makati will have a motif that people will associate with Makati.

We would also like to suggest the transfer of old balled trees in the main avenues of Makati - Ayala and Gil Puyat. Sometime ago, someone planted old palm trees at the center of an old business street in Makati and it certainly improved the whole environment of the area. We would like to add that Makati City should also have a tree-planting program that would start with all its barangays and it should get the students involved. It would be good if all students were made to plant one tree as their permanent contribution to their respective communities.

Both Manila and Quezon City have forest parks in their municipalities. It certainly adds an old touch to the city environment. We don’t know if Makati still has a place that can be converted to a forest park. Perhaps, Mayor Jejomar Binay can look into this. Makati City has been doing very well under Mayor Jejomar Binay. The important thing has been that he is not satisfied with things going well. As far as he is concerned, the thing is to do even better. The plan to upgrade all city entry points definitely gives Makati a very distinctive touch.

We hope that all the other cities in our metropolis follow suit. They should be proud of their cities and make people conscious of the fact that Metro Manila is composed of many different cities. Manila Mayor Lito Atienza has done much to beautify Manila. What has been neglected for decades now is the restoration of Intramuros. Manila will never be the old Manila until the noble and ever loyal city that was Intramuros is restored. They can start by using piedra china for all its sidewalks and cobblestones for all Intramuros streets.

Manila got its name from the most common plant that grew in its area – the nilad. Now, most people in Manila do not even have an idea of what the nilad looks like. We have the Arroceros forest park in Manila. Perhaps one of its tasks is to make sure that the nilad is found in places like Intramuros, the forest park itself and outside City Hall.

The whole world is now a global village and Metro Manila is a real metropolis. One is never quite conscious of what city he is at the moment. Makati’s project to beautify all entry points to Makati will make people more conscious that they are part of all cities. The global village starts where you are.