The iconic Burnham Park

ARCHITECT Daniel Burnham was one of the foremost urban planners in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. This was just when that country was starting its colonization of the Philippines.

Metro Manila.

But it’s not just workers themselves who are up in arms against the paltry wage increase.

Two senators, while saying the wage hike is a welcome development, also said it is still not enough.

A P40 increase in the daily minimum wage of private sector workers in Metro Manila is most welcome, but it is still not enough, said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

For one thing, the increase is much less than the P150 across-the-board minimum wage hike already approved in principle by the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.

Estrada, who heads the Senate labor panel, while giving the thumbs-up to the wage increase, also noted that the labor sector has been adamant in calling for across-the-board pay hikes. While the wage hike shows that the Wage Board in Metro Manila is aware of the need to promptly adjust the current wage structure because of high inflation, Estrada said, “our workers need and deserve wage hikes to cope with the ongoing rise in the prices of basic goods and commodities.”

We agree completely with the lawmaker, and wish the Senate would take up the legislative proposal again in the upper chamber, as our workers really need help at this time.

How it blends natural beauty with culture and heritage, and how it gets all stakeholders up to the lowest level of society to enhance tourism for Cebu is more a tribute to local government than it is to efforts coming from the national.

Pride of place is what made Cebu, an “island in the Pacific” the most successful travel destination in the country for both domestic and international travelers alike, Boracay notwithstanding.

Credit that to the late Gov. Lito Osmena, followed by the late Gov. Pabling Garcia, and now the indefatigable lioness of LGUs, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Most of all, to the people of Cebu.

But then again, for the DoT under Frasco, it is never too late to change tack when “signos” appear. Sec. Frasco must simply move on and move forward, in search of another promotional slogan, and junk the LOVE misfortune.

I know … I know and have observed through so many years, how every new tourism secretary has wanted to put their personal mark on marketing slogans, some with success in terms of public acceptance, some with mediocre results, some flatly rejected.

But remember—Thailand and Malaysia are not successful tourism destinations in our region because of “amazing” or “truly Asia,” but because the whole package they offered became a pleasant travel experience, whether because of natural beauty enhanced, culture and traditions preserved, affordability of food and accommodations, tourist-friendly people, accessibility, and other things rolled neatly into one travel attraction.

“Amazing” became true, and “truly” Asian merely captured the essence of these destinations. Let us not get fixated on the slogan.

Indonesia knew that Bali was their paradise, and only recently have they started promoting Borobudur and other destinations. From the 60s up to the present, Indonesia is Bali as far as the foreign traveler is concerned. Which partly explains why an “island in the Pacific,” with no mention of the Philippines

But other climes may want something different. Do your research, and plan accordingly.

Remember, it’s not the slogan.

And trite though it sounds, a good “product” is its own best advertisement. ***

Speaking now about the first year of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. with an overwhelming vote of electoral confidence never before seen since the fall of the father before him, my personal assessment: it underwhelms.

From much too early fiascoes in Malacanang itself, to the inability to fully organize government administration one year after its being, to untamed food inflation that cannot be solved with resurrected ideas like Kadiwa, to an experimental and thus unexplained Maharlika, to placing the country in potential harm’s way due to EDCA-US expansion, and as if to punctuate everything one year after, the appointment of a Larry Gadon to become the “Komite de Paki-alam” for the country’s most intractable problem of mass poverty, the verdict is suspended, until plans are better tuned and program implementation improved.

The best indictment of the underwhelming first year experience can be gleaned from the stock market, which, for a year now, has been moving sideways. No real highs. No real lows. Pure profit taking on incremental gains, and foreign money moving out slowly.

But don’t blame Marcos Junior for it.

He came to the picture when the whole world is drowning in its own miserable problems, and he is no superman despite his overwhelming electoral mandate.

Being patient and lowering one’s expectations is perhaps the best attitude to have.

The Filipino people have muddled through, “bahala na si Batman” through all these years and despite several administrations. As I keep quoting, “plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme chose”. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

One of the first things that the US colonial government did as soon as civil order was established was to bring Burnham to the country in 1904 to plan for the projected expansion of the City of Manila.

This was also about the time the Americans first visited Baguio in 1900 and were pleasantly surprised to find an oasis in the tropics high up in the mountains with a comfortable temperature all year round.

To take advantage of Burnham’s presence in the country, he was invited to Baguio to make a plan for its future development. His original plan was for a community of about 25,000 people.

That number has, of course, swelled to more than 350,000 people today.

Unlike Manila which was already more than 300 years old by that time, Baguio was going to be built from scratch. It remains to be the only city in the country built by the Americans.

After exploring the place for several days, Burnham eventually submitted a rough city plan.

Part of this plan was a park situated in a valley surrounded by several hills like the Constabulary Hill which is now Camp Allen, Luneta Hill which is now where the SM mall is, and so forth.

This park was eventually named in his honor and, today, as it was in the City’s earlier days, is still the center of many activities in the city. It remains to this day the premier tourist attraction of the City. In many ways, the Park defines the city. It is therefore, essential that it remains pristine, clean, attractive with enough open space for everyone to enjoy always.

Right now, it is the city that is managing the park having titled the land encompassing the entire park.

This, however, is being challenged by the Department of Tourism which had managed the park in the past. But let us leave that controversy aside and concentrate on looking at what is happening to the park.

Original and long term residents of the city know what the park was then and the many changes happening over the years. For one, it has been transformed into many other things aside from just being a leisure park which I am sure would have dismayed Daniel Burnham if he were alive today.

In the 1950s the park was basically devoid of any structures except for the old auditorium where the city regularly holds its social events.

The open skating rink with two small canteens together with the boating, bicycles and scooters were already with the athletic bowl being constructed in the early 1950s.

Today, a lot has changed.

Slowly but surely, the available open spaces have been getting smaller over the years.

Maybe

This started with the football field.

First were the two restaurants in the late 1960s followed by the area taken over by the Fire Department which was eventually converted into eateries.

Then another portion was taken to become a pay parking area.

A portion of the picnic area where the water pump is also became a parking area. The tennis court which has been there since the 1950s is now gone.

In its place is another structure going up.

The bleachers in the Athletic Bowl have also been extended with added office spaces below.

Very soon, that portion of the park will soon be a built up area housing some offices of the government.

The place where the old auditorium used to be is now a pay parking area with business stalls scattered all over.

The skating rink has completely been enclosed.

The way it was done, however, leaves a lot to be desired. There is also a restaurant in the place with two exposed water tanks blighting that section of the park with a huge public toilet facility

There are now three buildings where the old pelota court was built in the 1970s. Half of the area below Kisad Road is now the orchidarium and is no longer being used as part of the park.

A Police Sub-Station is also located there with the outer portion being used as a parking area.

That part of the park is also blighted.

About three weeks ago a lot of tarpaulin covered business stalls sprouted in the football ground to become another shopping area.

Whether this arrangement is temporary or not is not altogether clear.

In spite of all these changes going on and the open spaces shrinking, the park is strangely still full of tourists coming from all over the country and it does not matter whether the weather is good or bad.

I do not know what will become of the park in the next five or 10 years.

But by the way things are going, I am pessimistic because of what is happening to the open spaces.

We can, of course, debate to our hearts’ content what a park should be whether it is better for it to be left with a lot of open spaces or build it up and allow all the vendors, eateries and other business stalls selling jewelry and others because it is good for business and that is perhaps the way we Filipinos prefer it.

Maybe in the end, we shouldn’t care too much what will happen to the open spaces of the park so long as people using the park are not complaining.

But is this the right attitude?

Death of Nahel brings old problems in France’s suburbs back to the surface

NANTERRE, France—The death of French teenager Nahel M., killed by a police officer during a traffic stop a week ago, has reignited the anger of young people and brought deeper problems back to the surface, according to residents of Paris’s working-class suburbs.

In the Paris suburb of Nanterre, on the streets of the Pablo Picasso housing estate where Nahel was from, nights of riots since the shooting last Tuesday have left behind the carcasses of burnt-out cars, melted garbage bins and countless graffiti tags calling for “Justice for Nahel.”

“There’s a feeling we’re fed up with it, we’ve seen it all before. Of course I understand that, I also grew up here. That said, burning down schools and shops is crazy because it harms us all,” said Mohamed, 39.

Sitting on a bench in a park, he said he came down from his home several nights in a row to “reason with the kids”.

Next to him, his friend Sofiane, 38, sighed, pointing to the ash-grey skeleton of a merry-go-round that was torched Thursday evening. “Damage we don’t tolerate. What we don’t really want anymore are random (police) checks. We want them to check us as if we were called ‘Michel’,” he said, adding he was “distressed” by the death of a “kid” during a traffic stop.

Living in one of the tower blocks behind the park, Fatiha Abdouni, 52, also came down from her building Saturday evening to meet with neighborhood mediators as another night of unrest loomed.

“I can’t support people smashing and burning things; who would?” said Abdouni, co-founder of the association The Voice of the Women of Pablo-Picasso.

Still, she added: “Now we have to listen to the young people, their frustration and anger.”

Youths in Paris’s deprived suburbs face “daily difficulties, unequal access to study, to work, to housing”, Abdouni continued.

For her, it was obvious--the death of

Nahel was a “spark” reigniting “deeper problems”.

‘Give hope to our children’ Since Nahel’s death, the riots have been led by “very young people,” moving in small groups and relaying their actions on social networks.

On Thursday night, the average age of those arrested was just 17, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti on Saturday felt it was necessary “to tell parents again that they should keep hold of their kids.”

“It is not by pointing the finger at the parents as if they were irresponsible that we will make things move forward,” said Mohamed Mechmache, coordinator of an association set up in Clichy-sous-Bois after the 2005 riots in the low-income eastern suburb of Paris.

That unrest was triggered by the deaths of two teenagers from Malian and North African backgrounds who were electrocuted while hiding from a police check in a relay station.

“It is time to speak publicly to the youth, to tell them that they are part of this Republic,” the educator told AFP.

“The most important thing is to give hope to our children, that they believe in their future. I am afraid that there will be another death,” added political scientist Fatima Ouassak, co-founder of the Front de Meres (Mothers’ Front), an organisation of parents of students from working-class areas.

At the Pablo-Picasso estate, none of the young people met by AFP on Sunday wanted to speak.

During a protest march in tribute to Nahel on Thursday, a 16-year-old boy said: “It’s always the same people who are targeted, blacks and Arabs, working-class neighbourhoods. They kill a 17-year-old boy like that, for nothing; this death makes us hate.”

After five nights of riots, Nahel’s grandmother Nadia appealed for calm on Sunday.

“I tell the people who are rioting this:

Do not smash windows, attack schools or buses. Stop! It’s the mums who are taking the bus, it’s the mums who walk outside,” she said.

Mohamed and Sofiane, who said they were pleased with the return to relative calm, now hope that “justice will be done.”

“This policeman is a human being, he must be a defendant like you and me. No two-tier justice.” AFP listed in Annex A. Only credit-approved applicants from these areas shall be eligible to apply and subscribe to DITO Home Data-Capped 5G Postpaid 990.

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