Renewal

When the architect Daniel Burnham sailed into Manila Bay over a century ago, he was awed by what he said was the most beautiful coastline he ever saw. Pristine white beaches lined the bay. Clean rivers flowed all around.

If he visited today, he would be aghast. After all the reclamation projects are done, there would be no view of the city. Two rivers – the Pasig and the Tullahan – are listed among the ten dirtiest in the world. The Bay has become a bowl of trash, too polluted to support marine life.

Burnham was commissioned by the US government after the turn of the last century to lay out a city plan for Manila. He drew up a design with majestic public buildings, abundant green areas and useful public spaces. The war leveled much of the city and urban decay in the succeeding decades completed the neglect that made Manila one of the least habitable cities in the world.

One Manila mayor, during his nine years in office, tried very hard to reverse the deterioration of the city he genuinely loved. He initiated an urban renewal program he hoped his successors would sustain under the slogan “Buhayin ang Maynila.” Last month, the City of Manila recognized Lito Atienza’s work and awarded him Most Outstanding Manilan.

Some of Atienza’s projects were torn up by his jealous successors after his time in office. But enough remains to remind us reversing the city’s deterioration is a gargantuan but achievable task.

Atienza created the Baywalk that provided residents an open promenade to take in the fresh air and admire the famous sunset. He initiated the renewal of the city’s commercial core: the districts of Binondo, Sta. Cruz and Quiapo. The streets were lighted up and more pedestrian walkways were built. Slowly, the old city recovered some of its grace and began attracting visitors.

As mayor, Atienza raised the city’s revenues without raising taxes. By the end of his third term, Manila’s revenues grew to P8.8 billion.

As city mayor, Atienza banned reclamation projects at the Bay and worked to expel the hazardous oil depots at Pandacan. Today, reclamation projects are proliferating and the relocation of the oil depots has somehow been reversed. These depots are a continuing hazard to residents.

Atienza tried to restore as much open areas as possible for the comfort of city residents, including playgrounds and green zones. This was appreciated by residents. Were it not for the counter-productive term limits imposed on holding public office, few doubt he would have remained as mayor to this day.

No politician native to Manila has as long and colorful a career as Lito Atienza. He is a survivor of the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing undertaken by the communists in the mistaken hope of pushing the nation into a “revolutionary situation.” He was elected to the Batasang Pambansa in 1984, served six years as vice mayor and nine years as congressman. He also served as natural resources secretary under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when he tried to clear Manila Bay and the Laguna the Bay of illegal fish pens.

Unfortunately, Atienza was succeeded for 12 years by two elderly mayors who had little interest in urban renewal and greater interest in selling down the city’s assets. Having lost Intramuros, the Rizal Park and the Rizal Memorial arena to the national government, the city somehow lost ownership of some of its treasures such as the Botong Franciso mural that once adorned City Hall.

By honoring the Malate-born Atienza with its highest decoration, the city government signals its commitment to the vision of renewal the man so passionately pursued.

Hyperventilating

There is too much hyperventilating going on over the use of foreign stock footage in the video introducing the new tourism campaign slogan for the country.

To be sure, the use of foreign stock footage in the mood-setting video was not in good form, even as advertising insiders say this is not unusual. The video in question was prepared for the slogan unveiling event and is not part of the regular campaign that still has to commence.

DDB Philippines, the ad agency responsible for the “internal” video, promptly accepted its error in using foreign footage. The forthrightness is to be commended. The agency has committed full cooperation with any investigation that may be conducted into the matter. With all the hyperventilating going on, the Department of Tourism will have to somehow conduct some sort of investigation, even if the facts relating to this evident are plain and admitted.

Even Rep. Joey Salceda, who earlier on complained about the absence of Mayon Volcano from the preliminary audio-visual presentation, now thinks all the whining is overdrawn. A small mistake was committed. The ad agency took responsibility. The video is not going to be used for the main campaign. That is all about it.

Some of us, sadly, subsist on whining and groaning. Some think they could use this small incident to bludgeon the whole of government. They live off inflated issues.

There is no major fraud here. Perhaps a little indolence and some amount of carelessness. It happens all the time.

By this week, when a proper sense of proportion returns, this inflated issue will die a natural death. This happens all the time, too, when the hyperventilating captures the initiative but fails in capturing some substance for their complaint.

What we need to do is get behind our tourism promotion campaign and push it forward. This is crucial for our real economic wellbeing.