Monday, July 6, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
THE ENVIRONMENT department will redevelop the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center (NAPWNC) in Diliman, Quezon City into a biodiversity center, the department said in a statement yesterday.
NAPWNC will become a model biodiversity conservation site in an urban area, with emphasis on protecting the ecosystem, Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Jr. said.
"Hopefully we will be able to generate funds within the year," Mr. Atienza said yesterday in a phone interview, adding the project would likely cost P25 million.
The 24-hectare park, one of the Marcos regime projects built on July 25, 1970 and formerly known as Parks and Wildlife Nature Center, is a favorite weekend site for families and an educational spot for students. It features wide picnic grounds, a lagoon and a wildlife rescue center where some of the country’s endangered and threatened wildlife species are undergoing rehabilitation and care.
It was renamed NAPWNC after the 1986 People Power Revolution which catapulted the widow of Senator Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino, Jr. — Corazon C. Aquino — to the presidency.
Around 3,000 species of trees are found inside the park, of which 100 are endemic to the country like narra, molave, kamagong and ipil.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Atienza signed an agreement with Felino A.Palafox, Jr., founder and principal architect of Palafox Associates, for the conceptual master plan that would include a detailed site engineering and landscape, architectural design and urban design.
"We are targeting to finish the plan within four months so development work can commence as soon as possible," he said.
The department has started consultations with planners on ideas for the master development plan. Mr. Atienza said antipollution interventions and improved recreational facilities would make NAPWNC "a model for environment showcases that the department plans to establish outside Metro Manila."
Pictures of flora and fauna that could not thrive in the NAPWNC, which is operated by the Environment department’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, will also be displayed.
The Philippines has 14,000 species of plants, of which 9,000 are flowering. "The country also ranks fifth in the number of plant species and fourth in bird endemism, which means that these birds are found only in the Philippines. And we rank fifth in mammal endemism," Mr. Atienza said. — N. J. C. Morales
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