[ manilastandardtoday.com ] July 6, 2009
Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza is tapping Palafox Associates to do the master plan that will turn the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center in Quezon City into a showcase of biodiversity.
He signed recently a memorandum of agreement with Felino Palafox Jr., managing partner, to prepare the detailed site engineering and landscape architectural design.
“We have long taken great pride in our wealth of flora and fauna. We have more than 14,000 species of plants. Of these, 9,000 are flowering. Worldwide, we rank fifth in the number of plant species. We also rank fourth in bird endemism, which means that these birds are found only in the Philippines. And we rank fifth in mammal endemism,” he said in a statement.
“We want people to feel the visit to the park as both enjoyable and relaxing and a learning experience.”
Palafox is a proponent of green urban design that blends structures and spaces with the surroundings, leaving as little carbon footprint as possible.
“For this country to become like other progressive cities of the world, our leaders must be reeducated about the need for a ‘well-master planned society.’ A number of local leaders are now realizing this,” he said, describing his design ethic that was applied to big-ticket projects in at least 32 countries, and close to his heart, the revival of the Pasig River.
According to Palafox, the waterway’s recovery entails a “paradigm shift from the poor treatment of a precious resource to its elevation into something that’s a source of national pride,” undescoring the importance of an updated and integrated master plan for the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.
Drawing up the guidelines for the park’s redesign by Palafox, Atienza said anti-pollution measures would be introduced to enable the entire facility to put ecology into practice.
And putting conservation in urban perspective, he said the favorite weekend picnic grounds with a lagoon would be refitted as a learning hub on the rich Philippine wildlife and the need to protect nature.
According to Atienza, around 3,000 tree species are found in the park’s mini forest, which also serves as a sanctuary for keeping and treating animals confiscated by authorities, before they are returned to their habitat.
“We’re targeting to finish the plan within four months so development work can commence as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the upgraded park would be a model for evironment showcases to be opened outside Metro Manila.
After Edsa People Power in 1986, then Environment Secretary Ernesto Maceda renamed the 24-hectare park after the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
Also, through Executive 192, then President Corazon Aquino realigned the organization and functions of the Natural Resources Department, affirming the park’s name and attaching it to the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau. Leo E. Estonilo and Othel V. Campos
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