Written by
Ed Velasco
Thursday, 03 January 2013 00:00 [
tribune.net.ph ]
Huge
additional revenues are expected to go into the coffers of the Bases Conversion
and Development Authority (BCDA) once it starts charging tourists entering the Fort Bonifacio tunnel.
Dean
Santiago, BCDA vice president for business development, said the tunnel is now
being readied for the influx of thousands of tourists.
The tunnel is
20 feet below the ground and is approximately 2.5 kilometers long. Its main
entrance is located near Market! Market! while its only remaining exit is
located near Pasig River in Guadalupe bridge.
“It is one of
the very few tunnels found more than 65 years after the war ended. If Vietnam was able to maximize its tunnels,
why can’t we?” Santiago asked The Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview.
He said in
Vietnam, many tunnels found in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) are the country’s
biggest income generators.
He said
Vietnam has so many burrows due to almost three decades of war against France
and United States. It first defeated France in 1954. Twenty-one years later, it
beat US to become the first country in the world to brutally expel two colonial
masters.
The official
said the burrow at Fort Bonifacio used to have six or seven entrances/exits but
only two can be located at present.
“We even
called a military historian but we really can’t locate the other entrance and
exit points,” Santiago said.
He said the
tunnel is quite big, approximately 4 by 4 meters. However, many parts of it
were unfinished as it was excavated before the Fall of Bataan in 1942.
After the
Fall of Bataan, many Filipino and American soldiers were captured, including
those in-charge of digging the burrow.
“That is why
its most prominent exit is near Pasig River to assure that armaments will reach
Filipino and American soldiers in Fort Bonifacio,” the official explained.
Santiago said
even the cost of the charge on tourists
has not been formalized as everything about the tunnel is just on the
beginning stage.
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