Heritage site can be real tourist attraction

This is a reaction to a news article on the observation made by an international conservation group, the Global Heritage Fund, about Fort Santiago in Intramuros (Inquirer, 5/5/12). As an officer of 25-year-old Friends of Intramuros Foundation, a nongovernment organization headed by John Go Hoc, I welcome the decision of Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez to prioritize the development of the “Walled City” into a real and genuine tourism attraction.

Friends of Intramuros also fully supports the thrust of the Intramuros administrator to bring back Intramuros to its old glory and as a site of heritage structures.

We hope Secretary Jimenez will see fit to allocate the funds necessary to improve lighting along Intramuros’ streets in order to attract more people to visit the place in the evenings, and more importantly, to give back the sidewalks, which have been taken over by illegal vendors, to the pedestrians.

What about doing something to encourage private property owners to come back and reclaim their lands from squatters? We need a clean, not only well-lit, Intramuros.

—ELON SISON,

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