More people learning to love QMC and improvements
This refers to the June 20 column of Neal Cruz titled “What are they doing to the QC Park?”
We are saddened that Cruz would rather see the Quezon Memorial Circle (QMC) undeveloped even as people are now beginning to love it as a people’s park. Did Cruz know that it took the Quezon City government many decades to develop it so people will visit and love it? What is a people’s park for if the government won’t maximize the benefits that people can get from it?
Tady M. Palma, secretary to the mayor and the QMC administrator, wishes to point out the following in answer to the questions Cruz raised in his column.
The recent constructions are not vertical structures: a 1.2-hectare flower garden inaugurated in August last year as part of the commemoration of the 13th birth anniversary of the city’s founder, President Manuel Luis Quezon; and an ongoing project, which is also a flower garden.
The presently fenced area inside the QMC is the site of the QC Museum project, a model project that is compliant with the environment-friendly requirements of the QC green building ordinance. As such, it will blend with the area without necessarily changing the park atmosphere. It will also house a bookstore and a library to make the one-hectare site a green center for book lovers, students and teachers, as well as for heritage and culture researchers.
After the Quezon City government took over the QMC management in 2008, more than 100 of the vendors were removed from the park. The remaining and new kiosks and stalls are adequate enough and have been refurbished and repainted. Most of the contracts of these vendors will expire on Dec. 31 this year.
With so many people now going to the QMC, more parking areas are needed. However, the parking spaces there today are smaller compared to the proposed parking areas in the original QMC master plan proposed by architect Francisco Mañosa some 20 years ago.
The seasonal carnival at QMC is in a secluded one-hectare area of the 26-hectare park. The carnival site, which used to be a dumping ground for debris, waste materials and garbage, is 160 meters away from the Quezon mausoleum and shrine, not visible from the pylon.
As to income derived from the QMC, from July 1, 2008 until May 31 this year, the QMC management has already remitted to the city coffers P115,743,943.86. For check and balance, periodic audit is done on QMC’s collections by the Commission on Audit and the City Treasurer’s Office.
The QMC collections continue to increase because so many people are now going to the QMC, and this is enough proof that the people support the city government’s efforts to continue developing the place into a central, and consequently, world-class park.
—GREGORIO T. BAÑACIA,
head, Public Affairs and Information Services Office,
Quezon City
