Are public parks in Quezon City becoming too commercialized? Nowadays, you can’t go to a park with just loose change in
your pocket and, don’t look now, there’s an imminent possibility that government
properties and possibly some public parks we used to roam around freely will be up for bidding among the giant
mall owners and real estate developers already entrenched there.
The Veterans Memorial Hospital and Golf Course and other government properties such as the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Manila Seedling Bank, military camps, and other prime properties around the rapidly expanding business district of Quezon City may soon be on the auction block. Public parks may suffer the same fate.
The concept of public parks that are accessible to all (the poor included) has been eroded by too much fees and costs the promenaders have to shell out just to enjoy a piece of natural and open space in the polluted and congested city. Gone are the days of my childhood when simple folks can go to a QC park, bring food and have a picnic under a tree or in the grass and enjoy an inexpensive family day. As a child, we used to do that in Balara and La Mesa watershed parks. Not anymore. QC parks are now charging a fee for practically everything you want to do inside the park starting with a parking fee and rentals of space (in case your group wants to do aerobics or zumba, team building, group meeting, or simply have fun games).
The Quezon Memorial Circle, resting place of a great president and to whom the city was named after, seems no longer as hospitable as it should be and actually not a cheaper place to go to compared with the nearby giant malls where people prefer to go to now if they don’t have money. Why, much of the park have been leased to expensive restaurants and fast foods deterring people from bringing food there and picnicking under a tree.
Indeed, commercialization of nearly everything has conditioned people to
accept that nothing in this world is free and has induced the masses to adapt to a
lifestyle of headless consumerism. That you have to charge and spend in order
to have fun in the Philippines. The old adage that the best things in life are
free no longer holds true. The QMC would rather cater to big events of civic,
religious and corporate groups that rake in huge funds purportedly for its
further development (read commercialization).
Sadly, people subliminally takes pride of the visible progress around and may actually believe it improves their lot. But the sad truth is none of this will trickle down more money in their pocket.
Just to prove the point, on September 20, a group of masscom students went to Quezon Memorial Circle to shoot a short film armed with a borrowed handycam, themselves acting the characters in the screenplay they crafted. The project is an academic requirement in one of their subjects. They selected the Quezon Memorial Circle as an ideal site for their film with the thought that President Quezon’s spirit would be with them since the film they intend to make would be about heroes who founded our nation.
While they were preparing to shoot, their youthful enthusiasm and excitement were soon dashed when they were accosted by the security guard who told them that they cannot take videos around the park and that they need to go to the administration office, if they want to try to get permission. Young and idealistic as they are, they did not let such restriction (read censorship) pass without a whimper protesting as they did to the security guard that they are just students and they need to make the film for academic purposes. No dice. Go to admin. Secure permission. As parrot-like as saying “no ID, no entry”.
And so they went to the admin office and they got to talk to the secretary of the admin OIC regarding their situation. The students were told that they have to pay P500 to be permitted to take video shots within the park. The conversation went like this:
Students: Why do we need to pay P500? Isn’t the park a public property?
Secretary: For cleaning the park.
Students: But it’s dirty. Is the City government not providing funds
for the maintenance of the park?
Secretary: Yes, but we need additional funds.
Students: Including a fee for those who would like to take simple
videos and selfies?
Secretary: Photos and selfies taken through cellphones are allowed. But
no photos and videos from a handycam. We do not want videos of the park posted
in the social network.
Students: What's the difference? Why not?
Secretary: The admin head does not want it.
Students: No exemption for students?
Secretary: You have to talk to the admin OIC.
Students: Can we talk to him?
Secretary: He is asleep. You have to wait for him to wake up.
The students begrudgingly pooled their allowances and handed the secretary the P500 fee she demanded on the condition that they would appeal later to the admin OIC for exemption.
The students left and came back to the admin office just as the OIC woke up at around 4:30 PM, the students again asked for exemption from paying the P500 fee elaborating the same arguments they gave to the guard and the admin secretary.
The admin OIC obviously did not like the audacity of the students or he must have woken up in the wrong side of his desk that he adamantly refused to accommodate them. The students reminded him that Quezon Memorial Park brochure endeavours to promote the park as a shrine of a great president and repository of the country’s historical and cultural heritage. As such, it should be student-friendly. The QMC website also describes the park as a place for recreation and a lot of fun things to do.
However, the unabashed commercialization of park administration takes away the fun in going there. Their concern for video footages being uploaded in the social media does not make sense. Except if they are trying to avoid more people seeing the poor maintenance and filthy surroundings inside the park which should have been taken care of by the fees they collect from visitors. Or it may be just a ruse for them to collect more fees from photograph and camera-crazed Filipinos.
The admin OIC sorely lost the argument against the young students, he got piqued and walked out on them. When he heard the comment of one that it was so rude of him to turn his back on them while they were still talking, he walked back and brusquely returned the P500 fee they collected and gave the impression that they could proceed to shoot in the park without paying. When the students tried to do so, the security guard again prevented them reportedly upon the instruction of the admin OIC. If this is not the height of depravity, who knows what is.
The encounter these students experienced with the Quezon
Memorial Circle admin OIC (read little tyrant) clearly reflects where this
country has gone to. President Quezon must be churning in his grave with guys
like them around his resting place.
