Pasig's green civic center

MODERN LIVING
CITY SENSE By Paulo Alcazaren
(The Philippine Star) Updated September 12, 2009 12:00 AM


I moved to Pasig from Quezon City as a high school kid in 1967. We settled in the suburban middle-class enclave of Baryo Kapitolyo, in front of the Rizal Provincial Capitol (Pasig was the capital of Rizal province until a few years ago). Although we lived at the fringe of the historic town, I managed to visit the old center periodically because of relatives.

I would also tag along with my mom for trips to the Pasig Market. This was memorable for me because unlike the old markets of Manila, the modern structure was huge and covered by what I would later learn was an innovative thin-concrete hyberbolic-paraboloid roof. The structure, tallest in Pasig at the time, was also topped off by a revolving restaurant. Pasig was progressing then because of all the industries that had moved there from Manila.

Jumping 40 years forward, and after a dozen years in Singapore, I find myself settled again in Pasig. I found myself visiting the center of Pasig (since 1994 a city) again but this time because of The Pasig Art Club and in the past year because of involvement in an exciting project of urban renewal spearheaded by the city’s hardworking Mayor Bobby Eusebio.

Eusebio, a dynamic first-termer mayor, has been turning the riverside city into one of the most business and environmentally friendly cities in the metropolis. Last July the city celebrated its 436th founding anniversary. It started out as one of the first and most important Spanish settlements outside Manila in the early 16th century. The Pasig River was the main highway connecting the capital with the hinterlands of southern Luzon.

Mayor Eusebio reported recently that Pasig City has received several citations from the national government and NGOs in the fields of health, nutrition, education, arts and culture, even environment, and has been singled out as one of the most business friendly LGUs in the country. The Commission on Audit has cited it as the most Financially Liquid Local Government Unit in the country. From a P3.4 billion budget in 2006, the Pasig City Government has increased its budget to P4.5 billion. The city is also proud of its 14-percent increase in new businesses last year.

The mayor and his government have gone on a building spree, providing new or renovated facilities for Pasig’s citizens. Last year they renovated their main library, built a library annex and established a Discovery Centrum to enhance the learning experience of students. The new complex was the first prize winner of the 2008 Search for Outstanding City Library of Metro Manila given by the National Library, National Commission for Culture and Arts and the Philippine Librarians Association Inc.

The mayor and his wife, Maribel, are both UP alumni and aside from their shared devotion to public service they are also committed to sustainable development and the greening of the city. Two years ago they launched their dream of Pasig: a Green City. Their vision is of a “clean, progressive city with sustainable development concerned with ecological and aesthetic harmony.”

Aside from recycling and solid waste management initiatives, the city has embarked on an intensive greening program. More than 20,100 trees have been planted for their Carbon Sink campaign this year. Last year they planted 20,000 trees. The city has its own Seedling Bank Nursery. This year they also started their Urban Garden project, which turns vacant lots into pocket oases for barangays.

Back to the Pasig Market: The structure is still there and part of the large Pasig Civic Center. The center has grown in the last 30 years to fill out most of its open space. Each administration and national government office branches incrementally built more and more buildings in a haphazard way devoid of a rational master plan, urban design or landscape architectural direction.

This changed last year, starting with a new urban design and landscape master plan. Unlike the default action of most mayors — that of adding more and more elements to their civic centers, Mayor Eusebio did the opposite and cleaned up the complex, rationalizing buildings, creating open civic spaces, gardens and courts.

The mayor also turned the old Mutya ng Pasig Public Market into the spanking-new, clean and green Pasig City Mega Market. Next to it he built the Tanghalang Pasigueño, a convention center and auditorium for cultural and civic events. The center has a large formal forecourt embellished with a large fountain. On the side is an informal garden shaded by a large modern membrane roof, making it ideal for late-afternoon gatherings and early-evening al fresco spaces when there is an event at the center.

The market and convention center is connected to the original city hall complex by a tree-lined road and elevated pedestrian walkways. The mayor cleared a large section of the complex in the middle for a sizeable park complete with vine-covered trellises, fishponds and a café with a green roof.

All around the revitalized civic center the mayor and his consultant landscape architects and contractors are turning the previously crowded, concrete-filled landscape into a green, people-friendly complex. Pasigueños and visitors notice and enjoy the new and airy green look.

Other LGUs should look at the Pasig model for civic center development. Green is the way to go both for cities as well as their civic centers. Mayor Eusebio has found a winning formula for urban growth that he hopes will take his (and my home) city into a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future.

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.