‘Green, Green, Green’ pushes city gov’ts to build better open spaces
OVER 50 million Filipinos living in the country’s cities can look forward to a healthier, more pleasant, and more relaxing life because of “Green, Green, Green” now in full swing.
“Green, Green, Green,” funded under the Local Government Support Fund-assistance to Cities (LGSF-AC), is the government’s public open space development program launched in 2017 by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
It assists the Philippines’ 145 cities and their local government units (LGUS) in making their communities more livable, sustainable, and well-connected through the development or enhancement of public open space by creating esplanades, parks, arboretum, or botanical gardens, and building bike lanes, walkways, and green infrastructure.
The program is a parallel endeavor to the massive national infrastructure development program “Build, Build, Build.”
Last March, the DBM conducted technical workshops that engaged city mayors, engineers, architects, and planners in a learning session focused on the best practices in public open space designs, and policies and procedures for the implementation of the program.
Experts including award-winning landscape architect Paulo Alcazaren and former Pasig City mayor, architect Maribel Eusebio, were guest speakers who encouraged the participants to come up with game-changing projects for their cities.
Afterward, individual consultations with each city allowed DBM and its partner experts to review and propose improvements to the public open space project submissions.
Currently, 100 cities are now processing their project proposals out of the 143 that submitted their expression of interest to avail of the funding.
Cities are investing in a variety of public open spaces which they have identified as important civic spaces for their citizens. These include institutional open spaces such as new government centers (10); public squares and plazas (20); mangroves (2); parks (54); waterfronts (25); streets (13). Another 19 cities are still finalizing their proposed site.
While it is commonly thought that there is simply no space left in cities to carve out open space, many cities are finding creative ways to reclaim space and improve everyday life for their citizens.
River esplanades in five cities
Article 51 of Presidential Decree No. 1067, or the Water Code of the Philippines, states that a minimum three-meter easement is allocated for public use along rivers and streams.
To maximize this space, the cities of Bacoor, Dasmariñas, and Bago will be redeveloping their waterways into parks designed to engage citizens and rejuvenate the area.
Meanwhile, Bago City in Negros Occidental will be developing the Bantayan Riverfront Park into a pedestrian- and bike-friendly space.
The existing road will undergo improvement in terms of accessibility and connectivity. A lane, especially for pedestrians and another for bikers, will be built, separated by a planting strip for added safety.
Seating areas will be placed near the edge of the river for a better view of the water. More trees and shrubs will be added for a more pleasant microclimate.
Smaller river parks in Malabon and Parañaque will also be built.
The Local Government Support Fund-assistance to Cities promises “Green, Green, Green” because cities and their people benefit from the better air, shade, cooler climates, less flooding, and beauty.
In line with the National Greening Program, the fund, therefore, aims to increase the softscape of a city.
However, what is planted matters. And not all green is the same. The National Greening Program and the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan thus encourage cities to “plant native” and “plant locally.” Doing so helps ecosystems thrive and prevents the endangerment of species.
Filipinos can thus expect to see commonly used native trees such as ditas, balayong, and mangium in the many projects under Green, Green, Green, as well as special appearances such as the Palawan cherry tree and rizophora - one of 39 species of Philippine mangrove - in projects where these are locally found./ PR