MANILA, Philippines--The Baywalk, that seaside stretch along Manila’s famous Roxas Boulevard, is getting to be a hot election issue in Manila, with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and his predecessor, former Environment Secretary Lito Atienza issuing opposing statements about how it should be used.
The Baywalk was a project of Atienza when he was mayor of the city. He has vowed to rebuild the strip—once full of restaurants and the scene of lively concerts—that have since been demolished (and banned) by Lim, if he regains the city’s top post in 2010.
“He wants it back? That means the return of beerhouses, girls in skimpy attire, and loud bands that compete with the traffic as far as noise is concerned,” said Lim, in reaction to Atienza’s statement that he would bring the Baywalk back.
Lim said he ordered the demolition of structures in the area in 2007 following complaints from Malate residents who protested against the noise coming from the bars and restaurants.
Lim admitted that at first, Atienza’s idea was applauded, but several months later, complaints started coming in after beerhouses sprouted one after the other.
“Nearby residents, including those living in condominiums and hotel guests said they could not sleep because of the loud music from bands playing in some establishments,” Lim said.
He added that he banned the sale of liquor in the strip because of an ordinance prohibiting the drinking of alcoholic beverages in public places.
The mayor also blamed the stalls for adding trash to the already polluted Manila Bay.
“Since the structures there were demolished, more people, families especially, go there to relax, enjoy and appreciate the unobstructed view of the famed Manila Bay sunset,” Lim said.
He added that an estimated P7 million in unpaid dues has yet to be collected by the Manila City Treasurer’s Office from bar owners that used to operate on Baywalk.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
MANILA MAYOR ALFREDO LIM AND HIS MANY FAILURES IN GOVERNANCE
The Philippine Star - December 19, 2009
Manila was once called The Pearl of the Orient Seas. Today, it looks more like Asia’s cesspool.
When a fire hit what was once called “downtown Manila”, the blaze moved quickly through what has become a crowded shantytown. In an instant, 3,000 families lost their homes.
Not only was the city government’s response to the fire poor, it did not have evacuation and relocation capabilities to deal with the human tragedy that followed the fire. Three thousand families are now part of that dark, barely visible mass inhabiting the sidewalks and even colonizing the bay walk — an area once designated as the epicenter of the city’s rebirth.
Instead of quickly evolving a program to mitigate the misery of the thousands of victims of the fire, the city government concentrated on fencing off the burnt out area — apparently in preparation for selling that now cleared area to a property developer. That could be a most profitable deal, not necessarily for the city. Just recently a large piece of the city’s land, where a 5-star hotel sits, was sold for what people in the know say is a bargain-basement assessment.
The once fashionable Avenida Rizal — in another age the heart and soul of Filipino civilization — is now a dark and dingy street, choked with pedicabs and even horse-drawn carriages. There was an effort, some years back, to reinvent Avenida as a brightly-lit pedestrian mall recalling its glorious past as the center of fashion, commerce and the arts. That effort was scuttled by the presently sitting mayor and the area was allowed to degenerate into a dim and dinghy black hole.
One cannot walk the streets of the old city without becoming overcome with fear of pickpockets and holdup artists. I generally avoid going to Manila, except for an occasional golf game in Intramuros or the quarterly exercise of emptying my pigeonhole at the offices of this newspaper. The streets are always choked and traffic flow is always chaotic.
It was once a pleasure to walk through the Luneta Park and listen to live concerts being played there. Today the place stinks. The grass is dead. There is no decent place to eat or have a decent cup of coffee.
It seems this city began dying a little more quickly during the tenure of Mayor Alfredo Lim.
When he assumed office, Lim promised to ban provincial buses from the crowded Lawton area. Today, the place is even more crowded with buses.
He promised the Archbishop of Manila that, in the event his city council passed an ordinance prolonging the stay of the fuel depots in Pandacan, he would promptly veto the measure. When the measure was passed, the Mayor, acting like he was in some sort of divine delirium, pronounced he had heard the voice of the people and not only allowed the depots to stay but invited all sorts of hazardous industries to the banks of the dying Pasig River.
With Lim in charge, everything seemed permissible in this chaotic city. Peddlers of every sort colonized the streets. There was no housing program of any note initiated to absorb the great number of denizens inhabiting the sidewalks. Taft Avenue began to resemble an obstacle course for pedestrians.
There is no economic plan to liberate the city from the grip of poverty, no plan for urban renewal to mitigate the stench. The esteros continued to deteriorate. There are few public services in sight, not one new public toilet and not a new restaurant row.
The city had not upgraded its educational institutions. There is no employment program for precisely the locality with the highest rate of unemployment in the whole country.
I am not sure if public medical services in the city have been upgraded in any way. I have seen no new medical facility that the people of Manila could run to when they need expert medical attention.
For some reason, I recall Autumn of the Patriarch whenever I think about Mayor Lim and the degenerating city he presides over. In the novel, the ageing patriarch just sits and does nothing — and would not go away.
Lim is, of course, seeking reelection in a city that has become even more decrepit since he took the reins. It seems he has spent his entire term tearing down the beautification projects of his predecessor and sending off his barangay officials to Hong Kong for rest and recreation.
His people have mounted a strange sort of campaign against his main challenger: the three-term, undefeated former mayor Lito Atienza. Last week, his people tried to tar Atienza by concocting some story about Atienza’s people tearing down Cory streamers in the city.
That sounds rather unthinkable. When Lim served the Marcos dictatorship, Atienza suffered with the democratic opposition. When the Liberal party rally was bombed in Plaza Miranda, Atienza was among those injured. The current DENR secretary was once of the handful of assemblymen who supported the possibility of Cory Aquino challenging Marcos. He then served the Cory administration as NHA administrator.
Perhaps Lim and his people should try and elevate the quality of the local electoral contest in Manila. He can start by presenting a report of his service as chief executive of the city. He might try to recount the promises he made at the start so the people can see if these promises were fulfilled.
This might be a bit of a challenge: he might try and present a plan for rehabilitating this debilitated city. The danger in doing this, of course, is that any conceivable plan for redeeming Manila will militate against Lim’s record as mayor.
Manila was once called The Pearl of the Orient Seas. Today, it looks more like Asia’s cesspool.
When a fire hit what was once called “downtown Manila”, the blaze moved quickly through what has become a crowded shantytown. In an instant, 3,000 families lost their homes.
Not only was the city government’s response to the fire poor, it did not have evacuation and relocation capabilities to deal with the human tragedy that followed the fire. Three thousand families are now part of that dark, barely visible mass inhabiting the sidewalks and even colonizing the bay walk — an area once designated as the epicenter of the city’s rebirth.
Instead of quickly evolving a program to mitigate the misery of the thousands of victims of the fire, the city government concentrated on fencing off the burnt out area — apparently in preparation for selling that now cleared area to a property developer. That could be a most profitable deal, not necessarily for the city. Just recently a large piece of the city’s land, where a 5-star hotel sits, was sold for what people in the know say is a bargain-basement assessment.
The once fashionable Avenida Rizal — in another age the heart and soul of Filipino civilization — is now a dark and dingy street, choked with pedicabs and even horse-drawn carriages. There was an effort, some years back, to reinvent Avenida as a brightly-lit pedestrian mall recalling its glorious past as the center of fashion, commerce and the arts. That effort was scuttled by the presently sitting mayor and the area was allowed to degenerate into a dim and dinghy black hole.
One cannot walk the streets of the old city without becoming overcome with fear of pickpockets and holdup artists. I generally avoid going to Manila, except for an occasional golf game in Intramuros or the quarterly exercise of emptying my pigeonhole at the offices of this newspaper. The streets are always choked and traffic flow is always chaotic.
It was once a pleasure to walk through the Luneta Park and listen to live concerts being played there. Today the place stinks. The grass is dead. There is no decent place to eat or have a decent cup of coffee.
It seems this city began dying a little more quickly during the tenure of Mayor Alfredo Lim.
When he assumed office, Lim promised to ban provincial buses from the crowded Lawton area. Today, the place is even more crowded with buses.
He promised the Archbishop of Manila that, in the event his city council passed an ordinance prolonging the stay of the fuel depots in Pandacan, he would promptly veto the measure. When the measure was passed, the Mayor, acting like he was in some sort of divine delirium, pronounced he had heard the voice of the people and not only allowed the depots to stay but invited all sorts of hazardous industries to the banks of the dying Pasig River.
With Lim in charge, everything seemed permissible in this chaotic city. Peddlers of every sort colonized the streets. There was no housing program of any note initiated to absorb the great number of denizens inhabiting the sidewalks. Taft Avenue began to resemble an obstacle course for pedestrians.
There is no economic plan to liberate the city from the grip of poverty, no plan for urban renewal to mitigate the stench. The esteros continued to deteriorate. There are few public services in sight, not one new public toilet and not a new restaurant row.
The city had not upgraded its educational institutions. There is no employment program for precisely the locality with the highest rate of unemployment in the whole country.
I am not sure if public medical services in the city have been upgraded in any way. I have seen no new medical facility that the people of Manila could run to when they need expert medical attention.
For some reason, I recall Autumn of the Patriarch whenever I think about Mayor Lim and the degenerating city he presides over. In the novel, the ageing patriarch just sits and does nothing — and would not go away.
Lim is, of course, seeking reelection in a city that has become even more decrepit since he took the reins. It seems he has spent his entire term tearing down the beautification projects of his predecessor and sending off his barangay officials to Hong Kong for rest and recreation.
His people have mounted a strange sort of campaign against his main challenger: the three-term, undefeated former mayor Lito Atienza. Last week, his people tried to tar Atienza by concocting some story about Atienza’s people tearing down Cory streamers in the city.
That sounds rather unthinkable. When Lim served the Marcos dictatorship, Atienza suffered with the democratic opposition. When the Liberal party rally was bombed in Plaza Miranda, Atienza was among those injured. The current DENR secretary was once of the handful of assemblymen who supported the possibility of Cory Aquino challenging Marcos. He then served the Cory administration as NHA administrator.
Perhaps Lim and his people should try and elevate the quality of the local electoral contest in Manila. He can start by presenting a report of his service as chief executive of the city. He might try to recount the promises he made at the start so the people can see if these promises were fulfilled.
This might be a bit of a challenge: he might try and present a plan for rehabilitating this debilitated city. The danger in doing this, of course, is that any conceivable plan for redeeming Manila will militate against Lim’s record as mayor.
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