Tuesday, August 28, 2007 Maxey: A park with no name By Ram Maxey Bar None
THERE is a 7.2-hectare open field behind what is now the Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. Central Elementary School (KTMCES) along Ponciano Reyes Street (a.k.a. C. Bangoy Sr. St. and a.k.a. Crooked Road).
As far as we can remember, this open space was, for some strange reason, referred to as the P.T.A. Grounds.
Then it became Palaruang Lungsod during the time of Mayor Elias B. Lopez and finally Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr. sports complex during the short reign of OIC Mayor Zaf Respicio, although back then, there was nothing complex about it since its decrepit bleachers and grandstands, the three elementary schools' classrooms under them, and the covered courts, including the regional office of the Department of Education, were reduced to ashes during a big fire.
The initials stand for Parent-Teacher Association. Nobody, including Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, knows who (and why) gave this vast emptiness such a monicker. Is it because the KTMCES, like all Philippine public schools, has such an organization made up of students' parents and teachers to help in the school's year-round activities?
The 7.2 hectare area served for many years as a venue for various activities like school sports (track and field, ball games, swimming), cultural and religious events, also trade fairs. This was also the venue of the first and only Mindanao athletic meet hosted by Davao City and a number of world-class carnivals. At night it also served as a trysting place for lovers while the absence of lights was an invitation to young drug addicts to do their thing without fear of detection.
That's history now. The City Government decided to convert the entire area into a mini nature park where Dabawenyos and their families, especially children, can while away their spare time away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Opened tentatively during the just-concluded Kadayawan Fruit and Flower Festival, the park is set to be completely finished (hopefully) in time for the Christmas season.
There's only one hitch. The park still has no name and Mayor Rody Duterte is all for conducting a name-the-park competition among Dabawenyos. Up for grabs is the winner's prize--P50,000. Organizers of the contest have yet to announce the details, expecting a deluge of entries.
This early, I hear that a number of old-timers have floated the idea of naming the park after one of Davao City's pioneers, a man after whom the adjacent school was named--Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr.--who donated the land where the KTMCES now stands. Monteverde Sr. was appointed Davao Municipal Gobernadorcillo during the Spanish era and served two four-year terms from 1887 to 1895. The gobernadorcillo, who also was addressed as Kapitan, was the alter ego of the Spanish governor and was the forerunner of today's city mayor.
Be that as it may, Mayor Duterte had reportedly rejected suggestions that the park be named after persons, including even his own father, Vicente Duterte, who was governor of the once undivided Davao province.
At any rate, the name-the-park competition has generated lots of interest among Dabawenyos. For one thing, P50,000 after all is no peanuts.
