PERHAPS one has heard of a little park in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu nestled under the Marcelo Fernan Bridge—the one people often refer to as “the park below the bridge.” Unknown to most Oponganons (locals from Opon, a barangay in Lapu-Lapu), it is actually called the Millennium Park.
The City Engineering Office of Lapu-Lapu says that the Millennium Park, 100 meters in length, 72 meters in width, has existed for two decades now as it had been built around the same time as the second Mactan-Mandaue Bridge. Whatever reason people have as to why they visit Millennium Park, it has been the go-to place for most Oponganons, especially for those who are looking for ways to enjoy without hurting their pockets.
This public park situated near a coastal area has been a place filled with little kiosks, a playground, a basketball court, a daycare center, a number of food stalls and a few karaoke bars. At night, the park is bursting with life. Locals flock to the park to spend time with their loved ones or to enjoy the cool sea breeze.
At present, there are about five parks in the entire city, according to Ronnie Veloso of the Lapu-Lapu City Planning and Development Office (CPDO). Around 2.71 percent or 184.79 hectares of the total land area of the city are classified under Parks/Playgrounds and other recreational spaces. The Lapu-Lapu CPDO also recognizes the importance of parks to the city’s branding as “The Historic Resort City.”
State of the park
Like most parks within cities, Millennium Park functions as one of the city’s green packets, serving as a breather for residents. Aside from that, the park also serves as a source of income for vendors and locals with small-scale businesses.
Nineteen-year-old vendor Lisa (not her real name) has a livelihood that is dependent on the number of people who frequent the park. During most days she narrates how there are not many customers who she’d be happy to sell her goods to.
Importance of open spaces
Businessman Eric Paolo Smith, who was part of the team that started the “Youth for Livable Cebu,” a movement which advocates for more packets of nature in Cebu City, says that parks are indicators of quality in the city’s development because not only do they function as the city’s “green lungs” they also bring and engage people together in the community.
A public park near coastal areas similar to that of Millennium Park in Lapu-Lapu City also exists in Sorsogon City, Sorsogon where development has come a long way through food establishments and water sports activities introduced in the vicinity which provided livelihood opportunities for the locals as well as leisure for those who frequent the park.
Parks in cities
Socorro B. Atega, a landscape architect, comments on the benefits of parks in cities stressing that if spaces meant for parks in cities are not allocated for the socio-economic and ecological benefits they serve, we will be living in degraded environments or urban concrete jungles.
“We will continue to experience flooding as natural surfaces and land cover are sacrificed for saleable/built-up areas for purely economic returns.” Moreover, she stressed that parks provide a venue for social interaction and provide opportunities for people to interact and have a sense of community.
Furthermore, Smith suggested a way wherein parks can be integrated with income by developing them into marketplaces minus the kind of commercialism typically present in malls. This could be done by catering to several food establishments, entertainment and retail to the public as a space that is more eco-friendly and at the same time income-generating.
Development of parks
According to the Lapu-Lapu CPDO, a strip of land between the two bridges in the Mactan side is to be made a recreational park. Moreover, parks, greens and open spaces are also designated in the proposed north and south reclamation projects of the city.
Parks have gone a long way from just a place to walk around in.
When asked about what she would like to be improved in the park, Lisa, the vendor, said she only hopes that the ones in charge of the park and its development would put in more effort to its evolution, which she believes will result to more customers in her little sari-sari store business.
Parks, if given much attention for development, will level other places of leisure like that of going to malls or theme parks where there will be no compromise in budget. More than “green lungs,” parks serve as the heart of cities, where pieces of nature are present amid the domination of industrialization. Stacey Marie S. Baladya and Darla Jan N. Belleza, UP-Cebu Masscom students