Serene Neglect - Quezon City Hall Lagoon & Dedication to New Westminster Canada

Right in front of the Quezon City Hall Complex is a quiet corner - a place of serenity and, sadly, neglect. I was surprised to find this park/lagoon which is curiously dedicated to a Canadian City called New Westminster - otherwise referred to as the Royal City! In fact, at the center of the park grounds is a totem pole, and a sign that says "New Westminster Canada - Kapatirang Tunay" which translates to "true brotherhood". Empty water bottles were seen on top of the wooden sign board and a sack full of garbage dangling under it. All this space and property unfortunately forgotten in the hustle of it all.

Unfamiliar with this Canadian city, I later found out that New Westminster is a historically important city in the Greater Vancouver Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. Founded as the second capital of the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866), it is located on the north bank of the Fraser River, some 19 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of the City of Vancouver proper. It has a population of about 55,000. Quezon City has a comparative population of 2.7 million. New Westminster and QC have been official sister cities since 1991, and the park is a testament to this pact.

In light of this, we do hope that whoever wins the elections (Herbert Bautista) should find the time to explore the possibilities and develop this prime piece of property. There is so much possibility!

Congratulations to the Filipino people for seeing through a very swift first-ever fully automated elections!

This is the Eye in the Sky!

List of Quezon City's sister cities: includes Salt Lake City, Taipei, GenSan, Iloilo, Caracas Venezuela and Chiba Japan, among others!

New Westminster, BC Canada. These photos only courtesy of wikipedia's dennissylvesterhurd (left) and bardsmaid.org (right).

Location of New Westminster in Canada.

Andres Bonifacio's statue is just beside this neglected park/lagoon. There is a gate, but admission is free.

Check out Part 1 which features Quezon City Hall Grounds - a little history and photos

http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/05/philippines-stroll-around-quezon-city.html

Philippines – A Stroll Around Quezon City Hall Complex

Quezon City used to be the capital of the Philippines, and it went on for 28 years (1948-1976). Named after Manuel Quezon, the Philippine President during the Commonwealth Republic of the Philippines, QC was once a conglomeration of small towns. President Quezon patterned the inception of QC right after he visited Mexico! More importantly, QC was where Katipunan’s Andres Bonifacio declared the revolution against Spain – in Melchora Aquino’s house, somewhere in Project 8.

These days, QC is the most populous city in the Philippines with 2.7 million residents in it. It is home to most of the major television networks; Megamall and SM North Edsa, Gateway, Trinoma and the Araneta Complex. I’ve recently visited its City Hall. Though most of my career trainings in the past were located in Quezon City, I almost never roam. I remember attending some medico-legal cases at the Hall of Justice some years back as training requisites, but I was never interested in checking the exterior complex. That was then.

The whole QC Hall Complex is home to 3 statues of Philippine National Heroes: former President Manuel Quezon, Revolutionary Leader Andres Bonifacio, and the country’s National Hero – Dr. Jose Rizal. In its vicinity is a neglected park which has a lot of possibilities, dedicated to its sister city – New Westminster BC Canada, which we shall feature in the next post.

This is the Eye in the Sky.

President Manuel Quezon's statue, right in front of the main building.

QC Hall of Justice

National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, ophthalmologist, novelist, and international loverboy. ;->

Revolutionary leader of the Katipunan - Andres Bonifacio: declared war against Spain.

Map/locator of Quezon City courtesy of wikipedia.

Bonifacio when it rained.

Up Next: QC Hall Park and Lagoon dedicated to New Westminster BC Canada - http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/05/serene-neglect-quezon-city-hall-park.html

Philippines - And I Thought We Were Turning Into A Desert

Pampanga River? All dried up!

Just last March, I left a very dry Philippines. It had been months of dry weather. Agricultural plants have withered. Water level from dams was continually covered by sensationalist news programs – while everyone waits with bated breath when this dry spell would last! I was to fly east of Manila for more than 3 hours. The moment my plane touched down Kuala Lumpur, splatters of fresh rain bounced playfully against my window, as though heralding the crossing of a geographical barrier that specifically excluded the Philippine archipelago from regions blessed with precipitation. Were we being punished?

But maybe KL’s rain was just coincidence? I went further north and travelled to Penang. The moment my ferry reached Georgetown, it rained again! For a delectable hour! A few days later, I flew for Colombo – capital of Sri Lanka, almost 4 hours further west from southeast asia! That same day, while I was roaming modern day Ceylon on a hired three-wheeler (tuktuk), Colombo skies spat a benevolent volume of rain water. Children jumped with joy, and my driver sported a grin from ear to ear; this despite his getting drenched in the downpour than lasted for 30 minutes. It had been 3 months of dry spell in Colombo.

A few weeks later, my Air Asia flight took me to the city of Kuching in the state of Sarawak in the island of Borneo, and if you look at the map, this is very near the tip of southern Philippines’ Mindanao island. Yet Mindanao was dry! From the sky, I could see rolling hills and plains of lush green vegetation (see photos below). Sarawak River was abundantly flowing! A few days later, it rained – hard! As though a message was sent my way.

Then finally I had to come home! My Air Asia flight from LCCT to Clark Field – in Pampanga (a couple of hours north of Manila)! As we were making our descent, I saw the withering rice fields; a landscape painted with the hue of earth. There is a sweeping spread of parched lands, and the Pampanga River and its tributaries have turned into dry sinewy snakes of sand and gravel!

The Catholic Diocese already resorted to oratio imperata, our desperate prayer for rain. I read that even Melbourne turned to prayers. Last March 10, 2010 - Melbourne experienced a very satisfying rainfall, it was, as others put it, "a storm". Yet all we had in the Philippines were spits of drizzle that dissipate in 5 minutes - and an increasing rise of temperature that has recently gone to 37.8 degrees in Cagayan. I am told that Shanghai scorches at 40 degrees, but who cares, they have winter and we don’t. We should enjoy temperate weather – and they can have their 4 seasons!

We do not deserve to be dehydrated by our own sweat! What did Melbourne do that their prayers were heard?

Then for the last few days, Manila had been inundated with heavy rains. How come it has turned into a case of all or nothing? Either we die of thirst or of getting swept away by the floods? Did we pray too much?

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Kuching when it rains! (It is after all, Malaysia's wettest place!)

South Borneo's Sarawak River amidst lush vegetation!