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By Manny B. Marinay, City Editor with
Cheryl Arcibal and Jonathan Vicente, Reporters
LUNETA is an endangered urban landmark.
Manila’s crown jewel no longer pulsates with life. The Luneta of
yesteryears — green, clean spaces, fabulous fountains — is gone.
Today, Luneta is grappling with the invasion of
informal settlers, commercialism, and crippled by lack of funds and
politicking.
Luneta, officially called Rizal Park in honor of
the national hero, has also become a symbol of the country’s
yawning social gap. It hosts the jologs (a pejorative of masa). The
moneyed set go to theme parks.
Mayor Lito Atienza blames the National Parks
Development Committee (NPDC), an attached agency of the Department
of Tourism tasked to oversee Luneta, for the park’s wretched
state.
“There’s a lot of neglect going on,” he
laments. “They have the money. Why are the structures being left
to deteriorate? What is the NPDC doing?”
The mayor sees an urgent need for a major
makeover for Luneta.
Officials of the National Historical Institute (NHI)
who asked not to be named agreed with Atienza. “It’s a premiere
park and yet it’s so dirty.”
But in an interview, Jaime K. Recio, executive
director of the NPDC, debunked Atienza’s claim.
While he does not deny the sorry state of Luneta,
Recio points out that the NPDC lacks money.
Documents obtained by THE MANILA TIMES show that
for the fiscal year 2002, the Department of Budget and Management
had allotted P149, 659 million for the NPDC.
“This is not enough considering that Luneta is
not the only park we maintain,” Recio says.
Besides Luneta, NPDC also supervises Paco Park
and Pook ni Mariang Makiling in UP Los Baños, which are included in
the 2002 budget.
The biggest chunk of the budget, P107.999
million, goes to the salaries of the agency’s 716 personnel.
Maintenance and other operating services of the
three parks (water, electricity bills) cost P38,660 million yearly.
For capital outlay, meaning park rehabilitation
and construction of new structures, the NPDC spends a measly P3
million (See Page 4A for breakdown of expenses).
Recio described the budget for rehabilitation as
“pathetic.”
“Wala na talaga halos matira dahil sa dami ng
aayusin (nothing is left because there’s a lot to repair).”
Budget deficit
For this year, NPDC has a P170-million budget
deficit which Recio blames on increases in water and electricity
rates.
“Before, pinagkakasya namin, pero nang tumaas
ang electricity at water, hindi talaga kaya (We could live with out
old budget but with increasing electricity and water rates, we’re
really tight for funds),” he says.
“Nobody foresaw that water and
electricity would increase so in the budget that they planned for
us, the increases for these items were not factored in,” Recio
says.
Luneta’s water bill last month amounted to
P1.2 million while its electricity consumption reached P1.3 million.
“Before, we used to pay only P500,00 for water
and P700,000 for electricity,” Recio says.
In fact, to save up on water and electricity,
NPDC has decided to limit the use of fountains at the Central
Lagoon. “But they’re still working,” Recio assures the public.
More funds for Luneta rehabilitation
For fiscal year 2004, NPDC has proposed a budget
of P306,210 million, a 105-percent increase from last year’s
P149,659 million (see Page 4A for comparative budget analysis).
“This is just enough for all our operating
expenses, including salaries. What we proposed is an ideal budget
for us,” according to Virgines S. Aguirre, chief of the NPDC
finance division. This time, park rehabilitation which falls under
capital outlay, is the top priority, with P112,762 million. This is
an increase of 2,658 percent from last year’s P3 million.
Employees’ wages will only increase by one
peso, Aguirre says. Maintenance and operating expenses will
likewise rise by 121 percent.
The proposed budget increase is designed to make
Luneta survive, Recio says.
“We can’t do anything. We lack manpower.
We’re labor intensive na kami here at NPDC,” he says.
More warm bodies
Maintaining the 50-hectare Luneta and two more
parks is no mean feat, Recio notes. “How can you do that if you
only have 736 personnel? We need more.”
Aguirre agrees. During the time of NPDC director
Teodoro Valencia, the agency had more than 3,000 personnel.
“Luneta’s problems were not that serious,
but he had more people. That’s why many of us work double
time.”
Asked why the number of personnel had gone down
to 716, Aguirre explains about “natural reduction.”
“Namatay, nag-retire. Wala namang
tinanggal. At hindi na kami nadagdagan (Some died, some retired. We
have not laid off anyone. Nor have we added to the staff),” she
illustrates.
Of the 716 personnel, the operations division
has the most number of people with 495, followed by the finance
management services division with 74. The others are:
administration division, 67; office of the executive director, 36;
arts and culture division, 28; planning and evaluation division, 10;
and business affairs division, 06.
Of the three parks under NPDC, Luneta has 437
personnel, Pook ni Mariang Makiling, 39, and Paco Park, 19.
COA woes
Recio is also hounded by the debts left
unsettled by his predecessors. A Commission on Audit (COA) report
obtained by THE TIMES shows that NPDC’s cash advances in 2000
reached P68.16 million and only 13 percent were settled.
By 2000, total cash advances (including the
previous years 1998 and 1999) amounted to P361.4 million, with only
P86.4 million paid.
The report says the continuous failure of NPDC
to settle the cash advances violates Section 9.1 of the Revised
Manual on Certificate of Settlement and Balances (CSB). The
provision orders heads of agencies to “ensure that disallowances
and charges are settled within the prescribe period, the
requirements of transactions suspended in audit are complied with,
and appropriate actions are taken on the deficiencies noted.”
COA has recommended the NPDC management should
“direct the concerned officials and employees to cause the
immediate settlement of the balances” and comply strictly with
government auditing rules and regulations.
Aguirre, however, assures COA that the NPDC is
not running away from its obligations. “We intend to settle
everything. Basically the problem there is documentation.
We’re doing something about it.”
Second of three parts
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