The meaning of the Rizal National Monument

THIS year marks the 60th anniversary of the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC), the caretaker of the Rizal Park Luneta and Paco Park, two of the country's foremost parklands. A government agency under the Department of Tourism, in this milestone year is headed by Executive Director Cecille Lorenzana Romero and Deputy Executive Director Juan Carlos Antonio Apelar. Romero said during the launch last month: "As we celebrate our 60th anniversary, we would like to invite all of you to the 60 activities we prepared in continuing our agency's mission: to nurture places and spaces that allow the Filipino Spirit to breathe, grow, and thrive." The theme: Parks for every generation.

According to the book Parks for a Nation edited by Paulo G. Alcazaren, the first committee for Luneta that was formed in 1962 was a citizen's committee, set up by Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas, aimed at looking into the development of Luneta as "one of the most modern parks in the Far East." A young landscape architect Dolores "Dolly" Quimbo Perez, who had just returned to Manila, was tasked to create a proposed master plan for the park which Mayor Villegas presented to President Diosdado Macapagal in December. The president then formed the Luneta Park Committee headed by first lady Eva Macaraeg Macapagal.