GHF in the News - 2010 News Archives

After Rizal Park, DoT plans to help improve Intramuros

December 2010

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism officials are planning to restore the centuries-old, Walled City of Intramuros in Ermita, Manila, after renovations at the historic Rizal Park landmark is completed by the first quarter of 2011.

In a chance interview during the re-launching of the newly furbished Rizal Park Central Lagoon Musical Dancing Fountain, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim told reporters that they will next prioritize the overhaul of Intramuros once work at Rizal Park is already finished.

“The restoration of Intramuros will be the Phase II of our project in Manila in order to attract more (foreign) tourists to stay in the city. Manila desperately needed to have a tourist attraction to lure foreign guests,” he said.

When asked on where he will get the budget for the said project, Lim said they will seek the help of public donors and non government organizations (NGOs) in restoring the 64-hectare Spanish fortress.

“There will be tie-ups from different organizations as well as probably donations just like what we did in Rizal Park. We will be working on that once we finish our job here in Rizal Park,” he said.

Lim said that they expect the completion of the restoration and renovation of Rizal Park on March 2011 and set the re-launching of the historic park during the 150th birthday of national hero Jose Rizal on June 19, 2011.

Still to be repaired at the Rizal Park are the Relief Map, the Chinese Garden, the Chess Plaza, and the Orchidarium, he said.

Intramuros, which was built in 1571 along the southern bank of Pasig River, is separated from the rest of Manila by towering walls. The Spanish fortress housed the Roman Catholic churches, like Manila Cathedral and St. Augustine Church, as well as the Governor’s Palace, the official residence of Spanish officials sent to the Philippines, and Fort Santiago, where national hero Jose Rizal was detained.

In October, Manila’s renowned Walled City of Intramuros and Fort Santiago were included in the list of more than 200 global heritage sites in the developing world that are facing “irreversible loss and damage.

The Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a California-based NGO, said in a 68-page report titled “Saving our Vanishing Heritage” that the two Spanish era remnants in the Philippines are suffering from “insufficient management and development pressures.”