MANILA, Philippines—Before Luneta, now called Rizal Park, became the national park, it was a swamp.

It was also the best project for Dolly Perez, the country’s first landscape architect.

Perez, 71, recognized as a pioneer in landscape architecture, said she was aghast when she first had a good look of the neglected park. Still, she added, it was challenge she was willing to face.

It was the early ’60s, and Perez had just come home after years of studying landscapes in California.

Perez, who was commissioned by then First Lady Eva Macapagal to rehabilitate the park originally designed by American architect Daniel Burnham, recalled that the area now known as the Quirino Grandstand was then filled with overgrown weeds. It was also the favorite hangout of criminal gangs. “It was the dumping place for salvage victims,” she said.

As the project took off, the park slowly started to turn green, especially around the grandstand area and the Agrifina Circle, the sites Perez worked on in the ’60s.

Her plan was to maximize the open space and make Manila Bay a feature of the park. She wanted to adhere to the original idea that the Luneta was for promenading, for gazing out into the bay.

Unfinished business

The plan, she said, was to level the soil with green grass and accent it with trees. The main attraction was the monument of national hero Jose Rizal. But Perez never finished the job.

When President Diosdado Macapagal was defeated by Ferdinand Marcos, the project was halted and Perez bowed out. Politicians soon took over the design and added incongruous elements, like a carnival, much to her mortification, she said.

“The Filipinos cannot take open spaces,” Perez observed.

Another public project ended the same way, she noted. What is now the Quezon Memorial Circle was supposed to be just one of the features of a large space inspired by New York City’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Like the Luneta project, the Quezon City Park became a victim of conflicting political interests, she said. It did not push through and the land in Quezon City that was supposed to be part of it became the site of government housing projects now known as the “Project” areas.

Politicians then and now do not understand the importance of green spaces, Perez said. “They think it’s a waste of space. But it gives the public a chance to breathe healthy air and serve as a place for recreation, especially for the children. It’s not only for the physical health but for the emotional health of the families,” she explained.

Eventually, Perez decided to focus on landscaping private homes and gardens. She founded her own landscape architectural firm and trained generations of architects for the job.

While creating public spaces provides an architect the opportunity to give something to the public—greens, open space and nature—working on private projects also has its charms, Perez said.

“Public space is a bit impersonal,” she said. “A private commission is about enhancing the life of a family and leaving a stamp that will improve their lives,” Perez said.

More to architecture

She admitted that she did not set out to become a landscape architect. Perez graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas in 1957 with a degree in architecture. It was in UST, under the tutelage of esteemed architect Angel Nakpil, that she realized there was more to architecture than planks and steel. There were also living, breathing, green things.

“In one class, Angel Nakpil talked about landscaping. He said, ‘Trees are for shade.’ I was intrigued. So he encouraged me to study landscaping,” she said.

Since there were no local schools that offered Perez an opportunity to focus on landscape architecture, she went to the University of California (Berkeley) to earn her master’s degree. She graduated in 1962 and worked for various architects before coming home.

Perez recalled that potential clients and other architects did not fully embrace her and her vocation at first. Some even questioned her qualifications and sought to remove her from the architects’ roll.

“It was difficult for them to say ‘landscape architect.’ They had no vocabulary for the profession. They could say landscapist, landscape artist, gardener,” she said.

But other architects and clients soon realized that she was here to stay. Perez founded two architectural firms and became the doyenne of the industry. She also trained generations of architects smitten with land and plants.

Now that she has retired, Perez has stopped accepting projects, although there are still some commissions that pique her interest. She is currently designing the grounds of the Far Eastern University in downtown Manila and a playground cum park in her father’s hometown.