Spend New Year at Rizal Park, save for ‘Sendong’ victims

This New Year’s Eve, you don’t have to choose between giving your family a treat and giving a hand to those in need, if one is to ask  the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC).

The tourism department-attached agency sees a solution for those with near-empty pockets but bleeding hearts: Join the public New Year’s countdown with little to no expense at Rizal Park, donate what you would spend for a night out and give instead to victims of Tropical Storm “Sendong” in Mindanao.

“We can’t defer celebrating the coming of a New Year, but instead of spending on fireworks, we urge everyone to just watch the display at Rizal Park. They can donate their savings instead to Sendong victims,” Kenneth Montegrande, communications consultant for NPDC, said.

“Visitors can save a lot on food and fireworks. It’s safer for them, and they can be part of history,” he pointed out.

With a free concert featuring  local rock bands such as Imago, Sandwich and Paramita, free-for-all dancing and games, and a 15-minute firework display at the centerpiece of the park’s New Year’s Eve revelries this year, parkgoers can enjoy what is becoming Metro Manila’s equivalent of the New York Times Square countdown, Montegrande said.

This is  the second time Rizal Park will be hosting a New Year’s countdown, with the year’s theme, “Cheers to 2012.”

The bash, to start at 6 p.m. today and to be hosted by TV and radio personalities, will be set up around the park’s Lapu-Lapu shrine, but still with the colorful dancing fountain as a backdrop.

In its first countdown last year, the park welcomed  around two million visitors on New Year’s Eve. The NPDC is bracing for the number to spike up to three to five million, what with the Rizal Park New Year’s Eve fireworks display expected to be the only government-organized activity in Manila this year.

Annual display

The city government has earlier foregone its annual display at the Rajah Sulayman Plaza to donate P1 million each for Sendong victims in the cities of  Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the iconic but often overlooked national park  had three million visitors, surpassing its 2010 record.

“It’s a huge help that our countrymen are continually being educated on what we have here and what we can offer for them here at the park. All throughout the years, we have done nothing but work and insist on improving  the services we offer, especially to Filipinos in the country and abroad, in partnership with various sponsors from private and government offices,” NPDC Executive Director Juliet Villegas said.

At the beginning of this year, the park could only boast of the dancing fountain and a refurbished children’s playground.

Since then there has been several improvements: The renovation of a Flower Clock decommissioned for 20 years, new murals, the renovation of a giant relief map of the Philippines, free movies  and open-air concerts during weekends at the open-air auditorium, the renovation of the Martyrdom of Jose Rizal Lights and Sounds Presentation and regular bazaars and events.

Yesterday saw the unveiling of the Noli Me Tangere Garden, which has, at its centerpiece, a 246-year-old drinking fountain used by national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, when he was studying in Heidelberg, Germany, and writing his novel. The garden also has a bust of Rizal’s German mentor and confidante, Ferdinand Blumentritt.

Also on Dec. 30, the Rizal Park launched its second photography contest, open to amateur and professional shutterbugs until Jan. 2, that would showcase happiness and joy in the photos taken in the park during the holiday season.

The awarding  of the winners will take place  on Jan. 13, with the top three receiving  Sony cameras and digital frames.

While Rizal Park, admittedly, in the past years, may have been known as a haven for petty criminals and vagabonds, now, with the developments of the past year, it has become a “social equalizer,” with foreigners and visitors in luxury cars dropping in, Montegrande pointed out.

Added security

On New Year’s Eve, Montegrande assured the public of added security in the park premises, with tourist police, in-house security, the Luneta Police Community Precinct, traffic enforcers and augmented forces from the Manila Police District, ready to patrol the area.

A medical team and portalets will also be  in the park, Montegrande said.

Sections of Maria Orosa Street and Roxas Boulevard around the park may be closed to traffic, he said.

In return, all the NPDC asks is for  visitors to  take care not to litter the premises  during the revelries, and that they bring their own trash bags for disposing of their garbage.

“Let us greet together, in a simple and meaningful way, the New Year in Rizal Park. It will be a simple gathering of Filipino families for the holiday season expressing hope for the future,” Villegas said.