Christmas mood at Quezon’s park offers comfort to typhoon-weary public

BUTTERFLY GARDEN A portion of Perez Park in Lucena City turns into a lighted butterfly garden for the Christmas season with the neoclassical- and art deco-inspired “kapitolyo” (provincial capitol building) in the background, attracting the storm-weary public since it opened on Friday, Nov. 22. —Delfin T. Mallari Jr.

LUCENA CITY, QUEZON, Philippines — The Quezon provincial capitol complex in this city has turned Perez Park into a comforting place this Christmas season for the typhoon-weary public.

“The holiday landscape, giant Christmas tree and faces of happy people around us is a welcome respite after the terrifying typhoons,” Maria Luz Noble, 65, told the Inquirer on Saturday night. Noble was with her three grandchildren who were visiting from a town on the Polillo Group of Islands in the Pacific Ocean that was recently battered by Super Typhoon Pepito (international name: Man-yi).

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The three youngsters were busy taking photos of themselves on their mobile phones with the huge Christmas tree festooned with multicolored lights at the park’s center as a picture-perfect background.

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“They are all excited. They deserve it after their horrifying experience with the typhoon. Thank God, their house was spared from destruction,” Noble said.

Gov. Angelina Tan led local officials and guests in the switch-on ceremony on Nov. 22 of this year’s traditional holiday spectacle at the park.

Tan said the provincial government deliberated whether to proceed with this year’s Christmas display amid the challenges other places have faced during the series of storms that hit Luzon and Eastern Visayas in October until mid-November.

“However, we believe it can still bring some joy to our province mates. Even if it offers only momentary happiness, this tradition can still bring smiles to your faces,” she said in her speech during the switch-on ceremony.

Zero casualties

Tan noted that despite the heavy rains in most parts of the province, including the Polillo Group of Islands, the province recorded zero casualties and did not experience the devastation suffered by provinces like Batangas in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region.

“This is our way of showing our gratitude to our Lord God. This is simple and within the provincial government’s capacity,” Tan emphasized.

She invited her provincemates to visit the park and enjoy the Christmas-inspired settings, which will be open until Jan. 7 next year. The holiday lights are switched on from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The four-block Perez Park is one of the surviving public recreation areas with a sunken design in the country that were built during the early years of American colonization.

The park faces the neoclassical and art deco-designed “kapitolyo” (provincial capitol building), which was designed by American architect William Parsons, built in 1924, and inaugurated in 1927.