Manila’s Plaza Rueda reopens after being renovated by private sector

Plaza Rueda, at Taft corner UN Avenue. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines–After months of being walled off and under renovation, a small park at the corner of three busy thoroughfares in Manila is now open to the public once again.

Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada opened the newly renovated Plaza Rueda at the corner of Taft, General Luna and United Nations Avenues earlier this month.

The park, which is named after Spanish Poet Salvador Rueda who visited the Philippines in 1915, underwent a facelift, sponsored by the Medical Center Manila under the Manila City government’s public-private partnership program.

Under the program, Estrada said the city government did not have to spend a single centavo for the renovation of the park, which was last spruced up in 2006.

“The administration that I inherited was financially bankrupt, so we have difficulty implementing projects. With these arrangements, private groups can now help to get projects off the ground,” Estrada said.

Before being renovated, Plaza Rueda was merely an open space, and was dark at night. The renovation gave the park its own lights, and also enclosed the trees in plant boxes, where visitors can sit. The park was also surrounded by a metal fence to separate it from the sidewalk.

Officials of the Medical Center Manila did not reveal the cost of renovating the park, but promised to liven up the atmosphere in the area by organizing projects such as monthly medical missions, among others.

For his part, Estrada welcomed the reopening of the park, and urged other private groups to collaborate with the local government for the renovation of other places of interest in the city, as well as for other projects of the local government.

“The rehabilitation and restoration of these historical sites and other places of interest in the city has been a priority of my administration since day one. I believe restoration will also restore people’s pride in the city,” he said.