A Skyway over Pasig River; heritage defenders oppose

Romar Fernando

June 16, 2021

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  Photo Credit: Car Guide PH

  The success of the recent opening of the Skyway Stage 3, which connects South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and North Luzon Expressway that helps decongest C-5 and Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), fills up the high hopes of the business sector and labor force in Metro Manila.

  These kinds of projects not just only decongest traffic but also help motorists get to their destination quicker.

  With this development, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) felt so energized on making roads to further decongest Metro Manila. After connecting north to south, they are now planning to connect east to west and vice versa through the Pasig River Expressway or the PaREx project.

  

  Photo Credit: Rappler

  The PaREx project is estimated to cost PhP 95.413 billion according to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB). This joint project of SMC and Philippine National Construction Company (PNCC) aims to provide faster access to business districts such as Makati and Ortigas and decongest parts of Marikina City and Cainta, Rizal.

  But majority of projects towards modernization and urban decongestion has consequences. For some heritage defenders in the country, the PaREx will give monstrous effects to heritage destinations, most especially in the city of Manila.

  International Council on Monuments and Sites Philippines (ICOMOS) trustee Erik Akpedonu gave emphasis on how elevated highways destroy the sightlines of heritage structures along Pasig River. “Just think of the recent disappearance of the old Paco Philippine National Railway Station behind the massive highway in front of it, where originally Paco Station was the glorious terminus of a wide avenue (Quirino Avenue) approaching it,” he said.

  

  Photo Credit: Renaciemiento Manila 

  This might be a similar case of what has happened to the monument of the National Hero, Jose Rizal, at Luneta, with the construction of the high-rise condominium Torre de Manila.

  On his June 8 column in Inquirer Lifestyle, Edgar Allan Sembrano enumerated the numerous heritage structures along Pasig River that can be affected by the PaREx project. “In Manila, the possible heritage structures that will be affected include, among others, Intramuros, a national cultural treasure with a World Heritage Site in it, San Agustin Church, Aduana or Intendencia Building, the El Hogar building, Pacific Commercial Building, Jones Bridge, the National Press Club building by architect Angel Nakpil, the Commercial Bank building by Jose Ma. Zaragoza on Escolta, Edificio Calvo, Manila Central Post Office, Manila Metropolitan Theater, Arroceros Forest Park, Quezon Bridge, Ayala Bridge and Isla de Convalecencia, where Hospicio de San Jose is located… the histo-cultural overlay zone in Sta. Ana district, such as the Manila Boat Club building, an important cultural property (ICP), Lichauco Heritage House, Plaza Felipe Calderon, Sta. Ana Church and Pao Ong Hu Taoist Temple,” Sembrano listed.

  

  Photo Credit: Renaciemiento Manila

  He also mentioned some structures that can be found in Makati City. “In Makati, these include the heritage houses of Barangay Poblacion, such as the Spanish-era Coronado House, the American-era Tolentino and Cu-Unjieng houses and the Makati-era old municipio; Guadalupe Bliss in Cembo, which is a presumed ICP as it was designed by National Artist Francisco Mañosa; Makati City Jail (formerly Fort McKinley Prison), which is already dwarfed by Ortigas-BGC Link Bridge in Barangay Northside; and the late 18th-century San Nicolas de Tolentino Chapel in West Rembo and the old Pasig old capitol building in Barangay Sta. Rosa,” he wrote.

  Furthermore, Akpedonu explained that heritage preservation is not limited to preservation of structures but to the relationship of structures to the urban and natural landscape. “Car-centric planning,” he said, became unpopular during the 1980s to 1990s because of the negative impacts on the quality of urban life. For Akpedonu, the key for sustainable and heritage-friendly development is the development of mass transportation.

  “The construction of a six-lane elevated highway on Pasig River would reduce it to ‘a mere gutter.’ Pasig River is the nucleus, heart and soul of Manila,” Akpedonu said. “Instead of repeating the mistake done elsewhere since the 1950s and 1960s, it would be better for Manila to adopt a future-oriented, modern, efficient and sustainable traffic concept, which means an integrated public mass transport system,” he added.

  Recently, the TRB said that PaREx has no contract yet. The construction was supposed to start last February and to be completed in 2023.

  

  Photo Credit: Sweet018 Wattpad

  Our government officials might consider this. Remember the times when Dr. Jose Rizal used Pasig River as setting for his zarzuela entitled ‘Junto al Pasig’ and when he described Pasig River on ‘Noli Me Tangere’ and ‘El Filibusterismo’ as settings of daring escapades and merry picnics. Now, just recently, the Science Advances Journal cited the same river as the top pollutant of plastic among the 1,600 rivers in the world. What went wrong?

  Stay safe and sound!

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