RECORDED TO be 5°C cooler than the actual heat index in Manila, the Arroceros Forest Park caught the eye of the public sweltering in the summer heat. However, an environmentalist saw the hype as an “artificial appreciation.”
Dubbed as “Manila’s last lung,” a security personnel told the Manila Pulse that the 2.71-hectare nature park has garnered an average of 1,500 visitors a day after News5 revealed last April 24 that the heat index measured at the park was 36°C—cooler than the city’s 41°C heat index.
The heat index is the temperature that the body feels. Extreme heat indices ranging from 41 to 51°C fall under the "danger" category, posing weather-related deaths and illnesses due to the body's inability to regulate its internal temperature.
While Arroceros’ growing popularity is a “good thing,” Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society Inc. former president Menie Odulio urged people not only to admire Arroceros at face value but to view it as a “learning tool” to conserve existing forests.
“The tagline ‘last lung of Manila,’ it’s a nice [and] catchy tagline that hopefully will make people look deeper into why this is happening. ‘Why do we say it's the last lung?’ And then hopefully that will make people start thinking about the next step,” Odulio told the Manila Pulse.
“You know, that’s the problem with social media, it’s really all the likes and so on that sometimes make it an artificial appreciation,” Odulio added.
The environmentalist hopes for the people to learn about the park critically, considering that it has faced several controversies over the years.
History of Arroceros
After ex-mayor Joseph Estrada attempted to replace the park with a gymnasium, succeeding mayor Isko Moreno signed Ordinance No. 8607, converting Arroceros from regular city property to a permanent forest park. The ordinance forbids “excavation, disposal of waste, and tree-cutting" in the designated area.
However, more issues were raised shortly after Moreno implemented a redevelopment plan in 2021 to “beautify” the park with more tourist-friendly features, including elevated pathways, play areas, koi ponds, and exhibit panels.
The proposal gained a surprise reaction from Arroceros Forest Park Governing Committee, one of the park’s stakeholders, as they were not informed of the project, which was a violation of the ordinance.
Odulio expressed that urbanizing the park into a tourist attraction diverts its “original” purpose of being a natural habitat that sprouted “on its own."
“We had no choice, we had to compromise because it was already there. By the time we got there, they already had the walkways, they were just going to put the tiles and such, so whatever infrastructure changes they were making, they had already made,” she recalled.
Later, the Parks Development Office (PDO) took over management since Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna’s term in 2022.
Odulio reiterated the ordinance’s provision mandating the local government unit (LGU) to be in constant dialogue with the park’s stakeholders, but the office was supposedly “not interested.”
In good hands?
Contrary to Odulio’s sentiments, Arroceros Forest Park officer-in-charge Gideon Navarro believes the redevelopment was “beneficial.”
“Tingin ko mas napabuti ang pag develop, ‘no? Kung baga, mas maraming bisita kung mas maraming makaka-appreciate sa nature kaysa bare itself—na lumang Arroceros,” Navarro told the Manila Pulse.
(I think the development brought improvements, right? In the sense that there would be more visitors when more people appreciate nature instead of bare itself—the old Arroceros.)
Despite the El Niño phenomenon, Navarro assured that the park is “in good hands” as the trees and plants are being watered and monitored regularly, while native and exotic plants are cultivated to maximize vacant spaces.
Similarly, PDO seeks to strengthen environmental protection in Manila by expanding vertical plants to the city’s walls and surfaces.
While Odulio commended the LGU’s efforts to provide more shade against the extreme heat, she claimed that its “organic essence” is almost unrecognizable since the plants are no longer growing “naturally.”
The environmentalist advised PDO not to restrict its actions to “man-made solutions” alone as natural regeneration is also vital to combat climate change and heat-related illnesses.
“When you enter inside, there are certain parts of the forests, even before, you really feel [that you are] in a forest, but with the redevelopment, at least it's an area where there's no distraction. I think our message should be, ‘We should protect whatever existing forests we have,’ and then try to increase our forest cover again,” Odulio said.
Established in 1993, the Arroceros Forest Park is home to over 60 tree species and 8,000 ornamental plants.
The green esplanade is adjacent to Pasig River in Ermita, Manila, operating from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. — Cali Asajar/Manila Pulse
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