The Walled City of Intramuros is considered a historic spot in the Philippines, and yet we don’t know how to take care of it. In 2010, the Global Heritage Fund identified it as one of 12 worldwide sites “on the verge” of irreparable loss and destruction. A visit to Intramuros confirms that: today, it is filled with informal settlers, trash, and pedicabs.
That will soon change as Manila Mayor Erap Estrada mobilized the city’s Task Force Manila Cleanup to rid Intramuros of “eyesores.” He said, “Intramuros is an important cultural heritage that should not be neglected. We must keep it clean and well-maintained to help in its preservation. We owe it to our forefathers and the future generation to keep the place spruced up, not a dirty, traffic-clogged, and disorderly community that is full of eyesores and garbage it has now become.”
The move is part of an initiative by the Intramuros Administration and the Department of Tourism.
According to Dennis Alcoreza, head of the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB), the project covered the major streets of Intramuros, and successfully cleared the Walled City of obstructions. He added, “Dozens of illegally parked vehicles, unauthorized structures, unsightly piles of garbage, and numerous junks and eyesores were removed; sidewalk vendors were driven away, and dozens and dozens of pedicabs and “kuligligs” or motorized pedicabs that have been causing traffic in the area were impounded.”
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