Rizal Park: The new face of Philippine eco-tourism

Rizal or Luneta Park

By Jaimes R. C. Sumbilon

Tourism is one of the key factors for the country’s economic growth and social development. It not only brings in substantial income in payment for goods and services, but also creates opportunities for employment.
Unfortunately, however, tourism also contributes in some way to the climate change that has led to the deterioration or destruction of our environment. Either developers or visitors leave an imprint that destroys some of nature’s gifts such as caves, rivers, mountains, falls and even parks.
But can we maintain tourism while still preserving our environment and help fight climate change brought about by global warming?
The Department of Tourism (DoT)’s answer is eco-tourism. The department currently aims to give more importance to the environment and contribute in lessening the impact of the global warming, while not affecting the tourist business as its main goal.
As the DoT joins the rest of the world in celebrating United Nations World Tourism Day (UNWTD) with a global theme of “Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development,” the department launched a tour on sustainable energy held recently at the Rizal Park, highlighting environment-friendly and energy-efficient measures implemented in the park.

Park tour
The celebration, led by the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) with the help of the DoT officials, focused on the Go Green project that aims to educate the youth on the importance of the environment.
The DoT’s first green initiative was launched in the country’s well-known historical landmark, the Rizal Park, also known as Luneta Park, as it is considered as the heart of Philippine tourism. The department hopes to see all parks in the country become environment-friendly.

The Dancing Fountain during daylight

During the tour, students from various colleges and universities in Metro Manila, together with some local government officials, became part of the “Rizal Park Volunteerism” program, while a tourist guide gave some historical background and other educational facts about the Luneta Park. At the same time, he taught the crowd the better way of protecting our environment and other tourist havens and keeping them “clean and green.”
According to Tourism Planning and Promotions director Cynthia Lazo, this project is the Tourism department’s response to the vision of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to value tourism while giving importance to the environment.
“This year, the UNWTO aims to highlight tourism’s role in a brighter energy future, a future in which the world’s entire population has access to modern, efficient and affordable energy services,” explained Lazo.
As we can see now, the 58-hectare Rizal Park has undergone a makeover, putting more colorful and interactive parks such as the Children’s Playground, the Philippine Map and booths featuring the best of culture and heritage of other countries.
Besides these, park goers visit the Rizal Park for its newest tourists attraction — the Dancing Fountain. When night falls, the fountain is dazzling with colorful lights and the water dancing to the different music.

‘Green toilet’
Among the features one may now experience at the Luneta is the newly-built “Green Restroom.”
The Green Restroom uses the so-called “Innovative Rainwater Harvesting System” wherein through harvester tanks, rainwater is purified for consumption.
The Innovative Rainwater Harvesting System is a technology invented by Dean Antonio Mateo, Ph.D, from the College of Engineering of Adamson University.

The “Green Restroom.”

In the process, collected rainwater from the catchment basin like the roof is filtered at the rainwash water diverter. The first flush water disposed can now be used for cleaning purposes. Then, the clean water goes to the harvester tanks containing mineral stones to improve its pH value. From the pH value of 5.8 to 7.2, the water can now be used for bathing and washing clothes or dishes. Finally, after undergoing final filtration with further pH improvement at the disinfectant chamber, water can now be turned into clean, potable water.
The Green Restroom also has a landscape inside it and uses eco-friendly and recyclable materials.
“This technology helps big in saving water, especially since sometimes we have water shortage due to the climate change. And also the tourists that will visit here may get an idea from this technology to make a version in their respective places,” shared Mateo.
Presently, 14 units of the Innovative Rainwater Harvesting System, connected in series and parallel complete with flexible pipes, acetal fittings, valves, faucets, sand trap filter and steel platforms, are installed at the Rizal Park.

Solar lampposts
To make it more eco-friendly, the NPDC replaced the existing old sodium/metal halide bulbs of the Rizal Park’s existing lampposts with light emitting diode or LED light bulbs, which are generated by the renewable solar energy, providing better illumination at less cost.

A standalone solar-powered lamppost

These LED bulbs and solar power lamps help preserve the environment since they do not contain hazardous materials such as mercury and lead.
Apart from the clean source of energy, these lower wattage solar-powered LED lampposts significantly reduce the electric bill of the park and help conserve energy.
“After the first phase of this project, the NPDC saved 12 percent on its electrical consumption. Upon the completion of the project in October, electrical bill is expected to slash down by 50 to 70 percent,” NPDC executive director Juliet Villegas said.
Even if a LED bulb costs 10 times more than a conventional bulb, many are switching to it because of its low energy consumption, quality of its light and long life.
As of now, 100 standalone solar-powered lamps are installed in the park and not less than 1,000 LED light bulbs have replaced the old incandescent bulbs.
There are two types of solar-powered systems at Rizal Park. One is the Grid Tie, which uses the line of Meralco. In this mechanism, the solar panels absorb energy from the sun and transports it to the solar inverter, where the solar energy is converted to alternate current, which is the Meralco.
Contrary to the Grid Tie, the Off-Grid System gets energy from the sun and stores it directly to the batteries. Thus, outdoor lampposts that use this system provide lighting without using electricity.
“Given these innovations and sustainable development at the Rizal Park, the Philippines’ premiere people’s park, we are hoping that the other tourist destinations will be inspired to follow and apply these practices as well. The management of the National Parks Development Committee are here to guide them, to give them assistance as far as the preservation and development of the park are concerned,” stressed Villegas.                    

NPDC executive director Juliet Villegas at one of the 4 Grid Stations

Meanwhile, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., in a statement, averred that while the country prepares for a bigger tourism demand, tourism stakeholders and officials should be conscious of the pitfalls of uncontrolled development, and should therefore commit to undertake projects that will help place tourism at the forefront of world’s most innovative sustainable energy initiatives.
“The growth of tourism is faced with a difficult challenge of responding to the impact of climate change, which is beginning to be felt by some countries, including the Philippines. These advocacy initiatives will hopefully engage our people, especially the youth and destination managers, toward a more responsible, ethical, and sustainable tourism industry,” the secretary said.
Tourism and our environment are both important factors in our society; if either one is affected it is not good for the other. With this green project, we can say “it’s more fun in the Philippines” in terms of tourism, as well as for caring our environment. -- Jaimes R. C. Sumbilon