City gov’t aims to improve public plazas in 2020

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

All public plazas in the seven districts of Iloilo City will be rehabilitated and developed by 2020.

This is the target of Mayor Jerry Treñas who revealed that he already coordinated with the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) and other stakeholders for the funds.

“We will develop and rehabilitate all the plazas in the metro and basi pa lang if madayon ini we will target it by next year,” he told media reporters in a phone interview on Monday.

According to the mayor, the city government is eyeing a P180-million funding from TIEZA for the plaza rehabilitation project.

“Initially we need to fund, basi makakuha kita sa TIEZA P180 million for Jaro, Lapaz, and Molo plazas and may iban pa gid ginatarget nga funding from other stakeholders,” he revealed.

Treñas said public plazas should undergo rehabilitation so they will serve as a venue for recreation for residents.

“Para gid ni sa mga residents naton, ang plaza naton very important because these are the places for recreation of residents,” he stressed.

Recently, Senator Franklin Drilon also endorsed the rehabilitation of the public plazas in Iloilo City to TIEZA Chief Operating Officer Pocholo Paragas when he visited the city for the launch of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events (MICE) campaign of Iloilo.

“Sabi ko nga kay Pocholo, they should invest more here in Iloilo and they can do that by helping us rehabilitate our plazas,” he said during his speech.