Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera poses for a photo at the restored Freedom Park at the Carbon District in Cebu City on Friday morning, October 28, 2022.| Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Local and foreign tourists now have a new spot to visit in downtown Cebu City after the city government and its private partner, Cebu2World Development, Inc. formally opened the restored Freedom Park on Friday morning, October 28, 2022.
The grand opening pushed through despite the bad weather, which began hours before Tropical Storm Paeng had the city under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1.
Present during the ceremony are executives of the Megawide Construction Corp., the entity behind the Carbon modernization, its subsidiary the Cebu2World Development, Inc., city hall officials, and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama who also celebrates his 68th birthday on Friday.
The grand opening followed more than a month after it had its ceremonial groundbreaking last Sept. 8. The restored Freedom Park sits at a 2,000-square-meter property within Carbon Market.
READ: Cebu City Freedom Park will reopen in October
In an interview, Louie Ferrer, Cebu2World Development, Inc. president, invited the public to come and visit the new spot, as he also encouraged them to take part in maintaining it.
“After the opening of the Freedom Park, better times are at night because naa na siya’y lights and makita unta na and this will be open to the public,” said Ferrer.
“Ang original Freedom Park concept nato before nga bisag kinsa pwede makabisita ug makadeliver og freedom of speech. Mao nay atong gustong ibalik ang Freedom Park and gi-invite nato ang whole public or organizations bisita sila diri. This is a gift of the mayor to Cebu City and para sa atong mga Sugbuanon,” he added.
Ferrer also made it clear that there won’t be a fee to enter the park.
He also said that a total of 20 Narra trees were planted in the renovated Freedom Park.
He added that their plan to put up free public WiFi is still on and would just need further planning.
“First, this will be manned by Cebu2World, but mangayo mi og tabang sa community. Different organizations are helping us. Sila USJR. Sila ug daghan nga mga barangays nga nag express og suporta sa pag maintain sa atong Freedom Park,” he said.
“Pero ang public, mangayo mi tabang sa inyo nga mag responsable ta. Atong limpyohan kay ato ning Freedom Park. Dili ni amo. Ato ning tanan,” Ferrer added. /rcg
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