PMSEA-adopted park ups Baguio tourism industry

INSPIRED. Rhenan Diwas, chief of the Baguio City Environment and Parks Management Office, speaks at the opening of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association conference on Tuesday (Nov. 14, 2023). He lauded the association for its various environmental protection efforts. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)

By Liza T. Agoot

BAGUIO CITY – A renovation that improved the waterways of a garden inside the Botanical Park here has benefited the city’s tourism sector.
    Rhenan Diwas, head of the City Environment and Parks Management Office, said the Botanical Garden along Leonard Wood Road not only serves as additional place for students to obtain knowledge but is also a tourist magnet.
    “We have a lot of tourists in the Botanical Garden and they would appreciate the elephant [sculptures] and other features of the Botanical Garden. Architects and designers who are local and even those from other countries would visit it to obtain inspiration from it being a waterways solution project,” Diwas said on the sidelines of the four-day Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) conference that kicked off Tuesday.
    PMSEA adopted a 5,000-square meter portion of the Botanical Garden in 2010 in a bid to help the local government protect and preserve the environment.
    Louie Sarmiento, PMSEA president, said when they adopted the park, the first thing they did was to clean the area.
    He recalled collecting about six truckloads of garbage
    Sarmiento said PMSEA’s other major contribution to the city is the adoption of the 80-year-old Norfolk tree at the foot of     Session Road, which used to be the annual Christmas tree.
    About 3,000 participants from mining companies nationwide are currently in the city for the PMSEA conference.
    “PMSEA is helping stir the economy of the city for 69 years now, the home of the event since the first year,” Andrew Pinero, spokesperson of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, said during the press conference. --PNA