Rizal Park celebrates Rizal at 150

Rizal Park, also known as the Luneta Park, is a historical park that has been the place for some of the most significant moments for us Filipinos.

It is where Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was executed and it is also where he, the Philippine’s National Hero lies.

This coming June 19th, Dr. Jose Rizal will be celebrating his Sesquicentennial (150th) Birth Anniversary and Luneta Park, with the help of the kindest people in the National Park Development Committee (NPDC), headed by Dr. Juliet Horfilla, is now getting ready to celebrate this momentous occasion.

In line with that, we were invited by the NPDC a few weeks back to witness the great transformation of the once forgotten Rizal Park.

Luneta Park has been a notorious place where mostly homeless and less fortunate Filipino people stays during the night to sleep over. It has been like that for the past generations and most people nowadays would really prefer a stroll in the malls rather than a walk in the Rizal Park.

I was personally amazed at how these people in NPDC worked so hard to transform the Rizal Park into a truly magnificent place. Dr. Juliet Horfilla was there with us to detail the upcoming renovation plans for the Rizal Park, its historical background and its future as a National Park here in our country. She also mentions about the incoming 150th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal and a brief (tentative) itenerary of the celebration which will be happening on June 19th.

“Please help us invite the public. We plan for 150,000 people to each come and personally offer a flower at the Rizal monument starting 7 a.m. on June 19 as our tribute to him. If we do this fast and efficiently, it will take only four hours for 150,000 people to do this. We are also asking volunteers to assist us on that day and to register on site.” - Dr. Juliet Horfilla

Above images are some of the the proposed sites that will be soon available to public once the Rizal Park rehabilitation is done.

This move indeed is one of  the best way to honor our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal on his birthday anniversary. But this is far more than a gift to our Filipino youth, if never will be ignored.