The green, green (and maroon) grass of home

Summer was drawing to a close, so I visited a favorite place where I spent many a summer (summer class that is) — the University of the Philippines in the Republic of Diliman. I decided to record my visit in a unique way. I took a series of aerial shots of the lush green campus, to gauge just how lush this oasis had become compared to the rest of the metropolis.

I took several images with a digital camera mounted on a tethered balloon rig. I had a small window in which to shoot, since it had been overcast earlier in the morning. It cleared just enough, giving time for me and my team to take shots from three spots. The results produced amazing panoramas of the 70-plus-year-old, 493-hectare campus.

The pictures focused mostly on the central core of the campus with Quezon Hall (the administration building designed by Juan Arellano in the early 1950s) surrounded by a sea of green. This verdant carpet of was made up of the canopy foliage of acacias accented here and there by colorful fire trees.

I also took shots of the other end of the core — that of the Melchor and Palma Halls (by architect Cesar Concio). A third shot was of my favorite summer hangout: the UP tennis courts. I remember playing there in the ‘70s. We wore all white Bjorn Borg short shorts. Even the tennis balls were all white and came in threes in pressurized cans (with a sprinkling of the then new-fangled yellow balls, Tretorns mostly that came in boxes of four). Our rackets were mostly wooden Maxplys, although I did eventually switch to an aluminium head racket.

I quickly posted these images on Facebook and set a personal record with the three images in terms of likes, comments and shares. The first image, which showed the Quezon Hall with its maroon roof floating in a sea of green was the most popular and garnered close to likes, 270 shares and close to a hundred comments.

The image was captioned: “This is an aerial panorama of the lush campus of the University of the Philippines ...The UP campus is one of the last green spaces in the metropolis that is actually open to the public. Sundays are a treat since cars are not allowed in the center and the whole place becomes a public park...”

The University of the Philippines campus is one of the last remaining green open spaces in the metropolis that is open to the public.

I ended the caption with my usual questions (I post almost daily quizzes on my facebook page). 1) Is this campus bigger or smaller than the Rizal Park? (answer: bigger) 2) Is this campus bigger or smaller than Central Park in New York? (answer: bigger) I ended with a rhetorical question: 3) How much longer can the campus keep urbanization, widening roads, informal settlers and ill-advised (and ill-planned) campus expansion from eating up all this green?

A sampling of the comments:

From M. Mason, “This is how a city should look, everywhere, throughout. They could block car traffic (all over) campus with gates allowing shuttle buses or jeepneys and deliveries only.” While Rodger P. commented, “A campus without lung cancer.”

Rock Drilon weighed in, “The campus is the last bird corridor in the city. Over 120 species are said to be stay-ins, while efforts are being done within the campus, something should also be done to preserve centain areas that connect the campus with the Sierra Madre mountains...”

A Sta. Maria noted, “The last green space. On Google Maps, there is a green splotch — the only one in Metro Manila — where the UP, Ateneo and Miriam campuses are along with La Vista. The ADB measured that this district had the lowest pollution level in the metro...”

Butch D. shared, “When I lived there, my asthma attacks were rare...when I moved out, bumalik!” And Maruja Paredes exclaimed “Gorgeous!” Mike S. pointed out,”I love how green UP is but for another nice reference, the Siliman campus in Dumaguete is also a great treat!” While Jingjing R. messaged, “I call this my slice of Wienerwald lush with broccoli trees!”

The UP tennis courts, my tambayan in college, where we wore short white shorts and white Lacostes and played with aluminum rackets and balls that can in cans.

The other two images garnered similar comments and so too with the comments from the shares posted by FB friends. They echoed sentiments that pointed to a general longing for green in a smog-infested, open space-deficient metropolis.

The aerials are part of a larger project involving more views from above...of Philippine cities and landscapes, how they have changed and how more changes are coming. Watch out for this. In the meanwhile, a friend suggested that a movement to save green spaces in the metropolis be started. Otherwise, we may lose all this green forever.

* * *

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.