Manila opens free skate plaza

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila city government opened what Mayor Joseph Estrada described as the country’s first free skate plaza yesterday.

The skate plaza is located at the Canonigo covered court at the intersection of Zulueta street and Quirino Avenue.

Estrada, addressing skateboarders and alternative sports enthusiasts who attended the opening, said he is prioritizing the construction and rehabilitation of sports centers all over the city “so that Manila’s youth will not experiment with illegal drugs.”

He cited a study of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency showing that 92 percent of barangays in the National Capital Region recorded cases of youths using illegal drugs.

The skate plaza, which measures 1,700 square meters, has customary skating obstacles.

The skate plaza is a joint project of the city government of Manila and One Manila Org, a group composed of around 2,000 members.

The project is a fulfillment of Estrada’s campaign promise to One Manila Org in 2013.

Richard Espiritu, One Manila Org president, thanked Estrada.

“Finally the youth, long-neglected, now have a place they can call their own and where they will not be driven away,” he said.

Espiritu said skateboarders have been arrested and slapped with hefty fines. Others have been driven away from a private lot in Intramuros and by nuns in Mendiola, who said they were causing a disturbance.

The inauguration of the skate plaza coincided with Go Skate Day December, an international annual gathering of professional and amateur to celebrate and promote skateboarding as a sport.