The Roman Ongpin monument in the famed Chinatown district in Manila is now sporting a new look.
This, after Mayor Isko Moreno paid a visit to Binondo along with city engineer Armand Andres and Department of Public Services Kenneth Amurao and saw the sorry state of the monument site which was full of used bottles and graffiti while the marker can be barely read already.
Moreno directed Amurao and Andres to spruce up the place amid heavy rains on Saturday.
Only hours later, the site had been cleaned up, the planter box that used to be filled with litter now has flower-growing plants, and lights have been installed so that Ongpin’s monument can now be seen even at night.
The mayor’s attention was drawn by complaining residents to a half-open manhole that had been left unattended for the longest time and the presence of a post erected in the middle of the street.
“This (manhole) is an accident waiting to happen. Ano ba ginagawa ng barangay chairman dito?,” he said.
The mayor also lamented the “utter disrespect” for the memory of Ongpin even after he already dismantled the makeshift barangay outpost built there.
“Ako, hindi Chinese ha, pero nirerespeto ko ang naging ambag ni Ongpin sa ating bansa. Kaya nga pinatayuan ‘yan ng monumento bilang pagkilala sa kanyang naging papel sa ating kasaysayan tapos binaboy lang,” he said.
Roman Ongpin is a Filipino-Chinese businessman and philanthropist who was known for having aided Filipino revolutionaries during the Spanish and American occupation. (Erma Edera)
