Showcasing Marikina’s Pocket Parks: A Short Post

When I was young, I always thought that most parts of Metro Manila had pocket parks like Marikina. Later on, I found out I was wrong. Sad to say, the stereotypical image of Metro Manila as a dirty, urban sprawl with little or no green space is indeed true. Marikina, on the other hand, has some characteristics that challenge the common perception of Metro Manila – its public parks.

I cannot really describe the history of how the city ensured the existence of pocket parks, but I think the land usage of the city and the progressive stances of its previous mayor, Bayani Fernando played a vital role. For those unfamiliar, Marikina is home to many subdivisions – but not the exclusive, gated type with snobbish people (hehe). Because of this, most areas have a designated public park, usually with a basketball court. Marikina during the time of Fernando had a quasi-socialist stance, promoting people-oriented infrastructure: sidewalks, bicycle lanes (sadly many are now in disrepair), and parks. These parks were placed under the city’s Parks Development Office – an office that continues to operate to this day.

A newly-installed playground at the Liwasang Kalayaan (2021)

The Roman garden, a portion of the Marikina River Park

Liwasang Kalayaan in Marikina Heights, improved in 2019

While not a grand as other parks both here and abroad, the Liwasang Kalayaan (literally “Freedom Park”) in Marikina Heights one of the largest parks in the city. This is probably because this area was the last to be developed, hence it did not experience rapid urbanization unlike the barangays near the Marikina river.

Marikina also hosts many “pocket parks”, pocket parks around 100 sq. meters, enough to have around 10-15 trees and 4-5 benches as shown in the photo above.

Here are other pocket parks in Marikina:

The last photo is actually a newly-developed park that was once an old school building. It’s rare to see buildings demolished to become a park. Usually, the reverse is more common: open spaces “developed” into buildings.

Despite this, I believe the entire metropolis needs more parks. These pocket parks are mere dots when plotted on a map of NCR.

Government data shows that out of NCR’s 55,922.22 hectares, only 21 percent (12,152.79 hectares) are considered “green space” – quotation marks added since these green spaces include privately-owned golf courses.

Thus, having pocket parks are a godsend especially in the urban jungle of Metro Manila. I fervently hope more LGUs make way for parks like these especially if we are to promote outdoor activities (as they are safer) during the COVID-19 pandemic.