BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said that he is inclined to approve the proposed 3-month operation of amusement rides within designated portions of Burnham Park to provide an added attractions for park goers, especially the children wanting to enjoy the various amenities of the city’s premier park.
The local chief executive underscored that he will not allow the operation of the amusement rides within portions of the Melvin Jones grandstand because of existing legal issues that have not been resolved aside from the serious damage that could be inflicted in the football ground during the operation of the rides.
“We will allow the operation of the amusement rides, provided that, it will be done in the children’s park to augment the existing amusement amenities in the area and guarantee the influx of more visitors to frequent the area” Domogan stressed.
Earlier, the local legislative body approved a resolution allowing and authorizing the operation of the amusement rides in the Ibaloi Park but the Onjon ni Ivadoy expressed their opposition to the use of their area for the amusement operations.
However, the body again approved an amendment to the resolution for the operation of the amusement rides within portions of the Melvin Jones football ground but the mayor again rejected the said request because of the unresolved legal issues that arouse when the place was designated to be a trade fair area to generate additional resources for the hosting of the visit of the beauty contestants of the Miss Universe 2016.
Domogan said the best place where the amusement rides will be conducted is in the children’s park because it will provide added attractions in the area and will contribute in improving the situation in the place where children converge and enjoy their visit to the park.
Under the approved council resolution, the operator of the amusement rides will pay the local government the amount of P500,000 as lease rentals for the duration of the 3-month operation of the supposed rides.
Domogan explained that in response to the opposition of the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) in behalf of the skating rink operator against the operation of additional amusement rides in the premier park, it was made part of the condition that the amusement rides that will be established in the children’s park should not be similar to the ones that are being operated in the skating rink area so that their operations will be complimentary.
City Environment and Parks Management Officer Cordelia C. Lacsamana explained that the operation of the amusement rides in the children’s park will be unfair to the operator of the skating rink because there has been amusement rides that were already in place in the park and providing competition to the same will no longer encourage good business climate in the park but instead it will result to stiff competition that will surely result to losses on the part of the involved operators.
The amusement rides operator is expected to start its operation after the mayor shall have signed the resolution allowing and authorizing the said activity in the children’s park for the next 3 months.
By Dexter A. See
