By: Jennifer P. Rendon
For many, Roxas City is popularly known as the “Seafoods Capital of the Philippines.” But for those who have been to this 95.07-square kilometer city, Roxas is a rather sleepy place that was left behind by its neighbors in Western Visayas.
But this city’s quiescence might just be a thing of the past.
From a sleeping city, “I want to transform Roxas City into a more dynamic and vibrant city,” Mayor Ronnie Dadivas said.
For starters, Dadivas said they decided to choose lighting as part of the transformation process “because it symbolizes hope and it promises brighter future and progress for Roxas City.”
Thus, with the expertise of Signify Philippines (or what was more known as Philips Lighting), Roxas City embarked on a P23-million innovative and state-of-the-art illumination of the eight heritage zones in Roxas City.
But why light? “First things first. I think when you light the entire Roxas City that means that you’re bringing all together works for infrastructures, social services, safety, peace and security,” he said.
Dadivas said he could have embarked into infrastructure projects.
But in the first five months, Dadivas saw the need to light up the city before going into infrastructure.
“This is the beginning of our project. Infrastructure will come in 2020,” he said.
For Dadivas, lighting up is his way of waking up Roxas City.
“As I’ve said, light reminds us of hope, Joy, love, chances, and new beginnings. Light rekindles our faith and ushers in the festive feel,” he said.
By illuminating the once sleepy city, Dadivas said they will bring fore Roxas City’s heritage and culture.
Given the said vision, the city’s top executive is optimistic that they would be more competitive now with the rest of the LGUs.
“It’s a start of something big for Roxas City: bringing new dimensions, bringing new hopes, bringing more promises to come,” he said.
Lighting up places would extend the day.
“Activity thrives. Activity leads to commerce.
When commerce thrives, automatically progress is being made,” Dadivas said.
Starting off with lighting means the city will demand more of infrastructure, he explained saying that “it will fit to the overall plan that the city will embark on development and progress.”
Dadivas also believed that by lighting up Roxas City, they are investing into something not only temporary.
“The lighting will not only be used during fiestas and Holiday. It can be used all year round. It can give opportunities to everyone,” he said.
He went on to say that investing millions of pesos to lighting is not a big deal as long as it could make people happy.
“You can give more opportunities for our economy,” he said.
Dadivas said that it would also be working for the benefit of the underground economies.
“It’s about giving hope to the people. We’ve been so quiet, we’ve been so sleepy for some time, our people want something new. They want something happy. They want a place where they could live and work. And this is what I’m offering to lighting and others will follow,” he said.
Currently, Roxas City’s population is 168,000. But at daytime, it could go on an average of 240,000.
LIGHTING FOR HOPE
Jagan Srinivasan, Signify Philippines country manager, said they brought the company’s 126-year history and depth of experience to Roxas City through the Interact Landmark, which is considered as the smart revolution into lighting.
It packaged the lighting in cloud-based lighting solutions to dynamically light buildings, monuments, and bridges.
Srinivasan explains that Interact Landmark will help unlock the extraordinary potentials of cities.
“It magnifies the human experience by touching the heart which leads to unexplored realms of the emotion,” he said.
Interact Landmark can create memorable experiences and program light shows. It can align to the seasons, city festivals, or special events all through the use of a dashboard or an app of a mobile device triggering light shows remotely from any location.
“When lighting is integrated well in, it can be a source of civic pride; create iconic and unique night-time cityscapes; trigger commerce; drive overall city progress; and place a city on the tourist map of a country or the world,” Srinivasan said.
That’s why, Dadivas said it wasn’t all too hard to decide on the project because “we’re lighting up for better lives.”
HERITAGE ZONES
Roxas City is a historical city with a legacy of structures that have stood the test of time. Dadivas said there are surely several “must not miss” attractions in the area, aside from indulging in seafood.
As such, there’s no better way to magnify these attractions by lighting up the heritage zones in Roxas City:
- President Manuel A. Roxas Monument
- Ang Panublion Museum
- Roxas City Hall
- Immaculate Concepcion Metropolitan Cathedral
- Jose Rizal Monument
- Roxas City Bridge
- Roxas City Rotonda Fountain
- Roxas City Bandstand Gazebo
“No other city could boast of several heritage structures that are still in use today,” he said.
As such, Dadivas believed that the heritage structures of Roxas City have joined the league of iconic landmarks like The Bund of Shanghai, The Empire State Building of New York, the Jacques Cartier Bridge of Montreal, Bay Bridge of San Francisco, the Nhat Tan Bridge of Vietnam, and many others.
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