Streets of Intramuros
The Walled City of Intramuros, Manila’s oldest district and historical core, is having a thorough scrubbing and makeover as part of a programme to restore the area.
Relocation of informal settlers had started six months ago, said Mercy de Sahagun, chief of the Intramuros Administration’s finance and administrative division, with batches of 3,700 households being shifted to a social housing project in Cavite.
Informal settlers had surrounded Intramuros, living in shacks a stone’s throw away from the district’s UNESCO World Heritage sites San Agustin Church and Plaza San Luis.
Sahagun added that informal vendors, vagrants and pedicabs won’t be allowed anymore. Pedicab drivers will instead be encouraged to drive electric tricycles that will be plying the area.
She further disclosed an extensive cleanup drive of Intramuros being carried out with the help of schools, private partners and attached agencies of the Department of Tourism. Intramuros Administration is one such attached agency.
Alongside the scrubbing, new tour packages are being developed by D’Creative Adventures to include sites within Intramuros.
Its marketing manager, Thoni Anne Taller, said they are currently offering tour packages for local schools to Intramuros attractions like Fort Santiago, San Luis Complex and Baluarte de San Diego, with plans to better cater to international visitors in the works.
