CITY BOATING LAGOON La Mesa Park opens to tourists soon

Remember the La Mesa Park in Novaliches, Quezon City, one of the favorite destinations of excursionists from Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces from the 1950s until the second half of the 1970s?

After more than 20 years of virtual neglect, the once famous La Mesa Park is now undergoing extensive rehabilitation and beautification by the Quezon City government, through its Park Development and Administration Department. It is being undertaken in cooperation with various agencies, including the MWSS, Manila Water, Ayala Foundation, and Bantay Kalikasan Foundation, Inc., among others.

The 15-year rehabilitation project began in November 2001. While several agencies are undertaking reforestation projects within the 2,700-hectare La Mesa watershed, personnel from the Quezon City Parks Development and Administration Department under Engr. Zaldy dela Rosa are rehabilitating the swimming pools and other old facilities of the La Mesa Park.

Meanwhile, a new boating lagoon will be built with the help of the Aboitiz Transport Group Inc. The new attraction aims to revive the beauty of the place and be a relaxing haven within the city where students, families and city residents can learn to appreciate nature.

Prior to its closure to the general public in the early 1980s, the La Mesa Park used to be among the top tourist drawers in the metropolis. Among its numerous weekend visitors were excursionists from the Southern Luzon provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Quezon.

Their one-day excursion to the scenic Ipo Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan and the Balara Filtration Plant near the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City could never be considered complete if they did not drop by the equally scenic and cool La Mesa Park in Novaliches.

Visitors from the Central Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac also used to frequent the La Mesa Park on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Every weekend between 1950 and 1980, the residents of Novaliches, then virtually more rural than urban like it is today, were delighted to see a long line of provincial buses traversing the Quirino Highway from Balintawak to Novaliches, with streamers on both sides with the words, in big letters, "Excursion to La Mesa Dam, Ipo Dam and Balara." Most of the visitors were then coming from Saulog, Batangas, Laguna, Pangasinan, Pampanga, etc.

While at the La Mesa Park, the visitors could enjoy dancing or singing with the accompaniment of jukeboxes at any of the various pavilions located in the area.

For those fond of sightseeing, they could take a leisurely hike around the shady park or just keep on descending or ascending the 118-step concrete stairs leading to the southernmost dike of the 700-hectare water portion of the La Mesa Dam. From the top of the stairs, one could view the dam’s water elevation.

Visitors could also just sit and take a rest under the shade of tall trees which abound in the area. Some of these big trees are more than 50 to 70 feet tall.

For those wishing to swim, there was a pea-shaped swimming pool where they could take a dip to their heart’s delight. There was also a separate swimming pool for children. For the adventurous, there was a lagoon where they could do boating or fishing.

The park’s facilities started to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance after the La Mesa Park was closed to public use in early 1980s to give way to the construction of the then multibillion-peso La Mesa Water Treatment Plant of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) during the administration of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

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