JUST recently our residential community in Parañaque sprung ideas of building over our existing village park. It's a precious open green space in an approximately 500-meter perimeter spot surrounded by decades-old trees. It is the center of our neighborhood life. It has a multipurpose pergola that served as our community pop-up market during the pandemic and doubles up as a site for Zumba and community meetings. Now there are new ideas of building a swimming pool and an artificial turf for football. While I support the idea of promoting sports, I am concerned about converting an already rare gem, open green space, into a paved and built-up sports facility that can't be properly maintained anyway. I have become a vocal park advocate in my community.

In 2015, a photo I took out of the plane window as we took off from Manila went viral. I had posted it on my Instagram on June 12, 2015 while on a 90-minute layover in Vancouver. By the time I landed in Toronto, the post had gone viral. It was a random photo out of the Pasig-Taguig flight path showing an urban area completely built up with no trees or green spaces. Every news agency from CNN to GMA7 to TV5 carried the story. People were shocked at the density and lack of open spaces. The Red Cross also used my photo as a start to discussions on preparing for the possibility of a big earthquake.