Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has supported the City Council’s initiative to rename the La Mesa Ecopark after the late environmentalist/philanthropist Gina Lopez, who passed away on Aug. 19 at 65.
“Suportado natin ang mga pagkilos ng ating konseho na ipangalan ang La Mesa Eco Park sa namayapang si Gina Lopez. Her legacy deserves to live on in that park,” said Belmonte.
Two Quezon City councilors — Winston Castelo and Candy Medina — have filed separate resolutions seeking to rename La Mesa Dam Ecopark to Gina Lopez Ecopark.
According to Belmonte, she has already requested the Quezon City Council, headed by Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, to expedite the aforementioned resolutions amid calls from environmentalists to rename the Ecopark after Lopez in honor of her legacy for the environment.
Lopez, chairperson of ABS-CBN’s Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, established Bantay Kalikasan in 1999 as the foundations’ environmental arm to aid relief to victims of natural calamities such as typhoons in the country.
Through “Bantay Kalikasan”, Lopez championed the rehabilitation of the 2,700-hectare La Mesa Watershed and the development of the 32-hectare La Mesa Ecopark.
Belmonte recently paid tribute to Lopez in a Facebook post, saying their working relationship revolved largely on her love for the environment and her passion for all that she did to protect it for a sustainable future.
“We worked with her on cleaning up our waterways and in deputizing environmental warriors in our city,” said Belmonte.
The lady Mayor and Lopez also eyed the rehabilitation of the Salam Compound in Brgy Culiat and transform it into a tourist destination.
“We hoped to provide livelihoods to the women and educational opportunities to the children. Sadly we never finished the project we started because she was stricken with illness,” Belmonte said.
“She will always be one of my greatest role models of a crusader who stopped at nothing to see her dreams for a better Philippines come to fruition,” she added.
