For two days, I experienced what it was like being inside an athlete’s village. Ever since I started following the Olympics, I had been curious about what it was like being in such a place. Fortunately, I was invited as part of a small media team to spend a night at the one the Philippines built for the 30th South East Asian Games, held at the New Clark City in Tarlac. Although that sporting event was a lot smaller in scale, I was hoping that we could further expand our sporting infrastructures so we could host the Asian Games and then the Olympics someday.
Inside the Athlete’s Village and the Controversial New Clark City | Tarlac
Building the New Clark City
As the project of the BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority), which also owned a total of nine thousand four hundred fifty hectares—of which only three thousand five hundred hectares were buildable, leaving almost six thousand hectares reserved for green spaces suitable for growing farms and forest reserves—the New Clark City was part of a master plan to construct a sustainable and green city of the future.
Today, the early signs of development could be seen through the architecturally gifted structures of the Athletics Stadium, the New Aquatics Center, the Athlete's Village, and a few office buildings. The vast empty area, circled by wide rows of roads, signaled the availability of expansive prime lots awaiting future development.
New Clark City Athletics Stadium
That twenty-thousand-seating-capacity stadium was designed by Budji + Royal Architecture + Design using Mt. Pinatubo as inspiration. For example, the ringed roofline resembled the volcano's crater, and the designers utilized volcanic debris on its facade.
Since the opening of the 30th SEA Games was still a few days away, it was empty on the day of our visit. I got to try running a short lap over the oval tracks, which felt like no other terrain I had ever run before. It had the perfect mix of softness, firmness, and cohesiveness on the feet.
It would have been an amazing bonus experience if I had also gotten to be a spectator at a live competition, such as the one-hundred-meter sprint and the other athletics events.
The Controversial Cauldron
Dampening the architectural marvel of the Athletics Stadium was the overpriced cauldron—which became an unfortunate symbol of the government’s excess. Priced at a staggering fifty million pesos, it was designed by Philippine National Artist Francisco Mañosa. I had to agree, though, that it looked highly appealing to the eyes, given its industrial look and design inspiration from the traditional Filipino torch known as a sulo.
In a country besieged by overpriced contracts and an endless streak of corruption, I wished the developers had been more open in explaining all the details of the cauldron’s design—including what they claimed was the underground tunnel used to direct the fuel to light the cauldron throughout the duration of the games.
New Clark City Aquatics Center
Also designed by Budji + Royal Architecture + Design, that structure incorporated a figural form of a 'baklad' (fish trap) or 'kural' and elements of the Filipino handicrafts of weaving and wood carving. It had a winged prismatic roof made of a capiz coating that doubled as an open shed.
The Aquatics Center housed an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a training pool, and a diving pool. The sports of swimming, water polo, and all categories of diving in the 2019 SEA Games were held there.
Spending a Night at the Athlete’s Village
As opposed to the misfortunes experienced by the athletes in Manila due to a series of organizational blunders, for those billeted at the Athlete’s Village in New Clark City, there were all raves and no complaints. Let’s just say the BCDA did a better job of organizing the event on their end. It appeared they were spared from the mismanagement that besieged Cayetano’s SEA Games planning committee.
Being able to spend a night inside the Athlete’s Village had me observing the jovial atmosphere brimming with Filipino hospitality. The meals were lavishly served round the clock—from breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks, to dinner and even a midnight snack. All the meals were halal-certified to accommodate the Muslim athletes from Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
Top chefs, such as Sau Del Rosario, personally headed the kitchen crew. There were also entertainment areas where athletes could hang out, a couple of swimming pools, a basketball court, and a souvenir shop.
What About the Indigenous People?
As promising and exciting as the future of New Clark City was, its conceptualization and actual creation did not come without controversy. As we listened to Athletes Village Mayor Arrey Perez discuss the plans of the BCDA for New Clark City, I admitted being thrilled at what the future would bring. Imagine a new city that would attract technology, tourism, sports development, and even new residents to comprise a postmodern and sustainable green city. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited by that idea?
But all of that came with a cloud of suspicion that, in doing so, thousands of our indigenous brothers and sisters from the Aeta community who had called the plains of Pampanga and Tarlac their home for many centuries were displaced by the conception of the New Clark City.
The BCDA released a statement saying they gave "financial assistance packages amounting to Php300,000 per hectare (or Php30.00/sq.m.)," and that these "have also been made available to all project-affected people, including IPs/farmers."
Thirty pesos per square meter? In exchange for being displaced, and for a new city that poor IP people could not afford to live in to take their place? As huge as my excitement was for a green city to emerge outside of Metro Manila and to see more eye-popping architectural wonders, I had to ask myself a question: Was it worth it?
I just hoped the BCDA and the Government could do a lot more for our IP brothers and sisters than just handing them thirty pesos per square meter of their land. I prayed that they would be included in the future development and growth of New Clark City.
Oh, and please make the sports facilities at New Clark City accessible to all Filipino athletes.
