We love Isko. Big-ambition guy. Always huge. Always grand. Remember Divisoria? Boom. Shock and awe.

Once ran for president. Missed the Palace. Now roots for the lawn. Club Intramuros Golf Course. Historic. He goes to the President. Shows him the renderings. They want to turn it into a park. Democratize the grass. P2.3 billion.

“This can be your legacy.” You can almost hear it: “Mr. President. Benches with your name. Trees that whisper Bongbong.”

A promenade, a beautiful river, families strolling. Children biking. Not one parked kariton. Incredible fantasy. You’re looking at it like, wow, “Where’s Manila?” Where’s Baga ng Mama Mo and Cheesy Corn?

Remember, this is a city where the mayor must publicly remind citizens not to shit in public spaces. Where is that?

It’s the jump we’re making. It’s like standing in front of the monument in Luneta and thinking, “You know what would really elevate this shrine? A little personal expression.”

They say golf is elitist. “Reclaim public spaces!” Reclaim? From who? Public space is already yours. You reclaimed it the moment you parked on both lanes. Have you tried turning right in Manila? Waze: “Turn right.” You look right.

What the hell?

Cloud, harp, angels, the whole ascension package.

Except heaven can’t compete with Manila’s staying power.

Sidewalks are just roads that haven’t been parked on yet. Can’t share a road but sure let’s share a lawn.

“We need open space!” Huh? What do you think a golf course is? Grass. Air. Sky. No condo. Malls. Squatters. Open. Huge. The only difference? Rules.

You just don’t like that it behaves. Maintained. Controlled. Manila lacks disciplined open spaces. That golf course is one of the only places in the city where land isn’t suffocating. It stays open because boundaries exist.

We need to stop overwhelming public spaces. Reclaiming without reform is just expanding the mess. You shout elitist because it has standards, when standards are how the space survived a hundred years.

Manila needs more boundaries. Until you give your creeks antibiotics, maybe the quiet, fenced golf course is the only thing that still understands that beauty needs protection.

But no. They want BGC results with Baclaran habits. Leave the parks to Makati. Let QC have three. Beautiful ones. Because they protect what they build. You walk through Highstreet, no mystery stains. Amazing how that works. Same country. Different enforcement.

People keep saying, “It’s just a golf course.” Just? That land outlived empires. The Americans laid it out. The Japanese marched through it. Intramuros burned. 1945 flattened the city.

It’s one of the only pieces of land where you stand and realize this is what the city looked like before we suffocated it with “progress.”

It’s historic because of what it didn’t become.

Legacy is not always what you add, Mr. President. Sometimes the boldest act is preservation. History is very simple. It remembers who built. But it remembers even more clearly who erased.