Hmmmm. Doing research on the proposed Monorail system for UP Diliman which I wanted to write on, I uncovered something sad.

The brains behind this thing, Sec. Mario Montejo of the DOST was also the brains behind an amusement park close to our home.

Water Fun was a dinosaur themed park just at the border of Paranaque and Muntinlupa. It featured a couple of giant robotic dinosaurs that sprayed water from their mouths and moved their heads, and a couple of giant water slides too. They also had contraptions that shot streams and sprays of water at the guests. Of course, they had the usual food stands, and a later addition was their on-site hotel.
I remember that the different Sunday variety shows used the place as Summer locations a couple of times.

Alas, these are now mere memories. There were times that the park closed and re-opened supposedly under new management. Then, it eventually closed for good. For a while, the dragon and dinosaur heads could still be seen above the walls. Once in a while, the jets would be seen operating, for cleaning purposes said the guard. The buildings were still quite clean then, empty, but protected by guards. Then it started to fall into disrepair. The guard house was often empty and dirty. The glass facade of the main building now derelict, the reflective tint bubbling and peeling away. The less-fortunate people climbing the walls and taking swims in the stagnating water. One day, the head of the serpent-like dinosaur fell. Its long neck ending in a stub of wires. It was depressing for me, a grade-school student at the time.

Now, the front of the compound now serves as a trash dump. The fun area is now cordoned off. The hotel now tainted with the nightmare of a death-- whether it was a murder or a suicide escapes me now.
***

I've practically forgotten the reason I wrote this. But really, I don't know what saddens me more. The fact that the place had serious potential but seems to have been mismanaged, or that the brains behind this is the same guy proposing something that will eradicate on of UP's icons, and will affect so many things other than transportation.