NEWSFLASH

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SUBIC CENTENNIAL PARK OPENS

Subic Bay Freeport, April 25, 1998 - Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman Richard Gordon led delegates of the Centennial Youth Leaders Program and representatives from various sectors in inaugurating the Philippine Centennial Park.

The event was marked with the planting of "trees of hope" that Chairman Gordon described as representations of "the beginning of a new Filipino character."

"Today, we dig and plant a tree. Let that tree grow and let that tree be you. From these trees we planted will grow a new generation of leaves, the beginning of a new Filipino character. That character has to begin today," Gordon said in his speech opening the Centennial Park, which rose from the old Tappan Park inside the Freeport.

Prior to the tree-planting, Gordon led participants in lowering a time capsule to commemorate the historic event.