Alert: Baguio Mayor to Destroy 3 Baguio Parks!
Barely seven months into his term, Bautista has revealed his insidious plans to destroy Baguio. It is my opinion that the fellow is either foolhardy or greedy or opportunistic or all of the above. (Hey, feel free to add to my adjectives — am at a loss for words, am aghast!)
This news article dated 11 January went virtually unnoticed. I reproduce it in toto:
“THREE of the most frequented parks in the city are eyed for developed in three years time.
As soon as an executive order is issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which would turn over Burnham Park to the city from the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Mayor Reynaldo Bautista said more funds would be allotted for the park’s improvement.
The plan is patterned after the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan where management of the PTA-owned destination was ceded to the Alaminos City Government.
For the Mines View Park, the bidding of the building where souvenir shops will be relocated will also be pursued, Bautista said, in order to bring in a more organized arrangement of stalls there.
For the Botanical Garden, Bautista said refreshment stores there will also be relocated because the park is being eyed as a “theme park” for Baguio’s sister cities.”
Boy, this boy is in a hurry! Knowing he has no chance in hell of getting reelected in 2010. He will run for congress where he, like Domogan, will be far away from our prying eyes.
Maybe he is hoping to enact a total of one law like Domogan did for Baguio (renaming Park Drive to Nanoy Ilusioro Drive). Can anyone else tell me what Domogan has accomplished as far as legislation is concerned in the past 6 and 1/2 years for which he received about 300M in pork barrel funds, plus salaries and allowances?
WITHOUT ANY PLANNING WHATSOEVER (hey, I will accept an independent environmental urban planning study — not something his little mind has cooked up) BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT PLANS TAKE YEARS TO FINISH. Heck, you can’t even get decent architectural plans made for your house in seven months! But apparently Baguio elected a consummate planner in Bautista.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light! Are we going to wait until Baguio is concretized and metallized?
Piggish, Lame, unthinking…haaay! Poor Baguio parks! Since Peter is unstoppable, least he can do is get a good landscape artist or a good architect that could complement these concrete structures with the remaining natural resources of the city, say a gazebo type stalls along Burnham, replant flowers, trees whatever,pa consuelo de bobo for these structures…sorry Lisa, am not advocating these projects, but since it’s gonna be there anyway, they should at least find ways to make it nice na lang:(
Bautista or anyone for that matter is not unstoppable. It only appears that way because no one wants to put up the roadblock. We must think STOPPABLE! This mindset of we can’t do anything about it needs to stop. WE CAN!
Development is inevitable but at least have a plan and present it to the constituents who will have to bear it or enjoy. The adage is it is better to have a plan than no plan at all. Master plan ha not the shanty type bit by bit anything goes plan.
Lisa, your vigilance is well needed. Too much has gotten away while no one was looking.
Baguio lovers need to close ranks NOW!
Rebuild Baguio NOW!
Clean Baguio NOW!
One step at a time. Brick by brick. Moment to moment 24 hrs a day.
Ask Lisa How.
hi everyone, read the following, as you can see the joke’s on us, bwahahaha, from SunStar today.
Residents told to present vision for Baguio
BAGUIO CITY — As the city’s 100th charter day celebration draws closer, the Baguio Centennial Commission (Centecomm) is asking residents to submit their ideas on their visions for Baguio 20 years from now.
Centecomm chairman Virgilio Bautista is emphatic in this call, as it would help shape a common mental picture of what Baguio should be after two decades.
“Originally what we wanted was a vision for Baguio 100 years from now, but that is too far into the future and most of us will not be here to see it happen,” Bautista said.
The 20-year vision can include such mundane concerns as itinerant vending along the city sidewalks to more grand images for the city like its complete makeover.
“Any idea will be taken seriously, none will be rejected or laughed at,” Bautista said.
The idea behind the visioning is to get ideas on how to solve the current problems and woes of the city and get them from concerned Baguio residents.
“Maybe through this we can arrest the urban blight now existing in Baguio,” Bautista said. “We have to decide today what we want Baguio to be and not leave it all to chance,” he added.
The Beyond 2009 Committee of Centecomm will receive all suggestions and visions on the theme: “What do you imagine Baguio to be 20 years from now.”
Ideas can be coursed through the Centecomm office at the Baguio Convention Center.
“We expect the full cooperation of the whole city (on this),” the chairman said.
Centecomm meantime enjoins every Baguio resident to make small improvements in their households in preparation for the centennial celebrations next year.
Bautista said every little thing counts as the 100th birthday of the city comes closer.
He is encouraging residents to make their homes small tourist spots by keeping their surroundings clean and orderly and to have plants of any variety dotting the immediate vicinity of the home.
“If we can do this, we will have a very good city to visit, especially next year when visitors will come from practically everywhere,” he said. (SB)
If Xiamen can do it, so can Baguio!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7195434.stm
Lisa, you should send the Beyond 2009 Commission hard copies of all your blogs containing suggestions for a better Baguio. We should all bombard them with suggestions, and also make our suggestions available to as wide an audience as possible so that people can think on them and watch for them or even campaign for them in the future!
I can’t help but point out though the short-sightedness that plagues us all, as demonstrated by the article Manong Resty posted. Why should a hundred years be too far into the future to imagine? If you ask me, a hundred years is close enough. The things we do to our environment today, tomorrow, in the next 20 years will have repercussions for Baguio and her residents for centuries! It is selfish and ignorant to discount the future simply because “most of us will not be here to see it happen”. Or did they mean, “most of us will not be here to make a profit from it”??? Sheesh.
That’s what I’m going to do. Give them a copy of Burnham Park Then & Now. The office of the Centennial Commission is at Baguio Convention Center.
That bit of news from sunstar was a temporary relief…that will remain to be seen…just hoping that this is not just ‘pa-cutesie’ on their side. These politicians are probably feeling the flak their plans for the city are getting. We’ll just see where this will lead to.
Shortsighted is the word for past Baguio Administrators. No vision at all. No imagination. Shanty mentality. Kung ano ang mapulot yun ang ikakabit. Even if it doesn’t match the big picture.
In any case, we need to live with that. We are in the same boat. The managers need to be put back in line. We have given them too much liberty. Let us remind them that THEY ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS. Need I define what servant means? And no it doesn’t mean Bossing.
Baguio Lovers need to draw the line NOW!
Tama si Voltaire…LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT. Pwede bang RETURN TO IT?
“Anyone can make a simple thing hard … but only a genius can make a hard thing simple”.
Make Baguio City safe, clean and beautiful - how hard can that be? Apparently pretty hard if you work for the government - then again, they have never been accused of being smart.
Stop building already! It’s this need to expand and grow that got us in this predicament in the first place. Now every single thing they come up with is like a band aid to cover up a wound brought about by their last great idea. Parking structures? Flyovers? THEME PARK?
The concept of long-term “urban planning” is something that has eluded our government officials. Why? It isn’t beneficial to their interests - financially or personally (or a combination of both). They feel the need to do something, to build anything - RIGHT NOW. They only have a few years to do all this - nevermind the repercussions of their short sighted (and often miscalculated) decisions.
Stop and smell the freaking roses - pretty soon they’ll build something over it.
Sir Virgilio Bautista is asking for suggestions to improve Baguio while on the other hand, the mayor who is his nephew seems to be on a “seek and destroy” mode.
Hi Elaine, the mayor is stoppable. The power belongs to his constituents who have to be taught to make the Baguio government officials behave like PUBLIC SERVANTS. But you’re right about beautification. I must add that this can be done NOW! Same percentage kickback from many small prettification projects as from big uglification ones.
Hi Mike, the solution workshop will be announced in the next post. Thanks for all your help.
Resty, Resty, Resty! Virgilio Bautista is merely trying to throw us off, treating us like idiots to look forward to 2028, while folks like his nephew trash our beautiful city and enrich themselves further in the meantime. Please do send Burnham Park: Then and Now.
Yes, Padma, bombard them. There’s a plan … lemme email you and Resty later.
AND HONESTLY, MY VISION FOR BAGUIO IS BAGUIO 1988, 20 YEARS AGO! LET’S BRING BAGUIO BACK!
Yes, Padma, bombard them. There’s a plan … lemme email you and Resty later.
Hi Lisa!
Some of the information may be misleading on the parks issue. E.G. the building for the Mines View stalls isn’t on the ‘actual’ park grounds, it’s outside… intended to remove all the illegal stalls inside the tiny park. The building was proposed during the time before Bautista… I believe it’s Domogan, sobrang bagal lang talaga the NG to bid this out since the funding is already there.
A lot of the other issues involving the development of Baguio’s parks have already previously been discussed by Councilor Rondez, and, surprisingly, it really isn’t as diabolical as it may first seem.
I’ll personally reserve judgement until I see stupidity in concrete form… like that Pine Tree.
Hello Gomi,
But isn’t the whole ‘reserving judgment’ attitude of the residents that has caused Baguio to be so ugly compared to before?
How much concrete ugliness will you allow to be erected before you say “ENOUGH!” Honestly, so many of you young folk kasi did not see Baguio when it was virtual heaven on earth. It’s still there, being covered by cement and an inordinate number of pollutants like 8,600 jeepneys and 8,000 taxis, half of which are colorum.
Don’t you want to breathe? Walk? Live?
Aaagh…it breaks my heart to see Baguio in the hands of..of..aaagh!!!
Done. Have given a copy of Jonathan Best’s Burnham piece to the Centennial Commission.
Kubi, in the hands of anyone currently in power Baguio will suffer the same fate if we do not protest.
Resty, Great! Sent you a private email. Hope in the horizon…
VIGILANCE and RIGHT ACTION. This is the saving grace, the lack of which allowed the rise of both illegal and ugly structures right under our very noses.
Thanks to Vigilance and right action, the council’s car plan was averted and hopefully aborted. The same can be applied to the planned desecration of Baguio Parks as well as every development action and political bad taste inappropriately shoved into Baguio’s landscape.
Without vigilance and right action, the next sensible Baguio Mayor will be a back job mayor spending more time demolishing and repairing/rebuilding and Baguio will suffer thrice the inconvenience and pay the cost of development far greater than three times over.
Is there something else being hatched in the dark corners of City Hall that may just blow up in our faces?
Somehow, George Bush’s security pre-emptive policy seems to make sense. There is no more room for costly mistakes.
Baguio Lovers Unite! Sweet naman….
yes mike, very timely. valentine’s is just around the corner.
oh my…nobody told me about this…no way to another buildings or infrastructure and destroy national parks in baguio..goodness, baguio is my home…why not rebuild baguio and bring back what is used to be?!..lotsa pine trees, fresh air..i even remember of wearing thermal jumpsuits when i was young because it was so cold..you know what i mean..i was born in baguio and practically lived my whole life there..but with some personal circumstances i have to leave my home..its been almost 6 months and i do miss baguio alot[i mean really..i do..]..there’s nothing like home..how can i help even though im abroad?..i did remember my younger days back in school where we go out and protest about anything that will destroy the beauty of baguio..its really so sad to hear about those plans..i do hope it would not come into reality…
albert’s line “Make Baguio City clean, safe and beautiful-how hard can that be?” strikes me. yes, why is that? the trouble with some here is they want to make chop suey on everything they can get their hands on.