Bautista Asked 6M From PTA for Burnham Parking Building
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Councilor Sembrano opposes Mayor’s move to build parking building on Burnham Park, saying that it is doomed to go the way of Mines View Park, that it will affect vendors in the market and in the malls.
In a news article here, it seems that Mayor Peter Rey Bautista wrote PTA Chairman Robert Dean Barbers asking for 6M subsidy for his proposed parking building.
What I don’t understand is:
1. Old news says he was planning to spend Php12M
2. My sources say the Mayor’s Men are looking for a winning bidder for a Php200M contract
3, The proposed renovation for Burnham Park calls for Php400M but City Administrator Peter Fianza refuses to move without a masterplan.
4. Now PTA is asked to chip in Php6M
For Posterity’s sake, let us identify the other culprits who want to touch Burnham Park:
1. Last week, the City Council referred to the City Planning and Development Office several proposals for the site.
2. Councilor Perlita Chan-Rondez proposed for the site be improved and converted into a pay parking area
3. Councilor Nicasio Palaganas proposed for the construction of a three-level building that would house a parking area, cultural building, and a hostel.
What I understand is:
1. They cannot get their acts together as to the amounts to be spent.
2. All they want to do is railroad an infrastructure project in Burnham Park
3. The councilors of Baguio have decided that it is their job, instead of legislating ordinances that will bring peace, order and beauty to the city, to undertake projects involving a lot of cement and metal, without a Comprehensive Land Use Plan for Baguio that is required by the Local Government Code.
4. If we are not vigilant, this move will pass us by, they will insist there was consultation, and the whole deal will simply be fait accompli.
5. These idiots are not in love with trees, grass, soil, flowers and plants and thus must be removed from office.
6. The mayor actually sent a letter to Barbers dated 26 September 2007 so this threat to for a parking building at Burnham Park is real.
7. Any move to build a building or flyovers in Baguio is being made without the proper environmental impact and urban planning studies because these plans take many months or even years to be completed and this group has just been in office for 7 months.
8. Any plans to build on Burnham Park must be stopped at all costs.
Finally, I really think these unimaginative people are undeserving of the posts they occupy. Why not spend a good amount of money training the residents of Baguio on arts and crafts to be able to produce better and newer flea market items instead of insisting on building new stalls everywhere that will merely serve to sell the same old peanut brittle, woven floormats with the drabbest colors, wall hangings that are unimaginative Narda’s replicas?
We can actually make a small portion of Burnham Park a venue for handicraft making demos, or maybe have a weekend open-air artists and handicrafts gathering like Chatuchak in Bangkok. Any amount will be better spent if we invest in the people instead of pouring cement where it is neither wanted nor needed.
Shame on the Baguio City Government for even thinking about it!
Haaay naku, peter ray! Have shame! You wouldn’t want to be remembered as one of the culprits in the uglification of Baguio! Be a role model to the students of your school! Don’t be like the Domogans and Vergaras and be thought of as moneymakers! I’ve lived in a beautiful, peaceful street(except for some galloping horses)near mines view…yun lang, ung street lang na yun and the nearby ‘rotunda’ are nice. Mines View suck! It’s ugly! The unfinished building and the stalls blocking the mine’s view are ugly! These are the remaining few nice areas in the city. It’s really a shame and it reflects the kind of people running the city. How Baguio will turn out in the next few months, or even years will reflect the kind of people running the city….Unless you do something about it, Mr. Bautista, like make it beautiful again, THUMBS DOWN!
You can’t blame Peter Rey: he only has three years in office, and based on his performance, he stands a chance in the migratory flight of pig-birds to win in 2010. A multi-storey carpark? Please!
OK, maybe you can blame him. I’m 22 years old: I have a lot at stake in the development of Baguio City. What does a carpark offer me? I don’t even have a decent place to take a walk in for crying out loud! And I’m not even from UB.
The way I see it, you can transform the old City Auditorium lot into a new City Auditorium.
@marocharim, It’s good that you’re aware that you do have a stake in the development of Baguio…improve on existing structures e.g. city auditorium which can be transformed into a sports complex for the youth or something…just preserve burnham park and other parks…improve on the traffic system. And as to Liza’s suggestion of open market, yeah, why not, a weekend market maybe offering organic stuff, crafts, etc. in burnham and in other nice parks in Baguio…similar to what we have here in Manila(saturday markets in some villages, and the one in makati, Salcedo Market), you need nice, clean parks in Baguio to relax on weekends and enjoy nature all year round instead of hanging out in malls(not that it’s wrong)…building a parking lot won’t take 3 years unless it’s a huge structure amounting to hundreds of millions or what’s worst, if funds run out and it will be left unfinished..so it doesn’t really matter if peterray has only this much time in office(boy, he have big plans for such a short stint). He can call the shots when there’s something in it for him. You deserve a better, cleaner Baguio!
all of them are inutile including the satans that are handling our parks headed by CEPMO. they should all go to hell coz’ they are the ones destroying the old charm of baguio city and our parks.
burnham park must be free of commercialization and infrastructures as well!
These leader of the waste segregation scheme should also resign from his/her post!..(what’s his/her real gender ba?)
hi marco, you must be referring to engr banez, if i’m not mistaken. well, she’s just doing her job aside from being one of the shock absorbers of the mayor. the mayor shyed away during the garbage brouhaha and instead let his shock absorbers face the critics. kudos to them.
The best way to stop these ignorant government officials from damaging this fine city is to seek the help from the Conggressman and Senators to declare Baguio as protected site or part of the listed national shrine. Election is coming soon…………
Hi Elaine,
You’re right! Bautista has nothing to lose by making Baguio beautiful again …
Marocharim,
I hope other folks your age start thinking about their future, too, and how the course Baguio today is taking will affect them.
Marco,
Apparently there is some infighting going on in the government pertaining to the collection of garbage and all of us have to suffer. But the point is, by command responsibility, the mayor is ultimately responsible for the dilemma.
Resty,
You really should start thinking about having your own blog …
Strawberry,
The national government was protecting Burnham Park by ‘owning’ it and providing funds for its maintenance, which the Baguio city government did not spend wisely, which is why they were withholding it. Now it seems Bautista and Arroyo (yes, La Presidenta) are in cahoots because she has promised to give Baguio Burnham Park to Bautista so he can put a multi-storey parking building thereon.
Our congressman it seems, loves Baguio the least (judging from his horrid flyover). Other congressmen wouldn’t care.
But you’re right! There must be higher powers that should censure Bautista and all his schemes. You see, he is not answerable to a governor. Neither do the Baguio people require him to be answerable to them — at this point.
We’re hoping to change that.
hi lisa and marco,
the CEPMO are not evil as I also thought once. You talk to them and they will say yes to your request given the minute budget and the lowly walis that they have. they are not given cleaning materials budget, these comes from citizens and establishments chipping in. their cleaning crews are up at 4AM doing the rounds at CBD. their basureros are not protected given the kind of dirt you and i the rest throw (my wastes are all recycled and sold, so that waste I have are from construction na nabebenta ko naman). the people are so stubborn that they throw their garbage to the nearest vacant lot or the side of the road and worst, some establishments at CBD leave their trash at the corner of their stores when nobody is looking around. Walk down SR from 7 to 12 and you will see how dirty these areas are. Nakakainis and we blame the CEPMO for these. In 2005 our group cleaned the major thoroughfares of Baguio. It was ghastly, odorous, and for those who were not used to cleaning these dirty places…masusuka ka. Like when gusto mong iluwa yung mga taong hindi marunong magbasura….
How I wish, im not in my suite and i can go down the cab and throw these wastes back to their front door. Opps sorry, it should state 7pm to 12 midnight. Our city has no mobile shredders to shred the plastic or cans. Shredders to shred vegetable wastes and to be used as compost. Talaga naman, the returns are hight for the shredders, or chippers, magagamit mo pa sa planter boxes sa session road and burnham park. I think these people at the countcil should prioritize health and safety which a big part of it is waste segregation. WS includes getting equipments that will make you productive hindi yong nag - co-count na lang ng votes for the next election or photo ops na gustong gusto nila. (I have not voted any of these a——-.
Anne,
My family has been in the restaurant business since 1968. We recycled even when ‘environmentalism’ was not yet in vogue. As many Filipinos did with the ‘diyaryo-bote’ caretons.
Baguio needs a lot of discipline. The Baguio government needs to be prudent in its expenditures, too (e.g. cleaning materials are not items to stinge on — bonuses are, cars for councilors are).
I have always proposed that all Baguio residents should be made to clean public parks and other areas a few hours each a month. I will be the first to volunteer.
We can also have a clean and green activity for kids, because if they are taught to sweep streets, they will take pride in their work, in their city, and maybe it’ll teach them and their parents not to litter.
Baguio was always more ‘mannered’ than this!
Hay naku Anne, don’t despair! I was in the exact same position as you are in now (exasperated, desperate, in anguish, angry, even hopeless and helpless…).
We need folks like you in the Baguio PAGASA Workshop that will be held from March 10-11. The solutions are there. Will email you details…
(Do you know that I did just that — throw the garbage back at my neighbors some years ago?) They just threw their garbage in somebody else’s property instead of mine. Tigas ng ulo, no?)
Thanks for your comments though. For letting all of us know how you feel.
hi Liza, kindly correct yung suite to suit, hight to high, countcil should be council, waste segregation should be waste management. thanks.
Yup I was reading about the workshop you had. By then I am done with post SRB & Panagbenga08. Sometimes id wish na may health scare na naman so that everyone will clean and dispose of their trash. Thanks for giving me time Liza.