Online Petitions for Baguio
June 8, 2008 by lisa
Filed under better baguio initiative, featured
Historic & elegant Main Club was torn down to make way for The Manor in Camp John Hay in 1997. With 200+ hectares the developers could not imagine where else to build a hotel?
Never again! All Filipinos, especially Baguio residents, should never allow anyone, for the sake of ‘development’ to tear down beautiful structures like the Camp John Hay Main Club. The same goes for decades-old pine trees. Almost 1000 are in danger — GSIS lot (500 trees), Moog Controls Corporation expansion (234 trees), Ayala development plus new call center in Camp John Hay (100s more).
The rains have come — not just the regular April showers, but a typhoon (they say two hit us simultaneously) that hit Baguio hard over a weekend in May. The lights went off for more than 24 hours, pine tree branches were falling all over, water (which is usually 24/7 in my area) was gone too because the BWD pumping stations run on electricity (they don’t have generators?), an huge national table tennis tournament at the convention center saw a few folks stranded (as ‘refugees’), while those who attempted to rush down to Manila were blocked in La Union by a fallen tree and floods in Pangasinan.
But there was this one large family from Manila who braved the rains and the lowland floods to come up to Baguio as scheduled because, as they told me, they LOVED Baguio and nothing would put a damper on their plans!
I SIMPLY LOVE THE RAIN!
Sometimes, my first thought would be “Blessing!” For the rain cleanses, for a while makes everything turn gray, then when the sun comes out my world becomes a vivid green again.
My second thought always is, if it is cold and damp in my beautiful house, what about those who have put up shanties on the mountain sides?
Then I start thinking, all these measures the government purportedly undertakes for ‘poverty alleviation’ is totally LIP SERVICE. This whole thing has a totally mendicant attitude. We donate to the poor, we do not build lives.
By allowing the ‘poor’ to squat does not alleviate poverty. Giving him good education and good work does. We must build lives. The government should provide free training for the creation of products, or a specialized skill. Enough with the diploma mills of Baguio which exist only to collect tuition fees and issue certificates of completion.
The same way the local government in Baguio talks about “EDUCATION” is lip service, or worse yet, self serving. Education in Baguio cannot be called a vocation even — it is merely business. And turning education into a business is completely deplorable! It cannot even be called education, in my opinion. That’s too grand a word for what goes on in schools in Baguio.
Come on, I just heard that students in a university in Baguio are required to take TYPING classes as part of their curriculum for which they are charged laboratory fees! Same with English writing — lab fees! Wow! Talk about taking the parent’s hard earned money.
I was told by a teacher at City High that the classrooms are filled with 70 students — so bad that there were high school kids having sex in the back and the teacher could not tell anymore. Oh, this is not a fake claim — a whole bunch of us were told this during the last PAGASA Workshop in Baguio
And because we have tens of thousands of graduates per year we have to provide jobs, too. Thus came a very well attended Job Fair at the Convention Center more than a week ago filled with thousands of desperate people.
Thus the residents welcome the expansion of Moog Controls Corporation into the Camp John Hay reservation that will cut down 234 pine trees in exchange for a few more hundred workers. Thus Baguio welcomes yet another call center that will turn our graduates into telephone operators with American accents, never mind their courses, never mind their passions and dreams.
Did any child ever say, “Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a call center agent.”
Is that better than raising a child who is forced to take up nursing to leave the Philippines and her family, be called a hero and be the breadwinner for the family?
Come on, more than population control, this country must look into changing the attitudes a multitude of Filipino parents. Do not beget a child so he can work for you and ’save’ your family. Ano ba?
Save yourself first, then have a family!
We just...
That would be great, baguio to regain her lost beauty…
That would certainly helpalso the Baguio econ. by boosting its tourism industry.
Hi Bok,
Yes, wouldn’t be nice if Baguio cleared up a bit of traffic and tarpaulins?
It doesn’t really matter whether its for regaining beauty, increasing Baguio’s tourism power or both. We should restore nature’s life and vibrancy; it’s our responsibility as the inhabitant of the environment that we are in.
Even if the cutting of trees is for “development” (in other words more money), we should never disregard the consequences of our actions. One of the few (dying) reasons that we are still not as poor as Africa is because of our nature. Instead of thinking of cutting down trees or mutilating nature in any other way, we should do the best that we can to restore it.
Mr. Baguio, I so agree with your comments. And please alert everyone, we are fighting for our lives when we fight for the trees!
Lisa,I don’t like to see green trees disappear and just a click popped houses like mushrooms everywhere. How about more protection and restrictions to what area should stay Green and the rest ( landowners) to decide.
Please don’t take this GREAT IGOROT CITY away from the eyes of it’s sons and daughters even if most of them have gone to the rest of the world.
Hello Lisa, The Baguio We Want signature #105 and for Declare Baguio..signature #652. Hope something good comes out of these.
Yes, mostly agree with all the issues. We lowlanders go to Baguio not because of commercialism that is very similar and evident in lowlands, we love Baguio for the beauty that mother nature gave to your beautiful place. Let no man “beautify” a place to which our creator already designed it to be.
Hi Joyce,
I’ve always said Baguio should be more Cordillera instead of — Quiapo! Wood not cement! Plant trees, not buildings!
Ah Resty,
You found your signature #s! Great!
Juden,
Amen! These people are so prideful, wanting to erase God’s work and impose their own idea of beauty, aren’t they?
BAGUIO IS A VERY BEAUTIFUL PLACE….IT SHOULD BE LEFT AS IT IS!
hi lisa,
greetings from Cameroon! though I am not physically there on my birth land, I am with you and other thousands of fil AGAINST the anti development program of the local gov’t and the business group. it’s sad to say that these two influential groups in Baguio are committing MONEY IDOLATRY. aiming to sell baguio land (a big potion of our tree reservoirs) to create business infrastructures is not proportionally moral and ecologically sound! nahihibang na ba sila? akala ba nila money can buy everything?
it will never buy LIFE that they will kill. the life of the trees and all that is connected to its circle of life are priceless.panalangin ko lang talaga ay matauhan sila kundi man, sigurado akong ang lupit ng higanti ng kalikasan ay babagsak sa buhay ng kanilang mga anak at pamilya!!!!
Hi Randy,
That’s right! We should have a LEAVE BAGUIO ALONE movement!
Hello Francis,
Materialism, greed, selfishness, shortsightedness, stupidity…
hi lisa, matt here. i’m organizing a sports event for baguio and i hope this will help baguio preserve what is left of it. the event will involve the whole baguio community starting with the barangays, schools, business establishments. it will be a whole year event. i’ll tell you details about it later. remember when we talked, my passion is still to help baguio regain what it used to be… the best place in the philippines.
Hi Matt, that’s good news! Let me know of your event schedules so I can post them at http://www.gobaguio.com also.
Keep the Faith! Get national media (the great equalizer) in on the fight!
hoooray for liza…. somebody light more candles please. mybrothers and i used to hangout at carabao mountain…now…squatters mountain in the early 50’s. we had names for certain areas..where the rocks are…robin hood’s castle, sadle rock, lone ranger’s hide out.
has baguio finally come up with a park..nothing commercial…just a park.
Hiya Skippy,
That’s what ALL my Manila friends who love Baguio (and ‘remember it when’) keep saying! But honestly, media can only do so much (and so much harm in the process, too) — the taga-Baguio should want a better city in the first place.
It all starts from the individual…
Hi N Pacheco,
We have to let the folks reading us know that carabao mountain is what folks know these days to be Quirino Hill. Full of homesteaders who are squatters on public land. “May squatter ba sa sariling bayan,” my commie friends would retort!
And sad to say, Baguio is NOT “coming up with a park…nothing commercial…just a park.” The concept of breathing space is alien to our local government and compatriots!
Lets start within ourselves. Everyones invited to weekly sunday worship service at GCF-(Greenhills Christian Fellowship)-Baguio at Summer Place Hotel, Marcos HIway. Join growth groups also, like youth growth group, young pro growth group, couples fellowship, values formation at thge hotel. For inquiries call 446-5400-01 http://www.summerplacebaguio.com
I was raised and educated in Baguio and left when my dad was assigned elsewhere. When i came back 30 years later i did not recognize the Baguio i grew up in. Iunderstand that there has to be some degree of modernization and progress but not at the expense of history, culture and traditions. Clearly Baguio authorities, the local government, has had its head stuck in the sand too long. They no longer seem to see what is needed. Blinded by greed perhaps? Focused on other trivial “affairs” perhaps? Look at the number of taxis alone. 7,000+ taxis and only 3000 are registered. The rest are colorum. Why is this being allowed to happen? Why are there so many blind politicians in office? Baguio deserves better! After all, it is the only one of its kind around. I love my Baguio and I will kep doing what i can to restore it.
“I understand that there has to be some degree of modernization and progress but not at the expense of history, culture and traditions.”
The leaders and residents of the city have obliterated more of it than the great earthquake itself. Yup, insecurity and greed reign in the city. Where are all the Baguio oldtimers I knew? How many are willing to stick it out here and prepare for a long and arduous struggle to reclaim the city we love?
Who’s willing to sacrifice for the city?
A recent email circulating at Baguio Web International e-group regarding a petition for the rehabilitation and preservation of Baguio is being spearheaded by Manila folk, to supplement earlier petitions started by Baguio folk. But petitions on- or offline have no teeth. We have to make firm and concerted plans, geared towards re-engaging the populace and putting incompetence and selfishness in its place — far away from the City of Pines.
Any ideas?
p.s. colorum taxis and an equal amount of jeepneys is corruption unchecked, and evidence of an apathetic populace filled with migrants who contribute very little to the city. they, like everybody else just take and take and take.
p.p.s. one thing that may help is to alert everyone you know who loves Baguio to the issues, and actively participate in the discussions here, or maybe even write an article (in your own blog site, or I can publish it here under the author’s name).
p.p.p.s. thanks for commenting. appreciate it.
Hi Liza!
I’m a frequent visitor of your blog since Baguio is a favorite destination of us scooter riders. Anyway, I heard through the grapevine that they were going to ban Motorcycles and Scooters along the major roads of Baguio? Any truth to that rumor?
Thanks!
Bimbo Isidro
(formerly of Luigi’s Steakhouse)
Hey Bimbo (Ilan ba naman ang kapangalan mo sa Pilipinas, dating ‘kapitbahay?’),
They had a hearing about 2-stroke motorcycles more than a year ago, and the owners here wrote to the councilors (and complained to me once) how their concerns and arguments were brushed off but I do not know what has come off of that.
I am hoping someone in the know as far as motorcycles in Baguio are concerned will respond to your query. Because before I went down to Manila a couple of weeks ago they were still on the streets.
You can also check aggregated Baguio news stories at Go Baguio! from time to time to check if any of them reference your issue.
I have lived most of my lifetime in Baguio and it is so sad to see that everything has gone downhill.
Gone are the days when you can still walk up and down session road without the constant pollution from the jeepneys.
Gone are the days that you can still walk the downtown streets without fear of getting mugged.
Gone are the days when at exactly 6PM, the city hall siren sounds off and everybody pauses for a short prayer. Did we lose our devotion along they way?
Gone are the days when you can almost recognize everyone you meet.
Gone are the days when taxi drivers are respectful and even help you load up your stuff in the car. Now they just don’t care.
Gone are the days when you can see fog in the early dawn and early evening. Climate has changed for the worst.
Gone are the days that you can find thick patches of pine trees. Now concrete structures dominate the landscape.
Gone are the days when you can go to Mine’s view and actually see the mountains. Now the views are obscured by too many stores and squatters down below.
Is there hope in the future? Probably … but I hope people learn from recent tragedies that mother nature knows how to get back what she had.
Baguio now is almost only just in my memories … my children may never know how wonderful and beautiful Baguio used to be…simple but beautiful, peaceful and quiet.
Hi Neil,
I agree with you that the charm we all grew up with is disappearing as the city’s residents are embracing all the wrong things about urbanization. Coming from the rice fields of the lowlands, or vegetable patches of the highlands, they do not know any better.
But our city fathers do, and they do not care, just dreaming up of projects that will add more cement to the city so it becomes an urban jungle. And as jungles go, it becomes the survival of the fittest. Wrong attitude.