AS for the car plan – first let’s look at the motives of the city government officials for requiring a car. I think it’s their way of showing “I’ve arrived.” I bet they can’t go to City Hall on a pony (from Wright Park) because they don’t know HOW TO RIDE A HORSE, let alone get on one. They never did have the energy to walk to Wright Park, as any Baguio-born kid could do — and learn how to ride a horse, one of our trademark “Baguio symbols of being The Mining Town of Benguet.” They’re probably too weak inside as they are outside. And as you could see, there’s not much “park” left in front of City Hall. Thus, the car plan. Second, they’ve timed it for the Fil-Am Golf Tournament. To show all those balikbayans (who can now play golf, thanks to working overseas) that they “can make it” in their own country – if they learn to be another group of people – “manloloko.” (The Indian saying goes, “There are only 2 kinds of people in the world” – those who deceive and those who allow themselves to be deceived.) And on this Indian saying, I end this comment because Lisa has just had a “Let’s go around Baguio” moment.
How long will the Baguio citizens allow themselves to be deceived by a group of deceiving politicians? (then I’ll move on to part 2 on this car issue)

This has been tackled lucidly in (Baguio’s very own) Dr. Katrin de Guia’s seminal book, “KAPWA: The Self in the Other,” published by Anvil Publishing.

as i let off steam, i gain clarity in seing what can be done. thank you lisa for this forum.

in my comment of 11-24-07 i mentioned baguio needed a martial plan. i meant MARSHALL plan similar to the european rehabilitation program after world war II but a modern one that will include all the new and emerging socio-political-cultural-economic-psychological dogmas developed over the last 60 years. Padma has also contributed quite a load of sensible actions on what can be done.

perhaps the value of being away for seven years enables me to take a look at the city in a more objective manner (which i will still need to master) and better equipped to be be detached from an issue so close to my very being like a doctor having to operate on a member of his family.

baguio’s problem is not isolated and is duplicated in every major city in the world as part of the systemic malady that afflicts human civilization. what you see in baguio is the micro-manifestation of a global-wide damaged culture where even as far back 100 years ago, Rizal already referred to as “social cancer”. as a living organism, a society will always reflect the pulse of its members. our apathy towards graft and corruption and distorted values and poor taste in urban planning is similar to that of healthy cells that allow a cancer cell to eat everyone up and eventually destroy the entire system including itself. and that is what our cities are..a reflection of a culture out to self destruct.

a new world view has emerged over the last 20 years and although still at its infant stage is already proving to be the solution to organizational and social concerns. i am referring to the quantum world view and mesomorphic field concepts that appear to be at the forefront of the information revolution and heralding a new world order.

the first step in solving a living system’s problem is to accept that the individual parts are a manifestation of the whole and are interconnected within the structure. when we impose external solutions hoping it will seep into the culture, history has proven this method fultile. no matter how beautiful and clean we make a city etc, a people that have no sense of beauty and cleanliness will always turn it back into the dump and squalor they have been accustomed to (comfort zone). we will need to work more on the inside (values)and the reflection will show how successful we are with the transformation. a people who value order, health, cleanliness and beauty will manifest the same without need to be threatened with sanctions (fines) or deprivation (holding back garbage collection).

that 20M can be better off starting a cultural revolution/reformation/transformation through a multisectoral summit that will make baguio residents take a look at what we are doing to ourselves and setting up the gas chamber for future generations.

we can even already start with our own families, homes, backyard, neighborhood and when a collective consciousness has evolved, come together and share information and ideas on how the whole rather than the parts can be addressed.

one sector alone will not be able to solve a social problem. we will need to act as a whole as the action of one affects the other. it will not make sense to keep our backyard clean by throwing our garbage next door. let us reflect on how our actions affect each other and make adjustments so that everyone can live together in harmony.

THINK GLOBAL. ACT LOCAL

It’s been almost a week since this P20-Million car plan thingy came and I am still in this mode.

The unmasking of Baguio’s “Character City” campaign into a “CAR-acter City” malady was a letdown really.

Just how can one call something that depreciates in value an asset?

Lately, me and my friends tried to be as “upbeat” as the councilors. If we had P20-M in our hands, or even that proposed One Billion city budget, we thought where we’d spend the money, and so we dreamed quite “wildly” for Baguio.

First, we thought there was an urgent need to decongest the city’s streets.

The private cars are parked everywhere while the public utility vehicles have encouraged vendors who make the sidewalks so squalid with their solid and liquid wastes dumped into the canals especially.

Enough of these stench and ugly mess.

A multi-level parking system was needed, we thought, with at least 5 buildings that would be so strategically located to become effective: 2 at the market area, 1 near City Hall, 1 near Session Road, 1 along Gen. Luna. (And this plan should never mess up with the Burnham Plan, of course!)

Next, we did the math and felt so frustrated.

At the rate prime lots are going up in Baguio, even a Billion budget for just one lot would be inadequate to meet our “wild” simple dream.

We concluded: “Why are the councilors behaving then as if Baguio has oodles of money?????”

Grrrrrrr…..

james