Sembrano For Baguio Mayor in 2010 - or Not!
UPDATE on 11/17/2007: Mrs. Sembrano, who was elected as city councilor in May 2007, and in no way responsible for the ’savings’ from the 2006 city budget (not that that’s any justification for the city council’s recent move), has voted along with other members to allot a cars for themselves in a recent issue.Please read this article though as far as the irony of things is concerned, Mrs. Sembrano who heads the market committee opposing a market on Burnham Park that Pinky Rondez, head of the tourism committee is pushing for).
I was so hoping that Mrs. Sembrano, not being heretofore responsible for the current ills in Baguio (unlike her re-electionist compatriots) would be a fresh voice, a clean voice. The recent developments have proven otherwise.
I have been getting dismayed about Baguio’s mayors, vice-mayors, councilors and congressmen in recent days years. All the same people who have been members of past administrations keep getting elected all the time. The same people directly responsible for the uglification of Baguio and the destruction of the good quality of life that people have enjoyed here for decades.
Last May, Elaine Sembrano’s name surfaced because she was a dark horse, a political newbie, who’s daughter it seems appears on TV. But Mrs. Sembrano was elected because she has kept close ties with the market vendors via what can be called micro-financing, according to her sister, Baby Samonte, who is one of my friends in Manila. So she made it to the magic 12 and thank goodness for that!
It is ironic that, while Perlita Chan-Rondez who heads the tourism committee, wants to destroy tourism by erecting a market building on Burnham, claiming it will address traffic problems (of all things!), Mrs. Sembrano, who chairs the Market Committee, actually has an eye towards tourism in her steadfast refusal to support that bid for a market on Burnham.
According to this article from Northern Dispatch weekly, which I have reproduced in full:
BAGUIO CITY (Sept. 27) — The city council’s committee on market, trade and commerce is studying the possibility of penalizing store-owners and business establishments, who allow ambulant vendors to sell in front of their establishments.
In a proposed ordinance penned by councilor Elaine D. Sembrano, owners, administrators or caretakers of residential and commercial establishments are prohibited from allowing vendors to use the frontage and vicinity of their establishments. This was submitted to the city council last September 10.
The ordinance also penalizes even a mere consent for the use of an area inside their stalls by vendors evading apprehension by the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) agents.
Sembrano, chairman of the committee on market, trade and commerce, said in an interview that she is only trying to enforce the law for the good of the majority.
“Roads and sidewalks should be free from vendors,” she said. She adds that even parks should not be occupied by vendors, saying tourists will not be happy to see vendors plying their wares in parks.
Furthermore, Sembrano also frowns at building a multi-level structure for vendors in Burnham Park, saying it will only destroy the environs of the park. Vendors should sell in the public market or in satellite markets, she said.
According to Sembrano, there are satellite markets in some barangays which could absorb vendors, but those who usually sell along sidewalks are transient vendors, usually from the lowland provinces of La Union and Pangasinan. “They come in the morning, sell their goods then go home in the afternoon or evenings,” she said. “They occupy our streets and compete with Baguio residents,” she added.
Sembrano also proposed that in order to regulate the operation of vendors from the lowlands and decongest the streets and sidewalks of vendors, there should be a “bagsakan” (depot) for them to unload their goods and leave once the goods have been disposed of.A continuing operation in the market aims to clean the market of illegal vendors, according to Sembrano. “We can make the market very clean and beautiful, if people would only cooperate,” she said.
Sembrano’s proposed ordinance has passed second reading and is up for publication.
Am I right in saying that only Mrs. Sembrano has a brain to match her heart? If we look closely at the Baguio economy, we will realize that it is the tourists who bring in outside money. If we were to rely on the money from the low-income population of Baguio, a lot of whom are frugal Ilocanos, the local economy will fail.
It is the tourists who buy all the market items, or the hotel owners who buy the blankets for the tourists, the restaurants who make money from the visitors (Baguio folk eat cheap, with no room for elasticity or a whole lot of profit for the restaurant owners — that’s how we lost Salud Bistro).
Baguio is rich during tourist season and poor during the school year. So can’t they get the math or are they in power only to protect their economic interests?
Can you tell me who else is getting rich off the students, except the well-entrenched families who own the tightly-packed-no-room-to-breathe schools? And how much of their income is plowed back into Baguio?
Baguio attracts Koreans because of its beauty — there are better English tutors elsewhere, albethey more expensive. They are here, because Baguio used to be clean. And they’re not the ones dirtying up the place. We Filipinos are!
Baguio’s beauty if something given to us for free that we should cherish and protect. Yet it is the ‘protectors’ who insist on destroying it. Lawyers like Rondez, Farinas and Domogan who want to build. ‘Educators’ like Peter Rey who wanted to punish the citizens by not collecting the garbage before educating them on waste segregation. People who want to build buildings but not livelihoods.
So if you build a building for vendors who sell the cheapest ugliest items, are you helping them?
If you teach them to better their craft, or to start a craft in the first place instead of selling the same old souvenir items or Divisoria goods, are you not helping them?
If you do not support the Baguio Arts Guild or build a library so the students will find their souls, or support theater arts with a nice auditorum (that’s where they want to build the new Urdaneta-like market), or allow the children to discover talents other than the rote memorization of shared schoolbooks, are you helping the citizens of Baguio?
I have not met Mrs. Sembrano, but she, so far, has my vote in 2010. Considering her heart is with the market vendors, she’s the only one who wants to clear the sidewalks and the parks. The others are paying lip service to cleaning up Baguio and yet are coddling the squatters.
hi lisa, i’d like someone who is an environmentalist, someone who is knowledgeable with urban planning, concerned with global warming and a runner to run for mayor. i think we have enough laws now to deal with the other issues such as taxes, etc.
Hi Resty! Is there such a creature in Baguio?
I want a good manager (someone who will HIRE an urban planner), someone who can galvanize the citizenry into action, is brave and strong who’s good at fiscal management, someone practical yet idealistic, someone without vested economic interests, someone less ‘provincial’ than the current folks in government. Someone intelligent.
I want Bayani Fernando.
What about Lisa Araneta for mayor and Jack Cariño for vice-mayor? (Ha-ha-ha!)
Lisa is governor of Ilocos, I think, or First Lady at least. She wouldn’t be interested in Baguio. Hahaha.
How about those who have political plans to start making noise from now till 2010. The campaign should start now! With Baguio so small, noise will be heard easily.
I will provide workable general program of action for free! Convince the people it should be a campaign on principles not mere name recall.
Ang tamad kasi mag-isip ng botante dito — pare-pareho and inihahalal ngunit pahirap nang pahirap ang buhay at papangit nang papangit naman ang mga pinaggagagawa nila. Ayaw pa kolektahin ang basura, para makita ng turista na dugyot ang mga nakatira dito.
Wait a minute — why have I taken to responding in Filipino? Because I do not have an English translation for dugyot!
premature pa para i consider si sembrano, bago palang siya. binak ground check mo na ba siya? may mga rumours na may connection siya sa mga gumagawa ng anomalya sa city hall noon. Syempre, reliable ang sources ko. May ethnic vote kasi baguio. Many voters vote on race and not on their political platforms. Ang pag clear ng sidewalks ay trabaho ng executive branch ng government, enforcement of the law, sila pedz ang may trabaho jan. Puro kasi reklamo at pagpuna ang mga councilors, pati na tayo, in aid of re election. Action ang kailangan, kasuhan na dapat ang dapat kasuhan.
Very good points, James. Dapat lahat mag-upisang gumalaw, lalo na ang residente. Hindi yung pag-election lamang.
We should be vigilant about our elected officials every time they make any move. Because it really affects everyone directly.
They have to know that they were not elected kings; that they are public servants — operative word SERVANTS.
Her plans are okay to me. But the problem is not only those establishment who allow ambulant vendors. Trust me, there are more in the overpass and sidewalk. I think the city council should fine ambulant vendors 5000(as in five thousand) per offense per head!
Most votes in Baguio are not really from Baguio or have only stayed here for less than five years. It only takes six months of residency so that one could register to vote. So you see, the new comers(usually PROFESSIONAL squatters) come here, register after 6 months and then vote for someone who would favor them and who would give them free land.
Katrina, you can tell who’s really from Baguio every all Saints/Souls Day. So many leave the city to pay their respects. So just go to Naguilian and Loakan to read the ‘puntods’ to see who’s from here. Hahaha
ano ba kasi pinag-aralan ng mga abogado? they’re not meant to be good leaders, collecting under the table in exchange of their support kung sinuman nagbigay?
kaya nga maraming koreans dito sa baguio dahil ang president nila instead na economy of south korea asikasuhin nya yung mga clients nya offering big amount of money para pabagsakin ang kakompitensyang kompanya ang inaatupag, south korean president also a lawyer…..
i respect baguio leaders but when i heard korean business people who are giving under the table so they can operate business here, nakakadismaya…
and sino nagturo sa kanila na mabigay under the table to transact business easier?
sino pa di Pilipino.
kaya idea of foreigners about Philippine leaders and other government heads mukhang pera….
i can prove my statements or you can actually research on it!!!
sana nga ganyan na mayor natin sa 2010…also yung mga tao n nasa taas…. should support baguio folks ( may it be in business,art, etc..) hindi naman masama n magtawg ng foriegn or outside investors.. pero sana nmn e unahin muna yung mga taga dito… i can see products made in baguio that are worth buying…if only the gov’t would support them… kaya marami tayu nakikita n mga nagtitinda dyan sa tabi tabi… or may pwesto nga sila pero the prices is so cheap that the owner is forced to close…. habang yung mga dayo yumayaman……
also… i’m not against people from the north.. pero sana nman controlin nila yung paggamit ng muma… they spit everywhere… ampangit tignan.. i know it’s their tradition … pero sana naman ilugar nila…. sabi tuloy nung friend ko..( let’s keep baguio clean and green AND RED)… parang angpangit yata nun ah….
pumapangit na nga ang burnhan.. tapos gagawin p na market.. anu yun?… ampanget yata.. burnham park is one of the tourist spots (one of the first places where a tourist will go and visit) here in baguio… yan kasi puro pera ng nasa utak nila… they just propose and propose but do not study what the outcome will be in the longrun… just like mines view park.. amo makikita mo dun?… puro bahay… may kabaong p yata.. (sori po dun sa namayapa) wla n yung beauty ng park.. ang binibisita n yata dun eh yung mga inihaw n pusit at mga shops.. hehheheh…unlike before… you can really enjoy the sceneries… my relatives from olongapo said nung ngdedate kmi ng uncle mo noon ang ganda ng mga tanawn dito.. ngayon wala na.. sana naman yung nga liders NATIN!!! ( if they really are worthy to be called one) should also protect and preserve these places… hindi yung sabihin nila n maraming turista ah sige nalng ng sige… tayo ng shop dito tayu doon… pera eh.. as for the market at burnham, baka mamaya makita mo nalng fish for sale.. freshly caught at burnham lake…hahah.. nasobrahan ko yata.. heheh
as for urban planners.. andmi dito sa baguio… pero parang wala cla silbi.. s totoo lang.. iniiscratch lang ata sila ng gobyerno eh…. (sabi cguro nila..wala pera dyan sa plano mo… at list yung program ko my kickback ako dun..)hhmmmm? watcha think.. seems true…. well i think it is…
Welcome Sandra,
I absolutely distrust people who use the law for their personal benefit at the expense of others. Meron namang magagaling na mababait na abogado, di lang sila politicians siguro. Meron namang politician na di abogado, masama naman din.
And it’s appalling how Korean tourists are allowed by the city to do business. And imagine how their money will go a long way in support of the Baguio politicians who will allow them to profit from the city, during electoral campaigns and while in office. Pretty soon, they will be the political milking cows, unless they are already.
Hi again, Tim!
Yup, we need leaders with good hearts, but they have to be competent, too. We need to elect on the basis of sound programs and principles.
That’s what happens when we vote personalities and on the basis of mere name recall.