Apparently our local government does not like to listen to its people. Our garbage collection issue is political with the mayor and vice-mayor wanting to spend tens of millions to haul and the city council refusing to allocate funds for it but not coming up with a plan.

In the meantime, we must just continue individual efforts to reduce, recycle, reuse garbage.

Yup, check out the November 1 weekend and you will know who is a real resident of the city, because they have their loved ones buried here.

With Baguio attracting more than 30,000 students from the lowlands to live here 10 months out of every year come vendors, carinderia owners, teachers with whole families.

I like tourists, they come for a few days, spend as much money over a weeekend that a student will in a month and then go back home.

Somehow I missed responding to your comment — sorry about that. And yup, the Filipinos have been masters of recycling and waste management for decades — remember “dyaryo-bote?” The head of the house decides what is best way to dispose of garbage, and the most cost efficient way of dealing with waste, trying to recoup some of the expense by recycling or even selling the waste.

The problem here is, our HEAD is not doing his job — local government is all about housekeeping, and someone like Bayani Fernando did a fantastic job with Marikina, maybe because he loves the place.

Our mayor is not prudent about using taxpayers money, choosing the most expensive and temporary solutions to a crisis his government has caused, failing to educate the kids (residents), failing to listen to others who may have better experience in these matters (other mayors, barangay captains, private companies, etc who have offered solutions)).

And this I assert is because he wants to ruin Baguio as a tourist destination so family businesses like his can annex the rest of this beautiful city as a whole campus for their overstuffed colleges — without paying for it and using the taxpayers money in the process (e.g. build a Php400M parking building on Burnham when UC or UB do not provide parking for their behicles).

Hi Edrylyne,

We cooperate, we are creative, but the rest of the populace needs guidance and also penalties for not cooperating. Yung mga ibang dayo at bagong lipat, di na nga nagbabayad ng buwis, ginagawa pa tayong basurahan, dinadala pa yung kanilang kadugyutan sa ating ciudad. Penalties, let the barangays go on an education campaign and have ordinances, impose penalties and police their areas for garbage, since the city is not doing it properly.

Suggestions are great and does pinpoints the exact problems we have.. People with lack of Knowledge on how best to manage garbage.

If you’re the head of the household and you dont know where your garbage can is, your whole house would be the whole garbage can.. WHOLE BAGUIO IS GARBAGE CAN NOW!
If you are the head of the family and you dont know how to process garbage to be reused again, then youll try to send it out of your house. BAGUIO TRYING TO SEND TO CAPAS?? OR SOME LAND WE CONSIDER USELESS SO WE DUMP TRASH.

Less than 100 days for Centennial, Dont tell me the HEAD(MAYOR) of the family would ask his KIDS(PEOPLE OF BAGUIO) to throw/hide all our trash in our cabinets and under our beds when VISITORS(TOURISTS) are in the HOUSE(BAGUIO).

PEOPLE MAKE GARBAGE! Whether we like to or not. the question is would the leader like us to manage ours, if so, and if we did, he should get out of the house as his usefulness is none existent. I wouldnt like someone to sit in there and get taxes and tell me to give CLEAN garbage because we already clean it up inside our home.

The problem is not so much the garbage as it is that we are saddled with incompetent and greedy leadership. What a fatal combination!

Can’t wait for 2010… I really hope folks wake up and smell the stench and not vote for these people again. I really think we need non-traditional politicians, honest and competent managers and businessmen who know how to run profitable enterprises. Baguio, as any city, should be run like a corporation and not subject to the whims of a few people in power who do not care for the residents except to see them as voters who must be kept ignorant and hopeless so they can toss us a few morsels here and there.

Hay naku, I got me started…

Your suggestions are great, and thus merit more attention from all the readers. Thank YOU!

It would be lovely to use Baguio Insider not only as a forum for venting, but as a repository of our individual efforts in researching and analyzing the local situation here.

I wrote somewhere here in this site that the folks who will host the trash should be given THE business opportunity because there is a lot of money to be made with garbage, as you very well know.

More power to your blog… keep at it. We all should add value to the internet by providing useful information, plus we really should chronicle history for future generations to benefit therefrom.

I’am truly elated upon reading my article . A million thanks for allowing it to be posted in your website

It would be a priviledge to share whatever comments and suggestion I may contribute to your informative site. I love Baguio and I will do whatever good cause I may contribute to it’s welfare, in writing and in action. I will continue to go along side people like you who seeks for Baguio’s excellence. Baguio is sick, and it needs immediate attention.

More power mam, and keep on blogging! Thanks

By the way, I heard from a good friend that the Mayor of Capas Tarlac is in hot water due to the volume of garbage being dumped in their place, so, that means bad news for Baguio. Just wonder what’s under the sleeves of our honorable men and women at city hall? Our good Mayor of Baguio is proposing an incinerator, right back at the closed Irisan dumpsite, what a no , no, we tried that before and it just worsened the problem. With the rain pouring this summer, garbage problems are here again. God help Baguio!!