When Was The Last Time Baguio Was Beautified?
This is a short post, and I am hoping to elicit some reactions from Baguio residents here.
Question 1: What has the Baguio City Government done in the past 18 or so years since the big earthquake to beautify Baguio?
I mean, Vergara built the concrete pine tree, Domogan the flyover, Vergara the pedestrian overpasses with uneven steps, Yaranon virtually nothing (he was so busy kicking Jadewell out), Domogan the rails on sidewalks so pedestrians would not walk on the roads, Beutista as acting mayor for more than a year nothing, the Baguio City Councils past the outhouses screaming “Clean Restrooms - P5.00 IHI P10.00 _?_” in every park…
Question 2: So I’m thinking, where have all the billions of Baguio gone? Salaries of government employees?
Peter Rey promised to tear down the pine tree and put a fountain instead but — nada! The same way he floated the idea of snow two Christmases ago, yet nothing!
Question 3: What can the Baguio government and the citizens do to make Baguio pretty again?
I ask so that maybe we can offer up suggestions to city hall. Because all the projects they think of these days cost hundreds of millions and involve pouring concrete (flyovers, parking building) or shanties (satellite markets, flea markets) will serve to cover up Baguio’s natural beauty.
What say you?
ernie and i agree that baguio should have more walk / pedestrian paths. if we want less air pollution in Baguio and encourage people to walk instead of taking the jeepney or bringing their vehicles into town, then a safe pedestrian or even a bike lane should be a nice addition than unecessary flyovers. people also come up to baguio to have some to appreciate the beauty of nature, walking is 1 of the best ways to do this, to stop and smell the flowers and scent of pine trees…
Since we’re on the topic of politics for Q1, I’m interested to know what happened to the plans of the government officials to buy cars for personal use. Do you have news about that? Thanks!
hi lisa, on Q1, come to think of it, i can’t think of any. will the minimal addition of plants in burnham count?
Q2 the cementing of roads? certainly not the flyover because the funds used came from the national govt.
Q3 lots but like you say we’re an apathetic bunch.
Yeah right on! We should reassess ourselves to the fact that a city who takes a big chunk of revenue from tourism takes a lot from its city imagery. E un din naman ang dahilan why we are experiencing large scale in-migration from our neighboring regions. We need tourism! But the same thing we need control. We say were tourism oriented but how many specialty programs do we really have for this purpose? Really? Have we given our tourists the need to revisit our city? Or have we allowed more immigrants to exploit us? We have BAHAI as a local body and we have national tourism initiatives like the WOW, but what have we done so far at the local government scale. And with the mayor himself blurting “we do not need the tourists,” is he making a face on war with the local tourism sector? Ahahaha And flyovers are not the only solutions to problems on transportation congestion. Maybe we should try to look out amongst strategies made in both national and international levels. How many times have we consulted our technical planners? I think flyovers do not really satisfy the traffic problem. It just intensifies its magnitude over the road network towards the CBD. And there we are loosing the exclusivity of our CBD. Much because we have allowed jeepney network to pass on its premise and we have allowed the establishments and the road sides to be used for usages that can really not sustain our local economic need. (e.g. wagwagan, ukayukay, pirated CD DVD) E pano yan even our local government do not pay respect for our development control areas, proposing a parking building over Burnham park and allowing tiangges to stay. Burnham park is an important buffer zone separating land uses at its opposite sides. I think its just left to question of how genuine is the purpose of our comprehensive plan and our regional plan including the BLIST. And how genuine is our love for our city.
Hi ma’am, ahaha I’m a real big fan of your blog. (Teaches me a lot) Can I just ask out of curiosity lang, uhm what’s your profession po? You seem to be very well versed on city planning.
Welcome Grace!
Yup, anything that will allow residents and visitors to do a lot of walking will be great! This means:
1. Widen sidewalks
2. Less pollution - jeepneys must NOT BE ALLOWED in the CBD
3. Bicycle paths
Hi Nick (aka Watson)!
As predicted, Bautista vetoed it to save his political butt, washing his hands off the whole deal (of course the councilors rebutted this saying he was in on it all along and I believe them). I believe they will try to resurrect it when they find a technical way get their hands on brand new cars for them to keep after their term.
Resty, my thoughts exactly. There was virtually nothing undertaken by the city government since the earthquake to make Baguio a more beautiful place for the residents and tourists! Shame on all of them!
Baguio residents should be as active about saying what we want as what we don’t want. So they stop taking wasting the people’s money.
Thanks for your wonderful comment Booberto! I so agree with you. I am no more than a city planner than your mayor is. Hahaha! It really all boils down to love of Baguio.
Hi Lisa…the questions you posed indeed tend to raise an awakening among Baguio folks…but what do you think can these folks do, who just want to play it safe by keeping mum and are not so well versed about their rights to be consulted with regard to their city? We all love Baguio(we were good, law abiding citizens)and you can always run back to Manila but these folks will be left to face the consequences of their inaction(w/c i won’t feel sorry for later on
Thanks for being vigilant and for being informative,this is really for the good of Baguio and its people but it’s their call to do something about it, really. There must be some concerned, private(but maybe influential?)groups/or individuals who can hold a dialogue with the mayor or maybe talk him out of his sillyness…
Hi Elaine,
Why would folks say I can always run back to Manila? When I have devoted 18 of my 43 years to Baguio? Why don’t the people here scurry back down to their provinces if they show no love for the city? If I move out of Baguio, it’ll be to a nice quiet place with lovely people. Is there such a place in the Philippines?
Hello again, Lisa…I didn’t mean, you leaving for Manila because of no love-lost for a great city or maybe something to that effect..I apologize if you were slighted and I do acknowledge your devotion and love for this great little city…18 yrs is proof enough. I, myself wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have to attend to business matters here in Manila(I live in Q.C as well). It’s mostly the people I’ve made friends with at grad school,classmates and professors who are all true blooded Baguio folks and I adore them,despite differing views(political or otherwise). My late professor adored Domogan but I loved her more:) My kids are still enrolled in a small, private Christian school(making use of PACES)in Baguio…a good excuse to do the long drive once every 3 months or so. I’ve been reading your blog for a good 4 months now, and I like what I’m reading.. I cheer on the positive points especially. In my 35 yrs.. a great part of my childhood were spent in Baguio during summers and not so long ago, got to live the laid back life for 2 years. There’s a certain charm that has endeared Baguio to a lot folks there(including myself)… Your blog would be a wonderful source of ideas to help beautify Baguio. Baguio folks would need will-power(take action) in bringing the natural beauty back to the city.
Oh don’t worry Elaine. You see, you’re not the first one who has said that in 18 years. Most folks here have been saying that forever, especially when I want to change the way things work in this ‘probinsya of a highly urbanized city.’
I just took the occasion of your comment to make my stand clear to one and all — hahaha — and like the group of Voltaire Acosta says “Love Baguio, or Leave Baguio.”
I appreciate your wonderful comments. It is important for the folks here, whose world is so small, to hear diverse views, encouraging them to restore Baguio to its former charm. For that’s what makes Baguio work.
It’s equally important to have Baguio visitors understand what is happening so they will not judge the residents here as unclean when the city government refuses to pick up the garbage.
That’s why I blog. But honestly, the plan was to have only http://www.gobaguio.com.
I appreciate that you have joined our little community online, for that’s how I see this — a forum for intelligent and diverse views, for a better Baguio.
Thank you so, so, so much.
Hi Lisa,
The entitled “Beautiful Baguio” is very appropriate.
I visited Baguio for 3 whole days last month. I walked around the heart of the city from Harrison Road to the Rizal Monument to Baguio Central School along Kayang St then to the city market and wound up at Malcolm Square for 5 solid hours. This was enough for me to say the least. It was so filthy. I felt so depressed when I compared the Baguio we knew for 24 years since the early ’50’s. Gone!
Your ideas of making Baguio clean and beautiful is well and good. But Baguio needs a “muscle power” to implement what it needs -keep it clean. But how does one implement it when the local politicians are busy looking for their own immediate needs, e.g., a gov’t vehicle for their personal use? Where do they plan to drive this car in the first place? They need to set their priorities.
I wonder if they have replaced the rotten awning along the stairwell at City Hall? It is a safety issue.
-ZigZag
former resident
Hi Lisa, would just like to acknowledge the installation of street lights along the stretch of Leonard Wood Rd. specially from the bridge up to the Pacdal Circle. Feel much more secure now with the lights now.
Thanks Resty for the update! We should encourage them to do more for the city by praising the positive and being vigilant about possible shenanigans.