An Open Letter

Dear Baguio City Politicians (aspiring and incumbent), Baguio City Residents, and Concerned Citizens,

It’s only a few weeks before the election. These past few years or even decade(s) had been unpleasant for Baguio, its residents and even tourists. It pains me whenever I hear outsiders comment that Baguio is trying hard to be like Manila, is overcrowded, polluted and dirty. I cannot do any rebuttal because what they say is true.

I was raised to be a law abiding citizen. I love Baguio so dearly and no matter what, I abide by the law even if it’s not strictly implemented. When there are no garbage cans I keep my trash, Even if it takes me a long walk to the pedestrian lane I don’t jaywalk. I don’t spit on the ground or anywhere else. I am mad at people who don’t follow simple rules and who only care for their personal convenience and interest without thinking if they are already pestering other people.

It’s utterly ironic how people complain about white elephants, corruption and abuse by the government officials when they themselves are not different from these people. They claim they want good governance yet many of them “sell” their votes to politicians who’ll grant them what they want even if it is to the disadvantage of the city, of other people. They bribe officials for them to give “special treatment” to them. And when officials start implementing rules, they complain even if they are the offenders.

Our situation right now is like chicken-and-egg. We want officials to change for the better but many of us do not want to change for the convenience and betterment of all. We want rules to be strictly implemented but when we are punished for our offenses, we get mad, we complain.

I hope people reading this will not think that I am really anti-poor but honestly, I hugely appalled by many people from the “masa”, the “urban poor”, “the squatters”, "the ambulant vendors/illegal peddlers". Many of them do not really want to be helped; they want the government and other well-off sectors not only spoon-feed them but to chew their food for them. Yes, the government should help the less fortunate but this does not mean that the government is obliged to “sponsor” and “give freebies” to them forever. Hard work and discipline is the number one key factor in raising one’s economic status. The vote hungry politicians out there spoil these people and give in to their demands even if they know it is not for the good of the majority and only for a particular sector.

Just looked at what happened when the local government was very tolerant of the illegal settlers from other places. Instead of solving the problem, it made the number of squatter increase which rapidly deteriorated our environment. Our mountains which were once filled with pine trees are now filled with substandard and ugly structures, mostly houses. Because of the tolerance of the government, other “aspiring” squatters found it eligible to squat here because they know that the government will give in to their “requests”. It would probably be not so bothering right now if the only people who will be affected by the consequences are the people involved in “the deal”, but that is not the case. Because of the selfishness of the illegal settlers who use the “paawa effect” and unwise government officials, the majority is now suffering. It’s not only the majority but almost all people!

But the squatters are not the only ones to blame. Several “businesspeople” are to blame too. They erect substandard buildings without any building permit and without thinking of the general public, the convenience of all, only the profit that they will gain. Let us include the officials who “protect” these people. Take a tour around the Central Business District. These past years, many unappealing, substandard and unhygienic establishment proliferated. Up to now, the city hall seems not to be checking on them and is still tolerating them despite the dangers alongside with it. Look at the ugly ukay-ukay area between Session Road and Calderon Street. Look at the former movie house and other establishment near Dunkin Donuts at Session Road. Look at the poorly-built and unhygienic building beside AMDC at Assumption Road and look at how the “businesspeople” there handle their trash. They just dump their garbage bags at the sidewalk they throw their cooking ail there too which brings about the foul smell. The place where pirated VCD/DVD are sold are not given attention to.Or maybe, they are given consideration by city hall? The very ugly, dangerous and substandard “establishment” where the sell RTW, pirated DVD, stolen cellphones at the foot of Session Road. I do not need to mention all of these. Even the illegal vendors who sell street food are not being tightly monitored. Not only do these “rolling carts” bring foul smell and diseases (since they sell these food in a not-so-clean area), they also deprive pedestrians of their right to decent sidewalks. Yes, they are free to sell but not in this way. Not at the expense of the health of their customers and inconvenience of the general public.

In the city there are many substandard and illegally operating dormitories, apartments, transient and boarding houses. Not only is that city being robbed but also this brings great threat to those living in these places. Why is it that our government is not checking on this? These greedy "landlords" are stealing money from Baguio.

The same mistake in the past is happening again. The toleration of illegal squatters that further deteriorate the environment continues. Can’t the illegal settlers and officials understand that there’s no more room for land distribution the city? Baguio was designed for 25,000 people only but the present population is close to 400,000(mostly immigrants.. there's need to control further immigration or else!)! A huge percentage of the city’s forest and land areas were given for the sake of granting the squatters land, thus resulting to great environmental loss. If these people want to have land, they might just purchase land in other places or why don’t they just go back to their home provinces and find opportunities there rather than crowding themselves here. We can’t loose our remaining public lands and forests(just to give way for more homes or any infrastructure) since it will be of greater danger if another earthquake, a strong as that one in 1990, will hit the city again. The BLIST project is something that I am not in favor of. It will just attract more squatters since our squatting policies here are too tolerant even if it is at the destruction of mother nature. Ladies and Gentleman in the city hall, please THINK first. BLIST is not an assurance of a decongested Baguio. We might just end up as congested as Metro Manila which houses 12% of the total population of the country. There might just be more disadvantages than advantages if ever the BLIST proposal will be implemented. It's just like building that concrete pine tree on top of Session Road.

Why can’t the city hall shoo away they illegal vendors and peddlers in the city, especially at night at early morning – during the rush hour? It takes political will to correct things but only a little effort seems to have been exerted. The continued tolerance of this sector is not beneficial to the general public, to the majority. Students, pedestrians, drivers, residents, tourists are suffering the consequences of this. Isn’t it that at the height of the Jadewell issue, these politicians were saying that “public streets are beyond the commerce of man”. However, ironically city hall gave these ukay-ukay sidewalk vendors tolerance permit and these people are still present at Calderon Street during morning rush hour which makes our sidewalks very inconvenient. I know they are just doing this for them to have money, but please if they want to do business, they should do it in a better way and in a more appropriate place.

The city police also seem to do nothing about the worsening traffic condition. Why is it that our police hardly apprehend traffic violators? It appears to be that they only apprehend the number-coding violators and not the drivers and passengers who load and unload right in front of a “No Loading and Unloading” sign, those jaywalkers over at Upper Harrison Road(and other places)?

It’s sad that the city hall seems to be neglecting those who pay taxes in favor of the people who seem not to care about the city and the ones who sabotage the city’s economy. For many years, the city hall seems to give less importance to the real residents and favoring more the illegal settlers who migrated from other places. And the businesspeople who are not really contributing to the vibrancy of the business climate of the city seem to be tolerated and not checked. In the city, there are numerous places where they sell stolen cell phones which contribute the worsening cell phone snatching incidences in the city and nothing has been done about these. Look at what happened to Burnham Park when the city hall permitted those trade fairs. Not only did these “businesspeople” run away with our money, they also destroyed one of our most important landmarks – Burnham Park.

I ask the people of Baguio to vote wisely this May. Let us not be deceived by these power and vote hungry politicians who will further ruin the city. Let us learn from the mistakes in the past. Let us not vote for people who only favor one sector. What we need is someone who is not afraid to strictly implement the rules and discipline the people and who will not further build more irrelevant structures in the city and who will use our money wisely and someone who is very determined to preserve the city's heritage of the City(one and only in the Philippines!). Let us not also vote for officials who would permit to further expand SM's mutilation of our city. Who the hell cares if the owner is Henry Sy? We're talking about our city, not the profit that this man would be reaping.

Justice for Baguio and its people!

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