Baguio, O Baguio...

Dear All,

Greetings! Let's do this for Baguio...

Everyone who has gone to SAGADA, PULAG, IFUGAO, and
other places in the Cordillera -- will notice that
BAGUIO has LOST its CHARM--it is crowded, it is
polluted, water is scarce, it is full of squatters
even in the watershed areas
and it is Hot The pine trees are so choked with smog.
Session Road is no longer leisurely cool walk -- it's
like being in Cubao (okey - exaggeration but i really
hate the billboards up there -- it's so cluttered, an
eyesore)
hopefully Sagada won't follow suit---but it's getting
to be commercial up there too. Maybe by signing up,
you will help RECLAIM BAGUIO's lost beauty and stop
the degradation of all the other places we all love in
the Northern region--so, how about signing this
petition?

PETITION for BAGUIO:

We believe that the City of Baguio
Is culturally, environmentally and aesthetically unique and different
from other cities in the Philippines.

We believe that Baguio is the nerve center of four
rich and diverse cultures: the Filipino culture in
general, the highland Cordilleran culture, the lowland
Ilocano culture, and the heritage culture brought
about by the Americans during the early 20th Century.

We believe that in the past two decades, the City of
Baguio has experienced a substantial degradation of
its unique culture, environment and art.

We believe that the approval of certain politicians
with no respect for the aesthetics and the environment
of Baguio to put up concrete
structures such as malls, overpasses and flyovers only
worsens Baguio City's lamentable decay as a "City of
Pines."

We believe that this overdevelopment (as they termed
it but actually not )and resulting
pollution have to stop.

We believe that due to its unique history and blend of
cultures, Baguio can be to the Philippines as
Barcelona is to Spain, Chiang Mai is to Thailand, and
San Francisco is to the United States: a main center
of arts, culture, philosophy, education, tourism,
sustainable development and environmental
awareness.

We believe, therefore, that the City of Baguio
deserves to be declared a
"Special Heritage Zone," so
that the degradation brought about by overdevelopment
can be minimized and
gradually controlled.
We believe
that Baguio City's heritage as a center of culture and
environmental awareness is a valuable asset not just
to the Philippines, but also to the world.

We now respectfully call on the residents of Baguio
and the Filipino people to sign this humble petition,
and for the local and national governments concerned
to implement and declare Special Heritage status on
this unique mountain City as soon as possible,
preferably before the Baguio Centennial in 2009, so no
further destruction on its limited cultural,
environmental and aesthetic resources may continue.

Please add your name to the list and send this message
to as many people as possible. Please do not! just
click "forward". Instead
highlight the text and copy
onto a new message box.

Thank you.
I received this e-mail from a former co-employee in Manila. I go over the names and found that most of the addresses of the people who had received and forwarded the message were mostly not from the place. I typed my name as the 152nd recipient and signatory to the petition and will pledge to support this cause. I remember when I was a child and my great grand parents told that they are going to the City of Pines (circa 1960’s). I was told that I’ll be part of the trip hence I have to prepare myself and look forward to it intensively, only to find out that they started very early the next day. I was left behind together with one of my great grand lola. I was “ Kasama sa gayak, di kasama sa tulak!”.Since then, it stuck on my mind, that one day I’ll step on this famous mountain city.

Already I’m in my senior year in college when I have my first step on the city. I even pretended to have kissed the ground just like what the late Pope John Paul (rest in peace) did. I was a delegate to the Rizal Youth Convention (circa 1983) really savor and enjoy every minute of my stay. Together with the other delegates, we roam and roam the most famous parts of the city due to the very limited time we have; Burnham Park, Mines View, PMA grounds, Chinese Temple, Presidential House and many more. The place was so cool, and the smell of the pines was refreshing. Just walking (and sometimes running downhill) around was even relaxing. In other words, the place was still terrific.
When I joined a company in Makati selling fertilizer, I was assigned at Region 1 in Luzon Island. Since then, Baguio City was just a stone throw away from Urdaneta, where I am staying. Me and my wife (Rose) also had some good times in Baguio, as she joined me during most of my trips. We will buy fresh vegetables and flowers on our way back and sell it in our place, especially during fiesta time. Baguio was a good place to go. If a person will be told that he is going there, surely, he will look forward to it. Coming back afterwards, he had too many tales to tell.
After then, I had never been to the place. This e-mail now described to me how the Mountain City is decaying due to the overdevelopment. I pity those who have not seen the place when these shopping malls had not been constructed. Congestion was the problem, as there were too many students from the “kapatagan” (plains) went up there to study. Strangers from other places will go there and stay as long they wish. Instead of going down to the “kapatagan”, people go up there instead. Hence, problems will come up uncontrolled. Housing, drainage and sanitation, basic services, potable drinking water, transport and energy problems are now on the way. Baguio is now densely populated and the local government is now facing problems common in urban and newly-urbanized communities.

Baguio , O, Baguio. Your soothing cool, fresh and fragrant air has gone. But we will work towards you coming back again, somehow. Perhaps, we can start with Baguio City. Other sites also needs reconsideration of priorities whether to go and continue their urbanization or consider revitalize and preserve their historical and leisure values.

While we are pursuing this petition, some other groups were also on the run for the same purpose. In other areas of the Bicol Region, a group known as “Sarong Banggi” (literally, an evening) is also active in collecting names and signatures, for the preservation of the Cagsawa Shrine and the Bicol National Park. Even in Philippine Congress. Members themselves had filed organic proposals for the establishment of a separate ruling commission to do the task. However, the commission will have limited powers and concentration. Normally, the Cagsawa Shrine was under the management of the Philippine Department of Tourism, while the Department of Environment and Natural Resources covers the Bicol National Park. The Bicolano members of Congress states that both departments were not keen on protecting both sites.

It would be very interesting to participate in any of these activities. In any part of the world, national parks or any historical sites has to be preserved. Those were the only connections existing in between the generations of the past, present and the future.