Adding to the problem

I just came from Baguio (yes, despite the traffic both vehicular and human, the astronomical hotel room prices, the smell of diesel) to enjoy whatever remains of the cool weather before summer officially set in.

Yes, parking is still a problem and so I decided to just take the bus (for P720 one way, I was able to reach Baguio in about four hours non-stop from Genesis’ Cubao Terminal).

Immediately catching my attention were the front pages of the local newspapers which reported about the plan to build a multi-level parking building with concession areas along the former city auditorium at Burnham Park.

The proposal has drawn mixed reactions, mostly negative. XRC Mall Developer Inc., which submitted an unsolicited proposal for the area last January, plans to construct a mixed-use structure with a three-floor basement for podium parking and six floors for various concessions such as a mall, hotel, auditorium and a library. It will be undertaken via the private-public partnership (PPP) mode of development.

The Baguio We Want Forum opposed the plan citing Proclamation 64 signed in 1925 which provides that Burnham Park is a park reservation and its management, maintenance and administration by the city government is limited by law so that it cannot be encumbered, mortgaged or alienated and its use shall be limited to recreation and tourism-related activities. The group adds that the proposed podium car park threatens the shrinking green spaces in Baguio City.

Yes Baguio needs new parking spaces. But does it need another mall or hotel?

I doubt it if this project will even help Baguio’s parking problem. When I was there about two weeks ago, I chanced upon a parking building near Session Road and I tried to find out how much it would cost if I were to park my vehicle there overnight. Easily P400 per night. That would probably be the same amount I would have to shell out if I leave my car at SM Baguio’s carpark, that is if they allow overnight parking. I would imagine that XRC’s proposed new project would not charge any less. Thus, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan’s statement that the proposed multi-level parking facility within the Burnham Park area would help the parking situation does not make any sense at all.

And because many hotels, inns and lodging houses, even food establishments, do not provide for assured parking slots for their guests, they are forced to park their vehicles on the streets.

Baguio City should require all new establishments to build parking facilities for their guests. These new condominiums built by some of the biggest names in the Philippine property sector should not even be selling parking slots to buyers of condo units. What if they do not buy parking slots? Where would they be parking their vehicles? The city government should have required them to provide one-to-one parking slots for free.

From Our Readers

I would like to thank everyone who sent their comments and shared my article titled “Baguio Will Soon Be Dead” published last March 25, 2018. I am blown away by the amount of shares and likes. Just like you, I just want the old Baguio back, if that is still possible.

Allow me to share with you some of the letters that were sent to me.

“Sometime last year, DPWH or maybe the local government started a flood control program.  They started to build dikes on what was suppose to be riverbanks.  I think it was to control erosion at the same time to prevent property owners from reclaiming the river banks. For a while I thought it was good until they reached the river beside our property.  There used to be a clean river or maybe it is a creek but anyway this creek had clear water coming from the mountains. It had guppies and tadpoles which you rarely see anymore. Kids from the nearby public school would come at lunch time to eat their lunch on the big rocks and take a quick deep on a warm day. It was a sight to behold.

Then came the equipment. They broke the big rocks and used the boulders for the retaining wall.

For a while, I thought it would soon be over. The water will take charge again and will make its course.  We later learned it does not stop there. They are going to pave the riverbed! It wont be a river no more but a canal. That definitely kills the river. No more chance for shrubbery to grow or for fish to live.  I don’t understand because that would fuel global warming farther. The rocks on the riverbed no matter how small serves as a filter.  But what to do if it‘s the government you are up against. We tried to call attention but no one seems to listen. We are not a small voice, we are not even a whisper and it is so frustrating that there is nothing we can do.  In a few weeks paving of the riverbed will start and we will only have pictures of what once was. - Annie Caballero

“Thank you for your very insightful column about Baguio. I completely agree with you that government should also address the problems of unbridled urban growth and environmental degradation not only of our popular beach resorts other than Boracay, but also our land-based tourist destinations such as Baguio.

I am an architect and urban planner, and past president of the Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners (PIEP) as well as current president of the Alliance for Safe, Sustainable and Resilient Environments (ASSURE).

The problem in Baguio, in my view, is more complicated. The place has become a “metropolitan” area, with Baguio City as the economic center of a rapidly growing and densifying metropolis, comprising of several local jurisdictions each with its own set of local politicians with parochial mindsets and priorities. It’s like Metro Manila in the 1960s when the problems of one jurisdiction spread to its adjacent neighbors, hence can no longer be solved without an integrated approach. That led to the creation of the Metro Manila Commission (MMC, which has evolved to the present MMDA), but the problems not only continue to exist, but have even become more serious – such as traffic, garbage, slums, etc., etc.

Baguio’s problem reflects similar problems in our other highly urbanized cities, such as Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, Calamba, San Pablo, Lucena, Batangas City, etc., etc. Based on urban populations and built-up areas, we now have more than 20 “metropolitan” areas, compared to just a handful in the 1970s when government adopted the strategy of deconcentrating urban growth to regional centres. Sadly, this was not continued by subsequent administrations. Now, government has to fast-track infrastructure development projects which should have been implemented by phases over the past four decades to avoid the problems we now currently are experiencing.

I just find it aggravating that much of the problems we now have to bear could have been avoided with proper urban planning and management. Based on my experience, I believe the root cause is too much politics – our political leaders are more interested in perpetuating themselves and their families in power than in improving the welfare and well-being of our country and people.” –  Nathaniel von Einsiedel, architect/urban planner

“Indeed, not that  urban decay could happen, it has been happening seriously since the 1960s when informal settlers were encouraged to come in (for votes), more so since the 1970s for business and land speculation, and worse, even after the 1990 killer earthquake that the local and national government officials seem not to understand why urban planning is a requirement anywhere. 

As you exactly say so, “It is not global warming, as Baguio leaders would want us to believe. It is the failure of Baguio’s leadership to protect the city’s delicate ecology from the demands of development.” –Rowena Boquiren, professor, UP Baguio

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