A walk in the park

“Mukhang wala ring epekto yung petition natin,” shared the coach as he watched his team, my daughter among them, make the most of the last few minutes of sun to complete the day’s training session. My  

I really don’t know for sure, I told him, but the letter from city hall I received months ago did say that they’re abandoning the plan to put up gates around Burnham Park and the concreting of portions of the Melvin Jones grounds.

As the sun continued to set, he shouts to the team, “Lipat tayo dun sa may ilaw,” and everyone moves towards one of the few lamp posts in the area. The team has been training diligently almost everyday after school. Most of the players get off at around 4:00pm, it takes them about an hour to get to Burnham Park and change into their jerseys wand warm-up. The sun sets quite early these days, so they usually have just an hour of sunlight to train.

With the onset of the dry season, it’s also football season in Baguio. It’s also park season and every afternoon, seeing several football teams training, a group of ultimate Frisbee enthusiasts playing a game, children running around while they parents lazed on the mats laid out on the ground, a few pairs of young lovers dreaming of their future under a tree, an old couple perhaps reliving the past as they walk around holding hands (this is where they could have met, this is where they could have spent afternoons as a young couple, this is where they could have brought their children on weekends…), I know that just like our family, they too would be going home with a sense of calm. That’s only one of the wonderful things that being in a wide, open space surrounded by towering trees and colourful blooms provides…

…along with a renewed sense of being wonderfully alive and being one with the earth with the smell of grass and the feel of the ground under the warm sun on your skin. And that little smile we give each other as we pass each other by walking around the park… that forges a sense of community way better than empty slogans on tarpaulins.

The sun sets, it’s time to go home. We get up and brush off the grass on our backs, gather our things and start walking out. We pass by Lake Drive where the few remaining children on bikes beg their parents for one more round on that trike and off they go, pedalling as hard as they can, with cold wind on their faces, ahhh the exhilaration, excitement, the happiness, they won’t be able to do as much of that  when they close that portion of Lake Drive for a whole month to sell substandard products from China and food prepared under sanitarily questionable conditions – is it worth depriving children of a wonderful experience for whatever amount they earn whenever they hold the Market Encounter during the Flower Festival… wait, what does a tiangge have to do with a festival that celebrates one of God’s beautiful creations that this beautiful city has been abundantly gifted with?

We'll make the most of the next thirty sunsets at the park without the unsightly sight of haphazardly set up stalls that ruin the very essence, the very soul of what a park should be.

Which Baguio do we want: A highland Divisoria or a health and recreation destination?

When the makeshift eatery at the top of Session Road just next to Casa Vallejo sprouted some years ago, a lot of people were surprised. How can they get away with something like that right in the middle of the city? It’s a tiny triangular piece of land which looked more like a street island, it seemed quite impossible that the small piece of property belonged to anyone, let alone titled. The bigger surprise was when that crude bulalohan underwent a facelift not too long ago – a more permanent concrete structure now stands in its place.

An ancestral land claim enabled them to do that, someone said. Having coffee with friends at the nearby Hill Station restaurant one afternoon, some joked that one day, someone might just file an ancestral land claim on the whole Casa Vallejo property.

In 1904, Cameron Forbes, a member of the U.S. Philippine Commission, was given the additional designation of being the administrator directly responsible for the implementation of the Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Baguio. At the time, Baguio had nothing much to offer visitors other than a sanitarium. Forbes’ strategy to fast track the transformation of this tiny hill station into a city was to first put an efficient transportation system between the lowlands and Baguio in place. Lyman Kennon then was already making great progress with the construction of the Benguet Road (which would eventually be named after him), so Forbes, after pressuring the Manila Railroad Company to bring their tracks closer to the foothills of Benguet to significantly cut the travel time from Manila, then pressured the colonial government to allocate funds for the purchase of a couple of Stanley Steamliners to bring up passengers from La Union all the way to Baguio.

And while the government wouldn’t allocate funds any more for the construction of more structures in Baguio, Forbes was able to get its permission to invite the private sector to step in and invest in various initiatives that would help make Baguio become a tourist destination. One of those who responded was Salvador Vallejo, who leased the property from the government and put up a hotel bearing his name just below Luneta Hill.

During the first World War, it briefly served as a detention center for German prisoners of war before returning to its original function of housing tourists during the mining boom in Benguet in the 1920’s. It was turned into a refugee center during the second World War and after surviving the carpet bombing of the city during the liberation, it served as a temporary campus for the Baguio City High School (now the Baguio City National High School).

After some time, the hotel closed down and the property was ceded back to the government. The original building that has witnessed almost all of Baguio’s entire history as a city remained standing. It closed down in 1997. In 2008, the National Resources Development Corporation expressed its intention to invite private bidders to develop the property. The City Council then tried to get Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to transfer ownership of the site to the City Government, but the bidding proceeded, with Roebling Corporation emerging as the winner. Then Mayor Reinaldo Bautista, Jr. welcomed the decision of the winning bidders to maintain the structure’s original function – a hotel, and while they planned to do some major renovation work, much of the structure, including the original façade would be maintained to respect its historical significance.

Major surprises seem to always come with the new year in Baguio – after the New Year’s revelation of SM City Baguio’s plan to remove 182 trees on Luneta Hill in 2012, now comes the news that Casa Vallejo’s current tenants are being evicted in view of the Certificate of Ancestral Land Title awarded by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to a family that claimed ownership of the property. We have heard of several major ancestral land claims in the city – the Caranteses and Luneta Hill, the Carinos and portions of Camp John Hay, etc., but we never knew that a major piece of property right in the heart of the city was being claimed too. I myself have read a lot about how Mateo Carino owned much of the land from City Hall to Camp John Hay and was quite surprised to learn that a piece of land right in the middle could belong to another family.

Allegedly, the property would now be developed into a mall. Another major piece of Baguio’s history is about to be erased forever. Another mall? That is really sad because with all the other malls in Baguio today, the city is fast becoming what it is not: a shopping center.

This shouldn’t be allowed to happen because, really, which Baguio do we really want: a highland Divisoria or the way its pioneers intended it to be: a health and recreation destination and a community living in harmony with its natural environment?

*sign the petition to save Casa Vallejho here: http://www.change.org/ph/mga-petisyon/felipe-de-leon-jr-chairman-national-commission-on-culture-and-the-arts-declare-the-1909-casa-vallejo-building-in-baguio-city-a-heritage-site-or-important-cultural-property-and-ensure-its-future-protection-and-preservation

I'm boycotting SM, remember?

And yesterday I was reminded of the reasons why by the homegrown establishments that I have been patronizing and for which I have been convincing others every chance I get to do the same.

Yesterday, all seven of us were in all over town buying gifts in time for tomorrow, Christmas Day. Except for Leon who joined us a bit later, we paired up: my wife and I, our eldest Marko and youngest Aeneas then our two daughters Sofia and Gabriela.

"Are we still boycotting SM?" Marko asked me. It's been almost two years since we last stepped inside SM City Baguio (or any other SM-owned establishment here and elsewhere, in fact). We started the boycott in January of 2012 after learning of their expansion plan that would result in the removal of 182 trees on Luneta Hill.

"I am still boycotting SM, " was my reply. I explained again to my son, as I did when the whole SM issue started, that I will never force them to boycott SM, that the decision must come from them. His question stemmed from the fact that yesterday, the city's central business district was congested - people filled almost every inch of the sidewalks and traffic was bumper-to-bumper. One must admit, if you're buying gifts for several people, SM City Baguio did offer some convenience for having the most shops under one roof. But no, my boycott's still on to protest the adverse impact that their planned expansion will have on the city's fragile environment. And so we walked up and down Session Road to do our shopping instead of up to SM, as tempting as the convenience it offered  was, to patronize homegrown shops that survived SM's huge bite into the Baguio consumer pie.

1st homegrown shopping center - after an hour or so of looking, buying, grabbing a bite, I needed to go to the bathroom and I had to pay P5.00 to use theirs. This was repeated hours later at our 3rd homegrown shopping center stop. I ask, is it legal for these establishments to charge customers for the use of toilets? Both malls have restaurants, and aren't restaurants required to provide toilet facilities free of charge? I believe any establishment that has its patrons within their premises for more than an hour should do so. Never mind what the law requires, basic decency dictates that. But, well, I shell out the P5.00 because I'm boycotting SM, remember?

Exiting our first stop, we were met by a stench so strong it made me wonder how these line of restaurants along Session Road can stand operating with that offensive smell of rotten food just outside their doors. And then I realized, they are the cause of the stench. The curb reeked of dried up rotten kitchen waste, and where else would kitchen waste come from along Session Road? From the restaurants, of course. Don't they have their own waste treatment facility? Or even just a proper sewage  system? Their own septic tank? The rotten smell could only come from kitchen waste being dumped repeatedly on the curb. Never mind that SM actually has a sewage treatment plant, because I'm boycotting SM, remember?

We stop for coffee at another homegrown restaurant where my son had food poisoning once and had to be hospitalized for days with nary an apology from the owner. But what can I do? I am boycotting SM, remember?

Checked on the car parked on along a side road and reminded myself to remind myself later to be back by 4pm to move it somewhere else before the cops steal my license plates again. Had to park the car there because we were going to be shopping for hours and if I parked it at homegrown shopping center 1, I would have to pay more than a hundred bucks. What can I do, I can't park in SM where they charge P35.00 flat for parking, I'm boycotting SM, remember?

On to our 2nd homegrown shopping center stop. Had to walk on the road, for there was hardly any space on the sidewalk which was being used as an extension of the shopping center itself and was full of merchandise waiting to be delivered to customers or being delivered by suppliers to there. Jeeps have to let passengers off in the middle of the road for the lane nearest to the shopping center is being used as a parking space for delivery trucks. I grin and bear it, because I can't be walking on the sidewalk going up Luneta Road and do my shopping there because I'm boycotting SM, remember?

We knew what we needed to get from here, so we went straight for those products, paid for it, and when we offered to use our own reusable bags, we were told by the cashier that : "bawal po sa'min yan, e, kailangang i-plastic bag yung binili niyo." What can I do? I want to help lessen the use of plastic bags that end up poisoning our land and seas, but I'm forced to use plastic bags here because I'm boycotting SM, remember?

On to our next stop. It would have been so convenient to exit on the floor that directly connects to the overpass, but we can't - "no exit, entry only." So we squeezed ourselves in between narrow lanes and throngs of shoppers and lined up to be able to get out via the one exit where we're allowed to. We finally made it out, but before we could leave the guard asked for our receipt to make sure we didn't steal the merchandise in our plastic bags. I resent being treated as a suspect instead of as a customer, but I surrender my receipt to the guard who scribbles some hieroglyphics on my receipt and allow him to check the items listed there against what I was holding, because, I'm boycotting SM, remember?

It's been hours since I last paid P5.00 to use a bathroom, and the coffee I had in between has kicked in and I needed another trip to the toilet. At homegrown shopping center 3, I pay another P5.00 for a quick bathroom break. I was reminded of the couple of times I came here to shop and parked the car in their basement parking facility - one time I forgot to have my receipt "validated," that is, have any one establishment in the building stamp it to show proof that you did buy something there and I had to pay way more than the usual charge of P35.00 for the first hour and 10 or 20 per hour thereafter. The other time was worse - I lost my receipt, and I was being charged something like a couple of hundreds for it. I didn't have enough money with me, so I had to leave my driver's license with them until I can come back to pay the full amount. I wouldn't have minded it as much if we had to go through the trouble of proving that the car was indeed mine, for I thought that was what the receipt was really for - proof that the car yo're driving is yours. But we did not, and they could've easily looked up the time I entered the parking facility in their computer where they record all cars that enter and exit the facility. But what could I do, I paid the "fine," and redeemed my driver's license because I'm boycotting SM, remember?

Clutching lots of plastic bags (and with our "un-allowed" reusable bags tucked inside them), we walked the hundred meters or so back to our car and realizing halfway that it's already past 4pm, I broke into a jog hoping that the police have not stolen one of my license plates yet (and have to pay a couple of hundreds in ransom money to get it back)... lucky break - two plates untouched.

I'm boycotting SM because of their expansion plan's impact on the environment, and yesterday I was not allowed to use a reusable bag for my purchase to lessen the plastic bags that go in our landfills... so I patronize a local mall whose tenants pollute the sidewalks of the central business district by insensitively and indiscriminately disposing of their kitchen waste right on the curb...

I'm boycotting SM too because of questionable business practices and yesterday I had to pay P5.00 twice to use a facility in two homegrown establishments, a facility that they are supposed to provide for free to their customers...

I'm boycotting SM also because of their overall impact on Baguio (from the environment to traffic to life, in general) and yesterday I had to play a deadly game of patintero with cars while walking on the road because a homegrown shopping center has appropriated the sidewalks for its private use (and I remembered that we also fought for SM to free Luneta Road, a public road which it has been closing and opening at will as if they owned it).

Boycotting all these other establishments won't do any good... I'm just one of thousands of people that patronize them.

So what can we do then? Let's talk about it...

Victory on Luneta Hill

It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path.” - Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I write about this now because I still receive inquiries about the SM expansion plan issue. At the end of this month, it would be two years since I and my family last set foot inside SM City Baguio. I used to get invited a lot to mount performances there before the issue if the expansion plan arose. Over the years, we’ve performed musical revues and even plays there, something other theatre artists frowned upon, but something I saw as an opportunity to reach people who would otherwise not find themselves inside a theatre to a watch play.

I find it ironic that the last event we staged there was an exhibit called “City Beautiful?” Yes, with a question mark. It was to honor Daniel Burnham and his Plan of Baguio. The exhibit featured photographs of the early development of Baguio along with Burnham’s actual blueprints for the then budding hill station for health and recreation. My documentary on the history of Baguio, “Portrait of a Hill Station,” was screened at the exhibit opening, and our group performed original songs about Baguio in between the segments of the documentary.

The question posed at the end of that documentary – “We inherited a beautiful Baguio from the city’s pioneers. What kind of Baguio are we passing on to the next generation?”

A few months later, SM announced their plan to remove 182 trees on the hill for a parking and commercial building. Out on the street, we screamed at the top of our lungs, “No!” SM, in turn, screamed in various press releases, that they’re actually doing a public service by providing a parking facility in the city’s central business district. This sentiment was echoed by City Hall. Never mind that access to the parking facility wasn’t going to be free and SM was posed to earn millions from its operations.

I printed placards the day before that first rally, “It’s not what you’ll build, but what you’ll kill to build it.”

Almost two years, countless rallies and several court hearings later, SM announced that after taking into consideration the issues raised by the protest movement, that they are re-designing the expansion plan reducing it to almost half of the floor area of the original design. Instead of building all the way from the edge of the existing building to the edge of Gov. Pack Road, much of the earth space will be spared. The redesigned plan will also be saving as many as 115 trees out of the 133 that still stand on Luneta Hill. With that much space, we asked if they could then bring back the number of trees to 182, if not even go beyond that number. They said yes. Nay, they, in fact, committed to it. Hey also committed to turning that space into a nature park that will be open to the public, whether they’re customers of the mall or not.

I personally welcomed this development – the thought of having more than a hundred trees spared by their backhoes gave me hope that we could still instil in the minds of the corporate kind and the politicians that enable them to rape the environment the concept of sustainable development.

Another interesting proposal forwarded by SM was their desire to work with the protest movement. How will they go about the nature park? What are better mitigating efforts can they put in place?

I personally do not like malls. While they do offer certain conveniences, I still prefer buying from the neighborhood bookstore or my favorite fishmonger at the market. My outstanding balance of my terminated account with an internet service provider has gotten higher because it’s taking that long to settle my account without having to go inside that mall. Yes, I will continue to boycott SM, despite their proposal to redesign their expansion plan.

If SM went ahead with their original plan, and there’s nothing that’s stopping them from doing so right now, we would have lost all those 133 remaining trees on Luneta Hill. And while Save 182 has helped spread the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development to, losing the battle for the trees on Luneta Hill would have been a great setback. Had we won the environmental case we filed against SM, all the trees would have remained untouched. But would that really be a victory?

What do we gain if a corporate giant like SM remains an adversary instead of an ally in preserving and enhancing the environment? How would they go about their other development projects in other areas if they continue to view advocates of the environment as enemies?

If we’re able to help them have a change of heart, change their mindset, and make them take their impact on the environment, and in fact, on the lives of the people in the communities where they operate into consideration in every step they take, that to me is a sweeter victory.