First things first: an efficient, sustainable public transport system

The goal is to decongest, de-pollute the Central Business District and the city executive proposes to desecrate sacred grounds to build a parking building, some are proposing the SUMP concept, or the Sustainable Urban Mobility Program which would involve the pedestrianization of Session Road, instituting a traffic re-routing scheme, while the city’s representative in congress cannot pitch in his ideas at the moment because his busy trying to wriggle his way out of the Mt. Kabuyao mess he created.

There’s wisdom in both proposals. A parking facility will indeed free our roadsides in the CBD of cars. In the case of Session Road, that’s one added lane for vehicles and for the narrower side streets such as Assumption Rd. and Mabini Street, perhaps a wider sidewalk for pedestrians.

And the SUMP? It would definitely lessen the pollution along Session Road. Though I’m quite apprehensive about where all those cars passing the city’s main thoroughfare would be transferred, we might just be transferring the pollution to a different, nearby area and in this case, from an area lined with business establishments (Session Road) to an area surrounded by schools and hospitals (Gen. Luna Rd., Assumption Rd.).

The first proposal, I’ve discussed in this column at length and basically, my disagreement to it is premised on one thing: not at the Melvin Jones grounds.

As to the second proposal, I agree with the concept, but I would like to see a detailed timeline for its implementation. The presence of two major hospitals in the vicinity worries me. The re-routing scheme must be well thought out, tried out over a long period of time before being implemented.

Let's look at the more recent traffic re-routing scheme in the CBD that was implemented a few years ago. After a couple of months of relative efficiency, we are now experiencing some of the kinks of that scheme -we now experience bottle necks in certain choke points such as the area going to YMCA where vehicles coming from lower Session Road and the Baguio Cathedral converge on a single lane. Then there’s the increased air pollution in the UP Baguio area where most vehicles coming from Kennon Road, Marcos Highway, etc. en route to Session Road pass.

Which brings me to my own humble suggestion to help address the major issues, which are, again, congestion and pollution – a more efficient public transport system.

When we were living in San Luis Village, we wanted our children to take the jeep to school, but it’s almost impossible to do that in the morning where the jeeps arrive in our area already full. Simply allotting some seats for those along the way could have solved that, but no, the drivers would like to assure themselves of full capacity. We now live along Ambuklao Road, and the situation’s the same, just as when we were staying in the Gibraltar area. See, a public transport franchise isn’t just a license to do business, it’s also a mandate to serve the best interest of the riding public. And so we’re forced to bring our kids children to school by car.

Then city hall has this penchant for making things much better for private motorists too – PUVs are banned along Gen. Luna in the morning and two of our children go to school in that area. So even if we walk the extra mile and have the kids by the roadside very early to catch a jeepney ride, they would have to walk another extra mile to get to school. A jeep carries around 20 passengers, against a huge SUV that brings one pupil to school.

Alright, I’m fine with the banning of jeepneys along certain roads, in fact, I’m fine with having no jeepneys at all in the Central Business District. As long as an alternative is put in place – a vehicle that goes into a loop around town. Electric jeeps? Sure! How many mostly empty Trancoville and Aurora Hill jeeps do you see crawling, idling, stopping at “no loading/unloading” areas, creating bottle necks? Check out the area across the Baguio Cathedral or in front of Tiong San Harrison. How about all those jeeps going up Calderon? A scheme that would put all those jeeps at the perimeter and outside the CBD would significantly help decongest the area.

Have that – an efficient, sustainable public transport system and we do away with the need to bring one's private vehicle into the CBD, reducing their number on the road. Have that - and the Mayor  wouldn’t need to destroy a park for a parking building. Have that, and let’s talk pedestrianization.

Put that phone down

Photo from techpp.com

Common sight at most gatherings these days (be it a performance on stage, graduation ceremony, a spectacular sunset, a baby's first steps, etc.): people with their smart phones held up to record the spectacle.

I was at a nephew's wedding where my wife was ninang and I volunteered to take photos and I had to compete with dozens of guests and relatives for the best angle to take photos of important moments during the ceremony and the reception. During the entrance of the entourage, of the bride, when groom received the bride, when they sat down, when they stood up, when the priest blessed them, when they put on the rings, when they were pronounced man and wife and when they kissed as a married couple for the first time, they were there, with their arms stretched out, phone in hand... click.

This images would go in Facebook status updates and photo albums, or on Twitter or Instagram, and will be buried under the deluge of the next day's status updates and memes and viral videos and the occasional petition for world peace.

In the meantime, years from now, perhaps at the couple's 10th anniversary, the next family reunion, when they look back at that beautiful day, they won't remember exactly how the moment felt as much as they would remember how that phone felt in their hand and how the scene looked on their tiny LCD screen.

That's a lot of people's first impulse right now at anything worth remembering - look, a beautiful flower!, uh, oh, a car accident, a full moon!, a sunset, a sunrise, a nice plate of delicious food, heck, even intimate moments between a man and a woman and a man and a man and a woman and a woman... take a photo or a short video clip.

And years from now? They won't be able to relive that same moment in the same way as those they experienced with their senses - how it looked not through a screen but as seen by their eyes, how the aroma of that dish whetted their appetite, how it actually tasted, how the environment felt, how the music played in the air. They will be reliving the moment they took out that phone and took a photo of something or other.

Sure, there are moments that are worth capturing in a photo or video, but unforgettable moments are better experienced with the senses, and that's exactly what makes them unforgettable.

Put that phone down more often, really, and smell the flowers.

This fine young man

This is what we woke up to this morning: a photo of two of our children at a demonstration against the government's inaction to SM's proposed expansion project that would result in the removal of 182 trees on Luneta Hill. In the photo, our son was holding a placard which was photoshopped to show the following:

"Aliping for President 2016"

The photo has since been taken down, thanks to the anonymous poster who granted our plea to do so, and as irresponsible and below-the-belt it was, and as much as I feel so guilty for allowing myself to be among those who were at the forefront of that protest movement that resulted in our children being dragged into the mess, we'd like to put that behind us. So there, thank you, whoever you are, Save Baguio of Facebook.

But let me tell you about that boy.

His critique of my work, particularly as a theater artist, is among those I value the most. He was not even three when he first started asking me questions about my production of "Pepe," a play on the life of Jose Rizal written by Malou Jacob which our theater group, Open Space, first staged in 1998, the year he was born.

In one of our re-stagings, he asked why the first part of the performance depicted our national hero rather comically, and what the real story was behind the slapstick that I as Pepe and my co-actors presented onstage. He asked why Pepe said that he was also Placido Penitente, Isagani, Basilio, Simoun, and Padre Florentino. One evening after watching that Disney movie, "A Bug's Life," he quipped, "Flick is just like Pepe, right Papa? He wanted to change things."

And he never let get anything in the way of what he believed was right, I would tell him some years later.

He liked that performance-art piece, "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll," very much and our conversations about the characters in that piece were way more meaningful than ones I had with much older people. He would particularly rave about the segments "The Artist" where the actor ranted about how technology has forced him to stop making art, "Dirt" that depicted how we've managed to turn our world into a human cesspool, and "Benefit" that depicted, among many other ills of this social epoch, how detached some people are from reality, etc.

He's good at everything he puts his heart in. He was six or seven when he first got hooked on football, and once scored seven goals in a tournament. After being awed by good friend Ethan Ventura's guitar playing, he wanted to learn how to play too, and has since been filling up the house every now and then with Bach's Bourree and blues riffs. He took up taekwondo for a couple of years and has a haul of dozens of local, regional and national bronze, silver and gold medals in his room. You should see his photos - he's taken up photography recently.

He reads, and reads voraciously, lapping up literary gems from Marquez to Murakami to Nabokov to Tolkien to Tolstoy. And Rizal, El Filibusterismo is among his all-time favorites along with One Hundred Years of Solitude which he read, and had long discussions with me about, when he was 13. Our conversations about that play, "Pepe," has gotten more interesting too after reading Noli and Fili.

We disagree about many things - the challenges of rearing a teenager, but we do agree a lot on many things too. Like how the concrete pine tree, which has since been removed, at the top of Session Road was a symbol of the many wrongs about our city today. Or how misguided the decision was to fence Burnham Park and pour concrete on much of the Rose Garden.

He wouldn't cross the road when the light is red and there are no cars in sight, even if he's the only one standing at the curb - he's stubborn that way. He was the first to decide to boycott SM when their expansion plan was announced late in 2011, and has since been boycotting the mall. While his siblings, too, supported the family's decision not to patronize a corporation that threatens to put its interest ahead of that of the community's and would voluntarily join me during demonstrations against the planned removal of 182 trees, he was the one who stood with me, a heavy video camera on his shoulder, during most of the rallies. When school started along with the hearings on the case we filed against SM, DENR and DPWH, he would always ask me at the end of the day how the last hearing went.

His grasp of this particular environmental issue never failed to amaze me. I always thought that he could debate any of SM's apologists and supporters and be able to clearly express all that is wrong about their expansion plan.

When the news of Congressman Nicasio Aliping's destruction in Mt. Kabuyao broke out, he was very agitated. This 15 year-old found it hard to comprehend how grown-ups like Aliping, who looked people in the eye during the campaign and vowed to be a protector and steward of the environment, someone who's supposed to represent the people's best interest, can do something like that.

He does his best to do his share - from simple things like simply saying "huwag niyo na pong i-plastic" when buying something from the neighborhood sari-sari store, to speaking his mind about social issues that's affecting his immediate community, his country, his world.

It broke my heart when the anonymous Facebook user chose an image of him to forward his own agenda - he didn't deserve it. I felt guilty even, very guilty in fact, that he was dragged into the mudslinging that's been going on when what the community needs now is to unite to defend the welfare, dignity and heritage of this beautiful city. I have that same photo, in fact, taken during that church-led demonstration against SM's expansion plan and the government's apparent inaction, nay, endorsement of it. He was asked by the organizers if he would like to hold up a sign at the head of the rally, and he rather shyly agreed, but proudly did.

The anonymous netizen could have chosen to satirize me - been getting a lot of that from people who don't really know what forwarding the Luneta Hill cause entailed then and what forwarding the Mt. Kabuyao cause is taking now. But yeah, I'm fair game, but not my children, please. Not any child, please.

It's easy to grab a photo online, alter it, type in an insult, defamatory statements,  smear one's reputation on a Facebook status update, I'm glad my son knows that, and knows too that it takes way more than that to sincerely forward an advocacy.

I'm even more glad that, seeing how he handled that offensive altered photo, that it takes more than that to break his resolve to stand by his principles. I don't have much in life materially, there are so many things that I will not be able to give him, but if there's one thing I'd like to be able to ensure that he has, that's it - prinsipyo.

That's Leon, the boy that the offensive photo tried to put down, our son, one of five children, five beautiful children with their heads held up high knowing that they're doing all they can to be responsible children and citizens of this city, this country and as children of the universe, while their feet remain planted firmly on the ground.

He's a fine young man, and we're very proud of him.

That proposed parking facility (what they will and will not tell you...)

They will tell you that the proposed construction of a parking facility at the Melvin Jones grounds is a necessity that must be implemented to help decongest the Central Business District of the city.

What they won’t tell you is that this initiative is not a fool-proof solution to this problem. In fact, taking their justification at face value, it appears to be a foolish proposition. Burnham Park is within the Central Business District of the City of Baguio, and they’re proposing to get all those cars out of Session Road and its immediate environs and get them into the proposed parking facility at the Melvin Jones grounds. Obviously, this will just move to congestion from one part of the CBD to another – a public park. Yes, a public park where most of Baguio’s residents who cannot afford a day at the mall or a weekend playing golf at an exclusive country club go for recreation; a public park where children play and get closer to nature and breathe fresher air. The proposal is have a couple of thousands of vehicles added to the thousands that pass through the park spewing noxious fumes in a haven for clean air, peace and quiet.

Traffic congestion occurs when there are more vehicles within a road network designed to carry a much lesser number. Their proposal is to attract thousands of vehicles to an area flanked by Harrison Road, Lake Drive, Shanum St. and Jose Abad Santos Drive . Save for the latter two which don’t experience much heavy traffic, the other two roads already suffer congestion practically at all hours of the day.

They will tell you that there is no other place to build this facility but in the only remaining sizeable piece of open space in the CBD.

What they won’t tell you is that they refuse to entertain the proposal to build their proposed parking facility in an area that’s already being used as a parking lot – the area next to the Athletic Bowl. They will tell you that it’s too small. But even if you offer suggestions such as building smaller facilities in different parts of the city that would distribute the volume of vehicles to a much wider area instead of concentrating the traffic in one, which makes more sense if the idea is to decongest, they will still insist that the Melvin Jones grounds is the best place for it.

They will tell you, that the proposed project will not harm the environment. And they will tell you, too, that they will “put back” the field on top of this proposed facility after it’s built.

What they won’t tell you is how much disturbance the construction will cause in the area’s eco-system and that there is no telling exactly how much environmental damage it will cause until it’s built and in operation. But think about it: with dimensions of roughly 230 by 100 meters or an area of 23,000 square meters or a little over two hectares, imagine how much earth would have to be removed to construct this facility. Imagine, too, how much rainwater that much space absorbs and what will happen to that much water when the area is concreted. Perhaps they also won’t tell you about the incidences of flooding in the area in recent years and how this construction project might worsen the situation.

The Baguio Water District, still reeling from the effects of Congressman Aliping’s Mt. Kabuyao shenanigans, and long struggling to provide water to the city's residents, operates wells in that area. The Melvin Jones grounds is an aquifer – a natural water storage facility. So they probably won’t tell you too about how much it will affect the water supply of the city.

Lastly, for now, if we bring up Presidential Decree No. 1216 which states, and I quote, “WHEREAS, there is a compelling need to create and maintain a healthy environment in human settlements by providing open spaces, roads, alleys and sidewalks as may be deemed suitable to enhance the quality of life of the residents therein;” and goes on further to state that “WHEREAS, such open spaces, roads, alleys and sidewalks in residential subdivision are for public use and are, therefore, beyond the commerce of men;” their lawyers might argue, as one did during a forum they hosted, that the aforementioned law has since been modified. What? Why? When? By who? We, non-lawyers, might ask.

And that, my friends, summarizes the modus operandi of the proponents of this proposed destruction of an important part of the city’s heritage – they will bend, pervert, corrupt the laws of the land to forward this misdirected initiative and perpetrate this injustice.

I didn’t buy anything (or how the boycott SM thing is doing)

Last night dinner, my son confessed: he had to go through SM to get to a location where he and his friends were doing a photo shoot. “But I didn’t buy anything.”

It’s been more than two years since our family decided to boycott SM because of their expansion plan that would result in the removal of 182 trees in an area that’s one of the very few remaining forest covers in the Central Business District of Baguio.

The family boycott started on January 19, 2012. That was the day we responded to a call by Michael Bengwayan to rally against the planned expansion. That day, we printed placards that said, “It’s not what you’ll build, it’s what you’ll kill to build it,” and distributed these to some friends who joined us as we walked down Session Road to Malcolm Square where the protesters gathered.

Just when we thought that the rally was over, we heard that some of the protesters decided to continue to demonstration right at the rotunda by the entrance to SM at the top of Session Road. We were already tired and were ready to go home, but decided to check on what’s happening up there.

When we arrived, there were several people gathered at the rotunda already – gongs were being played, motorists were being coaxed to blow their horns as a sign of support for the protest, there were performance artists dancing (and at one point one of them set herself on fire).  The police were all over, trying to convince us to disperse. Right across the road in front of Banco De Oro I remember seeing then Councilor Nicasio Aliping, talking to some policemen. The protesters didn’t want him in their ranks, and I don’t think he was there to join the protest anyway.

After an exhausting couple of hours of shouting, playing gongs, dancing and at one point preventing the arrest of one of our friends whom one policeman tried to pull away from our group, we went home and a had late dinner and talked about the idea of boycotting SM.

Before that, we were SM regulars. It’s where our children had their music lessons and while waiting for them, where we bought our groceries. The hardware store there was also the most convenient place to get supplies for our productions. That night, we talked about losing all that if we boycotted SM.

We made it clear to the kids that they didn’t have to join the boycott, but they did ask why we, their parents, were doing it.

We were going to boycott SM then to protest their plan to easily sacrifice the environment, and with it the welfare of the people of Baguio, so they can expand their business despite already being the biggest commercial center in the city. We told them that we, their parents, cannot continue to feed the monster that’s trying to kill us, so to speak.

The children decided that they too would stop going to SM until the issue is resolved. And since then, we have never patronized SM or any of the establishments therein.

Of course at the height of the Save 182 protest movement, thousands joined the boycott. But as time passed and recently with the announcement of SM that they have since redesigned their expansion project to spare the remaining trees in the area, others thought that it was time to end the boycott. Nothing wrong there too, really. 

Not us, though. And no regrets too – we do our shopping mostly at home-grown establishments and have since been spending more time outdoors. We miss the spectacle of a huge movie screen, but nothing compares to a movie night at home when the whole family would camp out in the living room, cuddling, snuggling warmly under the covers. The children have gotten so good at horseback riding, just one of the few outdoor recreational activities they do in place of an afternoon at the arcade.

So, yeah, it doesn’t matter if our family’s continued boycott of SM makes any dent at all in their revenues, or if it helps forward the cause of saving one of Baguio’s fast-disappearing forest covers, we’re still not going and still not buying. It’s a matter of principle.

Innayan and Gawis ay Biag

I just came from a road trip with my son. I needed some photos of various Cordillera cultural icons for a project and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to let my son, and eventually and hopefully soon every single one of my children, in whose veins run the same blood as the people who call this awe-inspiring mountain range home, to experience the same sense of belonging that I did from the very first time my mother brought me here as a child, to the time I would come here every time I needed some time away from the dog-eat-dog world that was, and is, Manila as a young man, to the time I decided this is the place I want to spend my life in.

As a child I fell in love with Baguio specially when it rains. I loved the warmth of the homes of my mother's friends, and the warmth of their friendship. I was awed by the serenity of Sagada, the majesty of the Ifugao landscape, the scent of the mountains, I could go on and on. I wasn't surprised at all when one day, after a trip alone across the Cordilleras that ended with a stay at some friends' home in Baguio, I decided to give up our place in Manila and make this beautiful city my home.  

Banaue, Ifuago, ca. 2014

We arrived in Kiangan at sunrise, and after going around the town, all the while reminding my son that this was where his grandmother spent her early years as a child, we proceeded to Banaue. It felt good that some friends I met there more than a decade ago, particularly the owners of a restaurant that would eventually be my regular stop whenever I was there, remembered me. Like old friends, we were welcomed warmly. We left our bags at the restaurant before proceeding to Batad.

What used to be a 2 to 3-hour trek is now a mere hour's walk and if the project of building a road from the main road proceeds as scheduled, by early next year motor vehicles would now be able to go all the way to Batad. And while the thought that even the physically-challenged, persons with disabilities, or the elderly will be able to experience the beauty of the place was welcome, I also wondered how the influx of tourists would affect the culture and landscape of Batad.
We have seen this in Banaue, where there are now less farmers, carvers, weavers and way more store-owners, innkeepers and restaurateurs.

My son, Leon, taking it all in (Demang, Sagada)

We proceeded to Sagada from there and while having coffee at a roadside cafe, we noticed how every 15 minutes or so a huge truck would pass carrying heavy construction equipment - more roads are being paved.

I needed a photo of a Patpatayan and an authentic dap-ay, which had us abusing our van over rocky roads to get to Demang, Sagada where we met Biag, the current village chief. He was named after Biag, an ancestor who is said to be the first settler in Sagada. Biag is a staunch advocate of the preservation of indigenous culture. "This is one of the curses of modern education - the younger generation now know very little about native wisdom." His house, built in the mid-80's, was the last one built through the Ug-ogbo, or reciprocal labor system. "I did not spend a single centavo on labor when I built this house," Biag shared, "people in the community all contributed, that's how it was before. And later on, when the time comes that they need my help either in building a house or working their farm, I will be there for them. But now? Everybody wants money."

He's especially saddened that the concept of "Innayan," which may be translated simply as taboo or "must never be done," which Biag considers as among the most important life lessons that a person must learn, is now lost on the youth. For example, it is Innayan when someone diverts the flow of water to his own farm and deprives others of irrigation. It is Innayan to cause so much damage to nature for one's own selfish interest.

With Biag of Demang, Sagada

While listening to Biag talk, I was reminded of the more than 700 trees that were cut on Mt. Cabuyao to pave the way to a resort owned by the family of our very own congressman. That is, as I understood from Biag, definitely Innayan. It makes me wonder how Congressman Nicasio Aliping, now the representative of the people of Baguio, an Igorot who traces his roots to where Biag himself comes from, can do something like that.      

If there's one life lesson that I wish my son will never forget from this road trip, it is the thought that Gawis ay Biag, or the beautiful life, can only be achieved if one lives it in harmony not only with the community but more importantly with the environment.

Tyranny and the Baguio POSD (Justice for Oscar Caranto)

It is a common sight around the market area and the rest of the Central Business District: ambulant vendors being chased by either the police or members of the Public Order and Safety Department (POSD) of the City Government of Baguio. Often, the vendors are old women who have mastered the art of sensing the presence of “authorities” from some meters away, giving them a few seconds’ head start to pack up their wares and make a run for it before they lose all their merchandise, and with it, a few meals for their family.

The late Cecil Afable once said during a rally: “We call them squatters because we failed to provide them homes.” And we call them illegal vendors because the benefits of our city’s so-called development, progress failed to reach one Oscar Caranto, a so-called illegal vendor who passed away on July 4, 2014 allegedly due to the beating he received from elements of the POSD.

I am for a peaceful, orderly, clean Baguio, but not at the expense of a life of a father who’s just desperately trying to make ends meet for his family. Who really wants to make a living that way, anyway? Imagine having to start your day preparing your merchandise all the time hoping that today, the “authorities” wouldn’t be around, or if they are that you would be able to run away from them fast enough. Nobody wants that kind of life.

Given the chance, nobody would want to be called an illegal vendor, or for that matter, a squatter. Given the chance, everyone would embrace a dignified, secure, peaceful, happy life – Caranto would have jumped at the opportunity to become a legitimate vendor, just as any squatter would to legitimately have the right to the land their home sits on. There is no dignity in being an illegal vendor, no security, it’s dangerous and it’s sad.

So how do all the taxes that the huge businesses pay that our local government have allowed to sprout all over this city at the expense of its natural environment, beauty, heritage trickle down to the likes of Caranto, if at all? 

And while Caranto paid with his life, others get away with it – how come supposed "legal vendors" selling illegal wares such as pirated DVDs and second-hand mobile phones that came from questionable sources can peacefully, orderly go ahead with their trade un-harassed? The law must apply to all...

And I wonder, too, what kind of instruction, direction these men of the POSD receive from their superiors that make them believe that violence can result in public order and safety.  

Caranto’s was a very, very wrongful death. City Hall’s got blood on its hands – the blood of a hapless, desperate, disenfranchised, deprived citizen. More light will be shed on this very unfortunate, tragic incident in the coming days – I already anticipate a self-defense alibi, but taking the life of someone who’s  just trying to make a living, or stay alive at all, is criminal. Way more criminal than what the elements of the POSD would say Caranto was committing. And even if he reacted quite violently to their efforts to confiscate his merchandise, that is justified – a hungry man is an angry man, as Marley sang – they were taking away the only means he knew to feed his family, his only means to stay alive.

The curse of the Filipino – given the slightest hint of power over his fellowmen and he abuses it. The ghost of hundreds of years of colonization and having those colonial masters as role models that really messed up our concept of being in power continues to haunt us.

That’s the point those POSD men missed – they didn’t have the power, instead, they had the responsibility to keep the community orderly and safe. Just like our congressman doesn't have the power to do as he pleases with the environment, like cutting down more than 700 trees for his own personal benefit, instead, he has the responsibility to ensure that the welfare and rights of the people he represents are defended and forwarded, including their right to a healthy environment.

And now that he's gone, Oscar Caranto and the loved ones he left behind have one right that demands to be respected, defended, forwarded: Justice!  

Photo lifted from the Facebook wall of Ivy Buenaobra