Another misdirected initiative from City Hall (Baguio)

When Daniel Burnham saw the wide expanse, the biggest piece of level land in the proposed site for the planned hill station, he reserved this for a public park specifically for the benefit of people of moderate means, according to the book, City of Pines: The Origins of Baguio as an American Hill Station. After all, at the time, there was already the planned Baguio Country Club for the elite, Camp John Hay for the armed forces servicemen, the Hotel Pines for the well-to-do tourists, etc. The park would be a haven for nature – the watering hole would be expanded into a man-made lake surrounded by trees and colourful blooms and adjacent to it would be a wide open space where people can stroll around, have picnics, play. Re-create.

From the time the city was chartered to today, among the most treasured memories of those who grew up in Baguio, along with those who simply visited this mountain resort, have been times spent out in the open in what has become the centerpiece of the City of Pines: Burnham Park. And the recurring mayor of the City of Pines has this proposal: to address the worsening traffic situation in the central business district, he is envisioning a parking facility to be built underground at the Melvin Jones Football Grounds, according to a news report.

Daniel Burnham must be turning in his grave – what he envisioned as an amusement center for the less-privileged is now being threatened by a proposed project that would benefit the more affluent. Those who have less in life will now have even less in public infrastructure because the mayor wants to serve the interest of those who have more in life. This comes on the heels of his proposal to put up gates around the park for reasons only he believes make sense.

The concept of ecological balance seems to be beyond our good leader’s grasp. Creating that much disturbance to nature will have a huge, drastic effect on the area’s ecosystem. And if he gets his way and the parking facility is put in place, I wonder if he realizes what the effect would be of having greatly increased vehicular traffic in the area – how much worse would the air quality be in a place that’s supposed to provide people a respite from hustle and bustle of rapid urbanization?

The place has also been experiencing flooding in recent years, pouring that much concrete on that much earth space would also significantly reduce its water absorption capability. The grounds is situated in a valley that acts like a catch basin for water run-off coming from higher areas, where would all that water go if the place is cemented? Nowhere, it will stay there, and for much longer with less earth to absorb it.

They seem to be hell-bent on destroying everything that is beautiful about Baguio. Sign the online petition to oppose this proposal here.