Just a little bit more in life

We hope they don’t take it the wrong way. We are not pushing for the idea of pedestrianization to lessen the revenues of businesses along Session Road, in fact we believe that it would even result in more business for them. But then that’s also not the reason we’re begging them, along with the local government, to at least explore the idea. This is not about more or less business for anyone, this is about doing something to help make life a little bit better for most of us – people on foot, people who don’t have as much in life.

We don’t worry about how to make even more from one of the country’s most profitable business district, most of us just walk these streets to get to our jobs that would pay us the same whether we got there walking on a bright sunny day or drenched when it’s raining hard because the jeeps we take are barred from passing their usual route to make it more convenient for private car owners. We don’t worry about how to upgrade an SUV to an even more comfortable SUV, or what luxury car to add to our collection, we have neither.

Sure, we worry about the erroneous conclusion that Baguio is the most-polluted city in the country, tourism is one of the things that drive this city, and if our employers are earning more than usual, that’s always god. Even though most of us don’t get anything from the occasional tourism windfall, were just too far down the Baguio revenue-chain to benefit substantially from the millions who troop to our home during Panagbenga or Lent. But that report also showed how dirty the air we’ve been breathing in since most of us find ourselves in that part of town at one point or another every single day. And that’s worrying – not only for us, in fact, but also for you, at least if you’re one of those who personally run your business and spend all your business hours behind the cash register. See, you, too, breathe in the same poisonous air that we breathe.

But unlike most of you, we don’t have car windows to close and air-conditioners to turn on to avoid inhaling the fumes when it gets unbearable. We have no choice but to take that all in.

You can’t love Baguio only when it’s about promoting something that would benefit the few of you, loving Baguio is more about doing things for her that would make life better for most of her children.

And most of her children already have less in life, surely asking not to be killed slowly with carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles is not asking too much.