SM Baguio TO UPROOT 97 PINE AND 43 ALNUS TREES
(my own personal opinion)
The protest being conducted by some civil society groups in Baguio against the plan of SM Baguio to expand its parking space is not actually addressing what this civil societies claim of saving Baguio from losing its trees but rather grand standing and riding the issue to be recognized as environmentalist (or may be) to earn money or popularity. I respect their concern, but isn’t what I see as the true purpose of this protest. What I see is that they are against development and that they are naïve with the true problem of the city. They must have laid options to curve the ballooning problem of lack of parking space in the city. Some politicians are jumping in and riding with this issue to grandstand. I can not stop smiling when I saw some of the people I personally know joining in the protest when actually even they are going to the mall, and they are complaining when they can not fine place to park their car when they go to the CBD.
Many said before that SM will kill the business here in Baguio, but did it actually kill businesses? I absolutely can say that it did not, I put to example Tiongsan, the Jacks’s restaurants, the sunshine grocery and its other companies, the goodtaste restaurant, the market and many more; I and many Baguio residences can say that these locally grown businesses are growing and expanding. May be some like that of CID books store as the owner complaints that SM is killing her business, but the question is: “is it really SM alone that is killing her business?” Why not ask simple personal question and not closing our eyes why there are 3 doors of CID books store in one area that has always been one door from ever since I can remember? I am not a business person but I am entitled to speculate what could be the reason, and may be we can have the same assumption. There were previous plans of the city to put up a publicly owned parking building like the proposal of Mayor Domogan and Congressman Vergara, but civil society groups always protested it. If this is always the attitude we have, then where are we going from here? This protesters wanted us to go back to the dark ages where people has to walk, ride horses and other old style of transport, the question is, “are this modes of transportation correspond to the fast movement and development of our modern life?” May be this group is dreaming, that life is not moving forward but backward… please wake-up and grow up! |
I went over to the pictures of the old Baguio and what I have found is that; it’s true that Baguio is not the same as today. (See picture above) The Americans has to cut trees and bulldoze the place and engineered it so as so that buildings and streets can be strategically put in place. The fauna and flora was unnaturally changed to give way for the development of the City we all know today. What I am trying to say is that, people of this mountain before sacrificed what they have so that the city can be develop to this city we enjoy today. I can only imagine what will be the image of Baguio if the people before prevented the bulldozing, cutting and earthmoving in this mountain city. May be within the central business district is chaos, no proper planning of streets and building locations. Now these protesters are shouting not to cut, uproot trees. For what? (please see the Picture below of the old post office located upper Session Road before )We are preventing engineered and planed development, but we are not doing anything to the personal or private people who wanted to own parcel of land anywhere in the city and build houses that are not designed or engineered. Every person who buy parcel of lot in the city may have cut trees, moved earth illegally or otherwise, and yet this group can not do anything worst our government can not do nothing.
I have concerns and suggestions to allow progress and development proceed and will serve as our partner in protecting, guarding and regenerating our environment: The cutting of trees is not actually the issue, but how this tress which are uprooted or cut be regenerated or replaced and replanted. Safeguards must be laid to make sure that tress planted by SM as replacement to the trees cut or uprooted shall grow, if newly planted trees die due to any reasons, the SM corporations shall replant again, they shall protect the seedlings until all planted trees are capable of surviving naturally then the area where this trees were planted must be guarded and maintained to became a forest then we can say that this trees and this area is already ready for turned over to the people of Baguio. The people of Baguio must urge concern agencies like the DENR, the Local Government of Baguio especially the concern official to implement strictly the conditionality’s and penalties stipulated in the laws to prevent the unscrupulous tree cutting in the city. We must be strict in monitoring the conformity and sincerity of SM in meeting all this conditions laid by laws.
We must urges our political leaders to put and emphasize in the agreement as one condition with SM corporation that the parking fees to be collected shall be regulated by local laws and shall “not” be expensive, and or put into the condition that if people who parked in the parking area had purchased specific amount, the parking fee shall be waive and not be collected from the customer. Parking taxes must be collected by the local government from all of the parking spaces in the city including that of SM.
This concern is nothing, and this will became just for reading if not acted upon sincerely by our government. People of Baguio must not hamper development but rather we must see to it that any development coming to our city shall be strictly monitored. For example, like the Camp John Hay. Politicians and government people said that this camp is for the benefit of the people of Baguio but look what is happing to this camp, no ordinary citizen of Baguio can go freely in this camp to do picnic without paying a 100 peso fee for just putting up a tent and laying same mattress under the trees in this camp, and look what this developer done to the entrance nearest to the city proper, they close this gate and put the main gate far at Scout Bario area. I can not understand the motive of such action if the camp is really intended for the people of Baguio. All amenities in the camp now cater merely to the needs of the elite and wealthy foreigners and some Filipinos, and not to the need of simple Baguio resident who wanted to savor the fresh air and quite ambiance in this camp. Look at the amphitheater and rose garden in this camp, during my child hood, it was free to go and play there, but now it wad fenced and one must pay to go inside. What a shame! Many have change in the camp ever since, now to this protesters, go to this camp and protest and I’ll join you, show them that in actuality this Camp John Hay is for the people of Baguio and to people who wanted to visit this historic city.
This is only my opinion…… Thank you……. Matago tago tako…..
No comments:
Post a Comment