Urban decay

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March Fianza

In an article in 2012, I recalled that months before the Presidential election in 2010, then Senator Rodolfo Biazon held a public consultation as to whether Baguio was in a state of urban decay or not. The verdict was supposed to be a big “yes,” because the city was at the verge of urban decay. Proof of it were the massive Irisan trash slide on August 27, 2011; the uncollected basura that continues to pile up everywhere; illegal squatters and structures as big as the one on top of Luneta Hill that were built on lands with questionable titles; traffic disorder that has been worsened by never-ending traffic experiments; lack of water supply, and pollution contributed by these things put together.

These are all forms of “development” equated with high-rise buildings, subdivisions, flyovers and overpasses that make up a concrete jungle, similar to a decaying city in Metro Manila or New York. Maybe one day we will wake up to see that even Burnham Lake, the Athletic Bowl and Melvin Jones football grounds, the only green spots in the city’s business district, have been cemented. The congressman, the mayor and their business partners will certainly be happy with that.

Housing subdivisions, high-rise buildings and Townsite Sales Applications (TSAs) make businessmen and realtors happy. To them, these mean riches, big bucks. On the contrary, a “commissioner” friend from Kapangan called these as multiplying factors that increase people population, produce more garbage, worsen pollution and traffic, and aggravate an already insufficient water supply, open squatting and cause many other social illnesses that can be found in a city such as Baguio. All these lead to “urban decay.” In addition, there are other effects that instantly impact on the environment. In residential subdivisions, initial development requires the construction of a road, where, in most cases, the natural green vegetation of trees and bushes is scraped away.

Recently, Baguio Congressman Nick Aliping who is a kumpadre many times over, scraped the green vegetation of a portion of Mount Santo Tomas with bulldozers. This resulted to the unprecedented cutting and killing of more or less a thousand trees. I am sure he was not thinking about what our friends and I would tell him once we found out about what he did. In fact, friends are no longer talking with each other because of what he did. I suggest, Nick considers leaving his “millionaire’s project” behind and let the vegetation grow back, though it will take time. That, for me, is the best move he can do. 

For high-rise structures such as hotels, condominiums and tall apartments; they absorb transient travelers that contribute to the increase in solid waste as well as sewer waste that clog the city’s ancient sewer system. Let us just wish the summer festival occupants do not flush their toilets all at the same time, as imagined by the late Peppot Ilagan’s naughty mind.  With these structures full during festive months, the ordinary resident suffers a shortage in water supply. As “bonus” to the unwanted consequences, skyrise buildings alter the low skyline of a once beautiful city and permanently block a priceless golden sunset.

In the case of TSAs, there are more applications on file with the DENR than the actual number of lots that can be distributed. And while the TSAs are pending, squatters and illegal lot occupants are slowly and silently erecting a small house. Next, the squatters have their houses tax declared with the government “assessaor” who is more than willing to receive all kinds of taxes, including payments for overlapping taxdecs issued by that same office. The TSA as a way of acquiring a maximum of 200 square-meter lot in the city requires that the applicant “must be a notorious occupant and has improvements to show.” In other words, the TSA process basically allows squatting. That is the rule: squat then apply.    

And for those who organize rallies about preserving Baguio, the unsolicited solution to their wish which is also the way out from these problems is to tell city hall to stop housing subdivisions, stop the construction of high-rise buildings, and stop the approval of TSAs. Of course, many from their ranks will not agree because they are also connected to subdivision developers, realtors and construction firms. I am also quite sure, this way of thinking will make realtors, bankers, financiers, constructors, subdivision developers, housing unit dealers and TSA brokers very, very mad.

As small boys who waded in canals between broccoli vegetable beds in La Trinidad, the first and only subdivision we knew was the Chinese Subdivision above the Church of the Nazarene in Pico. Today, there are about four subdivisions that are either being developed or stopped due to several reasons. Standing somewhere in Betag, one can see the construction of a road network between Peripin Bato and Bayabas, Pico. It is evident that the natural vegetation of the mountain was bulldozed to suit the design prepared by enterprising architects. 

At Tomay, the bulldozed mountain shoulder of an on-going development for the Mega Realm Subdivision can be viewed at a point before you reach Shilan. Some years ago, property owners nearby reported that trees were cut by the developers without the benefit of tree-cutting permits. Landowners affected by erosion from the subdivision development further alleged that the project lacked the holding of a Free and Prior Informed Consent.

Above the Benguet Capitol, the construction and development of another housing subdivision allegedly owned by a certain Mother Lily, was stopped after this was flooded by several environmental complaints lodged by its surrounding neighbors. Today, the project is sitting there as an eyesore.

These are cases in La Trinidad, a municipality whose officials recently passed a measure that aims to check and restrain bad practices that are employed in the construction of subdivisions that threaten the environment. What about Baguio? There are choices people can pick – cut the trees in favor of concrete roads or sacrifice your dream and just let the grass grow.