Cleaning up

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- Every clean up move or change in the city provokes comparison of what the new chief executive of Baguio can do and has been doing lately, against what the past administration could have done but did not do because of reasons personal and otherwise.

In his first week, Mayor Benjie B. Magalong went around closing business establishments that were operating without permits. This means, the past administration tolerated illegal acts.

I called some people to investigate how some establishments were allowed to operate without the mayor’s permit. What I received were toned down buzzes about some businessmen linked to the free expenses incidentally incurred by a government official in the golf course. Someone has been paying for that in exchange of.

In the same week too, Mayor Magalong was with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that lifted an earlier cease and desist (CDO) order it issued on June 26, 2019 against using the Irisan dumpsite.

The dumpsite was already ordered closed by the National Solid Waste Management Commission in 2012, but the city continued to process biodegradable waste daily despite the court decision for its permanent closure.

Following the heavy trash slide from the Baguio open dumpsite that cleared away houses and killed at least six people in 2011, then Benguet Cong. Ronald Cosalan led Asin road residents in filing a Writ of Kalikasan case against Baguio respondents Mayor Domogan and other officials, resulting to the issuance of a closure order.

Baguio failed to comply with the 2012 permanent closure order on the dumpsite. Hence, the DENR issued last June 26 the CDO. The concerned past officials should be thankful for successfully containing the stench of the issue from critics, otherwise they could have landed in jail.

With the new mayor, we saw how the disgusting odor of the trash problem was reopened and released in order for it to be ventilated and blown away with a gush of clean air.

The lifting of the CDO however accompanies conditions such as the installation of all equipment identified in the city government’s conversion plan, and conversion of the 5.2-hectare Irisan dumpsite into an environment-friendly ecological park not later that the December 31, 2019 deadline.

The other conditions set by the DENR included the clearing out of all mixed waste (raw compost and plastics) from the site; and collection of biodegradable waste only and no storage of any residual waste outside the Environmental Recycling System.

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Also on July 1, 2019; there was news in coffee shops and restaurants, in public jeepney parking lots, among taxi drivers, in the market and barber shops that Mayor Magalong stopped all forms illegal gambling.

The only gambling that was not touched was small town lottery or STL that is allowed by the government and managed by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The stop order was implemented peacefully and orderly as there were no raids conducted. Thanks to the cellphone, the police only had to send text messages to the concerned gambling operators and before anybody knows it, gambling stops. Magic!

At the moment, eyebrows are raised because while STL was not stopped because of its legal status, its predecessor Jueteng from where it owes its existence, is also in operation.

Jueteng did not stop. Kubradores disguised in green vests still roam the barangays to collect bets for STL and Jueteng. Around Center Mall and in the barangays, the corners where STL and Jueteng bets are submitted are still there.

Although this time, STL and Jueteng papelitos are received with caution and under the covers, in full contrast to when collection was done openly prior to Mayor Magalong’s order.

From the well-informed Jueteng bettor, I was told that illegal gambling is now confined outside the boundaries of Baguio. As for Jueteng, collection of bets is still done inside and outside of the city, depending on the choice of the bettor.

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Weeks ago, the media reported that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority volunteered some of their traffic experts to solve the worsening traffic problem in Baguio.

But the report only elicited the question why MMDA would come up to Baguio when it cannot even ease traffic on any road in Manila. If my memory is correct, it was the MMDA that changed many two-way traffic roads to one one-way.

 The changes were done, supposedly to fix the daily and hourly traffic problem caused by SM Baguio on top of Luneta Hill. The changes were supposed to be traffic experiments but they already have become very permanent today.

They even diverted public transport from plying Luneta Hill road which is a city road and converted it into a private road and parking area permanently and exclusively for SM clients. I just wonder what they could have received for making that experiment.

During an informal meeting with Mayor Magalong, he mentioned something about seeking the help of traffic experts. The meeting was quick, I was not able to mention to him my two-cents worth unsolicited advice.

I wished to tell him that maybe a vital factor in trying to solve the city’s traffic puzzle is to come up with a scientific study, instead of receiving people from MMDA who worsen the traffic problems by making road experiments in Manila everyday.

In the study, the traffic plans of the BLISTT towns of Benguet (La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay) will have to be incorporated because Baguio can no longer move on without considering its neighbors.

Traffic congestion on market roads can be eased by disallowing double parking and making traffic flow continuous. In addition, demolishing the concrete flower beds between the two opposite lanes within the CBD is a positive move.

The concrete flower beds between the two lanes in the market did not contribute any good except to line the pockets of those who constructed them. And they only blocked the intersections between the market and Kagitingan Barangay.

Replacing them with movable fences will surely improve traffic flow as the intersections can be opened anytime during emergencies.

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Personally, I look at Mayor Magalong’s actions as “slaps on the wrist” of the past administration. These are all simple acts that could have been done but were not, for one reason or another. Indeed, he needs everybody’s support.

But then again, as new mayor, I am sure he knows that it is not easy to be getting the advice from just anybody, especially if these have connections with the past administration.

To do so would only delay or complicate the changes that are supposed to be done. It would also look like we have a “new guard dog with the same old leash”.