LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza
BAGUIO CITY -- Baguio City
reopened the night market of new and second-hand items or “ukay-ukay” on
Harrison Road on Dec. 1 despite knowing that such an activity would attract
crowds, surely leading to violations of health protocols and potential
transmissions of the dreaded Covid-19.
Just like anyone, I was baffled why such an activity which officials knew all along would magnetize crowds was still tolerated, thus contradicting their actions of untiringly stressing the order to always maintain physical distancing. It was as if people were exempted from the Covid-19 and that it was alright to gather in crowds.
Clearly, the resumption of the “ukay-ukay” night market was an effort by the LGU to reopen the economy in the city but they knew too that reopening of businesses would violate health protocols as the safety of people is sacrificed. One need not touch the fire to know that it is hot.
Of course, policemen were tasked to monitor the activity and caution everyone to maintain physical distancing, use face masks and face shields properly, but these were all ignored because the temptation of the ukay-ukay is more powerful than the reminder to keep protocols.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong had nothing else to do but to admit responsibility for the incident and suspend the operation of the “infamous” night market. By the way, the night market is a violation of the old rule that roads are beyond the commerce of man.
Leasing portions of Harrison Road to stallholders who pay fees to the city is contrary to law. The lease contract in any form between the city and the stallholders is null and void because the interests of a few may not prevail over the rights of a greater number of the community to use the city streets anytime.
***
Tourism and journalism. Every time businessmen do not like the way things are portrayed in public, the media is blamed. Please don’t shoot the piano-player! The role of the press is to write what is worth publishing. But to dictate what the media should write for one’s satisfaction is a no-no.
Amid the pandemic that has affected all of us, the media cannot be selective. Hence, any writer worth his salt cannot say that there are no increases in Covid-19 infections when in fact there are, and cannot write that there is an increase of infections when there is none. News is reported as is.
A few weeks ago, the Baguio Tourism Council (BTC) and the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB) brought up their concern over news reports that Baguio’s Covid-19 situation is “high risk”, saying further in a statement uploaded on social media that the news items unfairly portray the city as a risky place to visit.
I respect their reaction to the news items. On the other hand, I believe news articles should tell the truth about a city that has become “high risk” due to the increase in infections. The other thing I know about riskiness is that news reporters have to go around in order to perform their roles despite the presence of the virus.
This is not the first time that such kind of businessmen whose interests we do not know and who, by intention or coincidence are the so-called tourism advocates, clashed with the media.
Sometime in 2004 when the deadly meningococcemia disease hit Baguio and the Cordillera Region, the HRAB faced members of the media at the old Rose Bowl along Harrison Road who were again blamed for truthfully reporting the facts.
To recall, there were 38 cases of meningococcal disease and 18 deaths from October 2004 to January of the next year that were reported by health authorities, and 40 cases and 12 deaths reported from different provinces in the Cordillera Region.
The figures that appeared in the news were not invented by the media. The facts were written as reported by their news sources who were health officials. Still, they were blamed for telling the truth.
With the present fiasco, the media has written about the expanded testing, quarantine stories of patients and the efforts of all sectors in preventing the spread of coronavirus, the lockdowns and the truth about barangays getting infected, resulting in a study that said the city is a high-risk area.
From that time when the city announced the reopening of tourism in September until lately, the media never missed reporting the same, including concerns and events that promoted the city as a tourist destination amid the pandemic.
While comments on Facebook and Twitter criticized local officials for reopening Baguio to tourists as if the city was exempted from the Covid-19, I do not remember reading the same in newspapers. But as usual, the media is always the last to be acknowledged for doing their job even in a pandemic, or maybe never.
***
The 14-day border restrictions in an advisory enforced on Benguet residents entering Baguio, particularly those from the towns of La Trinidad, Tuba, Tublay and Sablan ended last Thursday.
The advisory caught the Benguet LGU executives by surprise attesting that they were not consulted, even while press releases from the city claimed otherwise.
To clarify matters, Mayor Romeo Salda said, there were really no series of consultations as what was being told.
But he was informed by Mayor Magalong through a text message that he intends to implement stricter border control for 14 days, and hoped for Mayor Salda’s understanding. For one, maybe that was consultation.
The advisory effectively improved traffic to Baguio but caused long lines of people getting health certificates at the Benguet General Hospital as requirements needed to pass through border checkpoints.
Like many outside residents who had to enter and exit Baguio every day, I too felt that the advisory was biased as it did not require those traveling from the city to the Benguet towns to present health certificates at the border checkpoints as if they were exempted from the virus.
Just like anyone, I was baffled why such an activity which officials knew all along would magnetize crowds was still tolerated, thus contradicting their actions of untiringly stressing the order to always maintain physical distancing. It was as if people were exempted from the Covid-19 and that it was alright to gather in crowds.
Clearly, the resumption of the “ukay-ukay” night market was an effort by the LGU to reopen the economy in the city but they knew too that reopening of businesses would violate health protocols as the safety of people is sacrificed. One need not touch the fire to know that it is hot.
Of course, policemen were tasked to monitor the activity and caution everyone to maintain physical distancing, use face masks and face shields properly, but these were all ignored because the temptation of the ukay-ukay is more powerful than the reminder to keep protocols.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong had nothing else to do but to admit responsibility for the incident and suspend the operation of the “infamous” night market. By the way, the night market is a violation of the old rule that roads are beyond the commerce of man.
Leasing portions of Harrison Road to stallholders who pay fees to the city is contrary to law. The lease contract in any form between the city and the stallholders is null and void because the interests of a few may not prevail over the rights of a greater number of the community to use the city streets anytime.
***
Tourism and journalism. Every time businessmen do not like the way things are portrayed in public, the media is blamed. Please don’t shoot the piano-player! The role of the press is to write what is worth publishing. But to dictate what the media should write for one’s satisfaction is a no-no.
Amid the pandemic that has affected all of us, the media cannot be selective. Hence, any writer worth his salt cannot say that there are no increases in Covid-19 infections when in fact there are, and cannot write that there is an increase of infections when there is none. News is reported as is.
A few weeks ago, the Baguio Tourism Council (BTC) and the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio (HRAB) brought up their concern over news reports that Baguio’s Covid-19 situation is “high risk”, saying further in a statement uploaded on social media that the news items unfairly portray the city as a risky place to visit.
I respect their reaction to the news items. On the other hand, I believe news articles should tell the truth about a city that has become “high risk” due to the increase in infections. The other thing I know about riskiness is that news reporters have to go around in order to perform their roles despite the presence of the virus.
This is not the first time that such kind of businessmen whose interests we do not know and who, by intention or coincidence are the so-called tourism advocates, clashed with the media.
Sometime in 2004 when the deadly meningococcemia disease hit Baguio and the Cordillera Region, the HRAB faced members of the media at the old Rose Bowl along Harrison Road who were again blamed for truthfully reporting the facts.
To recall, there were 38 cases of meningococcal disease and 18 deaths from October 2004 to January of the next year that were reported by health authorities, and 40 cases and 12 deaths reported from different provinces in the Cordillera Region.
The figures that appeared in the news were not invented by the media. The facts were written as reported by their news sources who were health officials. Still, they were blamed for telling the truth.
With the present fiasco, the media has written about the expanded testing, quarantine stories of patients and the efforts of all sectors in preventing the spread of coronavirus, the lockdowns and the truth about barangays getting infected, resulting in a study that said the city is a high-risk area.
From that time when the city announced the reopening of tourism in September until lately, the media never missed reporting the same, including concerns and events that promoted the city as a tourist destination amid the pandemic.
While comments on Facebook and Twitter criticized local officials for reopening Baguio to tourists as if the city was exempted from the Covid-19, I do not remember reading the same in newspapers. But as usual, the media is always the last to be acknowledged for doing their job even in a pandemic, or maybe never.
***
The 14-day border restrictions in an advisory enforced on Benguet residents entering Baguio, particularly those from the towns of La Trinidad, Tuba, Tublay and Sablan ended last Thursday.
The advisory caught the Benguet LGU executives by surprise attesting that they were not consulted, even while press releases from the city claimed otherwise.
To clarify matters, Mayor Romeo Salda said, there were really no series of consultations as what was being told.
But he was informed by Mayor Magalong through a text message that he intends to implement stricter border control for 14 days, and hoped for Mayor Salda’s understanding. For one, maybe that was consultation.
The advisory effectively improved traffic to Baguio but caused long lines of people getting health certificates at the Benguet General Hospital as requirements needed to pass through border checkpoints.
Like many outside residents who had to enter and exit Baguio every day, I too felt that the advisory was biased as it did not require those traveling from the city to the Benguet towns to present health certificates at the border checkpoints as if they were exempted from the virus.
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