High-rise buildings, housing projects, TSAs leading to urban decay?

Letters from the Agno

March L. Fianza 

 

BAGUIO CITY -- In 2009, then Senator Rodolfo Biazon and I had a simple lunch of “tungsoy” (watercress) and fish fillet at a local restaurant. The chain smoker told me his presence here was prompted by then Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s recognizable temper after she introduced a controversial resolution regarding urban decay.

The Senate resolution asked Biazon’s committee to conduct an inquiry on the reported “urban decay and environmental degradation” threatening to wreck Baguio, the City of Pines. There must be a certain degree of truth to the news article that provoked Defensor-Santiago into introducing her resolution.

The news article said tourists no longer found Baguio as cold as it used to be; Pine tree cover was less dense than it was decades ago; downtown streets, especially Session Road were jammed with cars and people like Manila; and heritage buildings, relics of the American colonial rule with historical value have been demolished.

The article further cited uncollected mounds of garbage in plastic bags on main streets that probably led to the enormous trash slide from Irisan that blocked Asin Road, Tadiangan, Tuba in 2011 for many months.  

In consulting Baguio officials and residents at City Hall, Sen. Biazon wondered if there was any truth to the issues mentioned in the news article as he sought for solutions. Reactors from the crowd agreed with the issues raised, contrary to some elected officials who, as expected, spoke in defense of their actions – or the lack of it.

That was 25 years ago. By the city’s present looks, it appears like things have not improved any better. Traffic jams have become more terrible which worsen air pollution, buildings were being built higher which when fully occupied aggravated an already insufficient water supply. In addition, higher occupancy produced more garbage and human waste.   

Other effects instantly impact the environment. For residential subdivisions, initial development requires the construction of roads, where in most cases, the natural green vegetation of trees and bushes are scraped away. In many instances, trees were already cut down even while tree-cutting permits were still to be issued.

For high-rise structures such as hotels, condominiums and apartments; they absorb transient travelers and weekend tourists that contribute to the volume of solid waste as well as sewer waste that clog the city’s ancient sewer system. It is time the heights of buildings should be limited in order to control the volume output of solid and sewer waste.

Concerning townsite sales applications (TSAs), documents on file are more than the actual number of lots that can be distributed. While the TSAs are on process, illegal lot occupants are slowly and inconspicuously erecting shanties.

The informal settlers successfully have their “improvements” tax declared with the government assessor. The government treasurer meanwhile is more than willing to collect all kinds of taxes, including payments for overlapping taxdecs.

The TSA as a way of acquiring a 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. The rule is squat then apply.    

The unsolicited but ideal answers to urban decay are to stop housing subdivisions, stop the construction of high-rise buildings, and stop the approval of TSAs. But these ideas would certainly be disregarded since some politicians are subdivision developers and realtors. Proposals like these would make both politicians and realtors very mad.

With high-rise edifices, hotels and transient apartments fully occupied during festive months, local residents suffer a shortage in water supply and get mired in traffic jams that worsen air pollution.

And as a bonus to the ugly situation, the low skyline of a beautiful city is altered by skyrise buildings that permanently block priceless golden sunsets.

The more people, the happier businessmen and realtors are. In contrast, high-rise buildings, traffic, garbage, pollution and overpopulation are multiplying factors that cause many other social illnesses in a city such as Baguio. All these lead to urban decay.

But there are choices. Either cut the trees in exchange for concrete structures and parking lots just like what happened at Luneta Park, or sacrifice your dream of belonging to a cement jungle and just let the grass grow.