BENCHWARMER

Walking Dr. Penalosa’s urban landscape
RAMON S. DACAWI

It’s pleasant to walk in Baguio. Rather, it used to be pleasant, when this temperate city of pines was in its formative years. That was when it was one neighborhood, not 128 barangays, when everybody knew almost anybody one would meet while walking up or down Session Rd., its main street.

It was when litterbug and jay-walkers were limited to visitors unfamiliar with Baguio’s culture of discipline, sense of fair play and of community. That was when, at dusk, the whole city – pedestrian or motorist, child or parent -- would come to a full stop for a moment of prayer and meditation - or out of respect for those who do.

It can still be pleasant, if not practical, in the face of daily traffic jams and the rising cost of oil products. And if the sidewalks are cleared of obstacles, old vehicles are phased out and laws against smoke belchers are strictly implemented. And if our drivers obey rules of courtesy and safety, and car owners don’t go on on-street parking the whole day.

These were some feedbacks from those who tried walking last June 2, when “Walk, Baguio, Walk” was launched, hopefully to rally residents to walk the environmental talk.

“Walk, Baguio, Walk” seemed innocuous for a call towards community discipline. Yet it triggered such responses and even grounded moves.

Eleven-year old Izkra Samara Liporada, a fifth-grader at the Union School International, set the tone of the campaign in an address that recalled then 12-year old Severn Suzuki’s message before the world’s leaders at their Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

“You say you care about us,” Samara said. “If you really do, I hope that you adults could start showing us you care by leaving your cars at home. Walk with us…walk with your children so we could get to know you, our parents, better.”

She said her family walks a lot, from home in Upper quarry to her grandfather’s place in Bakakeng, or from the Marcos Highway to her grandmother’s place in Taloy, Tuba, Benguet. “Our dad walks us to school”, during which he “teaches us about our school lesson , which is why we have high grades”.

City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. readily grounded the campaign. He announced studies will be made for a “reversed number coding scheme”, wherein private car owners may be allowed to use their units only once a day, instead of four days of the work week as provided for in an ordinance. The mayor also stopped suspension of and exemptions from the ordinance designed for a 10 percent reduction of vehicles running and parking on streets during the work week.

After all, exemptions had been limited to private cars. He followed it up with a “no-parking” policy along the university belts, a ban on motorcades and a directive for city workers not to park their vehicles at the city hall compound on days when these are covered by the car ban within the central business district.

Over at the city council, Vice-Mayor Daniel Farinas filed two measures for a car-less day every Friday and for the city to adopt “Walk, Baguio, Walk” as a year-round program. “Walk, Baguio Walk” took inspiration from the impressive work of a former mayor Enrique Penalosa of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Colombia recently gained international attention with that perfect rescue of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt from her rebel kidnappers.

In Dr. Penalosa’s landscape, the pedestrians or bicycle rider has equal, if not better, access to public spaces as one aboard a private car. To him, those who have to walk or pedal a bike should have as much mobility and space – and dignity -as those who ride limousines in the urban landscape. “A forty-dollar bicycle is equally important as a four thousand-dollar car,” he said. “Throughout history, there were more people killed by cars than by animals in the jungle.”

Penalosa adopted car-less days and banned car owners from parking on sidewalks of Bogota, a city with a population of 6.9 million. Forced to walk, pedal or ride the bus, vehicle owners moved for his impeachment, but lost in a referendum when 83 percent of the voting constituency opted for more car-less days.

Bogota now has its Transmilenio, a bus rapid bus transit system, a 17-kilometer walk-way, bicycle lanes, parks and open spaces that, he said, provide equal space in the urban landscape. Penalosa said he would like the company executive sitting beside the laundrywoman inside the bus on their way to work. To him, parks are as important as schools, for they provide “leisure time when income differences are felt.”

“Getting people out of their cars is a means of social integration,” he pointed out. “You have the upper-income person sitting next to the cleaning lady on the bus,” he said, during his keynote at the 2005 “Life in the Urban Landscape” international conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Delegates broke into laughter and ovation when Penalosa flashed on the giant screen photos of cars trying to negotiate unpaved streets in Bogota, alongside well-paved pedestrian and bicycle lanes. “We chose not to improve the streets for the sake of cars, but instead have wonderful spaces for pedestrians, “ he explained.

On-going here in Baguio is the improvement of the sidewalk along Session Rd., to address the clamor of pedestrians for better walkways, as was done with the city’s roads.

An earlier proposal to convert the whole inclined mains street into a promenade met
opposition from business shop owners. Despite the objection, the mayor has directed serious studies on the proposal that, if pursued, would help clear the air and provide walking – and breathing - space in Baguio’s urban landscape.

The other week, the mayor ordered a car-less Sunday, at least for both sides of the upper portion of Session Rd., from the Patria de Baguio down to the Philippine National Bank. People suddenly found themselves with a sense of freedom, walking up and down the main street with dignity, free from from the arrogance of some motorists who are often blind of the pedestrian lanes and the pedestrians themselves.
Feedbacks from the rest of the community on this and other urban issues will be drawn during the second walk tomorrow, with the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center headed by Dr. Manuel Factora as main sponsor.

This is why “Walk, Baguio, Walk” was born. It was conceived to provide time and space for the community to talk, decide and act on bringing itself closer to what it should be.. A city, as Dr. Penalosa stressed, is, after all, “made for people, not for cars”. (e-mail:rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments).