UNDERVIEW

Baguio’s clear and present danger
MIKE GUIMBATAN JR.

For the past three issues we have been discussing about garbage woes and in the process received a lot of positive and negative reactions. We thank all people who reacted because they shared their care to the city and its people.
Even if the garbage issue takes respite because of tentative and controversial relief initiatives of the city government, the garbage crisis itself is a just a manifestation of a deeper and graver problem -- Baguio city has already attained its maximum bearing capacity. To prove my point, let us be reminded of the following realities among others:

* The common sight of pine greeneries and yellow sunflowers was replaced with shinny shanties made of galvanized iron sheets. Slowly the shanties became concrete structures and even steep slopes are replaced by hanging houses.

*Tap water is no longer potable then BWD rationed water. Since then, water delivery has become a new business venture. A million dollar bulk water delivery system remains still a million question.

*Continuous rainfall in 2000 created a lagoon at the Abanao intersection probably caused by surface sealing. This means that too much cementing prevents rainwater to penetrate into the natural underground water aquifers but instead forms into increased large volume of run-off water that can not be contained by natural canals. This could be the reason why accumulated ground water can not sustain the deep wells of BWD.

*A World Bank study in 2001 has found Baguio City 's air as the most polluted in the country. The city's air reportedly had 75.2 micrograms of particles per cubic meter, compared to Metro Manila's 65.8, Cebu City 's 45 and Davao City 's 39.8. It was only after the report was picked up by local media before government officials stepped in to undertake some mitigating measures.

*The entire city is sitting in a geologic hazard. After the 1990 killer quake that created fissures for water seepage, saturated soil becomes prone to erosion from heavy downpour. But there is still unabated earth movement and land development in the city’s remaining pine stands.

*In May 2004, dozens of matured “tilapia” and “carp” died at Burnham Lake ’s greenish and murky water. While the explanation is lack of oxygen, the real culprit is an overflow of the city’s pre-war sewerage system.

The old sewer line was then short of a few meters to the newly installed sewerage system.

There will come a time, it is not far from now, when existing sewerage system can no longer contain the increasing hotels and big establishments at the central business district.

And now the big question: Is it right to stop writing about Baguio’s urban woes and instead promote this mountain resort city as the best place for tourists. That means we have to pluck our eyes, plug our ears and cover our nose to live the life of our glorious past.

That Baguio is still “the perfect summer retreat, with its cool crisp air, picturesque mountainside scenery, exotic towering pine trees, and unspoiled ecological beauty home to interesting sights that continue to delight generation after generation?”

I did my part in promoting the city and its festivities even at the extent of beclouding urban woes, but deep inside, just like most Baguio-based journalist, something is missing. An ordinary man on the street knows what and why. Not even media elder Ramon Dacawi who has been promoting Baguio all his life can get help from the main business gainers to aid the countless indigent patients lining up for help to extend a day of their life.

But the main reason why I devote this column to Baguio ’s urban blight is not to drive tourists away but for public officials to redirect its thrust to the people and its remaining resources.

Early American planners at the turn of the century designed the city as a first class western patterned city that can sustain 30 thousand residents. Today we still enjoy the amenities of the early American design but the population has ballooned to 300,000 minimum populations and counting.

We can not celebrate our centennial because of its glorious past while sitting on a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Unless however if the centennial celebration’s theme will be “Glorifying the past, celebrating the present, and never mind the future.” The City has surpassed its carrying capacity. It is facing a clear and present urban danger.