Baguio vandals /Student smokers’ den

 CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government urged the public to immediately report vandals to address the worsening problem on vandalism.
    Public Order and Safety Division head enforcer Daryll Longid said the city needs the public’s cooperation in identifying the culprits to put a stop to the nefarious practice.
    He said investigations are continuing and the offenders will be dealt with accordingly.
    Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the problem has to be rooted out if the city is to attain its vision for a clean and orderly Baguio and to nurture its being a creative city for which efforts are thwarted by senseless graffiti.
    It will be recalled that in 2020, one tattoo artist was accosted for vandalizing the mural being painted by street artist Venazir Martinez but Martinez forgave the offender and allowed him to make amends in a positive way particularly by helping her restore the defaced artwork, collaborate in future projects and by becoming an advocate of cleanliness and orderliness.
    Longid said he is doubtful if the incident ever served as a lesson to others in the same league as Martinez’s offender.
    “These despicable acts these self-proclaimed artists are doing are not art.  Far from it. There's nothing artistic about defacing public and private properties.  If anything these artist wannabes are nothing more than scalawags. We will find them and we will prosecute them,” Longid warned.
    Last June, the mayor and the city council through Resolution No. 239, series of 2022 requested the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) to further strengthen the ongoing campaign against all forms of vandalism in line with the thrust to bring back cleanliness and orderliness in the city.
    Ordinance No. 041 series of 2008, otherwise known as the Anti-Graffiti Code of the City of Baguio prohibits defacement of any city-owned or privately-owned property and possession of graffiti implements like aerosol spray or broad-tipped indelible marker, pen, marker, pen materials, or instruments while near or within public or private properties.
    Further, Resolution No. 589, series of 2020, urged the various barangay officials and the BCPO to be vigilant and to deter all acts of vandalism in public places and places that showcase works of arts in the city.
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A boarding house and sari-sari store at New Lucban barangay were flagged by a team from the city government Nov. 4, 2022 for business permit and smoke-free ordinance violations.
    City permits and licensing division chief Allan Abayao said the inspection was conducted based on complaints received by Mayor Benjamin Magalong that the establishment was serving as a haunt for student smokers.
    Abayao said the joint Inspection with the Public Order and Safety Division, City Health Services Office, Baguio City Police Station 7, Anti-Smoking Team, and New Lucban punong barangay John Caluza found that the registered owner of the establishment was operating as real estate lessor or boarding house without the necessary permit prompting the licensing office to issue him a notice of violation.
    The sari-sari store on the other hand was ordered to stop business operation and issued notice of violation and citation ticket even if its operation is covered by a license for selling cigarettes by stick and for tolerating students to smoke in the premises.
    The team confiscated the store’s cigarette wares.
    The composite team led by the City Health Office has been sustaining its monitoring and inspection activities to ensure that boarding houses, dormitories and other accommodation establishments are complying with the rules on sanitation, structural safety and health protocols.
    Magalong earlier directed the intensified monitoring of these establishments as well as speeding up of action on concerns involving them.
    He tasked the city’s composite team to make inspections a regular activity and to follow through and secure the commitment of owners of AEs that incurred violations of health and sanitation and building rules to comply with all the requirements and institute the corrective measures.
    The city also set up hotlines for students, workers and other boarders to report unsafe and unsanitary AEs to.
Complaints may be lodged at the Baguio in My Pocket (BIMP) app or through our permits and licensing office hotline 619-3984, health hotlines 09184880195, 09278587272, 0744449217, or to Facebook age of the Baguio City Health Services Office or email at sanitationdivision2018@gmail.com or hso.baguio@gmail.com.