The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Friday identified six areas of concern in the rehabilitation of Baguio City, the country’s summer capital.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said air quality, water quality of rivers, solid waste management, forest cover, traffic woes, and even proliferation of informal settlers and illegal structures must be addressed in order to restore the reputation of Baguio City as “mountain paradise.”
“We are looking to improve these areas, which have deteriorated drastically during the past few decades,” he added.
Citing a study done by the National Economic and Development Authority, he said the most critical urban carrying capacity indicators that needed to be considered were road length and area, solid waste collection, water supply, liquid waste treatment capacity, forest cover, and urban land for construction and development.
“We deem these factors as critical because the NEDA also estimates that the population in the country’s summer capital will soar up to 530,990 by 2045,” he said.
Drastic measures are necessary to tackle air pollution in Baguio City, which in 2014 topped the list of the World Health Organization study on ambient air pollution with the most polluted air in the Philippines with particulate matter 2.5 at 49 micrograms per cubic meter.
“Baguio City’s air quality is troubling because there are more than 2,000 deaths related to air pollution from 2015 to 2019,” he said. Rio N. Araja
In June last year, the DENR chief ordered the planting of 3,500 Benguet pine trees within the compound of The Mansion in Baguio City to restore the smell of pine trees.
He raised concerns that the city was already losing its pine trees, and that visitors and the residents could no longer smell the fragrance of the trees that made Baguio famous for as a tourist spot, apart from its cold weather.
According to Cimatu, the agency is also eyeing the rehabilitation of Balili and Bued rivers, which coliform levels are even worse than that of the Manila Bay’s.
As far as garbage issue is concerned, DENR is also looking forward to the conversion of the Irisan dump into an environmental-friendly eco-park, he said.
He added they are considering to restrict construction of structures along the city slopes to prevent landslides.