"Doing a Boracay here might be a tantalizing idea."
It is not yet summer but February is usually the start of the summer activities in Baguio.
The now-famous Flower Festival or Panagbenga which is being celebrated the whole month of February will for this year be extended for one week. The float and the grand street parades will be on the first week of March.
The Chinese New Year on the 5th of February promises to be grander this year. Already, the Chinese-Filipino community of the city is busy making preparations to attract more visitors this year than the previous years.
The Philippine Military Academy annual Alumni Homecoming and graduation weeks are next. These two activities usually attract thousands of visitors, filling up all the hotel rooms available in the city. The school has been attracting quite a bit tourists in recent years, distracting the cadets. Consequently, the Secretary of National Defense found it necessary to issue an order closing the facility to tourists during weekdays. Henceforth, the facility will only be open to tourists during weekends. How long this prohibition will last, we do not know but hopefully, some middle ground can be found so as not to disappoint so many people.
The Holy Week follows as summer sets in. In the old days, the city was the place to go for everyone. This was because there was no other place to visit. Since the establishment and development of various tourist facilities where people can go, the number of annual Holy Week visitors to the city has decreased. Since Filipinos have also become wealthier and can afford foreign travel, many go to Hong Kong and other places in the region or elsewhere to spend the most important religious event in the Roman Catholic world.
Still, Baguio remains one of the major tourist destinations in the country principally because the temperature in the city remains comfortable and tolerable while the lowlands swelters and bakes during the hot summer months. Kennon Road which has been closed for several months is also scheduled to open for light vehicles to ease the heavy traffic along Marcos Highway. There are times when travel along the 40-kilometer road takes about two hours because of traffic congestion in the area where motorists enter the central business district. With Kennon road opens, the ascent to the city will be faster.
But apart from the temporary opening of Kennon Road which was spearheaded by city officials, there is no other discernable activities that can be seen to prepare the City for the influx of more tourists to the city. The effort seems to be more on the private establishments. Baguio Country Club, together with Camp John Hay, are preparing. For CJH, I understand that a qualified landscaper was recruited to improve the grounds of the facility. The forested area will be cleaned and the plant nursery enlarged to propagate plants to beautify the facility. It may no longer be like when the Americans used to run it, but it is the largest remaining open space open to the public where people can go and enjoy their stay in the city.
In the traditional tourist spots however, there are not much activity. Burnham Park, for instance, which remains to be the principal city attraction, is not undergoing any sprucing up like cleaning and installing lights to make the park available for night strolling. At present, it is not advisable to stroll in the park in the evening.
One reason that drives tourists away is the worsening traffic in the city. Unfortunately, however, this is one area where the city is failing miserably. Whatever the city government is doing, the traffic situation continues to worsen. Either no city official is qualified and competent enough to do the job or they absolutely have no idea what they are doing. There are some quarters advocating that the national government schedule the city to be the next Boracay. Whether this is even feasible is hard to say. But it also depends on the objective. There are certainly some activities that could be done like improving the waste disposal system and removing all those spaghetti electric wires that clutter the central business district. The city should follow what Davao City did and pass an ordinance burying all power lines within the CBD. Removing all those houses built along river banks to stop the discharge of waste directly to the river could also be done. This will, in turn, improve the environment.
Another is the limited sewer system of the city which could be expanded and improved. But all those squatters that dot the mountains surrounding the city will probably remain as they are except perhaps to require the homeowners to paint their houses to make the houses more attractive.
Squatters have also invaded the mountain along Marcos Highway which is on the left going down. Very soon, the whole mountain slope will be full of shanties which will become another eyesore for the city. Land acquisition and ownership are two of the major causes of squatting in the city. The national government should look into this very serious problem. Solve this and a lot of the problems will disappear.
In the last few years, the National Commission on Indigenous People has been issuing ancestral titles left and right that even the small Wright Park lagoon fronting the Mansion House have been titled to fake ancestral claimants. There are other cases. Doing a Boracay in Baguio might be a tantalizing idea but if the national government will indeed attempt such an undertaking, a rehabilitation with limited objectives might be the better and more realistic option to take.