The rape of Baguio City

Hundreds of trees felled somewhere up Mt. Sto. Tomas, for the construction of a road, the news report alleged. Baguio representative Nic Aliping's name has been dragged into the controversy. I heard that a rally is scheduled on June 3 to protest this latest attack on Baguio's natural environment.

This is really disturbing. The struggle to protect the city's natural environment is being done on two fronts now, and the alleged antagonists are the very people who were voted into office to supposedly serve the people, the community. They are supposed protect and work for the welfare of this beautiful city.

On one front, there's the Mayor, people refer to him as the 'Father of the City,"who's determined to dig up the fortunately still almost pristine Melvin Jones Football Grounds, and turn it into a huge parking facility. He graciously showed us artist's renditions of his vision and they weren't a pretty site. Out of all the possible sites for a parking facility, which, admittedly, the city badly needs, why there? History books tell us that Daniel Burnham chose to turn the biggest piece of level land in the proposed site for the American hill station at the turn of the 20th century into a public park. The Melvin Jones Grounds make up much of that biggest piece of level land. Not only is the Melvin Jones Grounds part of Burnham Park, it IS, in fact, Burnham Park.

We must do what we can to stop the rape of our city's heritage. The proposed parking facility at the Melvin Jones Football Grounds must be stopped.

The other front is up in Mt. Sto. Tomas. Hundreds of pine trees? That's a lot. In a city known as the City of Pines, the death of one pine tree is one death too many.

If they get away on these two fronts, we lose not only a beautiful open space, nor just a couple of hundreds of pine trees, we lose relevant pieces of the city's heritage, and soul.

I will continue to lend my voice to the movement opposing the continued rape of our beloved mother, Baguio.