Bakit kailangang tutulan ang pagputol ng mga puno sa Luneta Hill?

Kung ang mga pahayag ng SM City Baguio ang ating pagbabasehan, tila nga tuloy na tuloy na ang kanilang planong expansion upang lalo pang lubos na palakahin ang mala-higanteng mall sa tuktok ng Luneta Hill. Para ng gustong palabasin ay wala na talagang magagawa ang local an gobyerno o ang mga taong bayan upang pigilan ang kanilang planong putulin, o i-“earthball” ang humigit-kumulang 182 na puno dito.

Kung sabagay, meron na nga naman silang mga permit galing sa DENR para sa pagputol ng mga puno at sa lokal na pamahalaan para sa pagpapatayo ng gusali. Meron din silang Environmental Compliance Certificate, o ECC, na galing din sa DENR. Ang ECC ay nagpapatibay na ang plano ng SM City Baguio ay hindi makakasama sa kalikasan. Kung paano nila nakuha yun, sa kabila ng malamang na pagkamatay ng 182 na puno, hindi natin alam.

Bakit nga ba dapat tutulan ang balak ng SM? Una, ang bawat isang puno ay kayang mag-impok ng libo-libong litro ng tubig. 182 pa kaya? Kapag natuloy ang plano ng SM City Baguio na tanggalin o putulin ang mga puno sa Luneta Hill, saan pa ba aagos ang tubig ulan kundi sa mga mas mabababang lugar tulad ng Session Road, Gov. Pack Road at Harrison Road na maaaring maging sanhi ng pagbaha dito.

Pangalawa, kung walang mga punong maglilikom ng tubig ulan, maaring lumambot ng labis ang lupa at magdulot ng mga nakamamatay at nakapipinsalang landslides. Parang wala pa rin tayong natutunan sa Ondoy at Pepeng, o sa bagyong Sendong na naghatid ng matinding kalamidad sa Mindanao kamakailan lang.

Pangatlong dahilan ay may kinalaman sa ating kalusugan. Nililinis din ng mga puno ang hangin sa pamamagitan ng paglilikom ng mga nakapipinsalang Carbon sa himpapawid. Kapag mas kaunti ang puno sa isang urbanisadong lugar na tulad ng kinalalagyan ng SM City Baguio, mas madumi ang hangin. At hindi naman kaila sa atin na sa mga puno rin nanggagaling ang oxygen na ating hinihinga. Kapag kaunti ang mga puno, mas kaunti din ang nalalanghap nating sariwang hangin.

Sabi din nila, ang kanilang balak na bagong parking lot makakatulong sa pagpapaluwag ng daloy ng trapiko sa Central Business District. Hindi ako naniniwala diyan. Ako ay may sasakyan din, pero kadalasan ay hindi ko na ito dinadala dahil nga mahirap maghanap ng paparadahan. Kapag nagdagdag tayo ng parking lot, ine-engganyo natin ang mga mamayan na magdala ng sari-sariling sasakyan kasi nga, may paparadahan naman. Mas maraming sasakyan, mas masikip ang daloy ng trapiko. Mas mainam na sagot sa problema ng trapiko ang pagpapahusay ng ating sistemang sasakayang pampubliko.

Ang dami nilang sinasabing dahilan kung bakit sila magtatayo ng bagong gusali – kasama na dito ang pag hikayat daw ng mga turista at upang makapagbigay trabaho sa mga mamamayan. Sa unang banda, hindi SM ang ina-akyat ng mga turista dito kundi ang malamig na klima at ang mga punong pino. Pangalawa, ano nga bang klaseng trabaho ang alok ng SM City Baguio, yung trabahong kung saan hindi ka lalampas ng anim na buwan para manatili kang contractual at walang mga benepisyo?

Aminin muna kasi nila na magtatayo sila ng bagong gusali dahil sa isa at isang bagay lamang: pera. Ang tanong ko lang e, hindi pa ba sila masaya sa laki ng kinikita nila sa ngayon at kailangan pa nilang sipsipin pa ang mga tira-tirang mamimiling pinaghahati-hatian ng mga maliliit na negosyante sa Baguio?

Ilan lang ito sa mga dahilan kung bakit dapat tutulan ang plano ng SM City Baguio na putulin ang mga puno sa Luneta Hill. Dahil kapag hinayaan natin ang SM City Baguio na ipagpatuloy ang kanilang maitim na balak upang itaguyod ang kanilang kasakiman sa pera, paano pa natin mapipigilan ang iba pang nagbabalak ding gahasain ang ating kalikasan?

Hahayaan nga ba nating tuluyang mabura ang imahe at alala ng Baguio bilang “City of Pines?”

More than 182

What’s with the 182 trees up on Luneta Hill anyway? A lot has been said about the air purifying and water holding capacity of those trees. I am not a botanist, I cannot expound on that.

But the death of these 182 trees, added to the hundreds that have been cut in Camp John Hay and who knows how many more will be cut in the future as they continue their development in the area, the piles of dead trees over at the Diplomat Hotel, are all coming at a time when the nation is still mourning the death of those who died in the flash floods in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. SM City Baguio’s expansion that will compromise those 182 trees is coming at the heels of the recent garbage slide in Irisan that claimed lives and property.

This after the city along with the rest of the region were hit with landslides brought about by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng that also resulted in countless deaths not too long ago.

What do you think could’ve prevented these tragedies?

SM Supermalls tells us that they have experts working on this project who can guarantee that the building’s ecological footprint would be kept at a minimum, and they will do so much to make up for whatever effect the project would have on the environment.

Would these be the same experts whose design apparently did not take into consideration the unique weather conditions in Baguio that leaves the interiors of the mall drenched and turns the stairs into virtual waterfalls during the rainy season? And I don’t know about you, but the occasional shaking of the floors especially at the supermarket area never fails to scare me to death. I don't trust your "experts" for how can they be called as such when they believe that removing 182 trees from the earth is not a big deal at all - even a child will tell you that there's got to be something wrong about that.

It is commendable that SM City Baguio promises to plant thousands of saplings (not seedlings, according to them). But where? It is the city’s Central Business District that needs the trees badly. What would really make the promise commendable is if they do it not to make up for something, but just because they really want to help enhance the city’s natural environment.

They have said so much about why they want to expand: promote tourism, provide employment, solve the city’s traffic woes by providing additional parking facilities. You mean tourists will now come up to Baguio primarily because of SM and not because of the climate, the beautiful scenery, the pine trees? And what kind of employment will they provide? The kind where you have to be let go in six months so you don’t become a regular employee who should be provided with benefits as required by law? And really, solve the traffic problem or provide more revenues for SM City Baguio?

Let us not forget that SM City Baguio is expanding primarily because of one thing – MORE MONEY. And at what cost? It’s not like Henry Sy is losing money with his branch here, he will continue to earn millions with or without the expansion.

And the issue on SM’s expansion and its effects goes beyond the environment. It is also about a rotten political system that allows corporate greed to trample on the well-being of the people. Whether you can do anything or not, whether you agree with our protest or not, at the end of the day, if SM City Baguio gets its way and those trees die, we, the people of Baguio lose, and corporate greed wins.

To our government officials, elected or otherwise, do not be too vain as to think that this is about you. It is not. The issue is so much bigger than your bloated egos. Remember that when we air our sentiments about your apparent inaction, we are addressing it to your office, and your office is a public trust. You just happen to be the one sitting on that chair at the moment. Oh how you degraded yourself dancing onstage like a monkey, begging us to put you where you are now just a couple of years ago. Remember that we can unseat you too.

And never forget that what makes a community, a city great is not its parking facilities, not a sky garden, not a mall - it’s the people whom you swore to protect, uphold the rights and welfare of.

This is not merely about the 182 trees up on Luneta Hill, this is also about the welfare of the more than 300,000 people who live in Baguio.



*OUT IN THE OPEN, Cordillera Today Feb. 5, 2012

Congratulations, Councilor

I see that you have finally made a statement regarding the issue - it's about time. I congratulate you for that.

I must say though that, well, you lost me at "your wrong opinion."

The issue about SM's plans was brought to the public's attention (or at least, my attention) in the early days of this month. On January 8, 2012, a petition was started by Michael Bengwayan which spread like wildfire all over the internet. I, as a member of the community, was shocked - how can they get away with the virtual murder of 182 pine trees at a time when Baguio is still reeling from a devastating garbage slide and the numerous landlsides before that? Not to mention the recent natural disaster that claimed hundreds of lives in Mindanao? I looked to you (not you personally, but you - Baguio's leaders) for guidance, for an explanation, for some kind of justification - you were elected to protect our welfare, work for our well-being.

A week passed, and then another, and there was hardly anything from you (not you personally, but you - Baguio's "public servants"). A rally was organized, stil no word from you. The rally happened, and still nothing from anyone of you (the presence of people and institutions connected to you is NOT AN ACHIEVEMENT YOU SHOULD TAKE CREDIT FOR).

I didn't want you to say you were on our side, nor did I want you to defend SM City Baguio's expansion plans. I was at a loss, and looked to you (again, not you personally) to shed light on the issue. Afterall, you should know better - you were elected to serve the people. Whichever side you were on, I was more curious about why you chose to be on that side.

I see you (all of you) a lot in the newspapers, on TV, I hear you on the radio - you're all quick to consider any form of mass media as a "proper forum" when trumpeting your truimphs. There's nothing wrong with that, I, as a resident of Baguio, love hearing about the good that all of you do. So I was totally shocked when hardly any one of you came forward to make statement about the issue. I can shut up about it. My neighbor can say nothing about it. The driver of the jeepney I rode this morning can not have an opinion about it - but not you. You owe it to the people to make a stand. It didn't matter which side of the political fence you're on - your position is a public trust, it is your responsibility to make a stand (hopefully for the greater majority's good) I hope you have not forgotten that.

And that's why I was suprised, scared even to receive a personal message from you (now I mean you, personally). You took offense at my status update that stated:

To the people Baguio voted for in the last election - you're quick to pose for a photo pretending to plant trees during tree planting photos ops, professing to be defenders of the environment to the media, making your presence felt in Facebook pages that advocate the protection of the environment such as Kafagwayan - Park Capital of the Philippines, etc. - Park Capital of the Philippines, etc. - YOUR SILENCE ON THE ISSUE OF THE PLANNED MASS MURDER OF TREES UP ON LUNETA HILL IS UNACCEPTABLE AND SUSPECT!

Did I mean YOU personally? Yes, you and the rest of you that the people elected to care for the people's welfare. You're message, in part, said, "I think you had a different opinion of me, and have influenced others with your WRONG OPINION." (caps mine).

Now that's scary - an opinion being wrong simply because you don't agree with it. How is my opinion that "YOUR SILENCE ON THE PLANNED MASS MURDER OF TREES UP ON LUNETA HILL IS UNACCEPTABLE AND SUSPECT" wrong? In that lengthy exchange of messages, I asked you repeatedly what your stand is on the issue of SM's expansion, and you answered with your impeccable environmental efforts in the past. I asked again and again, but you only answered with how you have planted way more trees than most Filipinos (bravo!) in the past - still you dodged the question - where do you stand as far as SM's expansion plan is concerned?

You told me that you will do so "in the proper forum." Why is the internet a proper forum for letting the people know of your "environment-friendly efforts" but not for making a stand on the SM issue?

Did you see my last status? -

"I am Karlo Marko Altomonte, an artist, a father and a resident of Baguio, and I hereby PUBLICLY DECLARE that I am against the earthballing/relocation of trees up on Luneta Hill to pave the way for SM City Baguio's expansion project.

(now how hard is that, dear Public Servants? No, declaring you're an environmentalist and is generally against the cutting of trees and have planted trees in the past does not state your position on the matter. And yes, THIS IS A PROPER FORUM)"

Have you seen how many people from all walks of life have put that as their status? It's that easy if one had principles and the conscience and courage to stand up for them.

You did say that you sent private messages to certain people stating your position. Lucky for those people, at least they knew where you stood. But as for us, we had no idea until your lengthy position statement you published today. SO I GUESS FACEBOOK IS A PROPER FORUM AFTER ALL? What took you so long?

For the record, I take offense, and it scares me even, to be singled out by an elected official out of the thousands who've been cursing all of you for your silence.

Better late than never, though. So, CONGRATULATIONS, COUNCILOR! for finally making a stand. But as I said, you lost me at "wrong opinion." But I believe I had you at "YOUR SILENCE ON THE PLANNED MASS MURDER OF TREES UP ON LUNETA HILL IS UNACCEPTABLE AND SUSPECT."

But don't worry about losing me, you never had me. I didn't vote for you.

For our children

We promised that you will not be late for your taekwondo lessons yesterday, and that we will have that special dinner you’ve been begging for, but first, we had to print some posters and help set-up microphones and speakers for a protest rally.

You first had to join thousands of other people to march down from the top of Session Road to People’s Park at the bottom, holding up the posters we printed that said, “It’s Not About What You’ll Build, It’s About What You’ll Kill!.”

What’s really happening?, you asked. SM City Baguio, where our theatre group performed a few times – a play called “Pepe” that rallied the youth to take a more active part in issues affecting the country; “Sa Saliw ng mga Gangsa,” a concert that featured songs that told the audience about the importance of protecting our natural environment; excerpts from “Jesus Christ Superstar” where the stylized crucifixion scene had Jesus being nailed to a concrete pine tree – and where you guys go for your piano and guitar lessons, remember how amazed you were when you were much younger at how huge the mall was? Well, it’s the biggest commercial centre in Baguio, and they want to make it even bigger!

How are they going to do that when the mall’s surroundings are covered with pine trees? Well, they would have to get rid of those trees, and that’s not good for the environment, for the city – that’s not good for you! Remember your elementary science lessons about trees? How they breathe out oxygen which makes us breathe? Well, three to four of those pine trees can provide our whole family with oxygen to breathe. And all that black smoke coming from cars going up to SM City Baguio? Notice how the people on Session Road would cover their noses to avoid breathing those poisonous fumes? Let’s do some math: a single tree can absorb almost 50 pounds of that poison a year, so all the trees they want to remove from SM, about 180, can absorb 9,000 pounds! Because it’s a gas, it’s very light, so 9,000 pounds is really a lot of carbon! And trees also absorb water and discharge it in the air – that’s why it’s cooler in areas where there are lots of trees. All those 180 trees can absorb more than 60,000 litres of water everyday, and if you remove them, all that water will not be absorbed and can come rushing down from Luneta Hill towards Session Road and Harrison Road and can cause floods. Remember the news about the floods in Mindanao last December? Or how about the landslides that happened in La Trinidad and Tublay a few years ago? That happened because there were not enough trees to absorb the water and hold the land together. What do you think can happen when most of those trees around SM are removed?

And that’s why we have to join all these other people who want to stop SM City Baguio from removing those trees. Some people will tell you that they’re not going to kill the trees, they will “earthball” them, which is basically what I do when I transfer a plant in our garden from a small pot to a bigger one. Except that trees are much bigger, their roots spread out much deeper into the ground and much wider, so digging them out from the roots is not easy, you need those huge backhoes to do that, and if you cut some of those roots while doing so, they will die.

Why do they want to make SM City Baguio even bigger? Some people will tell you that it’s because they want to provide more parking spaces so that our streets will be cleared of cars. That they’re building a “green” building, meaning it’s environment-friendly. Maybe that’s true, but that’s not why they want to make SM bigger. SM exists only because of one thing: to make money. Just like Ate Edith with her store up our road – she may be nice, she may be friendly, once in a while she helps her neighbours and friends, but she put up her store to make money. So SM wants to make their mall bigger simply because they want to earn more money.

The owner of SM City Baguio, kids, is one of the richest people in the world. Remember when we had to borrow money to pay the hospital when one of you got food poisoning from one of the restaurants along Session Road? Henry Sy will not need to borrow money when his kids get sick, in fact, he can pay for the hospitalization of tens of thousands of children like you and he will still be rich. He can buy 10 nice cars and still be rich. He can have an Ipad, a Playstation, a bicycle, an Optimus Prime action figure, a nice pair of soccer cleats, all the Harry Potter books, watch a movie every day, go to the beach every weekend, have hamburgers and pizza any time he wants, give all his children a huge allowance, and buy his own airplane(!) and he will still be rich! So why does he want to earn more money?

Because he’s greedy, and it’s not good to be greedy, kids, remember that.

Oh, and you were wondering last night why some people, some of whom you know are even part of a group that’s supposed to take care of the environment, were there in SM to watch some guy named Sam Milby instead of with us in People’s Park to beg SM and our Congressman and Mayor and councilors to stop the killing of those trees.

Well, maybe they really just don’t care, and always remember that it’s bad not to care.

*my column in the Jan. 22, 2012 issue of Cordillera Today

Fail

What comes to mind when you read or hear the following? "When you care enough to send the very best." "Ikaw lamang, wala ng iba." "Just do it." "Finger lickin' good." "Langhap sarap." "Connecting people." Or fill in the blanks: "Have a break, have a ___," "Come to where the flavor is, come to ___." "The united colors of ____."

While my 13-year old son didn't get everything, he got most of it. My wife got them all. The first one's been Hallmark's slogan for, like, forever. It makes sense, it makes you do a head tilt and go, awww. So does Johnson & Johnson's vow of fidelity. Nike's command makes you want to go buy a pair and sweat it out or conquer the world. While KFC's promise hits it just right. The aroma of MSG-laden fastfood makes you salivate every time you pass by a Jollibee, which currently means practically at every turn in Baguio's Central Business District. you send a text or answer a call and you know Nokia does connect people. A lot of us have even found ways to quote Kitkat's, Marlboro's and Benetton's slogans in casual conversation.

They're clever, witty even, they stick, they make sense.

I received a lot of reactions when I posted, as my status on Facebook, my thoughts about "It's more fun in the Philippines," the new tourism slogan of Department of Tourism developed by the advertising agency which got the contract, BBDO Guerrero. Basically, I personally don't like it. It's not amusing, it doesn't stick, it doesn't inspire. When I read it, I didn't purse my lips, bob my head up and down, and go, "nice."



And I don't totally agree with the claim. That's why the Indians didn't say it's more fun in India, because that's not entirely true. Instead they simply said, "Incredible India," and it makes one go, "oo nga naman." The Malaysians told the world that Malaysia is truly Asia, and think about it, this melting pot of various Asian cultures of a country is indeed truly Asia. Angola's syncopated, un-rhyming music video erases memories of a civil war-ravaged country and instead conjures images of a people determined to rise above their beautiful country's past, and I believed.

It is true that ours are among the most beautiful beaches in the world, our culture among the most diverse (drive a couple of hours to anywhere in any direction from anywhere in the country and they speak a different dialect or language there already), there are 7,107 possibilities for a wonderful visit to the Philippines - we have beautiful mountain ranges, we still have some rain forests left, a lot of places that paint a beautiful picture of our colonial past, unique world-class products from textile to sculptures to jewelry to food, etcetera, etcetera. See, my problem with "It's more fun in the Philippines," is it's too general you don't know what it means exactly, too bold a claim that is hard to accept at face value specially for outsiders who've only been hearing about rampant corruption, extra-judicial killings, let's not even go that far - one of the worst airports in the world.

But they did say that there will be lots of publicity gimmicks and other PR efforts that will be done to "prove" the slogan's point. But that's exactly my point - a slogan must be self-explanatory, must not need extra effort to "prove it" for if it does, as netizens say, FAIL.



And then we learn that it's an exact copy of Switzerland's tourism slogan in the 50's. I'll forgive bureaucrats for pulling off something like that, but an established, professional advertising agency? They can't simply shrug and say, "we didn't know." That's just impossible. You belong to an industry that is supposed to have creativity/originality as its main output, you make sure your output is creative and original. "It's more fun in the Philippines" is neither. And this coming at the heels of the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" logo turning out to be a plagiarized version of Poland's CURRENT tourism logo? Or maybe the BBDO Guerrero group didn't think anybody would find out about the Swiss tourism campaign of half a century ago - just like the lazy student who thought nobody would find out that he copied his book report verbatim from an article that appeared in page 12 of his Google search.

No, "It's more fun in the Philippines" just doesn't cut it. Just like the Baguio tags, "Cleanest and Greenest" (at a time when Baguio was being covered in concrete), "City of Pines" (then big businesses go ahead and cut down beautiful pine trees with impunity), "Character City" (some said it's more like City of Characters), "Beautiful Baguio" (at a time when we had a garbage crisis), didn't.

*my column in the January 8, 2012 issue of Cordillera Today

CONCRETE PLANS

Two things stand out as I look back on life in Baguio in the year 2011 – the Irisan garbage slide that claimed lives and property (and more than that, human dignity), and concrete pouring all over the city. And it doesn’t take much to see the relation between these two incidents.

The Rose Garden would be unveiled soon after its months-long concrete rehabilitation. While some of us would go ohhhh and ahhhh at the sight of a newly erected structure, this early some of us are already missing the earth on which grass and roses use to grow on. The Botanical Garden entrance is currently blocked by a block of concrete, it was such a disturbing sight. Though the tarpaulin showing an artist’s perspective on what it will eventually look like looked pretty, it doesn’t give much comfort again because of the presence of so much concrete.

Naguillian Road has been re-opened following hellish months of heavy traffic and the sight of intimidating concreting machines, but this early I am already missing the much smoother ride of the old road – compared to the newly concreted one that makes it feel like one’s driving down a staircase. Same goes for Quezon Hill’s newly re-opened main road. And really, don’t these road projects involve architects, or anyone with some sense of aesthetics, at all? Don’t they realize that it’s these roads who really welcome our guests to the city? The roads, newly paved (or re-paved) as they are, are ugly. We know make these repairs in quadrilateral portions and I just can’t help but notice how crooked the divisions between the portions are that if this were a kindergarten project the teacher would surely have the pupils redo the whole thing. What, nobody had a ruler when they were making it?

So that was the year that was – so much effort and precious resources being poured into what all seem like a huge waste of time and those same precious resources, while we hear hardly anything about anything being done really make life, all forms of life, in this great city better. Most of the roads repaired really didn’t need it, or if they did, the end results seem to be somewhat worse than the way they were before. The gardens – Rose and Botanical, didn’t really need concrete – they’re gardens, what they needed were plants and trees.

And while brains continue to be racked for new concrete structures to be erected and resulting in more of our natural environment getting wrecked, we hardly hear anything concrete about the more serious problems of the city right now: overpopulation, garbage and the environmental destruction that come with these.


I don’t really want to sound so negative at the beginning of what the Mayans’ claim is the year that the world as we know it would end, but it would be great to be informed of any concrete plans the city has to solve issues more pressing than paving over paved roads. For without it, it may just really be the year that Baguio, as we know and once knew it, would end.

A Merry Christmas

*My column in the Dec. 18, 2011 issue of Cordillera Today
After I wrote about the feeding program being conducted by Dr. Mark Ventura and his friend, Henry Carlin, at the Rizal Elementary School, I received a few inquiries from friends who wanted to help in various ways. Some pledged cash to cover the cost of feeding around 70 children at least twice a week, while others offered their help in preparing and serving the food. When Dr. Ventura invited our group to attend the Christmas party he’s putting together for the kids, we immediately thought of what we can contribute.

As artist Bumbo Villanueva, who also showed up at the party with writing materials for each of the children, put it, Mark and Henry have the taking care of the children’s bodies covered already, perhaps what we can do is to help nourish their minds and souls. And so on short notice, we started a book drive hoping to provide at least one book for each of the children.

While I was expecting the usual suspects to respond to the call for donations, I was amazed when it was a grade 6 pupil, whom I’ll call Zia here, who inquired about the drive first. She was one of the participants in this theatre workshop I conducted in a school and she wanted to donate “some” of her books. I told her where she can meet us to drop of her donation, expecting maybe three or four books from her.

Then a virtual stranger sent me a message on Facebook, asking how she can send her donation to us since she’s currently based in Manila and she won’t be making a trip to Baguio until early next year. I suggested sending them via Victory Liner, expecting her to perhaps just promise to bring the books next year when she comes up since all three stations of Victory Liner along Edsa are known to experience heavy traffic practically at all time of the day and making the trip to there to send a couple of books might just too much of a hassle.

Then later that day, I received another message from her that she’s already sent the books. When I picked them up the next day, the books were neatly packed in a brown envelope, including a pack of five still in their original packaging.

My wife and children went through our bookshelves and was able to put together around 15 books to donate to the children. But when it was time to meet up with Zia to receive her donation, I was totally surprised when she showed up with her mom with bag full of books, around 30 of them!

Still, we didn’t have enough to be able to give a book to each of the children. And then we realized, why give them a book each when they can all have access to all of these books if we start a library for them in their school? So with additional sets of books and encyclopaedia brought by one of the members of our group on the day of the party, we made arrangements with the school to start a library right in the Home Economics room where the feeding program was being held twice a week. We thought that in the half hour when Dr. Ventura comes with pots full of food with Jojo Castro with his pots full of hot Chocolate de Batirol, the children can also let their imagination fly by opening a book, writing, drawing, doodling their thoughts using the pencils and notebooks brought by Bumbo and his wife Arlene.

That morning, musicians Ethan Ventura enabled fellow artists Jun Utlieg and Cris Donaal to tell stories to the children with their songs. The children feasted on noodles prepared by Dr. Ventura’s helper, the amazing chef Alma who can whip up wonderful meals even with the most limiting ingredients available. We played games and handed out prizes and gifts to everyone.

At one point, I picked one book from the pile and asked Bumbo to read it to the children. When we were leaving the school after the party, a young girl ran after me and told me that I forgot the book I asked Bumbo to read, and she was giving it back. I told her she could keep it for herself.

I don’t care whether GMA spends Christmas in jail or at home under house arrest, or whether Corona resigns, I am definitely not looking forward to what Lito Lapid would have to say during the impeachment trial. I just had a Merry Christmas.

Santa

*My column in the Dec. 11, 2011 issue of Cordillera Today

 I used to worry a lot as a child on Christmas Eve when everyone would start going to bed and my grandmother would make sure the doors were locked for the night. It’s Christmas Eve, and my sock (we didn’t have those fancy Christmas stockings) would be hanging on the wall ready for Santa’s largesse for the year. Hours earlier, I would have struggled not to think of any bad thoughts walking back home from the church, I’d have been extra polite to elders, and perhaps even give extra to last minute carollers - lest Santa counts those last minute transgressions and put me on his naughty list instead.

I would worry about the locked doors because we didn’t have a chimney, and I was told, mainly by television, that’s how Santa Clause made his way inside your home. I knew I would get in trouble if I unlocked the doors, so I would move the sock and hang it by the window instead and this worry about how small my gifts would be since the space between the window slats were too narrow for that die-cast Voltes V action figure, or a skateboard.

I’d wake up the next morning to find the sock filled with candies, sometimes money, and I would forget about the skateboard and Voltes V and just be happy that the night before, Santa did not forget about me.

I don’t remember when Santa stopped sneaking in toys for me on Christmas Eve, I just remember being excited again when it was my children’s turn to try all they can to stay up to finally catch Santa. I felt tears in my eyes when one time, my youngest expressed his concern about how Santa would find his way to our house – it was Christmas eve and we have moved to a house with no fireplace, and there was I locking up the door for the night. This time, I left one window open, the kind that slides to the side leaving space big enough for big old Santa to make his way in.

Through the years, Santa never failed to show up at our house on Christmas Eve to reward my children’s good deeds for the year. Sometimes he would be so generous as to leave really huge toys, and at times you just know that he did his best to provide everyone with something to be happy about at all.

He would almost always leave a letter for each of my five children – reminding them that somebody cares about how they lived their life the past year, and advising them on how to make the coming year even better. There was that one year that he apologized for not being able to give something "big" – it hasn’t been a great year, he said – but hoped that the children would still find happiness in the humble gifts he managed to give them, and reminded them that this did not mean that he cared less at all that year.

Last year, I witnessed the time Santa stopped giving gifts to my two elder children. In the bright morning of that Christmas Day, they found a note from Santa explaining that now that they’ve grown up, it’s time they give up their slots for other children. Their younger siblings felt sad for them. But it really warmed my heart to see the two telling the younger ones not to feel sad at all for why they’ve stopped wishing for toys from Santa on Christmas Eve, and that this only meant that Santa would have more toys for them and other children.

Last year, my younger daughter got a wave board (some kind of a skateboard with only two in-line wheels instead of four) from Santa. But unfortunately, the wave board broke soon after she got it – the screw that held the wheels came off and we couldn’t find them or at least replacement ones that would fit. All year she hoped we’d get her another one. Her birthday came and we still couldn’t afford to get her a new one. Finally, just a month ago, we finally got to replace the broken toy – we were able to get her one that looked exactly like the one from Santa.

Then a funny thing happened – my wife found the missing screws of the broken one and was able to put it back together. My daughter decided to give it to her younger brother instead so they could skate together.

Then one night, while waiting for us to finish rehearsals, they brought out the two wave boards – the new one from us for my daughter and the repaired one from Santa for our youngest son. And when they started skating, my daughter noticed that the wheels of the wave board that Santa gave which her brother was now using lit up in different colors when they turn.

My daughter looked at her new wave board with wheels that don’t light up and then at me quizzically, and I told her that, hey, I’m only her dad, I could never top what Santa could give.

With a shrug and a smile, she got on her wave board, happy that her mom was able to put the one from Santa back together... and just happy for her brother who now has his own wave board.

Later that evening, over dinner, my youngest son tried to remember what Santa said in his letter to him through the years – particularly the one last year where Santa said that he hopes to finally catch him awake so they can have milk and cookies together.

I told him - no promises, but I’ll try to stay up with him to wait for Santa.

Beautiful Baguio?

*my column in the Dec. 4 issue of Cordillera Today

If I would light up our Christmas tree, and perhaps at least the main window of our home with even the cheapest (but still safe) Christmas lights, I calculated that it would cost at least P1,200.00. Nothing fancy - just plain, silver and yellow lights, ones that don’t even blink. I like them that way anyway.

I walk down Session Road and notice the boys busily climbing up ladders and setting up lights that everybody was hoping would not be as offensive to the eyes as last year’s. A night or two later and they were lit. And they don’t make sense - the flower-shaped ones on the center posts would have one side blinking and the other steady. They didn’t make me happy. And they all looked like clutter in the morning.

I digress. Looking at all those lights, I tried to calculate how much they may have cost the City Government. Just the center island infront of Luisa’s has about eight shrubs, each bedecked with lights including some that looked like icicles falling off the leaves. And those shrubs are much bigger than my puny tree at home. What, P1,000, or P1,500 per shrub? I lost count halfway up the road.

A week ago, good friend and musician Ethan Andrew Ventura mentioned a feeding program that his father, paediatrician Mark Ventura and friend Henry Carlin, along with their other friends have been conducting at the Rizal Elementary School. This isn’t one of those feeding programs that really feed the egos of the proponents way more than the intended beneficiaries. Their group has committed to come to the school at least twice a week to feed and provide essential vitamins to undernourished children until the end of the school year. They carefully plan their menu, taking into consideration the precise nutrients that the children need the most.

The average cost per feeding is about P1,000.00, which is enough to provide a meal for at least 70 elementary pupils. A lot of these pupils are noticeably thin, some of them noticeably hungry. According to Ethan, who has been accompanying his father the past few weeks, some of them come to school with just a cup of rice - and absolutely nothing else – as baon. That baon should last them the whole day – morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack. Some of them get too hungry in the morning that they end up eating up that entire cup of rice leaving nothing for lunch and merienda in the afternoon.

The group cannot afford to spend enough money to light up the giant Christmas tree at the bottom of Session Road. They are not a multinational corporation with millions reserved just for “corporate social responsibility” projects. They don’t care about the PR that usually goes with projects such as this one. They don't hang up tarpaulins with their pictures and names in bold letters. They just sincerely care, and care enough to actually make a difference. Just a month or so after starting that program, most of the children have registered significant increases in their weight. Our theatre group, volunteered to cover the cost of one feeding a few days ago. A hundred from one member and fifty from another and eventually we were able to cover the cost of two big pots of sopas. Dr. Ventura provided the vitamins for the day.

The past few months, leaving and going home has been quite an effort for us living in the Naguillian Road area because of the road repairs. A good portion of the national highway is now done and I can’t help but state the obvious – hardly any difference between the road’s before and after states. A lot of people have said that the repairs were a waste of money, unnecessary. There are other roads in the city that are in much worse condition.

We have those waste recycling machines that cost over a hundred million pesos that failed to solve our garbage problem as promised.

The lights, the road repairs, the beautification projects, all that concrete, all those millions of pesos – all to beautify the City of Baguio. But really, how can a city be beautiful when you have children who are literally starving?

To those children at the Rizal Elementary School, it isn’t those gaudy lights and fake snow that make Baguio beautiful. It’s Doc Mark, as we call him, and his pots of sopas and champorado every Tuesday and Thursday.

So what?

*my column in the Nov. 6 issue of Cordillera Today

Seven years ago, Braulio Yaranon won the Baguio mayoralty race on a platform of graft and corruption-free governance. The main issue at the time was the local government’s contract with Jadewell to manage the city’s on-street pay-parking scheme. Most people thought that the contract was anomalous and grossly disadvantageous to the government, for how else do we explain the overwhelming mandate then Mayor Yaranon received from the citizenry?

From day one, he spent most of his time and energy on his pursuit to remove Jadewell from our streets, stepping on a lot of toes and breaking some laws in the process. People said that he was forgetting that there was so much more for him to do as Mayor of Baguio other than tilting at that windmill that is the Jadewell contract. Eventually, he was suspended from office in the last year of his three-year term.

His detractors successfully trivialized his quest against pay-parking company – that first, there was really nothing anomalous with the government’s deal with the company and that his obsession with it rendered him inefficient as Mayor. But the Jadewell contract was so much more than the P20.00 they forced out of every motorist’s pocket – it represented all that is wrong with our political system, one where our elected leaders rule with impunity. For at the end of the day, no matter the noise created by the most despicable acts by our chosen leaders, more often than not, they get away with it. We even reward some of them with re-election.

PNoy is in the same boat at the moment, sort of. He’s being accused of focusing too much in prosecuting, or persecuting, depending on which side of the political fence you’re on, former PGMA, now CGMA. Marcos proposed a “Bagong Lipunan;” the current president’s mother’s administration may be remembered for the word “sequestration” in her quest to recover the previous powers-that-be’s ill-gotten wealth; Ramos led us on the road to “Pilipinas 2000;” Erap’s short-lived regime waged an “all-out war” against the MILF; and Gloria promised us – “Matatag an Republika.” And while PNoy continues to pitch his “Tuwid an Daan” idea, critics paint a portrait of him as a vengeful president, obsessed with and hell-bent on sending Gloria to jail. To this, I say, so what? Really, where did PNoy’s predecessors’ grand, comprehensive schemes bring us?

And if PNoy is indeed giving too much focus on GMA’s prosecution, then so be it. From the time of the Spanish occupation to the last one hundred years or so, our country has been raped and pillaged by the very people who were supposed to care for her and they got away with it. Heck, the Spaniards were even rewarded with 20 million dollars for three centuries of abuse. Sure, Erap was convicted, but was pardoned and could’ve even been our current president if Noynoy wasn’t persuaded by PR efforts to run in the last election.

Gloria and his cohorts are being accused of electoral sabotage – or telling you that your vote and your voice is worthless and you are absolutely powerless as a citizen of this country, and of plunder – or telling you that they have the right to help themselves to the money the government takes from your meager salary, or the extra five or six pesos for every liter of gasoline or kilo or so of rice you buy.

Let them say that President Benigno C. Aquino III has forgotten that there’s more to the presidency than making Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pay for her sins against the country, for really, so what? This is not merely about Gloria, as much as it wasn’t all about Jadewell then - it is about the root of all that is wrong with our country.

Message sent

*my column in the Nov. 20 issue of Cordillera Today

A former president is being accused of electoral sabotage. The accusation stems from her alleged actions to ensure the then ruling party’s majority victory during the 2007 senatorial elections. Wearing a contraption allegedly meant to protect her very delicate spine and seated on a wheelchair, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was prevented by airport officials from boarding a plane out of the country based on order from Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. The Supreme Court provided extra juice to the drama with the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order preventing, in turn, De Lima from implementing the travel ban.

From where I sat, GMA looked “kawawa naman,” a pitiful, powerless underdog who just a little over a year ago seemed totally untouchable until her term ended last June, 2010. If the “costume,” the “look,” the defeated facial expression were all a mere PR stunt, then kudos to the director – it hit right here (I am pointing a finger to where my heart is).

But De Lima seems to be hell bent on keeping her on Philippine soil – she doesn’t buy the medical alibi. I don’t too. See, first of all, she lied to the Filipino people on the past, once even right at the monument to our national hero. Why should the people believe her now? She lied and lied and lied too before admitting that, yes, it was her voice on that tape and that she did call Comelec officer Virgilio Garcillano during the election period, something that was totally immoral, if not downright illegal, and that she was “sorry.”

De Lima challenged the TRO, and a day later, the Supreme Court upheld the same. And just when the Arroyos thought they were free to flee, the Comelec and the Department of Justice finally filed a case before a Regional Trial Court, effectively rendering the TRO moot and academic for the charge against the former president was non-bailable. A warrant of arrest has been issued and served, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is now officially in the custody of the police, under hospital arrest.

Except for her lawyers, some family members, and the hordes of media representatives, there were hardly any loyal supporters who came to her rescue at the airport that evening. This should remind her that EDSA 2 was never really about her – she was merely the lucky beneficiary of the people’s loss of confidence in Joseph “Erap” Estrada. How she managed to get away with impunity during her decade-long reign remains a mystery to me. When Chavit Singson spilled the beans about the racket that is the tobacco excise tax and jueteng “payola,” an impeachment case actually made it to the senate and when it seemed obvious that Erap’s minions there were about to turn the whole thing into a moro-moro, the people brought the trial to the streets where Erap was found guilty and was forced to leave Malacanang.

But jueteng continued under the Arroyo administration. Corruption was rampant in practically all areas of government, so were forced disappearances of journalists and activists. She was caught red-handed manipulating the presidential election. Etcetera, etcetera. And yet, she remained in power. The only battle the people won against her was the one that stopped the proposed charter change that would have allowed her to continue her reign as Prime Minister. She was invincible, indomitable. She succeeded in making a mockery of the senate investigations looking into alleged irregularities that directly involved her with the infamous executive order 464 which barred government officials from testifying in congressional inquiries or investigations.

And today, there she was, looking dishevelled and defeated.

We might feel pity for Gloria, even take the side of the perceived underdog being persecuted by the powerful, vengeful Aquino government. We must not be fooled. Not again. Or these things will just keep on happening over and over again. It’s about time somebody pays for crimes against the nation.

Sure Erap was convicted, and I must insert here that he should be commended for actually facing the charges against him honourably and with dignity, but he was pardoned by the very person who now faces the prospect of incarceration and he spent his detention in a plush vacation house of his choice.

GMA’s alleged crime makes plunder seem petty – making a mockery of the electoral system is an attack on the very essence of democracy, spit in the face of every single Filipino. This is not Arroyo vs. Aquino, Gloria vs. The Government, this is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against the people of Philippines. If we do this right, if those who perpetuated this despicable crime are punished, only then can we say that we as a people are really free and we send a message to everyone in power – from Aquino, to Vergara, to Domogan to your Barangay Kapitan – that we will not let anyone get away with impunity anymore.