Bonfire of the vanities

Privilege and entitlement, these were the words that first came to mind when I first heard of this party in Baguio. No, I heard about it not after photos of the event came out and the proverbial excreta hit the fan but before when preparations for it were being made. 

A couple of months prior: after the culmination of the Ibagiw Creative Festival 2020, I heard the name Tim Yap a lot. He gave away masks at the closing ceremony, and several artists would be seen wearing them around town days after the event. They were the good kind, they said, I'm not so sure but I think these were the copper variety. That was really nice, I thought.

A long time ago, an institution in Baguio was expecting guests who wanted to witness a cañao, so gongs were brought out, gong players and dancers were gathered, a native pig was bought, a Mambunong was called who refused to perform the ritual for entertainment purposes. So an "official event" was hastily put together and was made the reason for the cañao: the success of the "opening" of the event.     

Fast forward to some days prior: Cultural and tourism institutions in the city were all on their toes doing their share to honor one Tim Yap, and ensure that he had one hell of a birthday celebration. Wherever he planned to set foot in the city, the red carpet was being laid out, sites were being spruced up to make it even more interesting for Mr. Yap and his entourage of a few dozens. The next word that came to mind: sycophancy. 

Add vanity, self-importance and social media, that "cesspool of questionable human behavior" (Ducky, NCIS), in the mix and that's what we had: a portrait of hedonistic, apathetic self-important self-indulgence.  

The non-apologies added fuel to this bonfire of the vanities. Yap said the party was really about helping Baguio get back on its feet by supporting its local artists and promoting tourism. The Mayor confirmed that when he justified his presence by stating that it was a gesture of gratitude for the things that Yap has done for local artists - he bought several art pieces from the crafts fair during Ibagiw and the much-acclaimed exhibit, Interlinked, according to various social media posts. 

I find the suggestion that all the privileges and entitlements accorded him and his posse were justified because they were doing what they did for Baguio lame. Unjustified. Repellent, even. Offensive. Really now, what can Tim Yap do to promote tourism in Baguio that's better than the social media posts of non-celebrity visitors that drive droves to various destinations in the city? Panagbenga never needed a celebrity endorser. Actually, its celebrities who ride on the popularity of Panagbenga. There you go - Baguio does not and never needed a Tim Yap to boost its stock, it's Tim Yap who needed Baguio to boost his. 

Really, how much did Tim Yap's birthday party really do for local tourism that our tourism VIPs all but knelt in front of him and kissed his feet? By how much did Tim Yap and his purchases uplift the local art community that his party deserved the presence of the local chief executive at a very inopportune time, personally for the grieving mayor whose father passed recently and in whose memory a mass was scheduled that night, and generally for a city whose own citizenry has been placed under one of the strictest quarantine protocols in the country? 

Yap could have had his cake, but vanity, ahh vanity, the devil's favorite sin, to quote pop culture, compelled him to eat it too. He had 30, 40 or so of his friends and loved ones with him, all able to get into Baguio much easier than many of its own citizens stranded outside the city, and they could've enjoyed their wine and 5-star buffet in private. But no. He couldn't be content with having dozens of his close friends with him for a party that mere mortals are forbidden to hold, he had to have his audience for his circus. The all-white number, the Staying Alive pose against a backdrop of an opulent hotel and fireworks in the distance, the cultural performers in indigenous attire dancing to the music of gongs around a bonfire, all of that had to be be flaunted in public. In your face. He craved, needed the likes and hearts and thumbs-up and oohs and aahs - and for those, public health protocols, propriety, commons sense, decency - all of these be damned.

I feel sorry for the Mayor. I have worked with him as a consultant in the first months of his administration during which time I got to have a glimpse of the much celebrated public servant in private along with the workings of his office, I have agreed and disagreed with him on a lot of things still with all due respect, but in this issue, I feel sorry for him. I just cannot imagine the Benjie I got to know, worked with, biked with, chatted with, went against all odds and oddities with to stage a festival  dropping almost everything for a Tim Yap party. My first thought was - bad intel. Maybe, maybe not. But then, true to his character, the buck stopped with him. He owned it, took responsibility for it. Paid a high price for it, politically at least. And this is not the first time - he once humbled himself at the city council and apologized for the actions of people around and under him. I find that commendable. 

But that does and should not take away from the gravity of the faux pas. 

I feel even sorrier for the people who have really done so much for local art, culture and tourism - those who would never be caught dead wearing an all-white number, striking a Staying Alive pose against a backdrop of an opulent hotel and fireworks in the distance but have been working tirelessly and thanklessly to uplift the local art and culture sector, place Baguio on the international map, bring pride to the city, and will continue to do all that because their hearts truly belong to this city and its people - they're not allowed to party at all, hence no chance to be honored with the presence and gratitude of the Mayor on their birthday.

Baguio's pine trees: treasured heritage or mere obstructions?

Dozens of pine trees are about to killed in Baguio. 

Whoever sits in the various offices of power at the Baguio City Hall, they find it very easy to mention the Benguet Pine as one of the city's most treasured heritage, along with its invaluable contribution to the city's beauty and healthful climate - yet at the same time, whoever sits in the various offices of power at the Baguio City Hall, find it too easy, when nobody's looking, to consider them as mere obstacles to concrete monuments to misdirected initiatives that at times defy logic and common sense. In the last couple of decades, three of these inanities stand out: 

The concrete pine tree that replaced the live one at the top of Session Road (mid 1990's).

The murder of 182 trees by SM City Baguio for a parking building (2012).

The felling of 700 trees and destruction of water sources at Mt. Sto. Tomas (2014).

 And today, the year 2021, while the city grapples with a still continuously raging pandemic, decades-old majestic Benguet Pine Trees that up until backhoes, which between SM and the Ampatuans to me now is a symbol of death, started mowing them down in the last couple of weeks, welcomed travelers entering the city from Kennon Road or Marcos Highway are on death-row for a road-widening project. 

Not too long ago, pine trees have already been sacrificed in the construction of the flyover and makeover of the rotunda at the Baguio General Hospital. Apparently, the powers-that-be aren't done defacing Baguio yet.

Our attention was first called by a social media post by Fr. Gerardo Costa who runs an orphanage and wellness center located along Gov. Pack Road who was bidding farewell to their tree-lined driveway, apparently also in the way of the road-widening project.

The driveway of Home Sweet Home Orphanage and Help Center.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

Here's an interesting anecdote: before the construction of the flyovers at the BGH rotunda, the traffic in the area was not as bad as it is today, despite those flyovers. 

The project aims to alleviate the traffic situation in the area. The thing is, I pass there often, and save for those two days in a year during the annual Panagbenga parades, traffic very rarely builds up in that area. In fact, I usually take that route from the Burnham Park area on my way home to the eastern part of the city when I want to avoid the bottleneck in front of the Baguio General Hospital BECAUSE THERE'S NO TRAFFIC there. 

But, the backhoes are out, trees are being felled, and by the time they're done, another 36 majestic pine trees will have been murdered. Because today, sadly to the powers-that-be, they're not the city's heritage, icons, contributors to its beauty and healthful climate. No, today, they're in the way of their idea of progress. They're in the way of a multi-million-peso contract. They're in the way of of Baguio's journey towards hyper-urbanization and urban decay. They're in the way of another "misdirected initiative of energetic lumbermen," as Daniel Burnham referred to them in the early 1900's in his plea to succeeding administrators of Baguio to protect the natural environment or the city he designed. 

A backhoe executing Benguet Pine Trees.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

The dead lay on the side of the road.
Image courtesy: Dave Leprozo, Jr.

In a few weeks' time, instead of towering, beautiful and fragrant Benguet Pine trees, those entering Baguio will be welcomed by a wider, albeit harsh, soul-less concrete road. Is that progress?   

The current administration campaigned on a promise of a "breath of fresh air." As the city loses yet dozens of air-cleansing, life-giving and -protecting trees, can't help but wonder what kind of fresh air we're taking about here.