In the past Baguio City has been known for its lovely cold climate, pine trees, friendly Cordillerans, fresh fruits and vegetables, blooming flowers and serenity.
Today, due to the wrong doings of the people residing in the City, it has become one of the poorest performing tourist spots in the country, it has defeated by Cities like San Fernando City, Palawan, Cebu City, Davao even Manila itself. One asks the question why,,,while we can definitely answer this question this would only lead to finger pointing, blaming others for what we all have been doing wrong.
I am but a writer and the suggestions that I have come up with might be too far fetched for some, it might be too impractical for the Baguio City government or is simply uninteresting for some, but I believe that whatever the mind can conceive, can happen and by injecting this ideas I hope to contribute with what I am best known for.
here are 10 ways to rebuild the image of Baguio City, Philippines and make it beautiful and glorious once again
1. Turn Baguio into the art capital of the Philippines, this is the most feasible act for me, we have some of the best artists in the Philippines, we have inspired painters, photographers, arts and crafts masters. We have seen the impact that the Ipitik Festival together with the AXIS art project has provided during the Flower Festival, in fact it is the only attraction worth viewing, the message of the Giant Tent made out of clothes was truly special, it is about connecting the pieces together by allowing strangers to weave together colorful clothing. Hundreds of individuals from different schools and walks of life were able to share their ideas, we were able to appreciate what we have. Finally an activity that was able to draw hundreds of people to dance to the beat of their life, an activity that provided numerous workshop Seminars for free in order to give younger individuals inspiration to create original works of art. An activity that was able to showcase Baguio Talents at its finest, an activity that has inspired hundreds of tourists to come back again next year.
The outcome was a giant colorful tent that housed different exhibits of Baguio artists as well as artists from all over the country. Best of all it was provided for free, here is a refreshing way to introduce Baguio to tourist, we are not just about commercialization and profits, we can provide quality shows and ideas that can inspire the young and the old, what better way than to bask on this glory. Give our artists a chance to prove how lovely Baguio can be, if we bring back the love of art. Honestly people are so tired of malls and shopping for items that do not really fulfill their hearts desire, we want a place where we can share and mingle, where we can enjoy even just by spending a minimal amount.
2. Improving the City LIbrary by providing a wider selection of books, literature, fiction, science books, all sorts of helpful books that would entice students to read once again. While the City LIbrary is efficient, it only mostly focuses on law books, what about medical books and literature books? What about engineering books? and tourism books. The City LIbrary should be able to cater to all sorts of courses and all walks of life, reading must be encouraged once again. Teenagers have nowhere to go to nowadays, no worthy place to go to read and equip themselves. This is a city filled with students eager to fulfill their dreams, let us acknowledge the worth of the students to Baguio economy and provide them with an efficient Library.
3. Close monitoring of Call center agencies as well as KOrean tutorial centers, many people from all walks of life are going to Baguio to look for work, and we must admit they provide substantial profits for Baguio. This workers who came from Manila, Pangasinan, La Union, Pampanga, Cebu, Davao and many other parts of the country bring life to our restaurants, bars, clubs, malls and gaming places, isnt it about time that Baguio protect them from harsh and abusive foreign employers? isnt it about time we acknowledge their value in our economy, without student and workers Baguio residents would barely survive.
We must be humble enough to admit this truth. Close monitoring which means someone in the government must review the contracts being given to this workers, to review if the benefits are really provides, to see if this workers are safe during the night. Additional police visibility to every call center agent company during the crucial hours of 10pm to 4am. People would love to know that they are being cared of by our protectors, Baguio City police department.
4. adapt the methods of other mega cities all over the world like Singapore and Japan, introduce composting gadgets, encourage composting, waste segregation by actually advertising it, It would be good if a Baguio Talent would be able to promote this, we all know how proud Cordillerans are for their celebrity grown talents, how about using the finalist of Pinoy's Got Talent and other reality TV shows to encourage citizens to segregate their waste. Or a slogan from the Mayor and Congressman? This might sound useless to some but advertising is proving its wonders every day, why cant we use this? and one thing why cant we create a big recycling facility in Baguio, why couldn't we create a factory that is specifically bound to transform trash into money? Since that is our main problem why cant we just use some of our government funds to actually create jobs with the use of trash? other cities have been doing this why cant we?
our biodegradable wastes would be good as fertilizers, instead of this chicken dung, why dont we focus on a 10 to 20 year plan to transform our biodegradable wastes into useful fertilizer, but first we must practice mandatory segration, how by the government sending out officials to inspect each and every house in the city, some would say this is not possible, i say it is possible. we can do it. otherwise we would just see another irisan dumpsite tragedy.