Give Baguio Back To The People
Our coalition's basic premise is that Baguio has been prostituted so much and for so long that there is a need to restore basic decency to the city's administration and its governance. Our focus will be to convince the citizenry that we are the line-up that will give Baguio back to the people.
As to actual issues, there is no lack of these. If only by territorial reference, let us start from the outskirts. This is where perhaps the most sensitive and most affective issue festers. I'm speaking of squatting. There are none that have not been affected.
And yet, even given that, we all feel and know there is a solution. That is definitive, even as it should include understanding from all concerned.
Directly related to that basic concern is land use. In broad and specific terms, we need a local government and a legislative agenda -- both local and national-- that should redefine the directions of how all manner of land in Baguio should be put to proper and optimum use.
There is the Camp John Hay issue, about which there is no doubt where we stand. The manner in which the city government has dealt the last true green carpet of Baguio cannot be countenanced. Neither should we countenance the allowance of rights-of-way to some so-called "developers" in the city's business heart, who have arrogated public thruways unto themselves, at the expense of the rest.
And then there is the public market. This is where the heart of all complexions of life and commerce of the city lies. But for a few hardy souls, the market would have been sold, literally for a song. We will fight that.
Burnham Park, now there lies another contention. As it is, whole and liberal sections of the park have been so-called "leased out" to all stripes of tacky and questionable carpetbaggers.
Even now, other designated public parks are being listed and bargained over for all types of "Memorandum of Agreement". The few possible green and open spaces are being bargained over for so-called "good reasons". No one knows, but the Sanidad-Farinas-Cortes leadership will pledge to undo all that and replace the iniquitous with what is right.
All that we hope and expect to do is a job, one that will precisely give the Baguio we know, back to the people.
But, to bring sharper focus unto this, let me personally say that foremost in my agenda will be to understand and then zero in on advocacy directly involving residents of Baguio. Start at where expectations begin. That is, where one is neither a trader, neither an indigenous tribal member, nor even an adopted kin. This is really where a Baguio person starts, as much as where he assumes himself.
Steve Hamada