Felled Pines at The City of Pines

Beautiful Baguio

I was just a teenager when I first set foot in Baguio City. I remembered that time vividly as it was one of those wild teenage experiences of mine. My family did not know I was going to Baguio because it just got decided out of whim as one of my friends received his driving license and decided to celebrate by going on a trip to Baguio. 

I was excited, but that excitement turned into worry when I saw the narrow and foggy road leading to Baguio City. What was I thinking? My friend wasn't even a very good driver. I sat there, fidgeting, feeling a wave of panic washing through me as different scenarios flashed through my head (accident scenarios that is). I was already thinking about calling my sister to ask her to fetch me when the fog ceased a little and we started seeing trees and distant views. What I saw started to calm me down and then came the end of the long drive, I was relieved! The sight of the city welcomed us and I was in awe. When I hopped down from the car a fragrant smell caressed my senses, a calming and rather sensual smell, something I've never experienced in Manila. We got all excited and it took all my worries away.

That experienced had been overwhelming for me, it was my first time to go on an out of town trip with my friends and Baguio city had been breathtakingly beautiful at that time and I truly felt the warm hospitality of  the local folks. Then there's that scent, even in the bustling area of Session Road you'd be able to smell it in the air whenever the wind blows and the place was lined with pine trees all over. Being there back then, feels like stepping into another world, I didn't want to go back to Manila anymore.

It had been years after that before I was able to return to Baguio. The transformation totally shocked me. Houses are pretty much everywhere, quarrying activities are also evident within some sites of the cities and you'd see some barren areas as well. What struck me the most is that I can no longer smell the scent of the pines trees and I had been looking forward to that. Baguio is still beautiful, but it has changed dramatically, it became too commercialized.

Throughout the years they made a lot of changes and improvement to promote the culture of the place and to further attract the tourists. Promoting the culture of one's region is good but not to the point of actually exploiting it, leading to the degradation of the place. Right now, there is an ongoing controversy regarding the cutting of trees by the management of SM Baguio for the mall expansion. They had been insisting that this is legally right and would be good for the city in terms of employment. They also said that they will be planting trees on another part of the city as a replacement. Maybe its just me, but saying that this will be a good thing for the city is just plain bullshit! Occurrences of landslides had been frequent now in Baguio city and if they really want to help the community, they should have done the re-planting activities a long time ago. What they are doing now is nothing but pure commercialism.

A court order had been issued to halt the cutting of trees "temporarily." My question is, why only temporary? Save Baguio Pine Trees had become a trending topic in twitter as people all over the Philippines are protesting against this act. Do we need another MOA in Baguio City? I dare think not. Malls are practically everywhere in this country and Baguio is not supposed to be a shopping haven its supposed to be a place where people could go to relax, commune with nature and breath some real fresh air. I guess SM Eco campaign is something like, "Save the environment and buy our Eco bags as we'll hack of your trees."

It makes me sad to think that if this commercialism continues, and if more investors put up their establishments and do these kind of activities Baguio City might just become a distant memory, another dream of paradise that once was real. 

We may not be living in Baguio or in other places where these issues are now becoming rampant but being a citizen of this country we all have the responsibility to look after it and to protect our resources and heritage, whatever differences we may have, we should all at least unite for this cause.