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Every time my family and I would come up to Baguio, we would rely on Waze to direct us to places that were familiar 10 years ago but now are either hardly accessible due to vehicular and people congestion or have become re-directed one-way roads. To get by without the stress of overcrowding and incessant balancing incline of our vehicle on steep, one-and-a-half lane, ravine-like concrete roadways (which by the way, defines the driving skill of Baguio drivers involving a combination of manual gas and clutch pedaling in a cliff-ish sloped road), we would rather take the ‘circumferential’ roads from Kennon Road to Loakan, Naguilian Road to Marcos Highway through Asin to Tuba or South Drive to Bokawkan through Teacher’s Camp to Brookside to Trancoville. In essence, we try to totally avoid the CBD area and traverse through the outskirts to get to our destination, a considerable waste of time and fuel, all because of traffic stress in the heart of Baguio.

There is no denying the fact that SM City Baguio totally changed Baguio’s business and traffic perspective. There is nothing I have against SM. In fact, SM Baguio’s employees are close to my heart. But I am everything against the destruction of my city’s heritage. But then, the SM management is just doing its job of generating income for the Sy’s.

It is just frustrating how the improvements keep going on when, for more than a decade, Baguio, through its preservationists, urban planners, environmentalists and pioneers, has continuously fought for the pedestrianization of Session Road, did as much case studies, revisions and discussions on the traffic re-circulation of Baguio, introduction of the e-jeepneys and so much de-congestion research and debates towards the betterment of our small heritage city. And through these years, Baguio has earned 2014’s ‘most polluted air’ title according to a WHO study, a devastating aftermath from “Ompong” which brought torrential rains which could not be sustained by the city’s drainage plus a one-year closure of the ever-dynamic Kennon Road.

I have always prided my Baguio as the summer capital of the Philippines with the pristine mountains shrouded by pine trees exuding the cool breeze and an escape from the hot humid weather of Manila. Much to my “amusement”, during our last Baguio visit, my Ninong, an employee of SM, toured us at 1 am at the soon-to-open amusement park beside the SM City Baguio where the subcontractors were burning the midnight oil to get through with the supposed opening on November 8, 2018. Known as the Sky Ranch, it houses the “Baguio eye”, rides like the “turbo drop”, a small roller coaster and other kiddie rides like the merry-go-round and carnival games with teddy bear prizes all ready for winning. A mini Enchanted Kingdom.

After a short hour of googling, I realized that I have been so out of touch, outdated and unknowing on what has been transpiring in my beloved Baguio in the recent years. And every time I see and read something like this, it’s heartbreaking to note that I have failed my city once again.

I do not know why our Mayor supported to “boost local tourism” with a structure like this when our most famous attraction is the untouched environment and clean air that gets destructed and disrupted every time a humongous concrete structure like this replaces the pine trees that were DENR-approved to be cut. He said “no public consultation is needed as the mall complied to all the legal requirements”.

For me who was born and raised in Baguio, exposed to urbanization in the lowlands and overseas, this improvement is a highly-publicized embarrassment.

All the same, in time, like all the rest of Baguio’s uprooted trees, this shall be forgotten. Until another catastrophe hits us and we blame each other again. I continue to pray that it does not happen soon.

*** photo credits to Wikipedia