Baguio City 2015

When we went up to Baguio City to visit the Sto. Tomas watershed, we couldn't help but notice how much different the summer capital is now from when we were kids some thirty years ago during the early eighties.

Thing is, even back when we were kids, Baguio City was said to have been on its way to losing its small town charm and its American colonial heritage

Anyway, here are a couple dozen pictures from our trip. The pictures you see here are of the hills just outside Baguio City.

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The Ongoing Rape Sitio La Presa AKA Benguet's Sto. Tomas Watershed

Last week, a couple of my friends and I went up to Baguio City to check up on the environmental situation there.

Although we were convinced that we had a pretty good idea of what was happening in the country's Summer Capital, we believed it was necessary to check our assumptions against the reality on the ground. 

As social media pundits, there is an enormous temptation to just believe one's own take on things and reject stuff that goes against our views. This happens especially when you make a call on an issue and things turn out in a way that sort of prove that your opinion on the matter was right. If you manage to figure things out correctly a lot of times, it can get you thinking that... well... you are right all the time about a lot of things.

Sometimes, figuring things out correctly lots of times and popularizing one's view on issues can get people a bit of fame. And, fame can be addicting, so much so that people try to cling to vestiges of their fame even after most people have forgotten why they were famous. And it's sad, really.

The cure for that is to focus on what should be the real reason -- the only reason -- why people go into punditry and that is a commitment to telling the truth.

So, what's the truth about the environmental situation in Baguio City?

When we got up to Baguio City, one of the first things we did was to seek out the opinions of people who live there and who are concerned about the plight of Baguio City.

I was thankful to have reconnected with a former colleague at the Senate who has been living in Baguio for the past four years and he pretty much revalidated some of the ideas we had about what was going on.

Another person whom we got in touch with was Grace Bandoy, a member of the Baguio community who is pretty much active in the environmental preservation movements.

Grace and my former colleague both pointed out that it seems people up in Baguio have their eyes focused everywhere else except the more crucial areas which is bound to hit them hard sooner or later.

As the stories go, a small group of individuals funded by businessmen and politicians are raising a howl over the cutting of 60 trees in an urban area while 80 hectares of Benguet's forests are disappearing every year.

One glaring case in point is the ongoing destruction of the Sto. Tomas watershed, which is supposed to be a forest reserve -- which, to me, means that it should be untouched.

My friend, JP Fenix, has already written about the situation in the Sto. Tomas watershed and its a pretty good primer, if you will, of the kind of thinking that leads to environmental disasters.

The long and short of what may happen to the Sto. Tomas watershed is clearly depicted in this picture of Quirino Hill.

Post by Paul Farol.

What you see up there will be what will happen to the Sto. Tomas watershed if people in Baguio don't do anything and remain distracted.

Are We Headed For The Driest Summer In The Philippines in 2015?

Are we in for the worst water shortage crisis this year?

It seems that a lot of issues have been buried by recent eyeball grabbing headlines and so much so that we've lost track of more vital issues that will hammer down on us in a few weeks time.

An article in ABS-CBN warns "Metro Manila may face water crisis next summer" 

Metro Manila may also face a water shortage in the summer of 2015. This if the water levels at the Angat Dam do not go up by year-end. 

Water level at the Angat Dam, which supplies Maynilad and Manila Water, remained at 178.46 meters as of Monday. 

In the same period last year, the level was at 192.98 meters. 

Angat's water level must reach at least 210 meters to prevent supply problems in the summer of 2015.

In reading the rest of article, which also highlights an announcement of the Maynilad Water Services that water may have to be rationed, I must caution people to be a wary not to be taken in by the underlying agenda that runs through the article.