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Monday, March 13, 2006
Plans to restore Baguio start
By Rimaliza Opiña
AS BAGUIO City approaches its centennial in 2009, problems on population explosion, unemployment, underemployment, pollution, traffic and solid and liquid waste management continue to hound this mountain resort city.
From a quaint city in the early 1900s, Baguio is now a booming urban area north of Metro Manila. But Baguio's urbanization is not without its hang-ups.
In a report presented during the "Baguio 2009 and Beyond" forum, Assistant City Planning and Development Officer Colleen Lacsamana said there is now a need to manage and control development. She said the environment should not be sacrificed for the sake of expansion.
"Baguio is supposed to be a city of pines but there are more structures than trees," she said.
From 1903 to 1999, Lacsamana said Baguio's population steadily increased, even surpassing the regional growth rate of one percent for every year. While a decrease in population was noted in year 2000 following a population management program, she said the city still does not meet the standard 2.1 percent annual national growth rate.
The highest population growth rate was recorded to have occurred from 1960 to 1970.
Comprised mostly of a relatively young population, Baguio's population of 300,000 is expected to double in 24 years, which is equivalent to 6,000 people added to the present population every year.
And as the population continues to increase, services and facilities that the city has at present does not meet up with the demands of a growing population.
While considered an education center, the situationer prepared by the City Planning Office (CPO) revealed there is a mismatch in terms of skills, education and the types of jobs that are available in Baguio.
While host to the economic zone where multinational companies are expected to generate additional jobs to residents in the city and in neighboring towns, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) reportedly could only employ about 10,000 individuals.
The retail trade dominates the economic activity of Baguio at 45.48 percent, followed by real estate trade at 20.82 percent and 15.37 percent from the services sector.
Water quality in Baguio is also a problem that needs to be addressed. Accordingly, 25 percent of the city's population concentrated in seven barangays does not have access to safe and potable water.
Lacsamana said the lack of regulatory measures to control deep well diggings, especially private water extraction companies, also threatens the city's water reserves. She said even the existing waterways - the Balili and Bued rivers - have been declared biologically dead because of the amount of pollution dumped into these bodies of water.
While the City Government has undertaken reforestation programs, Lacsamana said the program is fragmented and mostly concentrated at the city's parks.
In terms of land use, she said over the past few years, there has been a rapid expansion of domesticated areas to the extent that even protected areas have been encroached upon.
"At the rate of the developments being done, there is a need to re-assess the present land use plan of Baguio," said Lacsamana, adding that even mountain slopes have been converted into residential areas.
Air pollution is also a growing concern as per the CPO report. With majority of activities done within the central business district (CBD), a study of the Traffic and Transportation Management Committee (TTMC) revealed that some 2,500 motor vehicles converge at the seven-kilometer CBD daily.
Added to this is the jeepney and bus terminals that are proximate to the CBD, thereby increasing the air pollution level.
(March 13, 2006 issue)
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