Welcome to Baguio

It's that time of the year again when tourists would be flocking to the city for the Panagbenga. Some of the tourists have synchronized their lakbay-arals and seminars so they can join in the fun. The rest saved the whole year just to be here. 

So what will they expect in the city? One, if they pass through Naguilian Road, they would notice the fog. That, however, is not fog. That is the smog from the open dump in Irisan. Yes, even with ample time to prepare for the Solid Waste Act, the city still uses an illegal open dump. People have been killed literally because of the trash slide and slowly because of respiratory problems from inhaling the smog.

So why are the people still using plastic bags when the city was among the first to have a bayong ordinance to ban plastic bag packaging. The Mayor said we are not ready for bayongs. End of discussion even as the trash piles up.

So why are they dumping mud at the dump? That's not mud. That's high-class super nutritious sludge from the Burnham Lake. We are dredging the lake, you see? Why? Because we want to deepen it so that the children falling from the lake will drown in real water and not in the muck? I don't know. Maybe because we have funds for that. We also want to make the lake clean by pouring in clean water.

So why does it look like many residents have not taken a bath? Because their water was diverted to the lake.

So why do we still have a Christmas tree when Christmas was long over? Well, we love Christmas probably. Well maybe because one of these mayoral candidates decided to file an Ombudsman case against City Hall for overspending on the Christmas tree. How tragic? Don't they know we will spend P600,000 for a single tree because we love trees so much?

So why are you cutting trees on the nearby hill? Because we want you to have somewhere to park your cars so you can watch Panagbenga. Now stop asking questions and just enjoy.