Now that the Duterte administration has seen it fit to rehabilitate beach resorts all over the country, particularly Boracay, it should now train its sights on Baguio City, our crown jewel in tourist destinations.
I have been coming to Baguio for the past 20 years. I have seen how it has been choked to death the with neglect and indifference of its officials.
Baguio, whose population is ordinarily between 250,000 and 300,000, can be inhabited by as many as 2 million in the summer months, particularly the Holy Week.
When I say Baguio City is being choked to death, I do not exaggerate. The monstrous traffic jams have turned the well-known Session Road into one big parking lot. Haphazardly built buildings violate easement laws. And then there are the squatters.
I wrote about these conditions many years ago but Baguio officials never paid attention to my observations.
Rehabilitating Baguio will be difficult, but with sheer political will, it can be done.
It’s sad to know Baguio is a dying city. The only remaining place where you can still smell the pine trees is in Camp John Hay.
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Oh yes, there is another place where you can still smell the pine trees. That is in Alphaland Baguio Mountain Lodges, summer homes for the affluent.
The 78-hectare enclave used to be a citrus farm of businessman Roberto Ongpin.
But you should see it now. Ongpin has transformed the place into an opus of sorts.
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For the past week or so, I have been incapacitated. The bug also hit my wife and daughter. Aside from that, I also suffered an asthma attack and pneumonia.
I did not mind so much being confined to a hospital, with those doctors and nurses always ramming bitter pills down my throat.
I hated the hospital food, though. Yuck!
In any case, I think it was my sacrifice for the Holy Week. I also missed the opportunity to greet my friend, ex-President Eddie Ramos, who celebrated his birthday two weeks ago. He is just a few months older than I am. May we both live to be a hundred—or more.
I am just so happy to be pounding on my typewriter again.
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We now hear names of potential senatorial candidates for next year’s elections. There are also minions of President Duterte who vow to push his legislative agenda. I believe they are all winnable.
Among the names I would like to see are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, and Senators Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe,
I would also like to see Francis Tolentino, Imee Marcos and Jinggoy Estrada.
Still, the Senate needs independent- minded members, not apologists for the President.
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There are reports that 61 members of Congress have signed a resolution urging President Duterte to resume talking peace with the communist insurgents.
What? After four rounds of talks that amounted to nothing because the communists were not sincere in negotiating with the government, should the President now bend over backward to accommodate them?
Mr. Duterte has gone as far as calling them terrorists. How would it look like for the President?
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Metro Manila is the best place to be in during the Holy Week. The usual traffic gridlocks are nowhere to be seen.