Benguet at 119

By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas

Parking had been so difficult the past months. The good thing is that SM City Baguio just opened its new parking building that can accommodate 600 cars. Its old parking areas are good for more than 200 vehicles. So the mall can now make some money from the more than 800 parking slots. Well and good. It also benefits all of us as we all have cars.
The good thing about scarcity of parking areas is more and more people are leaving their cars at home and are taking the jeepney or cabs. Some have even realized that this is a good opportunity to do some walking or to have some exercise.
Yet we still have to drive our cars every now and then, and the smaller the car the better. My daily driver is big and is a pain in the ass to park nowadays or to find a slot for it. In search of a smaller car to restore, I surveyed my place which is virtually a junk yard to decide on which smaller car to work on and make it road worthy.
The candidates are the old classic Volkswagen Beetle and the 190E (the Baby Benz). Much as I would prefer the Beetle, it appears that the 190E is nearer to becoming road worthy as I had been working on it every now and then, which means it would take lesser expense and effort. Its running gear (from engine to the wheels) are already A1 and only the interior and the wirings need some sorting out. I think I can do both which will leave only some bits and pieces to acquire and install.
Of course this is a lot easier said than done. Sometimes I just want to read on weekends instead of getting a good exercise by working on the cars.
Now why did I say I would have preferred the Beetle? Because it is a lot smaller and can perform like a four-wheel drive. It can even beat a modern SUV in some instances.
What does this have to do with Benguet’s 119th Foundation Day? A lot. Aside from the main roads, this province’s arterial roads are very narrow just like anywhere else in the Cordillera. The last time I traveled through the Halsema Highway, I looked at the mouth of the road that goes to the Timbac Caves and it appears to be as narrow as when we drove up that way long ago. The Land Rover then fully occupied that road which was very steep. I thought the best vehicle to traverse it all the way to Kabayan would be the 4X4 Suzuki Jimny. This was my thinking until I rode such a vehicle. I was greatly disappointed because all the while I was expecting proper space engineering inside it like the classic Austin Mini Cooper which is so mall yet it feels spacious when you ride it.
As to the Suzuki, I, with my big tummy felt so constrained and uncomfortable in it. So goodbye.
So the next choice would be the Beetle because I can’t afford a Mini Cooper and I really don’t know if it can hold a candle to the former’s durability. And it does not have 4X4 capability.
The point is we should not need specialized vehicles to visit tourism sites. Thus, Benguet, just like other provinces, must work on the roads to tourism sites if it wants to make money from tourists. Tourism revenues can be very big as we are now seeing in Sagada where those with accessible properties are now multi-millionaires operating hotels and restaurants.
But improving accessibility would just be a small part of the equation. The most difficult part is training the people in tourism areas to deal with tourists properly so they would go back again and again.
This means mass education which might be an uphill climb as many people in Benguet have other very good sources of income like those in the vegetable and mining industries. So getting the people’s interest towards this end would not be easy.
But the goal can be achieved with all the help of modern technology and the support of local government units and other government agencies like the Department of Tourism.
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