By Joel B. Belinan
When everyone was anticipating the summer season as we have known it throughout our lives, the temperatures dipped to the lowest ever since January to the surprise of everyone. On Tuesday early morning, Baguio City was 10.7 degrees, the lowest so far this year at a time when the Holy Week is less than away or during the first week of April. Hence, while the Panagbenga fest officially ended last Sunday, March 5, visitors from the lowlands continue to flock here, especially during weekends.
One post I have read from a local media practitioner here says the temperature was 12 degrees “but please do not come up,” inviting all sorts of reactions from residents that sort of agreed. Reading from the comments, it seems that we in Baguio and nearby town residents are already weary with too many visitors during the Panagbenga. Unfortunately, we can only vent our frustrations by commenting on social media. And maybe also because we cannot scold our weather or nature for bringing back the cold spell that usually happen on January and Februar. For a tropical country like ours, it is expected that a lot of our more than 110 million people living mostly in humid and hot places want to experience our cool weather. Thus, the late Kabugao, Apayao Mayor Agudelo had said when I visited him in 1996, “Ti natural nga kinalamnin ti Baguio ken ti arubayan na a municipyo ti umuna a rason nu apay a sumangpet dagiti turista” (The natural cool weather of Baguio and nearby towns are the main reasons tourists come). Nowadays, however, the sheer number of visitors flocking to our small city is creating problems and is mostly too inconvenient for the locals.
The question now is, is Baguio the only destination with our kind of temperature? Of course not. As we highlanders know, more places in the Cordillera have much better weather/temperatures. When I started attending and covering Regional Development Council (RDC) meetings and other regional forums almost 30 years ago, government officials seemed to know the solution to this problem, not only of the too many tourist arrivals but also the continuous in migration of people to the city. And that is the development and promotion of other areas. Unfortunately, the progress of such a program of the government, appears to be too slow and easily overtaken by events.
Addressing the problem needs some urgency on the part of government functionaries and agencies directly involved. These include the need for more destinations in nearby towns of Baguio. Credit should be given to the Municipalities of Itogon and La Trinidad for recently opening some of their communal forest parks for drive-in camping with just simple amenities.
Since 20 years ago, quite a few eco-tourism destinations in the towns of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay (BLISTT) had been opened. These include some summits accessible for a day’s hike, waterfalls for swimming or picnics, and camping, and caves for spelunking, among others. And yes, these areas were, and still are, more pristine than Baguio and have better temperatures. For visitors who go gaga over low temperatures, they should be led to Mount Sto. Tomas or if they want even cooler places then send them to Sayangan or Madaymen or even Mt. Data further North.
The point is, there are many other destinations but responsible agencies should work faster beyond their comfort zones. Not the business-as-usual government people mentality that had made this country the sick man of South East Asia.
One comment I heard is, the majority want Baguio because it is here where amenities like decent accommodations, and big restaurants are found. I remember what a private consultant once said, “the government should change the urban jungle tourism mentality and promote the more natural eco-tourism kind. Once people appreciate this type of tourism, then maybe, just maybe, the fast environmental degradation might get a break”. (Next week, Cordillera Eco-Toursim).**
