One of the slogan’s during the past elections that I like is Jack Cariño’s “Stop the Uglification of Baguio” (we first blogged about Jack here and he has a blog here). I guess I like the slogan because it aptly captures what is happening to the city (its uglification) and provides an answer, i.e., to stop it.
Anyway, as we usually do in this blog, we are uploading comments (in different blog entries) regarding this issue. We do not necessarily agree with the commenters but they bring up important points which are worth mulling over. Here’s one comment from Betelnut: Betelnut on the uglification of Baguio: When will these people understand that Baguio is only for 25,000 people yet they want “housing” for the squatters here. To think of it that even before the world war two, Baguio has already reached its maximum capacity. That’s why when more squatters were tolerated, their numbers grew even more because “deforestation” in favor of “free lands” were very favorable to them. Not only that these squatters too are depriving the indigenous people of Baguio their right to ancestral lands… it’s not just the government and the capitalists, these squatters have their share too..especially those who came from other Cordi places. May lupa naman sila dun, bakit nakikisiksik sila dito? Why don’t they just CREATE opportunities for them? Cebu is a good example of a province that rose on their own..without help from Imperial Manila or even the National Government.
The good: A tipster-friend sent us this letter from Ifugao Governor-Elect Teddy Baguilat asking his fellow Ifugaos to join him in shaping the province’s future direction. (Note: He no longer says “Yo!”) Continue reading A Tale of Two Politicians→
Wow! The art of letter writing really bloomed in this past elections, no? We’ve heard about letters being sent by Sagada politicians to each other (but which was also furnished to Sagada voters). We hope to eventually get copies of said letters and to publish them here if they are praiseworthy or “mockworthy”. There’s also an interesting letter sent to our iSabangan kailiyans and a response to said letter by some concerned iSabangans which you can read at the Northern Philippine Times blog.
Here’s a backgrounder for said Sabangan letters: Although he won in Mt. Province, re-electionist Congressman Victor Dominguez lost very badly in the town of Sabangan to his nephew Sabangan Mayor Jupiter Dominguez. Victor’s loss in said town obviously prompted his youth supporters (the Victor Dominguez Youth Brigade) to write a letter to iSabangans which could be summarized as: “Walang utang na loob! Pagkatapos kayong inaruga, binihisan, at pinakain. Ito ang igaganti ninyo kay Victor.”
Of course we all know that some people want to become Congressman/Congresswoman because they want to serve their constituents. And, of course, we also know that public service is not its own reward because congressional representatives have this thing called pork barrel (or Priority Development Assistance Fund) which they are allowed to disburse according to their heart’s content.
In Tagalog, bahala sila kung ano ang kanilang gagawin sa pera. We should bear in mind though that a Congressman’s or Congresswoman’s pork barrel is not really his/her own money but our money. So there should be no reason for us to be indebted to our congressional representatives mainly because they brought a project to our area. It’s not as if they used their own personal funds. Right?
One of the slogan’s during the past elections that I like is Jack Cariño’s “Stop the Uglification of Baguio” (we first blogged about Jack here and he has a blog here). I guess I like the slogan because it aptly captures what is happening to the city (its uglification) and provides an answer, i.e., to stop it.
