Dubbed as the summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio has a fair share of beauty in the Cordilleras. The mountainous terrain of pine trees accompanied with the less scorching weather are some pull factors which paved the way for the city’s lifeline—tourism. Yet, the very source of existence it draws from could also be the reason for its downfall.

 

The mountains that once sheltered several forest trees, such as the pine trees which Baguio is famous for, are now turned into areas of development projects. Based on the 2019 tree inventory of  the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), there are only 500,000 Benguet pine trees remaining due to anthropogenic and natural factors. Meanwhile, the current population of the city that stands at 392,262 has breached its 243,300 computed population carrying capacity, the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) reported.

 

All issues compiled, overpopulation and degradation of resources as triggered by unsustainable tourism, are the gateway to the city’s gentrification. The growing amount of development projects caters to a few, where only the upper class benefit while the locals are being put aside. 

 

Since 2020, the local government has been in hot water over talks of the privatization of the Baguio City Public Market by large corporations. What is development for one is a grueling burden to another. 

 

In February 2020, the Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) and the SM Prime Holdings Incorporated (SM) presented their plans to the city government to redevelop the public market. However, the Baguio Market Vendors Association wanted to lead the redevelopment of a modern public market and started to gather funds to prevent big corporations from taking over the public market. 

 

Vendors strongly oppose the involvement of big corporations in the redevelopment of the public market. For local vendors, the public market belongs to the people of Baguio City and not to any other companies. Hence the name public market, a property for the public. There is no need to privatize it. 

 

 The public market has been one of the most iconic places in the city. It shelters the livelihood of nearly 4,000 vendors. Handing the rights to develop the place to big corporations would lose its socio-cultural value. The once open-spaced market where locals shop for cheaper goods everyday would be turned into yet another mall as the SM Prime Holdings plans to place the public market in a seven story building. 

 

Another recent development was the rehabilitation of Loakan Airport. The airport ceased operations in the 1990s because of navigational difficulties. After the rehabilitation, it resumed commercial flights in December last year. This redevelopment caused inconvenience to a lot of families as the local government decided to impose a 75-meter buffer zone from the airport runway that will affect at least 300 houses. Residents of Barangay Loakan have also started to negotiate with the local government to prevent the demolition of their homes.

 

Time and time again, gentrification only lifts the rich higher and the poor deeper in the depths of poverty. As the economic inequality worsens, the environment suffers and people are displaced because spaces are shrinking while the cost of living is skyrocketing. Sadly, this seems to be a trend in a lot of development projects where a penchant for profit comes first before anything else. 

 

It is disheartening to imagine that whenever the public expresses their grievances against development aggressions, their voices fall to deaf ears. 

 

In August 2020, Baguio Heritage Foundation, Inc. (BHFI) with the Council for the Restoration of Filipino Values and Rehabilitation Action for Baguio, launched an online petition urging the city officials to reject the unsolicited proposal from big corporations to develop the Baguio City Public Market into a multi-story mall complex. And instead partner with local vendors to modernize the market and prioritize local investors. 

 

However, deaf ears indeed. Despite the calls to prioritize market vendors, the Public-Private Partnership for the People Initiative Selection Committee disqualified the Baguio Market Vendors Association (BMVA) during the pre-selection process of selecting who to confer the original proponent status (OPS), due to incomplete requirements. And last October 2020, Mayor Benjamin Magalong decided to grant SM Prime Holdings the recipient of OPS. Meaning, SM Prime Holdings were allowed to hold negotiations regarding public-private partnership (PPP) development deals for redeveloping projects. 

 

Until now, the vendors have been waiting for a clear explanation from the local government on what would truly happen to the thousands of vendors making a living in the market.

 

Aside from deafen ears, is it possible that the eyes of those in office were also covered with a neoliberal point of view? Prioritizing the big corporations rather than its public. 

 

People are inherently open for growth, but when pushing for one, it must not leave anyone behind. But this so-called development the public are promised with, leaves them stagnant in further regression. Sure, development sounds good especially when spoken by giants whose grand plans paint a facade that sweeps all other pertinent issues under the rug. 

 

It is expected, of course, that people will bite the inviting sham that is gentrification but lest we forget that in a people, while all may bow their heads in praise, there is always, always one—or more—who builds a resounding few who claims their space, and rightfully so.