Burnham Park: Fighting Corruption and Preserving Public Land with Facebook in the City of Baguio, Philippines. Interview with writer/activist Lisa Araneta - by Willi Paul.

Axis:Image: 

Burnham Park: Fighting Corruption and Preserving Public Land in the City of Baguio, Philippines. Interview with writer/activist Lisa Araneta - by Willi Paul.

LA: “As far as I am concerned, no such proposal should be considered by any member of the government or any citizen of the city. Parks are beyond the commerce of man. To think that any inch of it be compromised would be to strip the future generations of a chance to enjoy the great outdoors, which is the one thing that the city can claim to but which the residents do not seem to be able to fight for.

It is not even a matter of who should own athletic bowl. It does not matter if a Korean or a Filipino or any other nationality is to lease it. Burnham Park is one place that is not for rent or for sale. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not deserve to live in Baguio City, much less lead it. For his heart would be in the wrong place and Baguio does not need people who don’t have their hearts in the right place or who do not think of anyone other than themselves.”

See Background Story

Who owns Baguio Athletic Bowl? What activities take place there now?

Would you believe, Willi, that this first question, which should have been one of the easiest to answer actually caused me to take forever in responding to your interview questions? I would have said that the City of Baguio in the Philippines is the owner of Burnham Park, where the Athletic Bowl is located and that it should be able to alienate the property or portions of it, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Tourism of the Philippines, via President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Executive Order 695.
However, a prior law, which is still in full force and effect, Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1762 that ceded, conveyed and transferred the Burnham Park Reservation (BPR) to the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) and forbade PTA’s alienating, mortgaging or otherwise encumbering the BPR. Since a mere Executive Order cannot and does not amend, repeal or otherwise change the law, Executive Order No. 695 (both transferring PTA’s powers and responsibilities over BPR to the City Government of Baguio) did not amend or otherwise change or modify PD 1762 at all.

Thus Burnham Park legally has not been, and still is, not under the administration or ownership of the City Government of Baguio. The City Government of Baguio is thus powerless to lease the Athletic Bowl or any other part of Burnham Park. Thus, the Korean lease of the Athletic Bowl, a portion of Burnham Park, is without legal basis because the City Government of Baguio had no capacity to lease the Athletic Bowl.

However, the Mayor and the City Council have already been able in the recent past to lease small portions of the park, such as our once beautiful skating rink, which the lessee has converted into an arcade with bumper cars and other noisy kiddie rides.
Regardless of ownership, the residents of Baguio City have been free to enjoy the seven (7) hectare property which is located in the heart of the city that is called Burnham Park, designed by Chicago Architect and Urban Planner Daniel Burnham about 100 years ago, as a sports arena with a track oval, Olympic sized swimming pools, a tennis court, a basketball court and a volley ball court. Baseball and softball teams use the center portion of the track oval for baseball and softball practice. A huge portion of the Athletic Bowl is filled with towering pine trees.

Is there corruption and greed in play here? Please explain?

Recently, the Mayor of Baguio City, Peter Rey Bautista entered into an agreement with a Korean national, a certain An Hu Yul, who was said to represent an unidentified group of investors to lease the property for 25 years at the amount of Php100,000/month, roughly the equivalent of $2,000.00.
The proposed development was to include a hotel, a mall, a driving range, commercial spaces and a bus terminal, based on the rough drawings attached to the MOA. A swimming pool area was included in the drawings, but this is the existing swimming pool that a previous administration built at what many believe to be a bloated cost of about Php100,000,000.00 ($2,000,000.00).

Thus the rental amount was ridiculous to begin with because, not only was it too low, it would also have taken the city more than the term of lease to recover just the cost of the swimming pool, about 80 years, even with an escalation of 10% after five (5) years.

The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was duly signed and notarized on December 10, 2009, and on the same day forwarded to the City Council so that its confirmation could be included in a regular session. With indecent haste, the city council met on December 21, 2009 and the city councilors unanimously approved the MOA, which confirmation was contained in Resolution 515, series of 2009.

I cannot say for certain that there was corruption and greed in play here, but everything reeked of foul play. At the very least it evinced impropriety and incompetence in the performance of the duties of all the city's elective officials. The constituents were not consulted, the requisite publication was not followed, the Filipino First policy was not followed, the Mayor entered into this agreement only with a condition precedent that Mr. An produce corporate papers. In other words, no guidelines were set for the development of the property coupled with the failure to determine whether or not Mr. An and his group had the financial capacity or track record to develop the property.

In fact, no one even knew who Mr. An Hu Yul was or if he was even a real person until it was discovered that he was a client of the Vice-Mayor (and presiding officer of the City Council), Danilo Farinas, in a Labor case.

Who are to blame for this situation?

Directly responsible was the Mayor of Baguio for entering into a patently illegal and improper agreement, the Vice-Mayor of Baguio who tabled the item for discussion as "other matters" during a city council meeting that was set to deliberate on the 2010 budget, and the city councilors for confirming the MOA which was clearly disadvantageous to the city and which would deprive the residents of the free use of the Athletic Bowl that we are accustomed to.
Of course it can also be said that the citizens of Baguio City can be blamed for allowing similar instances in the past to transpire without much objection so that our leaders now feel empowered to do with the city's resources as they please.

But of course, as it turns out, this particular incident is now a boon in terms of raising public awareness as to the ill effects of bad governance on the environment and the quality of life of the residents as you will discover later.

How are you using FaceBook to confront this situation? How is this effort going?

A week ago, members of the press and other residents, got hold of copies of the documents in question, namely the Memorandum of Agreement and Resolution 515 (series of 2009). A Facebook group entitled "Save the Athletic Bowl from the Koreans" was created on January 5 at about 7:00 p.m. in the evening. The issue was so hot that the group grew by leaps and bounds by the time the Mayor held his weekly forum with the residents called "Ugnayan" barely 40 hours later on January 7 at 10:00 a.m.
By that time the Facebook group had grown to about 2,000 members, which by all Baguio City standards was significant number as the residents here are normally complacent and uncomplaining. Baguio has an estimated population of about 300,000 residents, 50% of whom are students in different educational levels and not a lot of residents own computers or have access to the internet.

It was interesting to note that the creator of the group titled it the way he did considering that the real culprit was City Hall and not the Korean. But I must explain that Baguio City is a popular venue for English Academies that cater to Koreans and we have about 5,000 of them visiting and studying year round, which number can double during the months of July-September and December, when they are on summer and winter break, for crash courses in the English language.

Baguio, having been "Little America" as it was built by the American colonizers 100 years ago, has many residents who are fluent in English, which means we have a good supply of English tutors. Being located 5,000 ft about sea level, its temperatures can go down as low as 7C, filled with pine trees and parks, and is thus the place in the Philippines that most closely approximates the weather in Korea.

However, uncontrolled "development" and bad governance has caused a deterioration of the beautiful natural landscape with uncontrolled migration and the local government's love for infrastructure projects. There is also a growing resentment over what the people consider a "Korean invasion" because the Koreans have been all over the place, virtually taking over one golf course (the other one refuses to accept Koreans), renting large houses and small hotels for their schools, erecting restaurants all over the city, and basically changing the character of this laid back mountain resort town. Of course there is the clash of cultures with the Koreans perceived to be more brash than other tourists who visit our city or the people themselves, and resentment over real estate prices rising and having strangers have the run of the town.

Back to Facebook. By the time the Mayor had his weekly talk with the people, for which he arrived an hour late, he was dismissing the protest group as internet "chismis" (Filipino for rumor), while at the same time insisting that, "It is not a done deal" and "You have scared away the investors."

The Facebook group grew to about 5,000 persons by the time the city council held its first meeting for 2010 on January 11, which was supposed to have more then 70 items on the agenda. Only the first item was tackled, at length I must add, which was perceived by many to be a delaying tactic to wear the gallery's patience thin. Then they skipped the other items and went directly to the burning issue of the moment, and as one recalled the controversial Resolution 515 and tried to sweep everything under the rug.

A councilor who was absent during the confirmation delivered her Privilege Speech afterward and called their and the public's attention to all the irregularities present in the MOA and the consequent resolution.

Thus the Mayor's deal with the Korean was defeated. There were no street protests or marches necessary, just a lot of angry rumbling among the residents in coffee shops and bars, and of course, on Facebook.

Are you getting coverage from the main stream press?

All local papers were covering the events, and there was an article on the matter in the national press online, and of course the bloggers went to town with the news. But what was fabulous about this whole incident is that, for the first time in many years, everyone collaborated to defeat this transaction between the Mayor and Mr. An Hu Yul.

Photographers gave permission for their photos of the Athletic Bowl to be used and distributed freely, journalists were trading information, blogs were linking each other up. The residents spoke with one voice on the matter, and ventilated the main issue while being aware that there were similar issues in the past involving former city officials who are running for election in May 2010 and that if we are not vigilant, similar issues may arise in the future.

All in all, I must point out that the rules of the communications game have changed, as far as getting the word out is concerned. The power of a social network like Facebook should not be undermined by anyone, especially politicians. Because this was a great tool for the residents of the city to share information and ideas.

The original protest group has also been renamed to Save The Burnham Park Movement as the residents now feel empowered to do more for the city than defeat an unpopular and disadvantageous transaction by their elected leaders, for many now realize that the Athletic Bowl issue was just one of the many threats facing the city. We now have the means and the nerve and the power to do more for our hometown, the place of our hearts.

Are you saying that the Korean firm that signed the deal with the City are corrupt?

I would not say that at all. We do not know who brought up the idea that it was possible for the Mayor to enter into a transaction of this sort, but he should have known better than to try and negotiate a deal with a foreign national and deprive his constituents of much needed green space and the only city-run sports facility for 25 years. The mayor, vice-mayor and the city council should have known better than to give up a huge chunk of the heart of the city that we call Burnham Park.

I must also note at this point that one of the great benefits of this issue having come to the fore is that 2010 is election year, and the residents are now more aware of local issues, the need for good governance and the need for an engaged citizenry. So finally, Baguio has awakened and for this I am thankful.
Will you sue to reverse this deal?

There are legal measures that are now being drafted by various legal teams that may seek clarification from the courts regarding certain issues (e.g. ownership and administration of Burnham Park) and of course, should administrative charges be in order, I am sure they will be filed in the proper courts. But right now, there are no legal actions that need be pursued, in my humble opinion, as far as reversing this deal is concerned since the councilors recalled Resolution 515 (2009) last Monday. The confirmation contained in the recalled Resolution was one of the prerequisites to the deal.

How do you define stewardship, sustainability and the “green movement?”

It's interesting that you should ask that, stewardship in particular. Stewardship is understanding our roles as caretakers of this earth in general and the place where we live in particular. Many people, including in the City of Baguio, feel this sense of entitlement and confuse their living here or being born here with ownership of the city and its resources, which is why the environment that nourishes and sustains us is being degraded by our materialistic ways. Infrastructure in the guise of development has caused the diminution of the quality of life that we have enjoyed in Baguio after WWII. We must remember that we have to tread as lightly as we can on this earth to leave it pristine for the coming generations.

Sustainability, I would define as our ability to allow the earth to replenish itself so that we can utilize the resources for ever. In other words, we must always consider that we must take only what we need for today so that we will have enough for everybody tomorrow and the next century. Thus all policies and projects must be those which allow for long-term enjoyment, preferably creating the largest positive benefit using the most minimal of resources.

I am no tree hugging environmentalist, mind you, but I believe that the green movement must mean a deliberate slowing down of life, a return to the basics, an appreciation for what is natural or organic. It is actually a movement away from materialism toward spirituality. For in the end, we will not be judged by how much we were able to acquire but by the good we have done for mankind, even if it is just in our little corner of the world.

There you go Willi! Thanks for the questions and the opportunity to ventilate our issues. I hope your readers will be able to pick up some good points about using social networking as a means to an end, because it certainly worked for us in this case.

Photo Credit: Ric Maniquis

About Lisa:

Lisa was a constant visitor to Baguio City since 1969 before she started doing business there since 1991 and took up permanent residence there in 1997. She writes about the City of Pines at Go Baguio! Your Complete Guide to Baguio City, Philippines and at Baguio Insider.

Connections –

Lisa Araneta
gobaguio at gmail dot com