In July last year, the local government of Baguio City reported its efforts to initiate Boracay-scale rehabilitation to solve its sewage problems and protect its pine trees from threats of commercial development. Ironically, their answer to the latter is to plant cherry blossoms?

[READ: After Boracay, Baguio rehab is next. No more new buildings, no more tree cutting]

Yes, you read that right, cherry blossoms. Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Friday bared plans to line public parks with cherry blossoms and tulips imported from Holland as part of the city’s plan to rehabilitate its landscape.

Protecting the last pines

*Last year, the youth of Baguio wrote letters to Pres. Duterte to save the pine tree park from commercial development. Photo courtesy of EV Espiritu/Inquirer*

The Summer Capital lost 355 ha of green cover from 2014 to 2017 because of commercial developments. To date, out of the city’s 5,700-ha area, only 24 percent remains to be covered with pine trees, so the local government’s next steps will include securing those last remaining trees while reviewing all future and concurrent constructions.

Curbing traffic

Apart from their plan to make the city bloom pink and brimming with foreign species of flowers, Mayor Magalong also shared that cable cars and a 2.9-kilometer monorail will also be in the works, as they are now consulting with a firm on its feasibility. This alternative mode of transport is not only expected to boost tourism but to also ease land traffic, as the city can only accommodate 50,000 vehicles.

*According to the city office, Baguio can only handle as many as 50,000 vehicles but the residents alone have 64,000 registered cars. Photo courtesy of Richard Balonglong/Inquirer*

In an interview, Mayor Magalong said these plans are “strongly endorsed by the environment, interior, and tourism departments,” and is only awaiting formalization from the office of the President, who since the plans’ announcement, only approved them “in principle.”

Finding funding

Officials also assured the public that when the rehab starts the city won’t be closed off to tourists and traffic as it is a gateway to nearby provinces. Mayor Magalong also cited the city’s need to step up as a destination as its sister highlands of Tagaytay reels from the effects of the Taal eruption.

As of writing, Baguio LGU has secured a P145-million fund. The Mayor said that they will ask the same from the public works department. The Department of Tourism, on the other hand, initially committed to a P480-million improvement of Burnham Park. By its estimates, the city will need P2.1 billion to sustain the project over 10 years.

Header photo courtesy of EV Espiritu/Inquirer

Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.

You can take this P2P bus from Manila to Baguio

Should tourism still be Baguio’s main priority?