WHERE HAVE ALL THE PINE TREES GONE?

Filipinos arise! Rekindle pride in our Highlands and its treasures!
Bring back Igorot pride to our treasured Benguet mountains.
Bring back national pride to the cherished city of Baguio!
Restore the proud, stately mountain pines and their aroma to what is now the ugly, scarred terrain of these once-beautiful mountains, to the hills and surroundings of the so-called “Eternal Spring City” of our nation.

Spring City, really? Where? When?
Indeed, no longer can we smell and breathe in the erstwhile invigorating pine-scented mountain spring air of Baguio, save perhaps within the few remaining enclaves the U.S. Forces had zealously protected until they turned over their bases to our national and local governments; pristine enclaves that evidently had subsequently fallen to corruption, abuse, and the personal gain of the new stewards.
Even more sadly, such abuse and neglect prejudices their own children’s enjoyment, who will most likely behold instead the hideous, angular structures, the concrete facades, the slums, garbage, squalor and denudation; who will most likely gag instead at the stench of dank, polluted air no different from the smog of the lowlands.
The well-being, it seems, of future Igorots, Kankaneys, Benguet citizens and Cordillera folk—nay, entire Filipino generations – is forfeit. Unless…

Unless we act, and act soon enough.
Unless the pine trees are replanted.
Unless Baguio’s forests are replenished.
Unless the mountains are rejuvenated.

Where have all the tree lovers, and all Baguio lovers, gone?

Could not every man, woman, child, highlander, make it their duty to plant those precious pine trees in their own yards till there’s no more room?
Could not every homeowner / resident plant trees beside his home, townhouse, “barong-barong”, or condominium?
Could not every business owner dig out a small patch of pavement and plant a tree on the frontage of his establishment?
Could not citizens / residents nurture and steward young trees – even those planted “publicly”-- well into full bloom and maturity?
Could not vacationers, visitors, tourists be asked to contribute to a reforestation fund by way of fees or surcharges? Or have them plant trees themselves should they want to?
Could not the old, surviving stately pines be catalogued, inventoried, and preserved jointly by government and private groups?
Could not city government offer incentives –say, rebates from taxes & fees on realty, business, etc.—to everyone who plants and stewards?
Could we all not appreciate that these same trees will save us from pollution and erosion, both current and future?
Could we all not agree that these trees will save the city, the mountains, and even the region from blight and destruction?

Certainly the city and the mountain environments -- let’s all start with the pine trees, for heaven’s sake – are worth investing in, saving, and keeping, because they do contribute to the quality of life of every Igorot, ethnic, resident, visitor, all Filipinos alike, present and future.

Our cherished Baguio City and the entire Cordilleras indeed, are NATIONAL and NATURAL TREASURES worth rejuvenating not with pavement facelift, but rather with the verdant cover of living, breathing pine trees!

Oh, please let’s bring back those pine forests to our hallowed mountains!
God bless us all.