To The Bat Cave, Baguio!

Where is Baguio headed? Barely a month after the recent election, what now, Baguio? Where to? Towards modernization? Through traffic via a “one-passenger oversized carbon footprint-marking gas-guzzler batmobile”? Just going around Gotham? To the bat cave!

“To the bat cave!” While that may sound like a call to rather go back in time, primitive times that is, it’s actually a reference to that of Bruce Wayne’s alter ego’s “hi-tech” means to plan and address hard-pressing issues… “Bahala na si Batman” is also another referential undertone for a probable course of action. If so, in that “bat cave” as to the “mapping out” where Baguio is headed, does that make us like Alfred the butler or like the “minding-their-own-thing cave-dwelling bats” and rather leave it to Batman? And Batman be like, either he’d be the “incognito dark knight” in all its alter ego form or simply be “Bat-Man” or the “man for the bats” in reference to “people-person (being a man for the people)”. Coincidentally, “Bat Man” is BM which likewise stands for Baguio Mayor. In that case, it also stands for BM-elect ‘Benjie Magalong’. After the recent midterm election, the people have spoken. The “BatMan” to our bats (even for the “pain-in-the-butt men”) is to lead us out of the dark cave. “BM BM” (Baguio Mayor Benjie Magalong) will be busy leading us to (be the) “BC” (Bat Cave?), a Better Colony that is. 🎵 “BatMan! Da da da da da BatMan” 🎶 

*colony, by the way, is what you call a group of bats… just putting it here for the small-brained bats hanging upside down in a dark cave…

Baguio’s so cool, a lot wanted to be “BatMan” presenting themselves as the hero Baguio needs and the “BatMan” for the “cave dwellers” in us. A melting pot that our city is, we know for a fact that this cool Baguio Mountain (BM) resort for a place is a getaway reprieve from the lowland heat. Like a cave serving as shelter from the elements, giving grounds for the metaphor “the cave’s embrace”, it may not be all that but comforting and practical enough… A tourist haven. For tourists and visitors who seemingly appreciate it more, to them, Baguio is cooler than how some residents “unwelcomely” perceive it to be… Among locals, Baguio is ironically losing its coolness and warmth (“Bakit nga ba? You tell me”)… Other “BatMan” candidates argued how they’d turn Baguio around whilst maintaining its coolness but rather overbearingly presented themselves to be “cooler”. It was a hotly contested position with their respective “bat caves” full of their own prospective advancements and transformative yet-to-be-proven formula, nonetheless. Much like how “hot” the election was, it’s time to cool down… After heated deliberations on what’s “best” for Baguio, it’s time to return “to the bat cave” to regroup and refocus. The “Bat Cave” is far more sophisticated than any cave. Baguio’s Smart City Command Center is one such bat cave but isn’t limited there; as much as it’s with limitation still… More than being “BC” as letter-for-letter as above-mentioned, it also stands for “Baguio City”. It may indeed be likened to the bat cave for likewise that of Baguio Charm or Baguio’s Character to its people: i.e., comforting, reassuring, sheltering, warm, homey among other things. However, “BC” could also be “Backwards City” for some, if only because of sentimentality. As if carved on cave walls, we are guided by the recollection and romanticism of yesteryears without getting out of the cave to see the bigger picture and better representation. Although that wider perspective might have been presented by Baguio’s now-third-termer “BatMan” Baguio Mayor Benjie Magalong, its practicality wasn’t taken seriously by “jokers”. A lot didn’t clearly understand it as it was “riddled” with questionable arguments by “riddlers”. While “two-faced” figures even added to the confusion as to what side and standpoint are we going to either face or be faced with. Hmm, triple “BM” on his third term among 3 villains… (much like how we’re divided by political colors) …wonder how the concept “good things come in threes” will play out on this.

Good Governance under Attack… Riddlers question it, Two-Faced figures disfigure it, Jokers laugh at it

These “villains” from other parties much like Marvel to that of DC seem to point out whatever they’re fighting for as the ultimate truth they want you to believe in. And in their mind-conditioning power, the more villainous thing they’re actually doing is “mimic” X-Men’s Professor X to change your mind and rather make it appear they’re the good guys. Thus, their “intelligent argument”, as it may sound, becomes a good point for contention. Take note that to a villain, the villain is the one who considers him the villain… Consequently, their “Marvel” becomes more popular than the other side’s “DC” (or vice versa). As such, Baguio breeds a lot of “heroes” and contrariwise, it provocatively (if not deliberately) “breeds anti-heroes (they’ll subdue)” for all the showmanship of their “heroism”. 

The people’s inner bat mutate into high-breed “batmen” conveniently loyal to their respective “BatMan”. In the process, quite a lot were infected with a hero complex wanting to “heal” others instead of curing such political doubt-casting syndrome. If that’s not even another sort of “Marvel to DC-like political party-switching sides strategy” that we seem to be oblivious to, we’re probably in a different universe. Let’s take note that the “ex men err X-Men’s” cave is called the “Danger Cave”. We should watch out for low stalactites that’ll hit our heads with confusion brought about by a fundamental dispute between truth and lies. In this multiuniverse as the bats that we are, are we hanging upside down and seeing a different angle? Who are we to believe and whose cave are we dwelling in? A lot of those bats from that “colony” transform into (the Avengers’) “Vision”. Every opinionated one has a “requitting vision” for Baguio. “Revenge ruling”, metaphorically speaking ~ Are their intentions really for Baguio or just wanting to discredit the rule in question/current rule? Every one has a contention to assert on behalf of others who believe otherwise. True enough, it becomes a viral content, created to form a cloud of bats which forms a cloud of doubt that clouds our better judgement and in turn cloudily points back to BatMan. During the campaign period for instance, poor BatMan, they did him dirty with a smear campaign which consumed a substantial amount of his time defending his truth against their lies instead of focusing on the campaign trail vis-à-vis his several-point agenda… For his detractors, was it in the same way some means to stall good governance? Are they against it, given how they believe they’d do a better job? Or a vested interest perhaps? As the idiom says: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Be that as it may, aren’t they part of the problem? Aren’t we all? Unlike Gotham however, Baguio isn’t as sinister as one of the most crime-ridden cities. But are we stuck in the past? From the beginning, Baguio has been the Summer Capital of the Philippines for a welcoming reason; meant to be shared with the city’s benefactors, tourists, investors and the like. Fiscally, it’s a highly coveted melting pot. Yet, it should be open to evolution in consideration as to how seasons change; as much as the ever growing population... Technically, Baguio isn’t ours to exclusively benefit from. Yet, the louder clamor that it’s solely ours to control is from the loud minority of similarly divided and interested parties. The collective sound of bats’ high-pitched squeaks hovering over one cave will always sound louder than the stillness of the whole mountain…

From what the recent election results may suggest, more are inclined towards the good governance direction… A lot are hopeful whilst choosing to be quiet yet sounded their choice through their votes… Even so, this isn’t about being a muted bat or a mutated “flying mammal” (read: one who’s all over) who’d try to form a more overcasting cloud of bats swaying around other’s “bird’s eye view”. This stands for the truth that they have their own rational context of reference. Also, it’s one’s personal choice to either value their silence or let their voice be heard which differs from adding up to the noise. Nonetheless, this is standing up for the truth in the midst of diverse lies, falsehood and propagandas: fake information, misinformation, disinformation, malinformation… or “in (for the) formation” (read: clout chasing form or political positioning). But then, what’s your position, the formation you’re into? Upside down or communal in a modern address? These are some current yet pressing modernization issues that need to be addressed as much as understood:

• Market Modernization (public or private) ~ there’s a need to sensibly weigh our options as much as there’s a pivotal requisite to rehabilitate the degenerating public market.

• Congestion “FEEds” (and by “feeds”, we mean, instead of seeing it as just a “fee”, it’ll be a nourishment as some sustainable solution for the environment which includes us as an inclusive contributing factor within conducive environs/locality…)
• Waste Management ~ “unfresh” from the oven (or should we say incinerator/burning oven?) This just came in, Baguio’s current sanitary landfill (Urdaneta) is now closed indefinitely… Speaking of modernization, Baguio could invest in some “recycling/upcycling” facilities for added fiscal assets amounting to financial stability and economic sustainability…

And as above-cited, these are just a few... There’s also the proposed monorail system among others. Next, we’ll elaborate on each of these modernization projects. As for now, let’s turn our inner bat’s “upside down hanging disposition” into a more “upright position” re: up ~ up and about, be aware; right ~ go with what’s right; position ~ be firm, it is called disposition, not “this (position) or that position”. Not that “hanging position” like we’re just left hanging to simply speculate… Let’s not be mere “hanging upside down bats”, unwilling to see from a better angle the bigger picture other than what’s in the old cave. Let’s take “off” into flight with the conjecture, “Bahala na si BatMan” but rather, be part of the league, give justice to “Nahalal na si BatMan.” If we’re to spread our wings and take off anyway, more than being bats, let us be robins…

~ then again, to be continued ~