Cities And Towns
Baguio mayor pledges full environmental protection
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Oct 6, 2008 - 1:36:18 PM

BAGUIO CITY, Oct. 7 (PNA) - City mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. Monday pledged for the full environmental protection of this mountain resort, 250 kilometers north of Manila, to recapture the "ambiance of woodlands of the Summer Capital of the Philippines."

He made the pledge during the third "Walk, Baguio Walk" ecological program attended by more than 2,000 hikers, 90 percent of whom were government officials and employees who reported for work by walking instead of using motor vehicles.

The program has been launched in this city to further bring down the pollution level within the roads and campaign for energy conservation.

Bautista said that the Baguio ecological programs include the future permanent sanitary landfill in accordance with the specifications approved by the World Bank (WB) which will cost the city several millions of pesos.

He asked that the garbage program of the city should not be vehicle for political grandstanding of the opposition "because this administration inherited the problem unattended for past several years."

Bautista said that the improvement of the parks and watersheds is part of recapturing the former dense Benguet pines within the city limits. (PNA)