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Photos Taken by Art Tibaldo & Harley Palangchao

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Wikimapia Screen Grabs of Busol

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I am clearing my files and I came to this posting below.

In 2002 when I was there, a Newspaper posted more than 1,200 tress were cut down in John Hay area alone. In sense, Bagew (Baguio) is now in the shadow of "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be."

Pads

Photos show state of Busol

(published in the Nov. 19 weekly issue of the Baguio Midland Courier)

by Baboo Mondonedo

The Busol Watershed continues to be endangered, as shown through photographs recently taken by a group composed of media, civil society, and a couple of kids who partook in the 24-Hour Watch of Busol.

The group hiked around the watershed and clicked away with their cameras. From their photos, a website was established and the state of busol watershed can be seen by anyone throughout the world in the internet by clicking http://bantaybusol.tripod.com.

To date (November 17 press day), more than 700 have visited the site. Quite a few have expressed concern at the condition of Baguio's water source. A question asked was: what are Baguio people doing about it?

The Baguio Regreening Movement raised the money to fence the Busol to ward off further encroachment. Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) has prevented the work in favor of "ancestral claimants" who are not rooted there.

The BRM has lobbied strongly to protect and restore the environment of Baguio and environs. There are pertinent government agencies that have the mandate. But there seems no will or strength to do the job....

(mail from a friend who viewed the site while in the US)

Narigat gayam ti agbabysit ditoy Melika. I don't
remember if I made a reply to your message yet so I
might as well take this time to make the reply while
the small ones are asleep.

I will be here for sometime but will be in Baguio come
February and March. I viewed your website and seen all
the photos. I went to check out a forest near Baguio
owned by a friend of mine before I left The place is
liked Pinsao in the '40s. If you know the Camdas in
Pinsao, try to enter their property. They preserved
their section of the forest in Pinsao.What you will
see is how the forest of Pinsao all the way to Carabao
Mountain(now Pinget and Quirino barangays)was before.

I know you have all these projects about the
environment but there is one ordinary simple subject
not being talked about. We learned it in grade school
from our teachers who were not even holders of a
bachelor or doctorate degrees. We were taught about
the cycle of life in addition to good moral conduct.
The cycle of life is a simple one, Animals(man
included) takes in oxygen and exhaust carbon dioxide,
plants takes in carbon dioxide and exhaust oxygen.
Over here all the weeds, bushes and other plants are
protected especially those near the roads. These
plants are oxygen generators and air pollutant
eliminators. Growing a tree is not a simple job. I
hope that this simple idea will help fight pollution
in Baguio. Baguio people look at these plants ugly and
destroy them everyday. Since we can not lessen the
motor vehicles in Baguio, maybe it is high time to
make the road side full of bushes and weeds to absorb
the pollutants. What do you say?

Regards to all.

Gabby

To All lovers of the beautiful city of Baguio! -The environmental concerns or Art Tibaldo's group should really be a wake-up call among us who were born, raised, grew-up or went to school there to support the efforts of this group in every way we can. Any ideas that may at least provide the impetus of a movement to pressure the city of Baguio regarding these concerns. I have
previously e-mailed everybody regarding the activities surrounding human activities in and around water wells
and collection areas used by the City overdevelopment that now shows very negative effects (i.e. quality of
air, water shortages, soil erosion, etc). Any thoughts as to how we can pressure the City to take action on these concerns?????????
Virginia Carillo-Panglao Jester

Lensmen, kids capture how Busol is being "under siege"

by Harley Palangchao

Just as the first rays of the sun pierced the morning sky of this mountain resort city, young environmentalists were on their way to Busol watershed for a mission-to document the state of deterioration of the main sources of potable water for the city and La Trinidad, Benguet.

Armed with their cameras, young environmentalists and photo enthusiasts were the first to ascend the forested areas of the Busol and captured grim realities within the watershed.

Human activities such as commercial farming and human settlement intrusion make the United Nation's awardee watershed "under siege".

Lensman Roland Rabang and I followed them but we separated ways after my long photo session with "indigenous" flowers and shrubs that grow beneath the towering pine trees.

Dubbed "24 Hours in Busol" the photo documentary gave children a personal glimpse of the state of deterioration of the forest which also serves as an open classroom and laboratory for environmental awareness among children.

Veteran documenter and environmentalist Art Tibaldo conceptualized the photo documentary after the City Environment and Parks Management Office rang the alarm that something has to be done to protect the watershed from human settlement and commercial farming.

The growing public concern on the protection of the Busol watershed was brought to the fore in wake of the growing demand for potable water not only in Baguio but worldwide. As environmentalists put it, "the world is now witnessing the worsening civil unrest in search for potable water not for oil."

Inside Busol Watershed, I saw the fresh footprints of the children and obviously they came from an area where they could take images of the commercial farms, particularly on the La Trinidad side of the watershed.

Some of the selected photos of the Busol watershed were already posted in the internet. One could view the images by clicking http://bantaybusol.tripod.com. I will soon post some of my images in my personal photo blog at http://www.flickr.com/photos/harley501.

The concept of the Busol photo-documentary of the Busol watershed is a replica of the 1991 photo-documentary launched by amateur and practicing photojournalists, who documented the city in its state of reconstruction after the 1990 killer temblor.

Efforts to save the Busol watershed earned recognition from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) when it gave an award to the "ECO-WALK" program in 2002. (copied from the November 5 2006 issue of the Baguio Midland Courier)

Lensmen to Cover Baguio's Watershed

Camera enthusiasts, amateur photographers and newsmen alike can have a respite from their usual work and be a part of another environmental undertaking should they wish to join a photo shoot at the Busol Watershed.

Dubbed "24 Hours in Busol" or 24HB, this activity which is scheduled on October 28 enjoins all interested individuals with cameras to visit and document Baguio's biggest source of potable water with the aim to raise the level of awareness on the need to preserve the watershed.

This was bared by officers of the Baguio Regreening Movement following the alarming report by Architect Josephine Chan of the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) that Busol has reached an alarming situation due to human activities in the area.

The said activity will follow the internationally established "a-day-in-a-life" concept of photographic documentation of a certain area or given subject.

Environmentalist Art Tibaldo who orchestrated the "24 Hours in Camp John Hay" in 1997 and "A-day-in-a-life in Baguio" in 1991 will again lead photographers for a joint pictorial at Busol.

According to Tibaldo, the photographic works that will be selected during the activity will be posted on a website so that it can serve as a digital record that anyone can later access. Use of digital cameras is preferred for on site data transfer but use of mobile phone cameras is discouraged according to Tibaldo. Film cameras may be used but the digital conversion may have to be shouldered by the participating photographer. On the set day, participants must be present at the Busol Lecture Shed near the Baguio Water Disrict water tank for a general briefing. An informal lecture on "Documentary Photography" will be also be given to amateurs by the organizing committee.

According to Tibaldo, participants from La Trinidad may also join but they have to cover the municipal's side of the watershed. Volunteer communications group were also tapped to assist and guide the participants.

Those interested to join the October 28 photo shoot may submit their names and addresses at the BRM Secretariat's Office at the DENR Forestry Division along Diego Silang St. or send text message of name and contact numbers to 09178458534. Particulars can also send e-mails to artibaldo@gmail.com for clarification and details of the activity. C N A release

Hello again Virginia,

Thanks for dropping by and visiting the busol website.

Population in Baguio has really mushroomed or ballooned in great magnitude that the only place that can truly be referred to as a forest may no longer be such...ta itultulok da met ngamin nga ma-improve .

You asked what the city government is doing and my best answer to that is-there is a non-government organization called the Baguio Regreening Movement created in 1992 to help regreen the place and plant trees. Well, despite the countless trees that we have planted since then, the situation remains the same-water is becoming scarce and the forest is being reduceed in size due to intrusion by residents and agricultural activities. The Baguio Water District is present in the area and its security forces can only oversee its facilities and not the entire forest.

We have put up a watch tower in the summit of the forest because a donor signified do donate a powerful binocular to be placed there but the metal works of the tower was cannibalized before the telescope was shipped.

So what can we do?

Well maybe to increase the level of awareness on the said problem, its good to talk about the issue in whatever form so that it reaches the city officials here so that they will do something more resolute.

I'm thinking that in tandem with Eco-walk program of BRM, we can organize a pool of volunteer forest rangers to regularly check on the activities in the area in per schedule basis . I have crossed the forest from Bayan Park (Aurora Hill) and exited in Pacdal near Wright Park and the one hour or so trail is not as spectacular but it is worth the experience particularly to lowlanders.

Along this concept, maybe you can help us with ideas on how we can best implement such program. A training module for park rangers, a word or two about this concern sent to Baguio officials can probably help drum up the much needed support.

So kasta ngaruden, Hope to catch you again and regards to all kailian dita.

Art

A day-long pictorial at the Forest