The Shame of Burnham Park

Burn Ham Park is the most popular destinations of everyone, locals and those coming up to Baguio City to refresh from its natural beauty and cool weather. 

With those many things, worth of thousands if not millions of pesos, added by the city government bolstering its beauty to become appealing to the public, such as the dancing waters from the fountains they stalled, there are simple things they don’t see or don’t really want to see at all.  

Dancing Waters at Burnham Park, a new feature

One of the three fountain added to boost Burnham's Beauty

 

One of the fountain added to the Beauty of Burnham Park

For critics, it is not hard to guess the reason why the park administrators don’t want to give attention to those small things yet very important for the dignity of the park and to all the residents of Baguio; those simple problems are not worth it – or simply don’t worth millions of pesos.

If one goes to Melvin Jones, the sight of its balding playground where the kids love to play soccer is very obvious.  During summer the ground is dusty, and during rainy season the soil becomes muddy. And while walking around the park, garbage from the people litters the area because of lack of garbage cans and not strict implementation of the anti-littering law.

The Balding Melvin Jones playground

And when one looks for a place to sit down, it is easy to be attracted at the sides where it has the shades of the tall pine trees.  If you are on the side, facing the lagoon, you’ll surely be fascinated to a monument of a man sitting on top of big artificial boulders on the right, in a corner about 20 meters away from the ganza restaurant.  But once you get near to that stone-monument, you can’t help but feel repulsed to the condition you will see.  Between the pillars that hold the statue is wet and stinks with men’s call of nature.  There are two big comfort rooms on both sides of the park; however, one should pay a minimal fee of five pesos to use the facilities.  But in my observation, the position of the monument is very convenient and enticing to use because one can hide their front without being noticed they are relieving themselves.

The place where the undisciplined sons of Adam hide each time they feel the call

I am hoping that the city will look into these small things yet very important to the image of not only Burnham Park, but also to the city and people of Baguio City as a whole.