Labels can hurt.
Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino has denied that the city owns the website which posted the information that Baguio is “the most polluted city in the Philippines”.
In a letter Thursday to Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan, Tolentino clarified that based on the report of a task force he created, it appeared that the website http://www.tagaytay.com is owned by one Marivic Owens.
In its report, the task force headed by City Administrator Gregorio Monreal said the website is not the official Tagaytay city government website.
“We have found out that the website www.tagaytay.com is owned by Royal Taal Inn which operates in Tagaytay City and owned by a certain Mrs. Marivic Owens,” the committee said.
The committee recommended a meeting with Owen to confirm ownership of the same and to ask the owner to send an apology to Baguio, publish the same in its website and in a leading newspaper, aside from furnishing copies to Domogan, the Department of Tourism and the House of Representatives.
Domogan, in a privilege speech Wednesday before the House of Representatives, condemned the posting, calling it an “unfriendly act, very unusual and unexpected” and a “malicious propaganda against our beloved city of Baguio”.
“We are shocked and surprised why the promoters of Tagaytay city have to paint a dark picture of Baguio city just to make Tagaytay city shine in the eyes of foreign tourists,” he stressed.
The negative website report triggered protests from Baguio officials and residents after City Councilor Rocky Thomas Balisong pointed it out in resolution demanding public apology from the authors and its removal from the promotional article.
Baguio Mayor Braulio Yaranon earlier termed the posting as “unfortunate” and urged tourism destinations in the country to support each other’s promotion of the industry.
Domogan quoted a portion of the website which said:
“For our foreign friends visiting or thinking about visiting, Tagayay offers a relaxing and safe haven where you can unwind and lay back after your long haul flight. Unlike the popular city of Baguio, the most polluted city in the Philippines, which is a six (6) hour drive (one way) from Manila.”
The website cited another website, http://www.bayanihan.org as its source. Bayanihan, owned by the Philippines Social and Environmental News (A Balita Site in the True Bayanihan Spirit), started its article on Baguio with a blurb: “Described by the World Bank as, ‘Air quality in Baguio, the worst in the Philippines.’”
The article noted that the supposed finding was countered by a study conducted by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) which said that “air quality in the city never reached an alarming level. Air quality is bad but only in several locations, particularly at lower Session Road.”
In its report issued early last year following articles in national dailies, the EMB actually ruled that “the ambient air quality in Baguio is still within the ‘good to fair’ condition”. It noted that the total suspended particulates within lower Session Road, which was used in the news reports, did not represent the average air quality in the city. –Ramon Dacawi, with reports from Michelle Tenido