ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN  is a great number because it is a prime, the 30th prime,  a number that is not indivisible by any number except one. 

Baguio is 113 years old. There was one Pinoy who was older than Baguio. She can even claim to be the oldest human at one time, except Guinness wouldn’t acknowledge Francisca Susano from Negros, who died only last year at age 124.

It was only last week that Associated Press said that you can’t use “she” for places. So Baguio is not a she. You cany’t use Mother Baguio either. Place names should be gender-neutral, AP decided. 

And whoever coined Baguioite should be chained onto the yellow tactile pavement. 

I mean, why is City Hall insistent on that? Baguioite rhymes with troglodytes, nights, mites or rights. Also bobolites. 

So 113 years later, we have decided that we are Baguioites. Yak talaga! 

Also 113 years later, we have finally decided to amend the Baguio City Charter. 

It has become a contentious issue actually, with some Baguio councilors saying they were not consulted and Mayor Magalong doing a Domogan, meaning we can’t do anything. Tapos na. 

It’s still OK,  Rep. Mark Go said. At least we were able to sign it to law, Actually, the Great Batugan Pres. decided to let it go and it was passed. 

The point now is we should look at the IRRs and provisions because we can still do that. In fact, Councilor Joemol said we should come out with a committee to oversee that. 

Of course, better than some of the planned ordinances the council has been coming out lately. 

113 years old na ang Baguio and still an infant, ano? 

Mentally di ba? Most of the measures being passed are micromanagement things like no karaoke after 10 :00 pm. Easy for that councilor to say di ba but while he was there in the council all he did was approve all these condominiums sprouting in the city. How dare he say that we should be quiet after 10:00 pm when many of us were crowing in fear last week because the buildings he approved when he was in the council might fall or clog the waterworks and drown us? It was good that the rains were not as strong as we thought. 

If Baguio were alive, it would be barely so. Other than the condominiums we brought out which looked like stakes into the body of the city, we also forgot our Nature right? We can’t say Mother Nature because it’s gender unfair. 

If Baguio were alive, it would be like Fernanda Susano, the supposed eldest person in the world around a year ago, who would be feeling the car exhaust, the breathing of the cut trees, the hot air of the developers including the city admin, and all this toxic air. 

The mayor still has not thanked his sponsors like that mall that wants the market and the car-owners who want everywhere as their parking spaces. He has not thanked the president enough for helping build his presidential timber because he stood by the SAF 44. He has not thanked the developers who laughed at his no-cutting policy, He has not thanked the sycophants who are now on his staff because they said they helped him win more than three years ago. 

Will he do this in the 113th year of the city? 

Why can’t he do what the old German did when the so-called tourists came to him more than 113 years ago to ask permission to come here? 

He said, k*nnayo amin. And that’s that.