March 29, 2024

Environmental fees can’t protect the environment

I am a resident of Baguio City. I am dismayed to read a report that the city is going to charge visitors an environmental fee for visiting parks and public places.
How much is estimated from this collection? Is it really effective in protecting our environment? How will the collection be used to protect the environment?
There are 1,042 hotels can be searched within the city according to the Internet. Let us take the middle figure of fees to be collected from lodging owners at P10,000. That’s is only P10,420,000, not even a million a month.
How are we going to collect fees from visitors to Burnham Park? Are we going to secure it and have entrances?
Let us not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by charging visitors environmental fee. Surely, there are more ways to increase city’s revenue.
When I first came to Baguio, I had to pay a fee for collection of garbage. Today, this fee is no longer collected. Why? I would gladly pay this fee to support waste management and hopefully it would also contribute to saving the environment. — PETER CHONG, Baguio City