"Baguio Today" a Baguio City Travel Page by cyndymc

Before, Baguio City was known for its nicknames "Summer Capital of The Philippines", "Little America" and "City of Pines". Today, more names are given to it:
"Educational Center of the North", "Regional Administrative Center of the Cordilleras", "The President's Home North of Manila", "Vegetable Salad Capital of the Philippines", "Floral Paradise", " Home of Biggest Strawberry Shortcake" and many more.

Recently, Baguio is being sought by local and foreign tourists more for its
"Panagbenga Festival", a 3-week long celebration that includes street dancing parade, floral float parade, market encounter, Session Rd. in bloom, fluvial parade at Burnham Park, and various competitions. Thus, Baguio has another nickname, "Home of Panagbenga".

When we were still living in Baguio City, there were only a few schools like St. Louis University (then only a College), St. Theresa's and Baguio Colleges. Then, after state-owned University of the Philippines was set up, other big educational institutions like Philippine Women's University, National University, Systems Technology Institute and other Information Technology schools followed, Nursing Review Schools were set up, and many Korean English Academies mushroomed.

The past decade has seen a phenomenal increase in the student population of Baguio. This massive number of transient residents has led to an overpopulation of Baguio (said to be designed originally for just 30,000 residents), as well as the rapid depletion of its natural resources. This situation adversely affected tourism because of the congestion of the city center where most schools are located.

My fondest childhood memories of Baguio included the cool climate and fresh pine scent that prevailed in the air. Today, the pine trees still stand, and are meticulously tagged by the Department of Environment & Natural Resources; cutting of pine trees is strictly prohibited.

While the trees help in maintaining the cool climate, the fresh, pine scent is no longer there. I cannot even walk on the streets without covering my nose because of pollution coming from smoke-belching vehicles plying the streets and garbage/dried leeaves being burned; otherwise, I will always have a bad bout of allergic rhinitis if I don't cover my nose.