BAGUIO CITY—Many in (and even out of) the summer capital celebrated when news broke that a project involving the Baguio City public market would not push through.
In a letter dated Dec. 19, 2025, and addressed to Mayor Benjamin Magalong, SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) officially withdrew its proposal of redeveloping the public market under a public-private partnership.
“It appears that Baguio City, the executive and legislative branches, the BCMP (Baguio City public market) vendors, and other stakeholders in the project have several matters to settle before the Project may be undertaken,” SMPHI said in the letter posted by the Baguio Public Information Office on its Facebook page on Jan. 3.
Some quarters called the withdrawal of the proposal a missed opportunity. But many disagree.
I speak from personal experience when I say that even as the giant corporation continues to claim that it’s “got it all for you,” the Baguio City public market has as legitimate a claim to the tagline.
In the early 2000s, I worked for an environmental organization in the Cordillera and lived primarily in Baguio.
Having grown up in Metro Manila, I truly enjoyed Baguio’s small-town feel, especially during the rainy season when I came across familiar faces as I strolled down Session Road on weeknights, enjoying an ice cream cone.
Living in shared accommodations and on a budget, I depended on the vendors in the public market for everything from the freshest vegetables to stylish thrifted clothes.
Origins
The original stone market established in 1917 was a highly informal affair in which the sellers offered whatever newly harvested produce they had, and those with the means purchased the stuff for their families.
The structure suffered the consequences of wartime bombings, as well as a fire in the 1970s. It was demolished in 1973 to give way to the construction of a planned 17-story hotel. But the plan met with vigorous opposition from various sectors and was ultimately dropped. Instead, a more modest structure was built.
The only reminder of the original stone structure is an emblem now displayed outside the Maharlika Livelihood Center adjacent to the public market.
Redesign
I spoke with a friend whose mother has run a stall in the Hangar Market since the 1980s selling vegetables sourced directly from farmers in Mountain Province. My friend and her sister now attend to its day-to-day operations. She observed that the business permit fee they need to pay the city government has steadily but surely increased every year.
But from then until now, there has not been any major development save for some roofing installed to allow market activities to go on even when it’s raining.
“I hope the city will consider making a plan to redesign the market, especially concerning the drainage. The vendors are more than willing to cooperate and help,” my friend said.
On March 11, 2023, a fire blazed through Blocks 3 and 4 of the market extension and displaced about 2,000 vendors. Subsequently, the market was found to be structurally unsound. Today, only a few vendors operate on the ground floor. Some have relocated to the Hilltop or the Fish Section.
Efforts to redevelop the market started in July 2019 but were eventually deemed not feasible for the local government to continue on its own.
In February 2020, SMPHI first submitted an unsolicited proposal concerning the market’s redevelopment. Through the years revisions were made to the proposal, with the last one including specifications for a multilevel structure with spaces for a public market, retail, and parking space. Under the proposal, the corporation would control 4,512.82 square meters for parking and 4,820.55 square meters for a mall; the city government would manage 10,738.45 square meters allocated for the public market.
The redevelopment would cost about ₱4.5 billion and would provide the corporation a 50-year lease that may be extended for 25 more years.
Consultations
In 2025, a series of public consultations was conducted. Even more actively, the sessions with the city council and various groups were held in the last quarter of the year.
Fearing the impact on more than 4,000 market vendors, residents engaged in mass actions to oppose the corporation’s proposal, including signature campaigns, daily noise barrages, mobilizations, even creative expression involving visual works and public performances.
The city council was to have issued a decision on the proposal on Jan. 9.
For many in Baguio (and those who cared enough outside it), the issue boiled down to corporate control versus entrepreneurship, and to building conglomerates instead of helping small businesses thrive.
But with the corporate proposal withdrawn, the offshoot cannot just be a return to the status quo. There are many challenges to address, including deteriorating structures, alleged subleasing of stalls, congestion, and safety, sanitation and environmental issues, among many others.
The concerned sectors point out that they are not against progress, as long the different states of life and points of view are taken into consideration. They call for a concerted effort toward a fully transparent process of consultation with all relevant sectors, and a plan that is sustainable and that honors not only Baguio’s history and culture but also, and more importantly, its people.
In a statement, the Save Baguio Market Movement said: “The SMPHI proposal is not a missed opportunity. It was a proposal riddled with disadvantages for market vendors, consumers, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), local businesses, and smallholder suppliers such as farmers and fisherfolk. Better options exist and now lie before us. We reiterate our call for a people-led, people-centered, and publicly-funded redevelopment of our marketplace.” CS
