The sun has begun to set. Orange skies cast a pink hue all over the Puerto Princesa City Baywalk giving every single soul in the place a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. The paved path filled with people that is just so different yet the same. There are people of all ages riding bikes, some are jogging, couples having dates, groups of friends hanging out and having snacks bought from the long strip of kiosks and peddlers, some people having some alone time enjoying the view, some tourists live in the moment and walk along the bay area while others hold out their cameras wanting to relive the moment they’ve stepped afoot on the place. Artists are also in the picture, sitting on a dike with a charcoal pencil in hand sketching a boat, not far along is a musician playing the flute along with the instrumental playing on his speakers.
With the picture, the Baywalk or Baybay as the locals call it, it’s hard to imagine what stood here before: houses that has been razed by the fire. You could say Baybay rose from the ashes because it really did. Baywalk was indeed the rainbow after the rain and 15 years after the fire and the Baywalk came to be, it has been home to tons of memories from both the locals and tourists.
The brightly colored decorations, the peacock that stood as one of the highlights of baybay along with the princess o the ports have indeed gone through a test of time. What was once beaming with bright colors now channels a grunge look, the long strip of paved walkway that even in the dark of night was lit so bright with the help of the diamond shaped lamps now were only visible during daytime for it doesn’t give off the light it once did, the brightly colored fishes now stood with faded colors and the plant box that used to be home of flowering plants now stay bare.
In the eyes of Noli, who has witnessed numerous sunsets from his 10 years of bike rental business in baybay, the place has had better days. With various factors such as the rise of the malls, the withering heat, and the lack of maintenance in the place, the people of Puerto Princesa who used to spend quality time in Baybay end up doing it somewhere else and the tourists get a healthy dose of expectation-versus-reality, with the photos taken years ago, the place have become unrecognizable to both returning tourists and first-time tourists. “Minsan nga mayroong mga turista na taga-Cebu, na nagtanong; ito na ba talaga yun? Parang iba yung napuntahan naming dati” says Alma, another bike rental business owner for 12 years.
For the years Baybay has stood, it has undergone changes, some for the better and some are not. With the rapidly decreasing number of people visiting the park, it meant shrinkage in their income and the continuous escalation of taxes as well as the maintenance and improvement of the City Baywalk not happening for quite a while is not helping.
Noli, who had a food business before switching to the bike rentals hopes events and programs to be held at the City Baywalk more often like it did before, not just to help the business owners get more opportunity to earn but also to restore the place’s glory that seem to have fade away with time.
The place’s security also comes in question, with lamp posts remaining unlit and the presence of the security authorities not felt by the business owners and locals who are also entitled to the security services that’s offered.
Both Noli and Alma, who have seen the Puerto Princesa City Baywalk through the years hope that little voices such as theirs be heard, to hear them and help them bring back Baybay’s former glory, it has peaked once, and it can definitely be done again, with help from everyone, our beloved Baybay will soon be home for a million more happy memories, with people of all ages hanging out by the sea and children racing on their bikes and learning how to ride one, and Instagram feeds filled with photos taken from the picturesque Baybay, artists showing the baybay the world through their craft and musicians blessing the baybay-goers with their music.