BEFORE everything gets lost, Baguio must flex its right to save what remains of the vestiges of its history that tell all and sundry that this once remote upland had to be built to enable all and sundry to enjoy a temperate climate that is unusual in the tropics.
Slowly but surely, the city is losing its allure of cottages built as part of what the American builders then called the “Summer Capital of the Philippines”, when the central government would come up in a respite from the tropical or lowland heat in March.
The intrusive posture to destroy what was built is a result of the ignorance of national government leaders of Baguio history. Coming up to Baguio at the start of their power, these officials get afflicted with the “utak semento” once they occupy the cottages built for their offices by and during the American regime.
For one, the so-called “Cabinet Hill”, so named for the fact that the summer cottages of the members of the cabinet were built in a cluster by the American founding fathers, is no longer.
Cabinet Hill has turned into a monstrosity of concrete. The abundant, well-chosen and therefore prized wood panels of the interiors of the original buildings are gone. What remains of Cabinet Hill – and therefore should be saved - are the Secretary of Justice cottage and a few other original structures. To appreciate what we are pushing, people of Baguio who never had a glimpse of the original interior of the buildings of the hill should ask the caretaker for a look-see of the interior of this remaining cottage before it is gone. Meanwhile, city government authorities can rush and ask the Department of Justice to preserve this lone building and other historical structures that are part of the formative years of Baguio.
That’s what they did to Camp John Hay. Not all of the wooden buildings built by the Americans were knocked down. The base commander’s cottage and a few other finely designed wooden structures remains to remind us of the base’s and Baguio’s history.
That’s why we mourn the decision of a national government official to knock down and rebuild the former Press Secretary’s Cottage fronting the Presidential Mansion. The building, like all the others reserved for members of the cabinet, was, for years, exclusive to the powers that be, and Baguio residents could only look in from the outside. A breakthrough came when it was assigned to the Philippine Information Agency regional office, finally enabling Baguio boys and girls to use the facility within their midst. We had bonfires, get-togethers, press conferences and could lie down on the grass of the compound.
Suddenly, with the new administration, the building had to be vacated by the PIA,. In order to give way to a national official’s desire to knock it down and, in its place, build another building for his official use.
For many Baguio residents, this sudden decision from up or down there in Imperial Manila gives them the feeling of again looking in from the outside, unable to have access to and use government properties within their city. They mourn this decision to return the compound for the exclusive use of officials and their associates and relative who come up and occupy the same for a few days only once or twice a year.
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(Email: mondaxbench@yahoo.com for comments)