Heritage Hill opens, shares its new facilities

LOOKING for a conference area for your team building and seminar activities in Baguio? Then try the newly opened conference hall at the former Diplomat hotel now known as the "Heritage Hill" located at the highest portion of the Dominican-Mirador hill barangay area.

Councilor Phillian Weygan-Allan, co-chairman of the Baguio Heritage Committee headed the opening ceremonies of the two newly furbished conference hall inside the former Diplomat hotel that can accommodate a number of guest for two hundred pesos an hour and opens at 8 a.m. till 5 p.m.

The conference hall located at the right wing area facing the Heritage Hill boast of a well lighted and newly painted ceiling, newly laid brick tiles for its walls and refurbished flooring coupled with newly installed windows, and the largest Ten Commandments tablet in the world recorded by the Guinness book of world records.

A perfect place for a serine environment, especially for conferences, seminars, team building activities, and even for wedding ceremonies.

Councilor Weygan-Allan explained that although now cooking is allowed within and inside the premises of the Heritage Hill, private catering services are allowed provided that the customers would assure the cleanliness of the area after any activity.

Not only is the Heritage Hill a place for group dynamics, but once fully developed, the rehabilitated building and surrounding area amounting to eighty million pesos is expected to be a nature park with appropriate amenities and facilities for tourists, spiritual, environmental and historical purposes as well, based on the earlier deed of conveyance and city resolutions.

At present, the city has amassed around thirty million pesos for its initial rehabilitation and development. Aside from the two conference hall, the Heritage Hill also has four gazebos and two viewing decks.

The land area where the Heritage Hill stands, was part of the seventeen hectare land property of the Dominican Order of the Philippines in the 1900's. The summer retreat house later became the Collegio del Santissimo Rosario.

When World War II broke, the aa was converted into a refugee center but was later bombed by the Japanese forces resulting to major devastation of the building and property.

Reconstruction work started in 1947 and was continued to be used by the Dominican Order until 1973 when the Diplomat Hotel Corporation gained ownership until ceasing operations in 1987.

Unfortunately, the property was abandoned and remained close to the public that was considered as a spooky place for ghost hunting until it became a property of the Ministry of Human Settlements and later on by the Presidential Management Staff before being owned by the city in 2002 and finally conveyed to Baguio in May of 2004.

Councilor Weygan-Allan assured the public of the structural safety of the building and its surroundings. Repairs are scheduled to be done on the present structures of the building with no destruction to its facade, to assure the semblance of its historical value to the people.

The Baguio Heritage Committee has also asked the assistance of the University of Santo Tomas and the Philippine Historical Commission of the Philippines to assist in the setting-up of a historical marker that would show the contributions of the facility to the city of Baguio.