Happy Holidays, Class 61 and Friends!

Presidential Elections 2010

If at all, how do you expect the 2010 elections to be different from past RP elections?
(philstar.com) Updated December 21, 2009 12:00 AM

Louella Brown, Baguio City: I expect the 2010 elections to be different from the past RP elections, because it will not be a choice of the lesser evil. We have a choice of the good.

Who is Dean Conant Worcester? ( Part II)

Chapter XVII of Dean Worcester’s book The Philippines: Past and Present is titled ”Baguio and the Benguet Road.“ The chapter is an account of Mr. Worcester's travel to Mountain Province. He learnt about the highlands of Northern Luzon from a Spaniard in the forestry bureau, Señor Domingo Sanchez, who described it as a region of pines and oaks blessed with a perpetually temperate climate and even with occasional frosts. As a scientist, Mr Worcester knew that the mere presence of pine and oak trees would mean the occurrence of special bird species feeding upon their seeds, and so determined to investigate. Spanish engineers had previously completed a survey for a carriage road, with estimates of the amount and cost of the necessary excavation and other work.

In July 1900 he sailed from Manila on a naval vessel for San Fernando then by road as far as Naguilian, and on horseback to Trinidad and Baguio. It was reported that negro soldiers were stationed at Trinidad and were being kept supplied by an army pack train and that they could not keep warm, calling for all the spare blankets available.

The trail proved to be in execrable condition. No repair work had been done on it since 1896, and its constant use during the then-existing rainy season by a pack train had completed its destruction. Much of the way it was a mere V in the earth, with deep mud at the bottom.

The party stopped for lunch at a little place properly called Sablán, but unofficially known as "The Bells." Aguinaldo had thought at one time of establishing his headquarters in Benguet and had planned to have a gun foundry at Sablán. His troops accordingly stole most of the church bells in the neighboring lowland towns, meaning to use them for gun metal, and compelled the unfortunate Benguet Igorots to carry them up the steep trail. Boiler pipes, which had been used in lieu of carrying poles, had in several instances been badly bent out of shape. There was even an old vertical boiler which had been lugged up entire for some unknown reason.

The labor involved must have been enormous. When the Igorot bearers, prostrated with fatigue, had refused to continue their titanic task without rest, they had been driven to it at the muzzles of Insurgent rifles, and that some of them had been shot as a lesson to the others. At all events, the boiler and the bells were there, and there the boiler and the larger bells have remained ever since!

It was still steaming hot at Sablán, and the whole countryside was buried in the densest tropical vegetation but they were literally dumfounded when within the space of a hundred yards they suddenly left the tropics behind and came out into a wonderful region of pine parks. Trees stood on the rounded knolls at comparatively wide intervals, and there were scores of places where, in order to have a beautiful house lot, one needed only to construct driveways and go to work with a lawn-mower. At the same moment, a delightful cold breeze swept down from the heights.

Just at sunset they experienced a second surprise, coming out on the knife-sharp crest of a ridge, the Trinidad Valley, which is shaped like a huge wash-basin. Its floor was vividly green with growing rice, Igorot houses were dotted here and there over its surface, and the whole peaceful, beautiful scene was illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. The air had been washed clean by the heavy rain which had poured down on us throughout the afternoon, and the sight was one never to be forgotten.

Just at dusk the party reached the little settlement of Trinidad, which had been the capital of the Spanish comandancia of Benguet, finding that its inhabitants were in part Ilocanos and in part Igorots.

On their arrival at Trinidad they received a letter from Mr. Otto Scheerer, the one white resident of Benguet, inviting the party to make their headquarters at his house, a distance of four miles over a pony trail. The country was gently rolling, its elevation ranging from forty-five hundred to fifty-two hundred feet. The hills were covered with short, thick grass, and with magnificent pine trees, which for the most part grew at considerable distance from each other, while along the streams there were wonderful tree ferns and luxuriant tangles of beautiful tropical vegetation. It took but a short time to decide that here was an ideal site for a future city, if water could be found in sufficient quantity.
(to be continued)
Photo: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fayfamily/dean_worcester.html

BenCab Museum in Asin

Several years ago, Delma L. introduced me to Tam-awan, a complex of Igorot huts lovingly transported from their natural habitat, and has become a mecca for the artistically-minded tourist and the general population, to view what the habitation in the “interior” would look like. The browse through the artwork on display, all in a Pinsao setting that does promote a cleaner, gentler and greener Baguio, is a pleasant activity and has increased awareness of the Baguio art scene, with works of famous and upcoming artists. It was set up by BenCab, aka Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, a Manila-born graduate of Fine Arts from UP. He has adopted Baguio as his home and where he does his work in painting and printmaking.

The BenCab Foundation has established the BenCab Museum, a spacious four-storey art gallery which houses a number of paintings and sculptures. A main feature is the Cordillera-inspired artwork. The Museum opened on 23rd February 2009. The property on which it stands is on a farm with a stream running through from a waterfall. The South China Sea view is out there in the west. In the northeast are limestone rocks. A steep slope of 300 plus steps reveals modern rooftops of the museum. A hut from Kalinga was lovingly moved into the property, and equipped with modern living amenities, for visiting family members. The terraced plots are planted with Baguio greens, strawberries, coffee.

This is the link to the website: http://bencabmuseum.org/?page_id=17

Photographs of the museum are found in:

http://www.ironwulf.net/2009/12/05/baguio-art-and-nature-fuse-at-bencab-museum/

Another feature of the Museum is Café Sabel, run by the same staff and management of Café by the Ruins. Sabel is a model-inspiration from the streets of Manila: a woman scavenger which is repeatedly a motif used by the artist.This link gives some photographs of the offerings of the Café:

http://allanko.net/2009/11/16/desserts-and-more-at-cafe-sabel-bencab-museum-baguio/

BenCab Museum is on Asin Road, Km.6 way before the Hot Springs.

Stunning Photos of Beautiful Philippines

Bobby Wong Jr. of Makati put together a collection of his high resolution photographs in a blog, and can be found in http://postcardsfrommanila.com
Some of those places are absolutely so photogenic. He has a good eye for composition and colors. It is quite certain you will be swept away with the beauty of the places, all found in the Philippines. The "ordinary" rice fields in Pangasinan for instance are renewed into painting-like canvas. The view of Baguio lights from Alaminos is so unusual and a perspective I would never have imagined in a million years. But the above photo is my favorite in the series, located in Kiangan, titled "Forest or the Trees?". You will get a better feel for the photo if you click on the image to enlarge. And reach out for your switer because you will feel the draft of the fog on your skin!
Enjoy Bobby Wong's photos!