Baguio council pushes common
reference material on city
Sunday,
September 22, 2013
IN
ITS brief profile of Baguio, a website says the original inhabitants of this
so-called Hill Station are "the Igorots, Kankana-eys and Ibalois."
Wikipedia,
the internet encyclopedia, counts this city's barangays at 129 and places its
elevation at 4,760 feet and then at 5,200 feet above sea level.
Such
disinformation and conflicting data would be corrected soon, at least by the
city’s tourist guides who would be duly accredited, should the City Council
adopt an ordinance providing a common reference material on facts and figures
about the country's Summer Capital.
Councilor
Elmer Datuin filed the measure last Monday to rectify errors. He pointed out
some information materials on Baguio "are at times inaccurate and may not
be the best description for a historical site and thereby resulting to
inaccurate information (being shared) to our tourists."
For
starters, the truth was and is that the Ibaloys were and are the original
inhabitants of Baguio, as correctly depicted in the parade marking the 104th
founding anniversary of the city last September 1.
Likewise,
the city has 128 barangays, not 129. "Barangay Bagong Lipunan" was
dropped from the list as its territorial coverage was the city market.
As
city policy, no part of the market can be used for residential purpose, hence
the so-called "barangay" established out of it was a misnomer.
Datuin
proposed the City Schools Division, the City Tourism Office and the Public
Information division of the City Mayor's Office prepare the common reference
material, not only on Baguio’s actual elevation, but more focused on background
information on the city's historical and heritage sites.
This
would mean the City Tourism Office will conduct an orientation for tour guides,
managers and operators so they would be able to tell tourists why the city's
inclined and short main street is called "Session Road" and what
those "keystones" at its upper rotuna stand for.
In
the measure's definition of terms, Datuin turned to Wikipedia for guidance in
defining historical and heritage sites:
"A
historic site is an official location where pieces of political, military or
social history have been preserved. Historic sites are usually protected by
law, and many have been recognized with the official national historic site
status. A historic site is ant building, landscape, site or structure that is
of local, regional or national significance."
"A
heritage site is a location designated by the governing body of a township, county,
province, state or country as important to the cultural heritage of a
community. The term usually refers to any non-movable object with a specific
location such as any preserved landscape containing important artifacts such as
historic gardens, nature preserves, or archeological sites."
Historically,
Baguio was where the second world war in the Philippines began and ended,
specifically at the Camp John Hay. The former United States military camp was
bombed morning of Dec. 8, 1941, signaling the start of the war. Close to four
years later, at about noon of Sept. 3, 1945, Gen. Yamashita, the commander of
the Japanese Imperial Forces in the Philippines, signed the surrender papers at
the High Commissioner’s Residence (now the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence) inside
the camp, marking the end of the war.
Mayor
Mauricio Domogan had been batting for the celebration of the surrender, saying
it would serve as a positive juxtaposition to the country’s annual observance
of defeat every April 9, the day when the Allied Forces surrendered in Bataan
in 1942.
Kiangan,
the old town in Ifugao where Yamashita surrendered to the United States forces
on September 2, 1945 before being flown in to Baguio, has included the event
among its red-letter days. (Ramon Dacawi)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2013/09/22/baguio-council-pushes-common-reference-material-city-304653
