Baguio's original inhabitants

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