Guessing Game 12. Match the sons with a parent

AND WHOSE DUTIFUL SONS ARE THESE FELLOWS?? Which ones carry on the family name? They are marked A,B,C and D. Try to match them with a parent who belongs to Class 61. Good luck!!

Cable Car System to Baguio

BAGUIO CITY – A top official of the Department of Transportation and Communications here said the best way to attract more foreign and domestic tourists to Baguio would be a cable car system from the lowland province of La Union to this mountain resort city.

The proposed cable car system will help shorten the one-and-a-half hour travel time from Baguio to La Union and vice versa to only 30 minutes, and would provide tourists a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside.

DOTC Undersecretary Giling Mamondiyong said there is no longer room for the expansion of Baguio’s Loakan Airport although it will still remain open for smaller planes. He said the development of the Poro Point International Airport in nearby San Fernando City, La Union will also help strengthen the local tourism industry.

Mamondiyong told local officials that he will request President Arroyo to allocate funds for a feasibility study for a cable car system, which he said will also address the perennial problem of major road closures between Baguio and the lowlands during typhoons and landslides.

The DOTC official admitted that the development of the Poro Point International Airport slowed down a bit because of marketing problems that could result to bigger problems in the future. He said appropriate remedies are being implemented to make the airport operational within the year.

The airport was supposed to begin full operations last October to cater to the increasing number of tourist arrivals in La Union, from where tourists usually motor up to Baguio.

Mamondiyong said the national government is not abandoning plans to rehabilitate and upgrade the Poro Point airport because it will serve as an air transport hub in Northern Luzon.

The official said establishing a cable car system between La Union and Baguio could be one of the best legacies of the Arroyo administration to the people of Northern Luzon who rely on tourism as a major source of income. Manila Daily Bulletin, February 9, 2010

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/242696/cable-car-system-link-la-union-baguio-pushed

Photo: Romanian cable car

Idjay Session Road Tayo: Part II

The Americans planned Baguio with Washington, DC as its inspiration. Session Road no doubt then was planned after Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Baguio holds the honor (perhaps) as being the first place the Japanese bombed in December 1941, with Camp John Hay as the target, followed by a Japanese regiment occupying the city. The prime buildings on Session Road were occupied by the Japanese, and General Yamashita held court at his headquarters. Finally in April 1945 the American Army advanced from Bauang to liberate Baguio.

The Cathedral on Kampo Hill (later known as Mount Mary) was completed in 1936 by Belgian missionaries. It is no accident that it was built on the highest point of Baguio proper. It was used as a wartime shelter and evacuation center during the bombing. Many built temporary housing around the cathedral, spilling the population over to Session Road.

Photo: pacificwrecks.com
Baguio Cathedral (Our Lady of the Atonement) in Baguio
US Army vehicles displaying Japanese flags meet civilians
Credit: Carl R. Thien Date: April 27, 1945

Idjay Session Road Tayo: Part 1

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The old, old Session Road: none of us were born yet when this photo was taken (ca. 1940?) . It was also before the Japanese and American bombs/ grenades/ guns fouled up the city big time, and with carpet bombing. I reckon the city proper population would have been about 5 - 8,000. (Does anyone know?) The Philippines was still under American rule.

Commerce largely catered to the mines people, government employees, the handful of schools, and the military. Chinese, Japanese and Indian businesses were starting to make their mark with dry goods, hardware, vehicle parts, restaurants. Harrison Road was a close competitor for the business establishments.

One can view the Old Stone Market at the bottom of the road. Camp Allen was dotted with just a few buildings in the foreground. Telephone numbers probably had only three digits. The vehicle population was not contributing much to the air pollution, as concluded from the number of cars on this "busy" road.

The late Fernando Bautista has a vivid account of the Japanese Occupation Session Road: during the difficult times after the air raids and resistance and retreat, he discovered his flair for buy-and-sell, and soon found squatting space across Pines Theater, six meters frontage and 20 meters breadth. With materials salvaged from elsewhere, he opened a store, and sublet a portion to Mr. Jose Cornel, who sold handicrafts and woven goods. The other portion also contained a barbershop, while the family with four young Bautista boys who slept in double deck beds. They attended Baguio Central, which was badly damaged, but classes were held in tents and chairs made out of of American K ration boxes.

Mr. Bautista learned how to do barber’s work but was finished off with the hired barbers, while the older boys would shine shoes of their American solider clients. One workday a customer, Mr. Rosendo Donida, was seated at one of the five barber chairs, and chatted with Mr. Bautista, about opening a school, the latter being a UP professor before the war. ‘Problem is, I said, I don’t have the capital. And the man says, No problem, I provide you the classrooms and you get the permit and you teach.’
(In: http://tatay.ubaguio.edu/?page_id=85)

And that was how Baguio Tech started. How many other Baguio successful ventures were incubated in Session Road? I just don’t know.

Do you have any recollections or stories to share, on Session Road as you knew it? Much obliged, if you could forward them for blogging. Thanks in advance.

Response to Guessing Game 11

After carefully considering the two entries to Guessing Game 11, namely Marlo's playhouse in Pacdal, and a futuristic guess of a Class 61 alumni hut, I regret to announce that both have been good tries, but totally wrong: it is the tree house at PMA! My sister and I, last May, went to visit an ailing aunt in Tuba, and later on we decided to see that property that my father had a township application for and where we as kids planted coffee seedlings from Mr. E. Ramos: right in front of the Fort del Pilar gate. The property is now filled up with plenty of housing.

We also decided to go into the Fort: the area still affirms the fact that there are still some pine tree groves exuding oxygen into the Baguio air. The picnic area contains several tables, and also this tree house: it is so photogenic and thus gave me the idea of sharing it with my dear classmates and try to guess what it is, where it is.

Who was Dean Conant Worcester? (Part III)

Third and last of the series

Rodney Sullivan writes in his book, Exemplar of Americanism (University of Michigan, 1991) that Worcester was an overachiever, a major architect of early American colonial policy, served longer and exerted more influence than any other Philippine Commissioner, introduced scientific practices in numerous government offices, participated ferociously in the colonial debates, encouraged the establishment of a hill station, at Baguio. He was also a highly opinionated, overbearing arrogant bully, detested by Philippine nationalists.

In many ways Worcester typified the American colonial mission. He was talented, pragmatic, tireless, unquestioning, and ruthless in the pursuit of what he considered right. Heralded for nearly two decades as America’s foremost expert on the Philippines, he was scathingly critical of Filipino society and its values, unable to comprehend the validity of a culture that did not conform to an American ideal. Described by more than one of his countrymen as an ‘exemplary’ of Americanism, a colonial statesman making ‘lasting contributions to mankind,’ from the Filipino perspective he represented merely the ‘immovable column’ of a ‘hypocritical foreign administration.’

Sullivan’s book was reviewed in 1992 by Miguel A Bernad, S.J., Editor of Kinaadman, A Journal of the Southern Philippines. Here are excerpts , sub-titled The Imperial Designer: “During the American Occupation from 1899 to 1913, probably the single most influential and most powerful American in the Philippines was Worcester. (As an American historian, Lewis Gleeck, calls him ‘the American official most detested by Filipinos.”) He also campaigned vigorously for the retention of the Philippines as a permanent American possession. “In his polemic Worcester was not above using a double standard of truth.

“But Worcester’s greatest influence was felt during the 13 years (1900-1913) as a member of the Second Philippine Commission that held both legislative and executive powers. He occupied the key post of Secretary of the Interior that gave him control over a very wide field, including public health, science, agriculture, natural resources, and non-Christian tribes. While justly critical of Worcester’s abrasive methods Sullivan does mention some of his solid and very important achievements.

He was responsible for the establishment of the Philippine General Hospital, and the Philippine (now the U.P.) school of medicine.

With the defeat of the Republicans in the 1912 elections, Worcester saw the probability of his being ousted from his very powerful position in the Philippine government. He submitted his resignation in June 1913 and became an employee of the American-Philippine Corporation organized to exploit Philippine resources. At the same time he launched a vigorous campaign against Philippine Independence. The objective of the campaign was to convince the American people that the Filipinos were not ready for independence.”

In the process he collected many admirers and many enemies. “To many Filipinos, on the other hand, Worcester was the exemplar of ‘Americanism’ in its ugliest and most objectionable features… The Worcester policy of course was American imperialism pure and simple, and Filipinos had a right to condemn it. On the other hand, in trying to implement that policy, Worcester did bring lasting benefits to the country.”

Baguio benefited. Baguio honored him by being named a Baguio Builder.

Some of Worcerster's published works are:

Villaverde, Juan Fernandez. 1909. The Ifugaos of Quiangan and Vicinity. Translated and edited by Dean C. Worcester. Philippine Journal of Sciences, vol. 4 (A), No.4:237-262
Head-hunters of northern Luzon. National Geographic Magazine 1912
Field sports among the wild men of Northern Luzon. National Geographic Magazine 1911
The non-Christian Peoples of the Philippine Islands. National Geographic Magazine 1913
The Philippine Islands and their people. Macmillan 1899
The Philippine Islands and Their People 1898
The Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon 1906
The Philippines Past and Present two volumes, 1913
One Year of the New Era 1914
Field sports among the wild men of Northern Luzon 1911
Slavery and peonage in the Philippine Islands 1913

GUESSING GAME 11: WHAT/WHERE AM I?

Take a guess and choose only one, on what and where is this object:

A Art B's bedroom in The Lagoon with a view of Dagupan on a clear day

B Where Norma G-A practices her daily singing lessons in Silicon Valley

C Joselito C's penthouse/drum and bugle music club in Southern California

D Pedro B's wheat and maize and soyabean storage silo in the mid-West

E Gallery, where Emil A. keeps his Pacific art treasures in the Bay Area

F Extensive Law and Lawless Library of Atty Ray T. in Baguio

G Joe A's sentry and bird (what kind?) lookout point in Mount Pulag

H Delma L's Mediation and Soothing Music Room in City Camp

I Ludy B-A's Abs Gym, Foot and Hand Spa cum X-Ray Lab in Trancoville

J Louella M-B's Emergency Flooding Lookout at Carino St.

K Rudy L's squirrel-, raccoon-free pantry and book warehouse, Upper New York State

L Vic P's strawberry and everlasting harvest transport staging at his Pico Farm

M Eunice B-D's Sunday School Classroom for Teens on Magsaysay Avenue

N Gloria R-D's First and Last Aid and Counseling Station at Bokawkan Road

O Lito V's Headquarters and Office for Sister City Friendly Relations, California

P Nora C-B's Ticket Office for RT Oakland-Bauang no-frills, no-engine flights

Q Erlinda D-G's Free Clinic for Class61 Classmates and Their Families

R Salvacion F-G's Architectural Design Firm and Comics Collection Cubicle

S Franklin F's Big Apple Inspiration, Motivation and Creative Laboratory

T Charito P-P & Julia M's Joint Teacher Burnout and Stress Rehab Clinic

U Rosalia Q-N's Recovery Room and Birdhouse in LA

V Ed B's DVD, CD, HDTV, ABCD, XYZ Recording Digital Studio, California

W Maryann Z-F's Sanctuary for Canines and Humans, California

X Marlo P-A's grandchildren's playhouse and recreational headquarters,Pacdal

Y Amparo N P's Party and Rec Room

Z Evelyn D-B's balaybalay idiay iggid iti bantay, but the bantay is no longer there.

(Sorry a, ta naibusanak iti alphabet. Will probably continue next round with another set of classmates who are not mentioned here. Your contributions will be highly valued!)

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