BAGUIO BLUES
Love It, Hate It, Over Rate It! What’s The Big Deal About Baguio?
I went to Baguio the other day. I was there for work, checking on the changes to update our maps and make sure they are as accurate as we can make them. I have never really liked Baguio. My first trip there was in 1989 and I thought it was overrated then. I still think it is not what they tout it to be, but is that the fault of the city or the marketing people selling the place?
Baguio is the “Summer Capital” of the Philippines. In fact the President has a mansion there. You can’t miss it as it has “The Mansion” spelt out in white painted stones across the front lawn. About as tacky as any Filipino edifice and in keeping with the childlike emulating of the US Presidential Office. I giggle how they call the husband of the President “The First Gentleman”. What was even more silly was the media referring to “The First Grandchild”. How insulting is that to all the other grandchildren and grandparents in the country? Anyway, you can’t miss the place, just near Wright Park and on the way to Mines View.
The Americans put the place on the map. A chap called Burnham was the architect I believe. Burnham Park in the center of town has a boating lake and nice lawns and is but a short stroll to the grandiose named let down of the Pines of the World Park. This is a scraggly bit of parkland with some pine trees in it and a silver jewellery shop. Camp John Hay is the best kept part of town, mostly because for so long it was a recreation area for US military and not managed by Filipino’s. Having seen it during the days of the US Bases and recently, I must confess it is showing its age a little under current local management.
We came up the back road from La Union but you can use the twisty Kennon Road (named after the US Engineer who finished the road project started by Europeans over 100 years ago), or the Marcos Highway. The Marcos Highway has two new names now, depending on which province you are in when on it. You can still see the remains of the bust of Marcos on a hillside as you descend. It was supposed to be the “Mount Rushmore” of the Philippines but it really is little more than typical of the somewhat embarrassing Filipino habit of idolising all that is American or Spanish. You can now see the bust was a ferro concrete affair built over a framework, not carved from solid rock like the original South Dakota masterpiece. I have seen Mount Rushmore with my own eyes and I must say this Marcos bust is a joke in comparison. To even compare the two is something only the desperate, insecure or naive would contemplate. Marcos’ stronghold in Ilocos Province is not far away and people there still idolise him and his thieving family. After stealing billions from the Philippine people and murdering so many during Martial Law, it is a testament to the clan like culture of this country that so many still revere the dictator and his avaricious missus.
Baguio itself is easy to take in by car. So long as you have air-conditioning so that you can enjoy the cool climate without the pollution you will have plenty of time to see the sights as the traffic is absurd. So many of the twisty roads are single lane and there has been such an explosion of people and vehicles over the past ten years it has had a very negative effect on the atmosphere. It is cooler but it is also polluted. An inversion layer or whatever the experts call it sits over the bowl that Baguio nestles in and keeps the fumes hanging around.
You can still get a giggle watching the locals walk around in parkas and woollen jumpers, but then way down in Angeles I was amazed to see people wearing winter clothing even during the day. The temperature had plummeted there to 18 or 19 Celsius (68f-70f) overnight and even colder up here in the mountains. My GPS had us at about 5,000 feet and the temperature was down to 14 Celsius (60f). I was loving it! The last time I had been there, in 2002 with my wife, it had rained incessantly. The rainy season from June to November brings very heavy rainfalls and blocked roads and it can be miserable. At the moment there is still the threat of meningococcal virus hanging around, although we kept away from the public market where the fatal cases had been reported from.
Sessions Road is still a steep snarl of traffic and shops and home to one of four McDonalds in town. The other ones are in a mall nearby, along the road past the market and in the new SM Mall. This new mall is really nicely laid out and naturally cooled. Of course there is nothing to buy there you can’t get in any other SM Mall but it is a benchmark of Baguio’s coming of age.
There are so many housing developments springing up around town they are running out of usable land. Squatters add to the eye pollution by perching on any steep hillside and daring nature to run them off with a heavy rain and a landslide. IT firms and call centers are taking advantage of the cooler weather to attract staff and so Baguio is becoming more than merely a seasonal get away from the humidity of Manila and the Luzon Plain. Infrastructure is struggling to keep up but there are opportunities to be had here, for sure.
The views are lovely, the cooler weather is wonderful for those of us brought up in cooler climes and for the expat you can pretty much get anything here you would ever want. Manila is a ten hour drive away but there are hospitals and malls and an airport and golf courses and so much more. Those who call Baguio home really swear by the place and my opinion is just one of many. By far the best suggestion is to go and spend some time there and make your own mind up. If you hit the city in the latter half of February you will enjoy the Flower Festival, but the traffic would have to be even more intense than usual.






