"We simply have to adjust."
"We simply have to adjust."
We sometimes hear people saying how much they miss the old Baguio. These are senior citizens who experienced the difference between the Baguio then and the Baguio of today. It’s a bit funny hearing that considering that the city was only chartered on September 1, 1909 with only a few hundred people.
What do they mean when they say old Baguio? Are they referring to the pioneering years during the time of Governor General William Forbes who was responsible for chartering the city and wanted to develop it as the summer capital? This was followed by Governor General Francis Harrison who worked hard to promote the city as a summer destination. Harrison stayed in the country and became a Filipino. He is buried in the North Cemetery in Manila. Maybe the developmental years when American Mayor Eusebius Halsema was implementing the Burnham plan to make the city look basically the way it does today. Most likely, it is the post-war years between 1948 to 1965 when Baguio was the only vacation place where the bigwigs from Manila would congregate for their yearly Holy Week sojourn.
During those times, the city population was small. Life was a lot simpler, less hectic and less stressful. Baguio then could still be considered a small sleepy little town with not much going on. The Baguio population was between 14,000 to about 21,000 which is the equivalent of one large Baguio barangay nowadays. Today, Baguio’s population is approaching 400,000. Needless to say, the place is very crowded which is one reason why the quality of life is choking.
So what is it that oldtimers are missing about Baguio? For starters, with a small population, the pace of life was slow and easy. Crime was practically non-existent. The mountains were full of pine trees and offered a lot of outdoor activities like hiking unlike today where the trees have been replaced by houses. Baguio then as it is today is an educational center deriving a lot of its income from tourism. It also had a service economy because of the many mines near the city. Most of these mines are now gone. Baguio’s economy today however, has grown and is the main engine driving the development of the Cordillera Administrative Region. Most of the Baguio residents today are relatively new. By, that I mean about 20 years or less. The number of old Baguio residents are dwindling fast. Many of them have moved overseas in search of greener pastures or have simply passed away.
In the old days, one could wear a jacket in Baguio all day long even during summer. All the tourist spots like Burnham Park, Mirador Hill, Mines View, Wright Park and others were pristine. The Baguio Cathedral was truly a place of quiet solitude when one visits. It is still a church, of course, but it is also a pay parking area surrounded by business establishments. The serenity that people want to experience when visiting the house of God is somehow not there anymore. Burnham Park by about four in the afternoon would already be covered with fog and sweethearts holding hands sitting by the lake was a common sight until the early evening. Today, one is more likely to get mugged if one goes to the park in the early evening. By about seven or eight in the evening, Session Road would be practically deserted.
The three most popular watering holes in the city then were Session Café, Dainty restaurant and Star Café. These were the places where almost everyone would congregate to talk about the latest city news. The three are now gone like many other famous landmarks. The City Hall then was also so unlike today where the place is bursting with people and is like a market place.
The biggest attraction of all was the pleasant all year-round comfortable temperature that tourists and residents enjoy the most. Contrary to common knowledge that the lowest temperature recorded was 6.3 degrees Celsius in 1961, it was actually 3.5 degrees Celsius recorded at the Baguio Country Club sometime in 1907. Baguio is still colder than the lowlands but nowadays, it can get sweaty during summer which never happened in the old days. Global warming, folks.
I would think that after everything is said and done, it would boil down to lifestyle preferences. I seriously doubt that our younger generation would prefer a slower-paced lifestyle with none of the modern gadgets that we now have. A 1950s or 60s lifestyle would probably drive them crazy. For the older folks, we simply have to adjust. As they say, the only thing sure in life aside from death and taxes is change. Just try to enjoy what’s left of it.