Baguio, Benguet & Tarlac: Back to Metro Manila

Today was the last day of our road trip. We got up just in time for the complimentary breakfast at Villa Cordillera. Eating at the hotel restaurant Le Terrace is always a great experience since the panoramic view of the pine tree-covered hill behind the hotel is very relaxing to the senses. After paying our hotel bill, we were off to La Trinidad's strawberry fields.

Right beside the boundary arch between Baguio City and La Trinidad is the entrance of one of Baguio's hidden secrets, a Chinese temple called Bell Church. Not many people know about it since it's quite far from all the other city attractions. And today, it is easily obscured by all the urban chaos that sadly accumulated along the way to La Trinidad. We decided to stopover for a few minutes to check it out.

It's my second time to visit the strawberry fields in two weeks. Picking strawberries was a bit cheaper this time around at PHP150 a kilo. The price of those sold by the vendors was the same too and I got several kilos of strawberries for PHP70 each. We had lunch at Kalei's. The place and ambiance is much better that where Jolly Yan is located. And the food, just as affordable with its "meat plus meat" at PHP50. But I still think the home-cooked meals of Jolly Yan are worth the visit.

After lunch, we left Doc Ryan in La Trinidad and began our trip back to Metro Manila via Kennon Road. For most people, since the trip back to Manila is relatively long and tiring, they just keep on driving as fast as they could down Kennon Road. And as a result, we rarely notice the scenery along the route. I'm sure we've all seen the waterfalls along the route. But have you ever stopped to check them out up close?

Bridal Veil Falls actually caught our fancy since there was a pedestrian suspension bridge that connected it to Kennon Road. So we parked the car in front of a store and crossed the makeshift bridge. Below us was a mountain stream that emptied into a vast riverbed further down the road. I guess the falls got its name from the fact that it resembled a bridal veil as the water cascaded down the smoothened rock into a small pool.

I really think that the entire length of Kennon Road should be declared a protected cultural landscape because most of the scenic route - the picturesque view of the mountains, lush vegetation and pine trees - is still intact. There is a need to regulate the construction of new structures in order to protect the historical fabric of our country's oldest mountain road which was completed in 1905. I hope the National Historical Institute or the National Museum act fast before it's too late.

Anyway, we finally crossed the Benguet-La Union boundary and just a few kilometers away, the boundary of Pangasinan. I had to pass by Rosales for a while to talk with the mayor. I was pleasantly surprised that the restoration of the old municipal hall was finally complete. Unlike other towns such as Moncada, Tarlac which bastardized their elegant colonial-era town halls, Rosales chose to preserve theirs. In fact, even the pre-war statues of a farmer on a carabao with his wife were rehabilitated and repainted, bringing out the vivid colors that were very chic during the pre-war days.

Our last stop for the day was the Isdaan Resaurant in Gerona. This one is an attraction in itself. I congratulate the owners for such a great concept. If you've heard of the Tacsiyapo Wall (tacsiyapo is a Kapampangan expletive), you can find it here. From cups at PHP15, to clocks and working television sets, customers can purchase these items to hurl at a wall to release their anger. On the wall, several target words are painted such as 5/6, ex-wife, professors and classmates; sugal, alak and babae; boss, managers, and supervisors; and many others.

The food is a bit pricey though and expect to spend at least PHP200 per head. But you go here for the experience. And the food is great too. We ordered Innapoy rice rolls for our appetizer which was suman with longganiza, bakang maanghang and chicken curry in it. It's something new and I really liked it. For dinner, we had binalot rice meals. Anyway, after this dinner stopover, we continued our trip back to Manila.

I have class tomorrow and a report at that so I guess I'll just be home preparing for it.

Pangasinan: Another road trip in Pangasinan

I made another trip to Lingayen, Pangasinan today to attend to some business at the elegant Pangasinan Provincial Capitol. I left Pampanga together with my brods Ryan and Adrei at 6 a.m. We were rushing since we had to be there at 9 a.m. So the only stopover we made was at the Jollibee drive-thru in Luisita.

The fastest route to Lingayen is via Santa Ignacia and Camiling, Tarlac passing through the town of San Clemente before reaching the first town of Pangasinan which is Mangatarem. Camiling used to have a grand church, the oldest and largest church in Tarlac. But unfortunately, this heritage church got burned in April 1997. I noticed that Camiling still has a lot of heritage structures around the poblacion area. If the local government unit is able to do things right they could still save the character of the town.

As we entered Pangasinan we were greeted by some of the best views of the Philippine countryside. The rice crop was just about ready for harvesting so the fields were immaculately green with the rice grains at a golden brown. Behind the fields were the foothills of the Zambales mountains. If only we had time to stop over. Sigh!

Anyway, Mangatarem had a really old church and intact convento. You would immediately notice it because of its oversized turquoise blue dome. I promised myself to check it out on the way back. There were several Gabaldon schoolhouses and a colonial period town hall as well. The next town Aguilar had an equally impressive church as well as an intact covento very similar to the one in Mangatarem.

After passing through the town of Bugallon, we made a right at the intersection following the road to Dagupan. Lingayen was just a few kilometers away. You could immediately see the belltower of the church as you neared the capital town of Pangasinan. As you enter, you are greeted by several ancestral houses.

Although there are still a large number of heritage structures in the town, Lingayen is on the verge of transforming itself into another nondescript Filipino community without character. The stupid parish priest had demolished a centuries-old brick convento and replaced it with commercial stalls (left). The parish priest could have preserved the convento by employing adaptive re-use, altering the interiors to accomodate commercial stalls.

In the center of town is a modern public market. But just beside it is one of the best-preserved Spanish colonial period casas reales in the country (right) which is now used by the Sangguniang Bayan of Lingayen. If only the local government in Lingayen was able to regulate the designs of these new buildings. There is a proper way of building new structures in old districts. Scale and proportions are very important.

We finally made it to the Pangasinan Capitol after two hours and thirty minutes traveling. It was the second time for me to visit the building. And looking at the stately building which the provincial government painstakingly restored to its pristine condition gives me hope for heritage. The governor is in the process of landscaping the boulevard and open spaces that lead to the said building. For this I say, "Bravo Governor Agbayani!" It's sad that he is on his third term.

After our meeting we visited the beach right at the back of the Capitol which was the landing site of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Lingayen. On display are some World War II relics such as a fighter plane and a tank, as well as old photos in an exhibit area built by the LGU. We made our way to the fine gray sand beach which had a hotel and huts-for-rent.

We didn't have much time since we wanted to be in Pampanga before 5 p.m. So we made our way back after a quick lunch.

We were able to take photos at the Aguilar Church which was still very much intact except for the fact that they had replaced the old floor tiles with cheap marble. We really need to educate our priests and parish pastoral councils. I saw remnants of the black and white tiles outside and could imagine how much more charming the interior of the church would have looked with those tiles.

The ceiling, choirloft, pulpit and retablo were intact as well and I hope it remains that way. Right beside it was the original convento which except for the cement palitada inside, was very much the same structure. FYI, there is a proper mixture of palitada for these old churches and the current cement mixture is too strong and does not allow the structure to breathe.

After Aguilar, I can't remember what happened since I was too tired and lacked sleep having slept for only an hour the night before. So I was asleep for most of the trip back and thus missed stopovers at Mangatarem and Camiling. Oh well, maybe next time!

Pangasinan & Zambales: The road less travelled

Going back to Manila from Bolinao, people rarely take the Zambales route obviously because it's longer. But you are missing a lot if you've never passed this road. Indeed, it provides one of the best views of the Philippine countryside as well as the beaches along the South China Sea. So if you have a lot of time to spare and extra funds for gas, I suggest you give it a try.

From Bolinao, I was planning to pass by Alaminos again to try the quarterpounder at McDonald's which many of my brods claim is the best they've tasted. On the way, I was curious to take a look at the island municipality of Anda which could be accessed by a long bridge somewhere between Bolinao and Bani. Except for the view from the bridge and the white sand beach of Tondol, nothing much to see in Anda. So on I went.

For some reason, I missed the turn to Alaminos and ended up in the faster route to Zambales. I guess it was a blessing in disguise. From Bani, I passed by Agno, Burgos where I took photos of the Gabaldon school building, Dasol which was a salt producing town, and finally the last town of Pangasinan, Infanta. All these towns were by the beach and there were a lot of small resorts along the road. Imagine the potential of these pristine beaches!

The first town upon entering Zambales was Sta. Cruz. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many old houses still intact, in fact they lined-up along the streets one after the other. And the coral Church of St. Michael the Archangel was just perfect (except for the modern interior). Although the houses were neglected, if restored properly, Sta. Cruz has potential of becoming another heritage town and a showcase for Zambales. Which is why I immediately contacted Vice-Governor Ramon Lacbain II, who is a SSEAYP alumnus like myself, to check if he was in town. Great! He was free to meet me in Olongapo City.

The next stop, actually one of the main reasons I took the Zambales route, was Masinloc. Its church was declared a national cultural treasure in 2001. But when I got there, all the doors were locked since the structure is currently being restored by the NHI. A personal disappointment since I did not get to see the interior but very good news for heritage. After all that bad news I saw in Pangasinan, here was a perfect example of the proper management of a heritage church. The formula is simple, get techinical support from the experts! What's wrong with asking for help from those who know what to do? In the government, you have the NCCA, National Museum and the NHI. From the private sector, you have groups like the Heritage Conservation Society.

Thumbs up to the Masinloc's San Antonio Church Restoration Volunteers headed by Fr. Ernie Raymundo, which is currently raising counterpart funds from citizens of the town. I also commend Sen. Aquilino Pimintel for releasing P4.76 million from his CDF to fund the restoration of this 1607 church which was badly damaged in a December 1999 earthquake. For those who want to donate funds, you can call telephone no. (63 47) 8215678.

It was getting dark and I still had two churches to visit. It was another 45 minutes from Masinloc to the provincial capital Iba, which is the birthplace of former president Ramon Magsaysay. There are a lot of old houses around but I didn't have much time to explore so I just took photos of the1703 Cathedral of St. Augustine, the seat of the Diocese of Iba. The current bishop, the Most Rev. Florentino G. Lavarias, D.D. was a former parish priest in San Fernando, Pampanga.

A few minutes away was Botolan. It was quite dark but I was able to get a shot of the small coral Church of Sta. Monica. It was then that I realized that I had not eaten at all! I guess I was just too excited with my trip. So I stopped over at one of the towns to rest when I saw a Mister Donut sign as well as an internet shop. It turns out, it was San Narciso, which breaks were quite popular among surfers.

To make the long story short, I reached Olongapo at 8 p.m., close to five hours after I had left Bolinao! So it was straight to Sam's Pizza where the vice-governor was waiting for me. The chicken teriyaki pizza I ate was great. We were able to tackle a lot for tourism in Zambales. I'll let you know about the plans when they've all been firmed up. But definitely, the plans are exciting and grand. I got back in Pampanga at 1 a.m.

Time for me to rest now. I'm flying to Cebu at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Yipee! Another whirlwind adventure, this time in Central Visayas. I plan to visit five provinces in six days. Hehe! I hope I make it to all.

Pangasinan: Marine research in Bolinao

What a day! I'm about to leave the Bolinao Marine Lab of the UP MSI for my trip back to Pampanga. It seems my laptop crashed so I'm using Sasa's for the meantime. Just my luck! Anyway, I helped Sasa in the field this morning. At the moment, he is a research assistant for a sea cucumber breeding projet of the DA-Bureau of Agricultural Research. They are developing culture of a certain species of sea cucumber - Holothuria scabra, not only for commercial purposes but for re-seeding depleted stocks as well.

One thing the Philippines fails to realize is its potential competitive advantage in aquaculture. The said sea cucumbers we were working on are among the most expensive, if not the most expensive in the market. The photo on the right are young H. scabra sea cucumbers that were bred at the lab which we were going to plant in the research pens near Santiago Island. If only the goverment spent more on research and development, not just in aquaculture, but in various fields since we have so much raw talent and natural resources available here in the country.

We took a pump boat from the lab to waters near Santiago Island where research is ongoing on various projects. Another project which they are working on is the breeding of sea urchins for re-seeding as well. Stocks have been depleted (see comment below) since fishermen overcollected them in the 80s and the 90s for the Japanese uni market. While Sasa and his assistants were putting the young sea cucumbers in their pens, I went snorkelling amongst the sea grass to check out the wildlife and saw quite a number. In my hand are a sea urchin - Tripneustes gratilla, and a starfish - Protoreaster nodosus. The urchin in my hand is the one they breed for uni.

After that, we went to check out the pens of the older sea cucumbers to dig out for them. These were brought back to the lab for monitoring and weighing, then thrown back into the pens. Yikes! I didn't realize digging for sea cucumbers would be hard since they burrow themselves under the sand. It took us quite a while to find them. Hehe!

When we finally got all of them, we went to another side of Bolinao to harvest Sargassum. There was none on the side we were on since most of it was already consumed by the sea urchins. The sea weeds are processed in a blender and is used to feed the sea cucumbers in the hatchery.

We're now back at the lab. Now that Sasa and his assistant are weighing the sea cucumbers, I'm typing my blog entry. Hehe!

How to get to Bolinao, Pangasinan
Victory Liner and Five Star have several bus trips from Manila to Bolinao daily. Trips begin at about 7 a.m. and leave at intervals of 2 to 3 hours.

Pangasinan: Driving to the edge of Pangasinan

Another road trip today. It's so difficult when you don't have a digital camera so I had to rely on my mobile phone. I was in Rosales, Pangasinan this morning to do some research. And I decided to finish my work here in Bolinao right by the beach. At least the atmosphere is more relaxed. And I was able to check mail thanks to my brod Sasa Miralao who is a marine biologist at the Bolinao Laboratory of the UP Marine Science Institute (UP MSI) which has WiFi access. Hehe!

It was quite a long but leisurely drive from Rosales to Bolinao. It takes you from the southeast to northwestern tip of Pangasinan. I made a stop at San Carlos City since I was attracted by its old church (above). Lo and behold! It was very much intact but there was evidence of ongoing renovation which could be potentially destructive. Will someone please tell these priests and parish pastoral councils to stop touching all these heritage churches. In fact, they were painting the old floor tiles white. Duh! That is not the way to clean tiles!

After San Carlos was Calasiao. The old church and convento, and even the lot around it was very well- preserved. But for crying out loud, they plastered the walls of both buildings with cement! Strike two for the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan. It was then off to Binmaley (both photos on the right). Really nice church! Red brick like San Carlos and Calasiao. But when you enter, another horror renovation... modernized to look like some European church. Please, please... we have our own church heritage to be proud of here in the Philippines. Let's keep these old folksy Filipino churches Filipino! Strike three!

It was off to Lingayen, the provincial capital, which I featured in an earlier entry. Hats off to Gov. Victor Agbayani for restoring the provincial capitol. But thumbs down to the Lingayen parish priest who demolished a charming brick convento, replacing it with a new shopping arcade right beside the church! Strike four for the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan! I'm surprised Archbishop Oscar Cruz is allowing this to happen under his watch, especially since during the time he was Archbishop of San Fernando, Pampanga, he moved heaven and earth to create the Archdiocesan Archives and Museum. I hope he puts his foot down and stops this destruction from continuing in his jurisdiction. More than the jueteng, I think he should keep his eyes on the whims and caprices of these construction-frenzied priests. Again, stop touching heritage churches! And if you plan to restore them, get technical support from the Heritage Conservation Society, NCCA, NHI or National Museum.

Ligayen still has a lot of government buildings intact, as well as charming houses along the streets of the poblacion. One of these is the old casa municipal of the town (above). Beside it is the the provincial jail which is a heritage building itself (right). I hope Gov. Agbayani is able to convince LGUs in his jurisdiction to follow his lead.

It was off to Alaminos City, home of the Hundred Islands National Park. And just like the rest of the churches I passed by, the interior of Alaminos has been modernized beyond recognition. But there are still a number of well-preserved houses which have been put into good use. At least these owners are doing adaptive reuse without knowing they are!

Since it was already late, I decided to forego the Hundred Islands visit for another day. Bolinao was still quite a distance away. But the trip was most worth it. I was greeted by an old limestone church in the poblacion which looked like a fortress (left). Sasa met me there and we both went to the Bolinao Lighthouse in Patar which was about thirty minutes away (below).

The view from the foot of the 1905 lighthouse was spledid. It would be nice to watch the sun set on the South China Sea from there but we didn't want to drive in the dark so we went back to town after taking some photos.

On the way back, we stopped along a bridge to take photos of the mouth of the Balingasay River, which the Municipal Government of Bolinao declared a marine protected area in 1999. The initiative to protect this marine sanctuary came from the local government unit (LGU) for which they won the Philippine Wetlands Conservation Award in 2004. Had the LGU not stepped in, Balingasay's mangrove area could have been a part of the quarry area of a cement plant complex proposed by an international consortium of companies or damaged by environment-destructive fish pens and fish cages.

For dinner, we had street food at the plaza. I bought their native kakanin (rice cake) which they call binungay. It's suman (glutinuous rice cake) roasted in bamboo. They sell it in various sizes depending on the diameter of the bamboo stalk. And they have a funny way of opening it. According to the tindera (hawker) you had to smash the bamboo container by either pounding it on a rock or slicing it open with a bolo in order to eat the rice cake. So smash it we did. Hehe! Like most suman, it is best eaten with ripe mangoes or coco jam. I also had isaw baboy and manok (roasted pork and chicken intestines), mami (noodle soup) and fried chicken as well.

After I checked-in, we went straight to the UP MSI so that I could check mail and type my blog entry for today. Tonight, I work on the project I need to finish. Tomorrow, I join Sasa to nearby Santiago Island to help him out with his sea cucumber experiment. Then its back to Pampanga after lunch via Zambales.

How to get to Bolinao, Pangasinan
Victory Liner and Five Star have several bus trips from Manila to Bolinao daily. Trips begin at about 7 a.m. and leave at intervals of 2 to 3 hours.

Pangasinan: Pangasinan pilgrimage

I'll definitely be blogging quite more often now that I'm done with my MBA. I just came from a business trip to Pangasinan last Sunday. While checking out some properties in Rosales, my brod Ryan Tan mentioned to me that Li-an Ramos (my kabarkada, blockmate in the UP School of Economics and co-dormer at the Kalayaan Residence Hall way back in 1997) was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2006! Wow! It seemed like only yesterday when we were freshmen at UP. Since we had the same class schedule, and stayed at the same dorm, we often walked to and from the dorm together. Good luck in the Miss Universe pageant in Vanuatu! I'm sure you will take home the crown!

Anyway, we had lunch at Matutina's Seafood Restaurant in Bonoan, Dagupan City managed by the Balingit family which finds its roots in the culinary capital of the Philippines... Pampanga. It's a great beach front restaurant frequented by GMA. Sad to say, the beach area in Bonoan is not well-maintained and badly-planned. It was a chopsuey government, judicial, civic and tourist center with a jail on one end of the road and a cemetery and garbage dump on the other end. Along the road are restaurants, a Masonic lodge, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Hall of Justice and a Muslim community among others. And the whole stretch of the road is connected to various beach resorts and rest houses. Talk about urban planning.

On the way back, we heard Mass in Manaoag. Finally, I was able to visit the miraculous image for the first time! Located 205 kilometers north of Manila, the Church of Manaoag is a major pilgrimage center of the Philippines owing to the popularity of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Manaoag, an image of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario. I remember passing by the old church during the HCS trip to San Fabian but we were not able to stopover. That's it for now.

Pangasinan: Pangasinan's capitol, a beakon for conservation

Finally, something to write about after all those weeks of endless studying. It's sick when you don't have a semestral break and even worse that you're having midterms when everyone else is on semestral break. Oh the disadvantages of being in the only trisemestral course in UP!

I had wanted to write about my recent trip to Baguio in September, particularly Camp John Hay and its historic core but didn't have the photos as well as time to get myself to scribble some notes. So that made the lull longer.

Anyway, I joined Gemma Cruz-Araneta last Saturday, together with Archt. Jojo Mata and heritage photographer Karlo de Leon, during her visit to the Pangasinan Capitol Building in Lingayen, where restoration has been ongoing for the past three years. Jojo is the lead restoration architect of the project and we again saw each other on another out of town HCS trip quipping that we are indeed Gemma's faithful sidekicks.

We left Manila at 5 a.m. in order to get to Jojo's latest "obra mata" right before lunch and in time for us to meet with Gov. Victor Agbayani, Pangasinan's young and charismatic governor. The town of Lingayen is filled with heritage treasures. If not for that convento which was demolished by that stupid parish priest who pictured cash registers ringing with his new columbarium, everything would have been perfect. I'm surprised that the demolition did not raise a howl from Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz who as archbishop of San Fernando, Pampanga in the late 80s was responsible for the preservation of Pampanga's church treasures at a time when their sale by parish priests was so rampant.

The drive to the capitol was a charming sight. An elegant double-laned boulevard with a wide kalachuci-lined island in the middle that if landscaped would be a site to behold. At the end was the neo-classical capitol building of Pangasinan. Freshly painted, it is said to be one of the most elegant if not the most elegant capitol buildings in the country. And thanks to the efforts of Gov.
Agbayani, the building is about to be transported back in time as layers of constant and unsightly alterations by previous administrations are removed to reveal a priceless pre-war architectural masterpiece. Indeed, this will be a legacy for future generations, one that should be emulated by other provinces.

After going around the building, we were met by Gov. Agbayani who took us to other parts of the building which is still undergoing final touches to its restoration. This was followed by lunch at the governor's official residence just accross the street.

We discussed among others, plans to create local ordinances that would protect the capitol and other heritage structures all over Pangasinan. This would be an exciting breakthrough for heritage conservation since Pangasinan is the first provincial LGU to untertake such a project. It's sad that our provincial officials in Pampanga don't have the same level of consciousness as Gov. Agbayani. Oh well!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures at my Yahoo! Photos site.

Baguio: Restoring Baguio's old charm

Just got back from Baguio where the Heritage Conservation Society attended the turnover of the restored Baguio Central School Building. In our group was HCS President Gemma Cruz-Araneta, Arch. Jojo Mata, Arch. Melvin Patawaran and Carmen Prieto of the Dagupan City Heritage Commission.

Baguio City is the only hill station in the Philippines. According to Wikepedia, "a hill station in Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, particularly India and Pakistan, is a high-altitude town used, especially by European colonialists, as a place of refuge from the summer heat. Several hill stations served as summer capitals of Indian provinces, princely states, or, in the case of Simla, of British India itself."

Famous hill stations include Simla and Darjeeling in India, and Cameron Higlands in Malaysia, Bandung and Bogor in Indonesia, Dalat in Vietnam, and May Myo in Myanmar. It looks like the Spanish were not into hill stations since it was the Americans who established the first and only hill station in the country, which became the summer capital, the City of Baguio.

Anyway, we left Manila at about 12 midnight on Friday the 13th of May in order to get to Baguio in time for the lunch inauguration, with a few hours of rest in between. In Baguio, we stayed at the Prieto Compound thanks to our host, Carmen Prieto. We slept for a few hours after arriving and left for Baguio Central School at about 11 a.m.

Officiating the turnover ceremonies was DepEd Secretary Butch Abad and Undersecretary for Finance Mike Luz, and local DepEd officials. Also in attendance were the mayor, vice-mayor and City Council of Baguio, teachers, as well as the alumni of Baguio Central School. Spirits were high and you can see from the teachers and alumni that they were indeed proud of the restored building. I'm excited since Pampanga High School is the next on the list of the buildings that DepEd will restore.

After the ceremonies, we went back to sleep. I guess all of us were just tired. But I woke up a little earlier than everyone since I went around with a SSEAYP friend who was a former City Councilor of Baguio when he was SK President. Aside from catching up, we discussed the possibility of creating a heritage ordinance for Baguio so that we could protect the remaining patches of heritage areas scattered around the city. One of the features of the ordinance would be the requirement of the green and white color that is distinctively Baguio. Looking at Baguio from Kennon Road for example is an eyesore! Imagine if all these houses where white (or at times brown) with green roofs! That would be indeed charming! Like the white and blue houses in the Mediterranean, these unsightly mountain homes would now blend with the environment they altered.

Just to give everyone an idea of the importance of Baguio to our national heritage, here's the petition which went around...

We believe that the City of Baguio is culturally, environmentally and aesthetically unique and different from other cities in the Philippines. We believe that Baguio is the nerve center of four rich and diverse cultures: the Filipino culture in general, the highland Cordilleran culture, the lowland Ilocano culture, and the heritage culture brought about by the Americans during the early 20th Century. We believe that in the past two decades, the City of Baguio has experienced a substantial degradation of its unique culture, environment and art. We believe that the approval of certain politicians with no respect for the aesthetics and the environment of Baguio to put up concrete structures such as malls, overpasses and flyovers only worsens Baguio City's lamentable decay as a "City of Pines." We believe that this overdevelopment and resulting pollution have to stop. We believe that due to its unique history and blend of cultures, Baguio can be to the Philippines as Barcelona is to Spain, Chiang Mai is to Thailand, and San Francisco is to the United States: a main center of arts, culture, philosophy, education, tourism, sustainable development and environmental awareness. We believe, therefore, that the City of Baguio deserves to be declared a "Special Heritage Zone," so that the degradation brought about by overdevelopment can be minimized and gradually controlled. We believe that Baguio City's heritage as a center of culture and environmental awareness is a valuable asset not just to the Philippines, but also to the world. We now respectfully call on the residents of Baguio and the Filipino people to sign this humble petition, and for the local and national governments concerned to implement and declare Special Heritage status on this unique mountain City as soon as possible, preferably before the Baguio Centennial in 2009, so no further destruction on its limited cultural, environmental and aesthetic resources may continue.

If you want to sign it as well, you can visit the Baguio Heritage Petition. One thing the petition forgot to mention was the fact that Baguio was cosntructed by Japanese workers at the turn of the past century. That's why many of Baguio's original residents have Japanese blood!

The next day, we went down to San Fabian, Pangasinan to meet Mayor Libunao who had invited the HCS to take a look at the old municipal hall and suggest plans for its restoration and adaptive reuse. I hope mayors thought this way before they considered demolishing an old building. It reminds me of Lito Atienza's penchant for destroying heritage structures. Does the Sky Lounge ring a bell?

We arrived in Manila at 10:00 p.m. giving me just 5 hours to rest before my next trip. Good thing I wasn't driving so I was able to sleep on the way back.