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A tale of a fabled city - 2
Source: Inquirer
Author: Dr. June Prill-Bret
Date: 1999-11-02
 
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From 1909 to 1911, the Americans constructed and developed

the Government Center for the use of colonial officialdom during

its annual sessions in the summer capital.



From 1910 to 1913, they authorized the construction of a City

Hall, developed an efficient garbage system, established a

slaughterhouse, opened an ice plant and constructed public

buildings.



During this period, Gen. Franklin Bell, commander of the Armed

Forces in the Philippines, intensified the building program of

Camp John Hay from tent housing to permanent buildings,

including sports and recreational facilities.



When the American presidency passed from William Howard

Taft to Woodrow Wilson, Francis Burton Harrison replaced

Forbes. Many alarmists within the Western colonial elite began

to predict the imminent abandonment of Baguio as a summer

capital and the impending termination of the government

financial support.



In 1913, Harrison carried out the design for the Filipinization of

the civil service. The US Commission voted unanimously to

discontinue the practice of shifting government activities to

Baguio during the summer months.



As early as 1912, the Igorot and Ilocano communities together

dominated the combined American, Japanese, European and

Chinese population by a factor of 10 to one.



Though the American presence remained significant in the

social, educational, political and economic life of Baguio even in

the 1920s and 1930s, the process of change proceeded in due

course after the transfer of effective local and provincial

authority to the Filipinos during the Harrison era.



By the end of World War I, all opposition to the hill station

scheme had been neutralized and criticism had turned to praise.



In commerce, communications, government, mining, health

services and education, Baguio continued to serve as the nerve

center of the Mt. Province.



Baguio's urban population increased from 3,500 people in 1913

to 25,000 in 1940--the ideal population, according to the city

plan of 1905.



By 1961, the population had increased to 51,000, by 1970 to

84,518, and by 1999 to an astounding 260,000 permanent

residents, with a semi-permanent population of 125,000 people,

composed mostly of students and occasional laborers. Thus,

Baguio now has a population of approximately 385,000 people

for most of the year. #



------------



Dr. June Prill-Brett is an associate professor of anthropology

at the University of the Philippines College Baguio. This

article was reprinted from the October 1999 issue of Ti Similla,

the official newsletter of the academic staff of the UP College

Baguio
 

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