More structures
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. #
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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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