Nobody seems to be looking, but Camp John Hay is changing

WHILE no one is looking, Camp John Hay is a-changing. And getting more interesting, some say. Despite the trying times.

Give the architects and designers three more years and the old face and smell of early American times would be completely gone. As it is, there are no more big red apples, although the camp still serves T-bone steak in generous sizes, probably to recapture its old crowd, at Lone Star, the American restaurant standing.

Upgrade

Caucasians, mostly American residents of Baguio City and their children, regularly dine in, as the local concessionaire Mario’s boasts of serving only imported meat.

Halfway House, the first restaurant that used to greet guests and lowlanders coming from the main gate on Session Road, has disappeared. It was there, apart from the Main Club, where US servicemen treated their very important guests, among them Rogelio de la Rosa, to fine dining. They even serenaded him with Louis Armstrong’s "As Time Goes By" at its piano bar.

The Halfway House has given way to an upgrading of the 18-hole golf course designed by no less than Jack Nicklaus. The site is now all green, the green of Hole No. 16. Likewise, the 19th tee is gone.

The cafeteria that served real big hamburgers and huge cuts of ham and bacon, fresh fruits and milk, unavailable even at Rustan’s, for breakfast has been bulldozed to give way to 281-room hotel to be called Suites.

The Main Club, once the dormitory and mess hall of American servicemen until it was converted into a fully furnished and well-lit social hall and restaurant where guests were required to wear their Sunday best for its glitzy balls, has been pulverized.

Ambiance

A four-story, 187-unit condotel called Manor has risen in its place. Interestingly, save for the architectural design, Manor is shaped like the old Main Club. From a distance, although it is only 71-percent complete, Manor looks like a refurbished Main Club.

The Friendship Garden in front of the Main Club would soon give way to lawns. But the statues of Manuel Quezon and Abraham Lincoln facing each other would stay. Manor’s guests will have to get in using the Main Club’s backdoor.

When the rhythms of life were slower, gentler, the gazebo in front of the Main Club was once the venue for Western songs. Among the performers was a quartet singing "Seven Lonely Days." One of its members was John Hay Poro Point executive vice president Damaso Bangaoet, then a 13-year-old Baguio native.

The old Mile Hi, so called because it was a mile high above sea level, gave way to a sprawling Golf Clubhouse, where the reception of the Aga Muhlach-Charlene Gonzales wedding was held, not in the (old) Main Club, contrary to reports.

Time was when one could see a panoramic view of the golf course from the patio of the 19th tee. Now, one can see it all from the Golf Clubhouse. Some of the white and green cottages had also been torn down and given way to at least 120 country homes, log homes and country log homes.

Like the Golf Clubhouse, the log homes and country log homes are made of red cedar logs imported from Canada. Imported, because cutting of trees was strictly prohibited in John Hay. There is certainly no truth to the report that air quality has deteriorated inside John Hay.

Even Jack Nicklaus has rearranged the 18-hole golf course. The camp’s main gate is closed to traffic.

Hole No. 1, then near the 19th tee, is now located near the Golfhouse.

Hole No. 5 is now Hole No. 18. Beside it is an additional caddy shack.

The once driving range located beside the 19th tee moved near Hole No. 3. The former driving range is now Hole No. 7.

All others remain the same.

Cool weather

The temperate climate of John Hay, for instance. And it remains Baguio’s main attraction, and it’s been there long, long before the Americans came and conquered. Intact still are the Commander’s Cottage, Honeymoon Cottage, Bell House.

For historical reasons, these won’t be touched, according to Frederico S. Alquiroz, chief operating officer of John Hay Development Corp.

As of December, the company has spent about P1.5 billion to build the Golf Clubhouse, Manor, and restructure the golf course, among others, mindful of the fear that it would lose the ambiance of the early American times and eventually the tourists. But the fear, he says, has been unfounded.

John Hay is not earning--or at least not enough--to match its investments. This early, there have been several takes on the country homes and log homes. Some occupants, in fact, are prominent Filipino businessmen and politicians. The number of members in the clubhouse has risen to 1,000, way above the previous count.

Elitist

Freddie’s group has retained the name Camp John Hay, which was changed to Club John Hay when the Americans turned over the facility in early 1990s.

"The name of Club John Hay was too elitist," he says. "Camp John Hay is more acceptable to the public. And we want it to be more accessible to the public."

In fact, the fear of losing the ambiance of the early American times should be unfounded. Preserving the environment is a bigger task.

Even the US presidents’ vacation resort in Camp David, the mountain estate run by the US Navy in Maryland, which President Eisenhower named after his grandson, has undergone changes throughout the years.

Of its own time and place, every generation has a story to tell. As they say in Latin: "Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis." Times change, and we all change with them.