Remember Teachers Camp?

Reference: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=93106
Category: Villalon, Augusto F. (Pride of Place)

MANILA, Philippines -- Who does not remember Teachers Camp? For the past five or six generations, almost every
Filipino teacher or student has had a Teachers Camp experience, spending a few education-enriching days or even a
fortnight, for the fortunate few, in green-and-white pre-war cottages under the pines in cool Baguio air to attend a live-
in conference or training event.

Teachers Camp, founded in 1908 by the US colonial government as a mountain retreat for the first group of American
teachers, the Thomasites, needing a respite from lowland tropical heat, has a unique heritage. Since its early Thomasite
days, generations of Filipino teachers and students have gone to Teachers Camp for educational training, conferences
and seminars.

It is a place intrinsic to the history of the Department of Education and has become part of the educational ethos of
many Filipinos. It is a nationally recognized teaching facility, also one of the nationally recognized Baguio City icons along
with Session Road, Burnham Park, Mansion House, Wright Park and Camp John Hay. It is the last of the large, open,
undeveloped parcels of government-owned land remaining in Baguio. The other large parcel, Camp John Hay, is now
privatized as a mixed-use real-estate development.

Founded as a rest and recreation facility for teachers and also as a venue for summer training programs for teachers,
education is the primary legacy of Teachers Camp. Its secondary legacy is that it is one of the few surviving Baguio
environments today, a wide-open area still relatively forested with pine trees and landscaped in the typical but vanishing
flowered Baguio garden style, where original green-and-white wooden architecture, once a Baguio City hallmark, still
survives.

Hills station

The American colonial government built Baguio in the early years of the 20th century. However, Baguio has never taken
its deserved place in the Asian chain of colonial Hill Stations (Simla and Darjeeling in British India, Bandung in Dutch
Indonesia, Cameron Highlands in British Malaysia, Dalat in French Indochina).

Making Baguio stand out in this chain of upland vacation retreats is the fact that it is the only American-designed Hill
Station in Asia. The green-and-white American-style wooden architecture once so prevalent in the Baguio mountain
terrain is the only one of its kind in Asia.

Baguio is of pedigreed origin and Teachers Camp is part of that pedigree. Designed by Daniel Burnham, the leading
American urban planner of the day, vast urban parks (Burnham and Wright Parks) opened up broad city and mountain
vistas and served as visual and circulation anchors for the city.

A network of winding roads connected main points of the city—the City Hall overlooking a large park with a lagoon (now
known as Burnham Park), Mansion House (the summer residence of the Philippine president), Camp John Hay (former
American military rest and recreation facility), and Teachers Camp.

Session Road, the city commercial center that leads uphill in a straight line from the Baguio Market now connects to a
new mall at its top end. It is likewise well-known throughout the Philippines as part of the Baguio image. Today a gigantic
new mall at the top of Session Road now seriously threatens the future of its small commercial establishments that have
been there for generations.

The distinct Baguio identity of mountainous terrain with green-and-white architecture nestled under pine trees is fast
vanishing. The single largest remaining ensemble of that identity survives in Teachers Camp. Although no other city in
Asia or in the Philippines has an identity like Baguio’s, the identity today is vanishing rapidly.

Baguio in decay

Unregulated development has caused Baguio to lose its luster as the Philippines’ most popular mountain retreat.
Nondescript concrete buildings and residences have replaced the traditional green-and-white architecture. Informal
settlers’ shanties now cover urban mountain vistas, once open green spaces, in sheets of rusted tin roofing.

Pine trees, once a familiar sight of Baguio landscape, have practically disappeared. Heritage, whether urban,
architectural, or landscape, neither protected by legislation or by zoning, does not appear to be within the sphere of
interest of most city authorities and residents, therefore urban and architectural heritage is going fast, and vanishing
rapidly also is its landmark umbrella of pines and multicolored flowers.

Present-day Baguio is homogenizing into the generic, typical look of 21st-century Philippine cities. Only its mountainous
terrain now reminds us that once this was the glorious Summer Capital of our Land and the only American Hill Station in
Asia.

Since Baguio mystique and tradition are practically gone today, it is necessary to maintain whatever is left of its urban,
architectural, and environmental traditions for the future.

On the eve of its 2008 centenary, Teachers Camp acknowledges its unique place as one of the principal government
educational facilities in the Philippines that has consistently provided teacher training since 1908 in the traditional “Old
Baguio” setting so intrinsic to the Teachers Camp image and ambiance.

Since both traditions, education and setting, are so intertwined, it is impossible to look at conserving one without the
other.

Teachers Camp authorities are now looking at conserving the physical aspect of Teachers Camp heritage—its
architecture, landscaping and infrastructure—while updating the entire facility and its physical plant to achieve 21st-
century demands to continue its educational focus and improve its amenities as a rest and recreation facility for
educators and students.

Heritage, the basis for the new Teachers Camp improvement efforts, is recognized as the primary resource for future
income generation to be conserved and enhanced with new infrastructure, architecture and landscaping, to ensure the
economic sustainability that will keep Teachers Camp in the lives of the next five generations of educators and students.

http://artsandcultureexchange.cfo.gov.ph/index.php/highlights/speaker3
 Augusto Villalon
Si Augusto Villalon ay arkitekto ng mga pamanang estruktura, at pinuno ng Villalon Architects. Nagwagi siya ng UNESCO
Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Award, at tumanggap ng Lifetime Achievement Award for Heritage Conservation, bukod sa
Medalyon ng Karangalan mula sa Lungsod Maynila. Naging komisyoner siya para sa Pamanang Pangkultura, kasapi ng lupon
ng Pambansang Komisyon para sa Kultura at mga Sining, punong pundador ng Heritage Conservation Society. Naging kasapi
siya ng UNESCO National Commission at kinatawan ng Filipinas sa UNESCO. Kasalukuyan siyang ikalawang pangulo ng
ICOMOS at kinatawan ng Asya-Pasipiko sa Lupong Tagapagpaganap nito.

Edukasyon

Nakamit ni Villalon ang kaniyang PhD Honoris Causa sa Humanidades mula sa Far Eastern University, Maynila; Masterado sa
Arkitektura mula sa Yale University, USA; BA in Sociology/History of Art mula sa University of Notre Dame, USA. May mga
proyekto siya sa Filipinas, Asya, at Latina Amerika, at kasalukuyang kabahagi ng Pambansang Museo sa Maynila. Siya ang
awtor ng ilang aklat, at nagsusulat sa Philippine Daily Inquirer. Ang kaniyang aklat na “Lugar: Essays on Philippine Cultural
Heritage and Architecture” ay naging ng National Book Award at ng Alfonso T. Onpin Award for Best Art Book noong 2002.
http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Augusto_Villalon

Paulo G. Alcazaren
Si Paulo G. Alcazaren ay tagapangasiwang direktor ng PDAA Design International na may opisina sa Maynila, Singapore, at
Kuala Lumpur. Naging bahagi siya ng tinatayang 100 proyekto sa 10 bansa, lalo sa Asya at Gitnang Silangang Asya noong
1982. Kabilang siyang bumuo ng plano ng Ayala at Rockwell sa Lungsod Makati. Kabilang sa kaniyang tinamong parangal at
pagkilala ang Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects Design Award para sa kaniyang mga likha sa Hong Kah Town at
British Club. Tumanggap siya ng Alab ng Haraya mula sa Pambansang Komisyon para sa Kultura at mga Sining dahil sa serye
ng mga artikulong sinulat niya hinggil sa panloob na disenyo; at ng Outstanding Professional of the Year in Landscapre
Architecture noong 2001 mula sa PRC. Tumanggap si Alcarazen ng titulong B.A. Landscape at B.S. Architecture mula sa
Unibersidad ng Pilipinas; Masterado sa Urban Design mula sa National University of Singapore. Tumanggap siya ng SIA Book
Prize noong 2000. Nagturo siya sa Pamantasang Ateneo at UP. Naging pangulo siya ng Philippine Association of Landscape
Architects. Regular siyang nagsusulat sa mga pahayagang gaya ng Philippine Star, at ngayon ay punong editor ng BluPrint at
My Home na pawang mga magasin.

Pananaw

Ayon sa kaniyang akdang “Pinoy Panache: Marketing Professional Design Services Internationally,” nakakaligtaan ng mga
Filipinong tagadisenyo na kakaunti lamang ang mga propesyonal na lumalabas ng Filipinas maliban kung sila'y magtatrabaho.
Kulang sa marketing at malinaw na bisyon ang mga tagadisenyo kaya malimit nabibigo sa ibang bansa. Isinaad niya ang mga
praktikal na hakbang upang kagatin ang serbisyo ng mga Filipinong tagadisenyo sa ibang bansa; ang halaga ng pagkilala mula
sa ibang bansa; ang kakayahang makipagtulungan sa ibang pangkat; at ang paghahanap ng iba pang merkado sa larangang
internasyonal.

http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Paulo_G._Alcazaren
 Burnham parking
CITY SENSE By Paulo Alcazaren (The Philippine Star) | Updated May 23, 2015 - 12:00am

All is not pine in the summer capital of the Philippines. News circulated recently of plans by the city government to build a large
two-story parking complex on the site of the Melvin Jones football field. Local and national NGOs have raised a howl opposing
this plan and its impact on the heritage site of Burnham Park.

Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan is pushing for the facility, which is reported to be able to accommodate 3,000 or so
vehicles in the center of the city. Traffic is already a daily problem here, exacerbated by an accompanying lack of parking space.

Civil society groups are worried that the structure will eat up even more space from the park and turn it into concrete and
asphalt. In the last 100 years of the park’s existence, portions have been given up for sports facilities, skating rinks and in the
last few decades, parking.

Daniel Burnham designed the park as the focal point of a large civic complex that was to serve as the national government
center in the summer months. Baguio was to be the “hill station” of the Americans, an idea copied from the English and their
upland retreats in India and Malaysia. Baguio was chartered in 1909, specifically for that purpose but eventually the advent of
air-conditioning made it more bearable for government functions to be carried out in the summer months in lowland Manila.

Baguio then became a summer capital for the rich and the famous, as mansions were built amid the pines with views of the city
or the mountains surrounding the growing city. But it was never designed for more than 50,000 souls. Today, Baguio’s
population is officially over 300,000. This figure doubles during the summer tourism season. I suspect these numbers are
understated because Metropolitan Baguio is now served by its suburbs. Over a 100,000 workers and students flock to the city
during the day from these bedroom communities.

The city is the premier urban center of the Mountain Provinces. It is a major educational and trade center of the region, as well
as a transport hub. This puts a lot of pressure on city infrastructure to accommodate large flows of goods and people, hence the
issues of traffic and parking.

The pressure is also great on the heritage of the city, both natural and man-made. The pine trees and flowering shrubs that
defined Baguio of old are slowly disappearing, replaced by big-footprint commercial buildings. The devastating earthquake of
1990 has failed to dissuade a more conservative approach to development.

Both formal and informal buildings have now covered much of the hills and valleys of the city, a tragedy waiting for the next
earthquake to happen. Colonial-era mansions, elegant civic buildings and the Teachers Camp have not escaped the perils of
urbanization. Burnham Park is next on the hit list.

 It is not the first time that parking buildings have been proposed for the city. An EU-funded study after the 1990 earthquake and
a number of master plans by various administrations afterwards have pointed to parking structures as a solution to the driving
need — well to drive to the center of the city.

Public transport options to more vehicles entering the city are inefficient and not routed to encourage any options like waking or
biking. Pollution levels in the central area are rising and all this is contributing to make Session Road and Burnham Park
unattractive to locals and tourists. The city’s annual Panagbenga Festival makes the city inaccessible to all but those determined
to jostle with a million other souls.

Burnham Park is a registered heritage site. No one can deny the park’s importance to the city in terms of heritage and important
function as its green lung. The current proposal indicates that the lost green of the football field would be replaced by a playing
field on top of the parking garage. The mayor reportedly insists that the proposal is just a feasibility study and apparently the
project has not yet been green lighted.
The issue is of course larger than just parking. The building of municipal parking garage or the provision of more parking and the
widening of roads are knee-jerk solutions to the bigger problems of urban transport. Traffic is always just a symptom of
unplanned growth and the lack of a sustainable transport network that makes the best use of all forms of mobility — walking,
biking, public transport, and private vehicles.

Baguio was designed as a walking city because it was conceived 100 years ago. The city center is compact and originally
accessible by walking within a two-kilometer distance from its center. Of course, people were fitter then and could manage the
slopes of the city’s hills. The population of the city was also in check until about 40 years ago. Who can walk today with diesel
fumes in the air and the lack of un-obstructed sidewalks?

Congestion charging for the city center is one solution that Bagiuio could copy from Singapore and London. The relocation of the
city market or the creation of a satellite market outside the center could also decongest the center. A rational approach to the
pressures of the city’s many universities should also be dealt with, as Baguio will only grow in terms of student population. This
also feeds into the booming call-center industry there. Some have suggested a cable car system for the city. A hybrid BRT (Bus
Rapid Transit) using smaller buses is also suggested.

Baguio’s problems are complicated but the way forward is not the adoption of facile default solutions like parking buildings, road
widening and the construction of flyovers. These projects are also perceived by the general public as channels of corruption
rather than avenues of progress and sustainability.

The challenges Baguio faces are made even more complicated by politics. Like Manila, the overlapping jurisdictions of local
governments, national government, the clout of transport lobbies (bus, jeep and tricycle operators) as well as the large real-
estate developers, who influence all of the above, make finding solutions stickier than the city’s fabled strawberry jam.

Baguio’s Facebook status should read “complicated,” as social media is filled with reports of its impending demise. It is not too
late to save Baguio for its citizens as well as those of us who share wonderful memories of this special place.  But we need to
look at all aspects of the city’s growth and find the political, social and financial will to implement programs.

We all long to be able to visit this place again, and visit all the spots we remember from our youth. Travel time is now cut to just
over three hours with the new superhighways.

Oh, but once we get there though, where do you park?

http://www.philstar.com/modern-living/2015/05/23/1457605/burnham-parking