TRAILS UP NORTH

Mt. Pulag Holy Climb
GLORIA A. TUAZON

KABAYAN, Benguet – The local government of Kabayan, sincere in its purpose to promote tourism and environmental and ecological appreciation and concern is once again hosting another activity "The Holy Climb 2008" slated on March 20-22.

It is aptly named so because the days coincided with the Holy Week. These are follow-ups of the "Pashiyal shi Kabayan tour" last November, 2007 and the recently concluded "Date with the peak" last Valentine's Day.

This activity was designed to include most everybody, individuals, couples, families, professional mountaineers or the not so experienced ones. During the three day tour, the Municipality of Kabayan would be showcasing places in the community to include the Dutav Terraces and the Besang Footprint in Duacan.

Then off to Lake Tabeyo and the ever mysterious Ambulalakaw Lake which has been a consistent finalist in the nationwide "Search for the cleanest inland lake." Poblacion is the seat of the local government and visitors can take a quick tour and visit nearby Kabayan

Woven souvenir items of indigenous woven products are on display all at factory prices. The highlight of course is Mount Pulag, the second highest mountain in the country. The route would pass through the ranger's station at Babalak, a protected area office located in a place where the pine ecosystem meets the mossy forest, and where the dirt road ends and the adventure begins".

The upward trek would end to pitch camp at the grassland, an oasis of dwarf bamboos to wait for the rays of golden sunset over the horizon. And then there is the summit to conquer in the morning.
"Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures. Bring nothing but memories. Kill nothing but time." This and all other activities in the area, or elsewhere, where environment and ecology is concerned is a creed. To preserve what is left in nature and to revive what is deteriorating.

Note: For more details and inquiries you can contact the following: Mayor Faustino M. Aquisan at 09196537043; engineer Berry K. Sangao Jr. at 09154033211; councilor Dorothea Janet S. Sental at 09204452822 and Ghislyn Lucio at 09195070923.
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Baguio City does have a glorious and colorful past -- this teeming little city of knowledge, where high schools students come in droves after graduation to pursue college and thus spend four or five years experiencing and learning everything to maturity.

This is a city of mixed ancient, native cultures and booming techno things. A city spilling with cars almost at par with the human population -- of intrigues, history and everyday scenes and situations.
But yes, of history I like the most. We drove up to Dominican Hill one, lazy afternoon. It is a place overlooking the city, a windy place reminiscent of the old Baguio that was almost freezing cold come early evenings. It was almost four in the afternoon, late enough to soften the sun and early enough to wait for sundown, in other words it was perfect for shooting all the antiquities and memories of the place in a bit of drama.

Dominican Hill was named for the reason that the Dominican priests once occupied these parts. This is a seventeen hectare property the Dominican Order then purchased under the American authorities in 1911. Only a few people occupied Baguio at the time, along with the native locals. The area was a vast paradise of opportunity and beauty.

To be able to truly conquer this uphill paradise, the Americans encouraged the acquisition and migration of people to this place. Construction of a massive, stone building to become a vacation house started in 1913 under Fr. Roque Ruano and then inaugurated on May 23 of 1915. At that time tax exemptions on vast properties were accorded to owners in certain conditions and to take advantage of that The Order opened a school in June of 1915, one they named Colegio del Santissimo Rosario, a seminary. It however closed and became the original sanitarium house in 1917 due to a very few number of enrolment.

As history happened, the sanitarium became a refuge house during the Second World War. It became home and hospital for the refugees until the building was bombed by the Japanese Army Liberation Forces. The damage was great and left the place in ruins until 1947 when reconstruction begun. It remained that way for some years until the seminary was sold.
Diplomats Hotel, Inc. formally acquired the property in 1973 and converted it into an enterprising hotel.

The interiors were remodeled but most of the original structures and features were left the same to preserve the history of the building. Modern facilities (circa 1970’s) were installed to complete the 33 bedroom enclosure. To that day, Diplomat Hotel was the only hotel to ever have a cross atop the gabled main entrance. During the few years it operated as a hotel until the 1980’s, a lot of stories by local and international guests circulated about of eerie encounters and creepy, hair-raising observations concerning the strange and supernatural.

Halloweens always have stories to tell about the place and ghost hunters went about teasing the odds. There were tales of headless apparitions and ghostly silhouettes along the dimly lit corridors, of screams and moans and pleadings emanating from the walls themselves or footsteps around corners even during daytime. Nuns and priests were said to have been murdered here during the war, all in brutal fashion and details. Not to count the refugees who were bombed by the Japanese Army then. Countless souls still prowl the compound, uneasy souls lost in the maze of limbo, unable to find comfort where they are.

Then one of the majority stockholders of the Diplomats Hotel, Inc. died, prompting the closure of the hotel. From then on, the hotel was left neglected. The grounds grew grassy that even the pelota court got lost in the tangled brush. The trees grew around it. The place was left to waste until recently there was a commotion to turn the place into a historical tourist spot, thus renaming it Heritage Hill.

And until the centennial celebration of Baguio City in 2009, we wait to see what will become of this place. Once a sanatarium, a school seminary, a war stronghold, a postwar ruin, a hotel, a ghost hunter’s dream house, a wanderer’s accidental discovery, a teen-age dating sanctuary, a photographer’s view deck.