Teachers walk through Baguio’s history

BENCHWARMER

Ramon Dacawi

Thirty five social studies teachers from the city’s public high schools last Wednesday primed up for the school opening  with a walking tour to some of Baguio’s historical landmarks, the significance of which the will include in their classroom syllabi.

The course outline being envisioned, according to Dr. Elma Dona-al, principal of the Baguio City National High School, is to enrich the teaching of local heritage and history not only in a classroom setting but through actual walks to these landmarks by pupils and students under the guidance of their teachers and volunteers of the “walk” program.   

The teachers were guided in their exploration of the city landscape by volunteers of the “Children’s Urban Heritage Walk”, an experiential learning program on local heritage and history the city launched in 2006 to enhance youngsters’ understanding and appreciation of the city’s founding and development as a “Hill Station” and as the country’s summer capital.

Back in school,  teacher Janet Soriano scribbled she was “motivated to and encouraged to do this activity with my students so they can appreciate and give value to our local history”.

Teacher Anne Margret Garcia, who earlier led her special Grade VII class of the BCNHS through the route, arranged the walk with her peers from the former and current annexes of the BCNHS.

The teachers started off in front of the Baguio Convention Center, with Dr. Dona-al briefing them on the edifice built by the Government Service Insurance System on orders of then President Marcos as site of the 1978 World Chess Championship series between titlist Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union and challenger Viktor Korchnoi.

Volunteer Tim-Tam Tibaldo took time off from her work at the Department of Foreign Affairs to orient the teachers on the significance of the old Casa Vallejo ,  the only remaining building of the Government Center built by the American colonial government in preparation for Baguio’s founding as the country’s second chartered city in 1908.

“Mabuti  naman at pinahalagahan ang Casa Vallejo sa pamamagitan ng pagpapanatili nito bilang isang “heritage” ng Baguio,” said teacher Brenda Fangsilat of the San Vicente Annex.

From  the side of the rotunda at the top end of Session Road, lawyer Isagani Liporada explained the symbolism of the eight rock figures  in the development of the city. Installed by a team led by Igorot rock sculptor Gilbert Gano on order of then mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr., the figures represented the eight “keystones” or members of the Philippine Commission who, in the summer of 1904, held their first session in Baguio.

The city’s inclined main street, he pointed out, was so named for the fact that the members of the commission passed through it on their way to their session at the now decrepit  Baden Powell Hall along Gov. Pack Road.

The walk ended at the Veterans Park along Harrison Rd. which is being refurbished and fenced  by the city to protect its integrity against vandals, including young boys who would use it for their skateboard practice sessions.

Garcia recalled the heroism of the Filipino freedom fighters whose names were etched on the park wall, some of whom figured in the defense of Bataan and the infamous “Death March” and eventually in the liberation of Baguio.

She noted  a significant yet ignored fact now and then also being stressed by city mayor Mauricio Domogan:  The war in the Philippines began and ended in Baguio. It began morning of Dec. 8, 1941 when Japanese planes bombed Camp John Hay. It ended at about noon on Sept. 3, 1945 when Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, commander of the Japanese forces, signed the terms of surrender at the Ambassador’s Residence, also inside John Hay.

Back at the BCNHS main campus for an assessment, teacher Shirley Buabo wrote: “Now I’m starting dream to start a project on how to let my students be aware of our local history.”

                                ***

Eleven male wards of the city jail donned  white togas and square academic caps as they  marched  to their graduation rites that prison officials and supporters found fitting  to hold and  sponsor last Thursday morning.

City jail wardens, Chief Inspectors Wilson Banasen and Mary Ann Tresmanio, just hoped the ceremony would inspire other inmates to follow suit.

Five other graduates  failed to make it to the ceremonies. While they attended classes and took the accreditation and equivalency test while in detention, they were released before the results were out making them high school graduates and therefore eligible for college.

“We truly hope you will achieve your dreams,” Bishop Carlito Cenzon, Catholic vicar apostolic of Baguio, told the graduates in his message delivered in Filipino at the prison courtyard. “We hope that the lessons you learned contained values,” he stressed, adding that “learning never ends”.

His Excellency, whose  foundation supported the Alternative Learning System for the inmates, together with  regional director, Sr. Supt. Nida Gacutan-Ramos and Banasen, assisted Arthur Tiongan, education program  supervisor for the ALS program, in conferring the certificates to the graduates.

Gacutan, the first female regional director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, cited the city jail’s “solid partnership” with the city schools, the bishop’s foundation and other agencies in coming up with the inmates’ educational program.

“Education,” she pointed out, “is an effective equalizer for the rich and poor”. Tiongan said 16 out of 18 inmates hurlded  the test, even as Baguio also registered a high over-all passing percentage, with  449 out of some 600 making it.

Banasen also paid tribute to the parents of some of the graduates for attending the rites at the jail courtyard. “This is a challenge to other members of our (prison) family,” the warden said of the achievement their achievement.

Baguio journalist Nonnette Bennett, a volunteer ALS mobile teacher assigned to the jail and a member of the Bishop Carlico Cenzon Foundation, served as master of ceremonies in the rites the opened with a doxology from the Inmates Catholic Development Community.

As sidebar, the Baguio Apaches, a fraternal group of Baguio boys led by Jun Tabanda, donated an electric fan for the jail.