Baguio earns Guinness record for biggest Ten Commandments tablet

BENCHWARMER
Ramon S. Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY – The Guinness Book of World Records has certified a wall bearing the Ten Commandments mounted on Dominican Hill here as the biggest of its kind, triggering celebration when the official record was presented last Wednesday morning.

Measuring 152.90 square meters, the slanting wall of an A-frame prayer building was made to look like two giant stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments.

Its construction was commissioned last February by Grace Galindez Gupana, founder of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Halleluyah Foundation International.

The total structure costing P5 million was the 10th Guinness record for Gupana, a businesswoman from Nueva Vizcaya who is introduced in her foundation brochure as its “Prophetess and Ambassador for Peace and Goodwill for Israel to the World”.

Among others, Gupana earlier commissioned seamstresses who stitched the biggest flag (Israel), biggest banner (777 Yahweh’s banner), aside from registering with Guinness the largest diabetes screening, blood pressure check, blood identification and cholesterol test.

In 2008, she had the biggest Philippines flag (100 meters by 200 meters) unfurled at the Baguio Athletic Bowl to mark the country’s 110thIndependence Day.

Beyond placing the city in Guinness, Gupana explained the tablet, built facing north after the entrance to the hilltop that used to be the prayer grounds of priests of the Catholic Dominican Order, was in response to a high calling for her to abide.

“On the highest mountain a miracle happens”, she said, adding “God chose Baguio (as site as it is) the nearest to heaven”. She equated the place to a “Mount Sinai in the New Testament”.

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Menashe Bar-on graced the ceremonies, congratulating Gupana for the feat. He drew comparison to the Hebrew celebration of Shavuot, the day the Torah, including the Ten Commandments, was revealed by God to the Jewish nation through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

“This is a glorious achievement,” agreed Minister Abraham Okoliko of the Nigerian embassy who represented King Governor Jonah David Jang of Jos City who was a benefactor of the giant tablet project.

Guinness representative Vic Fabellana read and presented the world record certificate covering the tablet, copies of which were given to Bar-on, Domogan and Okoliko.

City officials agreed would provide moral compass to a city that, in the recent past, came out with the “largest tossed salad” and “longest longanisa line” as part of its tourism come-ons.

In his weekly press conference later in the afternoon, mayor Mauricio emphasized that the prayer structure will be open to people and groups of any religious or spiritual beliefs. He said the city will soon set guidelines on its use.

Rep. Bernardo Vergara expressed hopes the structure, which houses an altar and a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, would serve to drive away evil spirits spawned by disasters, aside from the evils of illegal drugs, gambling and prostitution.

“Let this place be used properly,” vice-mayor Daniel Farinas prayed as he welcomed the dignitaries, past and present city and barangay officials, spiritual leaders, the religious and the curious who gathered in front of the prayer building.

The promontory on which the building stands is surrounded by mature pine, eucalyptus and camphor trees and recently installed cellular telephone and similar communication towers.

To the aging trees around, the dignitaries and city officials added an olive seedling they planted on the left frontage of the new, three-story structure.

Dominican Hill was originally developed as a prayer area for priests of the Dominican Order. It was later turned into a hotel before it was taken over by national government. The property was later transferred by then President Arroyo to the city government.

The original giant edifice, constructed for the Catholic religious order using the skills of Japanese stone masonry artisans, is now an abandoned skeleton of its magnificence, stripped bare of its interior fittings by vandals and robbers over the years.

Reports from guards also had it that treasure hunters had also dug up portions of the compound.

A foundation led by former Ambassador to Germany Delia Albert had petitioned its rehabilitation into a mining museum accenting on the city’s development as a mountain resort serving four of the country’s biggest gold mines that sprang around Baguio in the early 1900s.

Mayor Domogan, however, said the foundation has agreed to instead rally for the use of a sequestered property along the road to Mines View as site for the mining museum.

That leaves the city to decide on what to do with the historic hill which spiritual significance has been partially restored by the introduction of the record-setting tablet.