Fil-Am ties with ‘strings attached’

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- Celebrated as “Philippine Republic Day”, it was formerly the official holiday known as Independence Day commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Manila, which granted independence to the Philippines by the American government on July 4, 1946.

Incidentally, it falls on the annual celebration of the American independence which is now commemorated as Filipino-American Friendship Day in the Philippines, but it was previously the nation's Araw ng Kalayaan until it was moved to June 12 by then President Diosdado Macapagal.  

President Macapagal moved it to June 12, when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine Independence from Spain in 1898. Republic Day on July 4 was created in its place and observed as a holiday under Macapagal’s time, coinciding with the Independence Day celebration of the United States of America.

In Baguio which new city Mayor Benjie Magalong described as “the most Americanized of all Philippine cities” in his speech, the day was celebrated with wreath-laying ceremonies at the busts of Justice George A. Malcolm located at the square named after him and Major Lyman W. Kennon who built the zigzagging road that was named after him.

Simultaneously, a wreath-laying ceremony was also held at the bust of Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham, Baguio planner who designed the famous park named after him, and a ceremony at the junction of Gov. Pack Rd. and Session Rd. where the first meeting of the Philippine Commission was held from April to June in 1904.

That was how tight the closeness of Baguio residents and the Americans was at that time. Mayor Magalong described its tightness saying the friendship “runs even deeper” as many roads and places in the city were named after Baguio’s American founding fathers.

That is how it looks on the surface. But looking at it from an inner angle, the deep friendship that Mayor Magalong spoke of was as deep as the tunnels that the pioneering American miners dug.

A little scrutiny of Baguio’s colonial past will reveal many truths. I look at the Filipino-American friendship ties as one that is not mutual. The friendly relations with them that came after Spain sold the Philippine archipelago, only benefited them.

On the marker at the site of the First Philippine Commission at the junction of Session Rd. and Gov. Pack Rd., it says that 74 Acts and 272 resolutions were approved. Most of the laws approved were for the development of an infant district that was yet to become a charter city.

One big development was the opening of the Benguet road from Saitan, Rosario, La Union to Camp 7 in Baguio. The Americans presented a convincing reason for constructing a road saying that the project when finished will serve as the shortest access road to the mountain resort city.

Contrary to that claim, Baguio residents and road workers were not told that one main reason for the construction of the 34-kilometer zigzagging road following the Bued River was to open an access route for the transport of gold from Benguet mines to Manila.

Road construction begun in 1903 and was opened for travel on January 29, 1905. It was called the Benguet Road but was renamed to Kennon Road in honor of its builder, Col. Lyman Walter Vere Kennon of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Benguet Consolidated Mining Co., the first mining company was set up in Itogon in 1903 by Americans Nelson Peterson and Harry Clyde. Other mines were later established with the city becoming the R&R (rest and recreation) hub of the American miners.    

In short, mining lands previously operated and owned by Ibaloy miners were taken by the Americans through legislation in the Philippine Commission that benefited them exceptionally.

Filipino-American friendship with strings attached is that kind that was applied on Filipinos, particularly Ibaloys in the case of Baguio. Through the First Philippine Commission, the Americans and their Filipino partners in 1904 set one or more conditions and arrangements to exploit the Baguio – Benguet community of that time.

In addition, hectares of Ibaloy lands were taken away from their original landowners and sold to moneyed businessmen from Manila and wealthy individuals from as far as Negros islands.

Unfortunately, everytime July 4 or the Filipino-American Friendship Day comes around, we tend to honor more our colonizers than ourselves by holding programs and laying wreaths.

But come to think of it, except for Architect Burnham’s development plan for Baguio that was prepared prior to the city charter, the area developed on its own according to what it needed.

Engineer EJ Halsema, the American mayor of Baguio served his last in 1937. Friendship ties continued after that but the actions leading to the growth and decay can be attributed much to later leaders.

Expect to celebrate friendship ties next year, but this time, with corrections and no more strings attached.