Breathe Baguio

Benguet Houses by Steve Santos (1951-2022)

Baguio is a city a few hours away from Manila built upon and surrounded by the Cordillera Mountains. If you have read a few of my blog entries, you will know that I like to write my reflections on a place before going into the photo dump travelogue of what I did there–this entry is no exception. The main reason I wanted to visit Baguio was because of a research project that I undertook in law school throughout 2023 and into this year. Here is an excerpt of the blog entry I wrote after finishing my first semester of law school that serves as the background behind my research project, with minor edits for clarity: 

"Toward the end of the semester, we learned about personal jurisdiction, which concerns the power a court has over a given defendant. Since plaintiffs choose the court in which they file their case, the court has to determine whether it can institute a ruling that can bind the defendant in the first place before it decides to hear the case. This module was a mess and involved much drama about defendants saying the court had no jurisdiction over them. We read such cases as one that involved one good sister and two evil sisters (Hanson v. Denckla) and one that involved a plane crash over the Scottish highlands (Piper Aircraft v. Reyno). In a footnote of one case we read was a reference to another case, Perkins v. Benguet Mining Co. I thought Benguet sounded Filipino and indeed it was, as the case involved a Philippine mining company as the defendant. (The name "Benguet" itself is the region of the Philippines rich in mineral deposits.) That piqued my interest. The issue at hand was whether an American court could hear a case against Benguet, the defendant, when it was based in the Philippines. It turned out the answer was yes because, long story short, the company's president fled during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and established an office in Ohio. Lucy (our professor) said as much in class. I found it interesting that the case text mentioned the Japanese occupation but nothing about the fact that the Philippines was also a US colony at that time, so I mentioned it in class for some helpful historical context. 

For lack of a better word, Lucy was floored at my comment. She said nobody had ever brought it up before in class, nor did Justice Ginsburg mention it in the opinion that referenced Perkins. The Perkins opinion itself did not mention it. She said that the context was more than helpful, it was crucial. She brought up my comment a couple more times during the semester and during a Critical Legal Theory talk I attended. She also told our class that she did some of her own extra research and could not find any articles written about how the Philippines being a US colony played into the Supreme Court's decision in Perkins. I decided that nothing else I could say in Civil Procedure (or perhaps my law school career) could top that comment, and nothing else did. But now I do have an interesting point of further inquiry as I continue my legal education." 

Whether I actually said anything else in my law school career that topped that comment is debatable, but I did actually decide to fall down the rabbit hole that my comment unearthed.  

Beginning in the spring of my 2L year, more than a year after I made that remark, I registered for an independent study project to keep learning about this mining company and the legal system that enabled an American to easily take control over Philippine gold resources. I reached out to a law professor who works on issues of corporate power and global governance, and he agreed to be my advisor. While working on this project, I conducted a deep dive into the Philippines' legal system under American colonial rule, the origin story of Benguet Consolidated Mining Company, and that of its president, John Haussermann. I even went so far as to read documents about the company dating back to the 1930s in the National Archives near Washington DC, and while on a road trip to a pug convention, I paid Haussermann a visit at his grave in rural Ohio. 

Me at John Haussermann's grave in New Richmond, Ohio.

And me and my friend Katu at the Bluegrass Pug Fest 2023 because we drove nearly 1000 miles from Boston to Louisville, Kentucky in one day so we could attend and people should know about it.

My findings were far too numerous to include in one paper, much less this blog entry. (Though if you want to read the paper I eventually ended up submitting to complete my law school's writing requirement, I will gladly send it to you!) But if I have to impart anything from this story to you, it is the following. The Americans came to colonize the Philippines, loudly declaring that they would be there to "civilize" Filipinos and that their intentions were benevolent. As they did so, the Americans devised a legal system that would ultimately benefit the USA. This allowed them to maintain control over the islands' resources while granting Filipinos limited power over governing their own country, so as to maintain a facade of democratic tutelage. Meanwhile, Americans such as John Haussermann freely moved between the United States and the Philippines to practice law and open up their own businesses, all the while conscripting Philippine labor, extracting Philippine resources, and hoarding the wealth such exploitation produced. While preparing my final paper, I asked myself the question: how does designating Benguet Consolidated a "foreign corporation," when it was clearly American-owned and -founded, fit into this story? I attempted to answer by claiming that the designation of Benguet Consolidated as "foreign" upheld the narrative that the Philippines was an independent polity that Americans would eventually leave to self-govern. 

The significance of Baguio is the fact that the city was created by the Americans to serve as a summer capital and colonial hill station. It was close to the mineral riches of the Benguet region, which enabled American businessmen to have a base from which to operate. As part of my research, I read a fantastic book by Rebecca Tinio McKenna called American Imperial Pastoral: The Architecture of US Colonialism in the Philippines. The book is a chronicle of Baguio and the people who claimed it, from indigenous Filipinos to the Americans on their rampaging civilizing mission. I greatly enjoyed the chapter about the workers who built Kennon Road, named after the American engineer who oversaw it, and how the Americans manipulated discourse and legislation about labor to dominate the brown masses who came to build the road to Baguio. Another chapter that stood out to me centered on notions of land ownership and legality, which recounted the story of Mateo Cariño, an indigenous man whose claim over the land that became Baguio formed the basis of a legal dispute that made it to the Supreme Court of the United States. Although the Supreme Court ruled that he had a claim over the land, Cariño never benefited from the ruling. Its impact ended up being merely symbolic, as the Americans were able to block any wider application of the ruling, and they continued establishing themselves in Baguio. After reading this much about a region of the Philippines previously unknown to me, I had to visit and see it for myself. 

During my visit, I was hoping to see some nods to the city's role in the mining industry, but saw very few. There is an observation deck known as Mines View Park, and some cursory mentions in the Baguio Museum, but other than that, I was disappointed in the lack of critical engagement with the topic. In a way, it made me glad to have embarked on the research project. I feel like in the United States, so much has already been said about the country's history as a global empire and the way its foreign policy functions to maximize economic gains for its ruling class; in the Philippines, however, not even history museums acknowledge the violence of American colonialism and its exploitation of Filipino peoples and resources.

For example, indigenous communities in the Cordillera Mountains were able to survive through Spanish colonialism because they were isolated, whereas indigenous people in my region of the Philippines were unable to in the same way. The broad term for indigenous peoples in the mountains of Luzon Island is Igorot, and much of the tourist destinations in Baguio dedicate themselves to uplifting indigenous cultures. There is no shortage of textiles, traditional wood carvings, and indigenous traditional dance performances that a tourist to Baguio can observe. What is lacking is any discussion about the fact that while indigenous peoples survived Spanish colonialism, they were unable to steer clear of American colonialism in the same way. Indigenous people were sent to work in the mines, extracting gold for Americans rather than for their own cultural practices as they had done for generations. They were among the earliest workers on Kennon Road, because Americans hailed them for their "industriousness," and thus helped pave the way for increased access to Baguio for the American colonists. While disappointed, I was not surprised. Museums tend not to disrupt dominant narratives, and I found that that was very much the case in Baguio. 

Now that I have gotten my usual thoughts out of the way, here are the pictures I know the readers really come to my blog for, lol. 

Breakfast at our Airbnb, which I first read about in this article and another reason I wanted to see Baguio

The view on the street outside the Airbnb

One of our first stops in the city was the BenCab museum, named after an artist from Baguio. I loved the galleries showcasing Filipino art as well as the garden area!

I immediately recognized this painting from the cover of a book called Insurrecto, which I also recommend. What a fun find!

James and I also stopped by a bookstore called Mt Cloud. They had a great selection, and I loved seeing their translations of Spanish novels into Tagalog!

My favorite collection of poems (and probably the only collection of poems I have ever read) has also been translated to Tagalog! We got a copy already hehe.

Ceasefire now and free Palestine. Always glad to see displays of solidarity!

Here are some pics from museums. I promise I still enjoyed myself.

Reams of textile at the Museo Kordilyera in the University of the Philippines' Baguio campus (where security asked if I was an alumna, lol)

Wood carvings not at a museum but at the Easter Weaving Shop, though you could see lots of these at the museums as well

Baguio Museum

A statue depicting miners and commemorating Baguio's centennial in 2009, but it was hidden behind a huge display and I had to put my phone behind it to take this picture...I feel like there's some commentary to be made here

One of the places on my list in Baguio was Hatch Coffee. I heard about it on Instagram a while ago and saw that their mascot was a pug. I also saw on their Instagram that there was a resident pug named Hopia. While visiting the cafe, which is attached to the owner's private home, we saw Hopia running through the cafe and disappearing into the home. We were so glad to have seen the pug, however spectral! There was at least a good number of pug paraphernalia. 

Another item on my list was Mines View Park. I really wanted some mining memorabilia, maybe a magnet or a little statue or something, but found nothing. At least the views over the mountains where the mining companies used to operate were nice. 

Just leaving this here...

And here are some miscellaneous pictures that I didn't want to explain individually in an introductory paragraph. 

Another little bit of history–the "site of the first Philippine Commission"

A jeepney with a cool painted exterior

Sunset over the hills

Finally, because this was also the trip James and I took to celebrate our seventh anniversary, I wanted to add his own astute reflections here. 

"Today in Kultura [a Filipiniana store chain] I noticed some souvenirs that said ‘Baguio’ with a horse and carriage design. I found it funny, of course, since this is one of the newest Filipino cities, for which even the very earliest plans were made with automobiles in mind. Another ironic observation I’ve had is regarding the city’s tagline, #breatheBaguio, when a quintessential Baguio experience seems to be driving with the windows down (no aircon needed here, I’ll grant that) behind a jeepney belching out diesel as it struggles to climb one of the many steep inclines which define the cityscape. 

Baguio is only ~300k people (in the city proper) which feels quaint coming from Manila. But the density comes out to 6000 people per square kilometer, double that of Manila, and close to Hong Kong, which is similarly mountainous but replete with high rises, as opposed to the predominant single family homes found here. Despite this density, the elevation conspires with narrow roads clogged with fast driving cars (sounds like a contradiction but I don’t think it is) to make walking most places a struggle, even when there are sidewalks. As one of the few available places to walk and not choke on emissions, Burnham Park can get very very crowded. Not sure what exactly I expected, but I was put off by the tourist trap kitsch of the same plastic shit for kids being sold all over (like Vigan and Rizal Park). Gives me the impression that for a lot of people, Baguio is just another place to go and check off the list of domestic tourism, not that there’s anything specific or unique to experience. Or maybe that’s too harsh or cynical. On the other end of the spectrum, the masses of people who, perhaps enabled by remote work, came here temporarily or permanently to enjoy the fresh mountain air are probably disappointed by the lingering smog, the huge crowds in their secluded mountain retreat (as the Americans envisioned it…though funnily enough we saw very very few). On a bright note, Session Road downtown is pedestrianized on Sundays, and many people come out to enjoy that (I do in fact enjoy seeing the masses enjoy public amenities; it’s just painful when poor maintenance and planning stretches them to their limits). Besides that, many of the museums, vistas, schools and cultural sites, and boutique accommodations are on the peripheries of the city, so driving becomes necessary. 

Taxis proliferate (one driver told us over 3000, so roughly one for every hundred residents) and are in high demand, since they all seem to be full when you try to hail one (and not just tourists taking them, since they’re cheap; even if you have a car, you can imagine parking is a pain). The only Grab (SEAsian rideshare app) drivers in the city seem to be also taxi drivers, which hopefully explains the multitude of empty taxis who completely ignore my hailing and drove right past. Despite all my complaints, it's impossible to have a bad trip when I'm with my honey..." (Ed.'s note: I concur!)