Baguio, officially the City of Baguio (Ibaloi: Ciudad ne Bagiw; Ilokano: Siudad ti Baguio; Filipino: Lungsod ng Baguio) and popularly referred to as Baguio City, is a mountain resort city located in Northern Luzon, Philippines. It is known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines, owing to its cool climate since the city is located approximately 1,540 meters (5,050 feet) above sea level in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion, which also makes it conducive for the growth of mossy plants and orchids. Baguio is classified as a Highly Urbanized City (HUC). It is geographically located within Benguet, serving as the provincial capital from 1901 to 1916, but has since been administered independently from the province following its conversion into a chartered city. The city has become the center of business, commerce, and education in northern Luzon, as well as the regional center of the Cordillera Administrative Region. According to the 2015 census, Baguio has a population of 345,366.
Baguio was established as a hill station by the Americans in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. It was the United States' only hill station in Asia. The name of the city is derived from bagiw, the Ibaloi word for "moss".
History
Pre-colonial period
Baguio City used to be a vast mountain zone with lush highland forests, teeming with various wildlife such as the indigenous cloud rats, Philippine eagles, deers, warty pigs, and numerous species of floras. The area was a hunting ground of the indigenous peoples, notably the Ibalois and other Igorot ethnic groups. In the 14th-15th century, it became under the control of the Kingdom of Tondo until it returned to an indigenous plutocracy by the 16th century. When the Spanish came in the Philippines, the area was never fully subjugated by Spain due to the intensive defense tactics of the indigenous Igorots of the Cordilleras.
Spanish Colonial Period
During the Spanish rule in 1846, the Spaniards established a comandancia in the nearby town of La Trinidad, and organized Benguet into 31 rancherias, one of which was Kafagway, a wide grassy area where the present Burnham Park is situated. Most of the lands in Kafagway were owned by Ibaloys even prior to the appointment of Mateo Cariño as chieftain. The Spanish presidencia, which was located at Bagiw at the vicinity of Guisad Valley was later moved to Cariño's house where the current City Hall stands. Bagiw, a local term for "moss" once abundant in the area was converted by the Spaniards into Baguio, which served as the name of the rancheria.
During the Philippine Revolution in July 1899, Filipino revolutionary forces under Pedro Paterno liberated La Trinidad from the Spaniards and took over the government, proclaiming Benguet as a province of the new Republic of the Philippines. Baguio was converted into a "town", with Mateo Cariño being the presidente (mayor).
American Colonial Period
When the United States occupied the Philippines after the Spanish–American War, Baguio was selected to become the summer capital of the Philippine Islands. Governor-General William Taft on his first visit in 1901, noted the "air as bracing as Adirondacks or Murray Bay... temperature this hottest month in the Philippines on my cottage porch at three in the afternoon sixty-eight.
In 1903, Filipino, Japanese and Chinese workers were hired to build Kennon Road, the first road directly connecting Baguio with the lowlands of Pangasinan. Before this, the only road to Benguet was Naguilian Road, and it was largely a horse trail at higher elevations. The Camp John Hay was established on October 25, 1903 after President Theodore Rooseveltsigned an executive order setting aside land in Benguet for a military reservation under the United States Army. It was named after Roosevelt's Secretary of State, John Milton Hay.
The Mansion, built in 1908, served as the official residence of the American Governor-General during the summer to escape Manila's heat. The Mansion was designed by architect William E. Parsons based on preliminary plans by architect Daniel H. Burnham.[9]Burnham, one of the earliest successful modern city planners, designed the mountain retreat following the tenets of the City Beautiful Movement. In 1904 the rest of the city was planned out by Burnham. On September 1, 1909 Baguio was declared as a chartered city and the "Summer Capital of the Philippines". The period after saw further development of Baguio with the construction of Wright Park in honor of Governor-General Luke E. Wright, Burnham Park in honor of Burnham, Governor Pack Road, and Session Road.
World War II
Prior to World War II, Baguio was the summer capital of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and the home of the Philippine Military Academy. Following the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, the Japanese Imperial Army used Camp John Hay, an American installation in Baguio, as a military base. The nearby Philippine Constabulary base, Camp Holmes, was used as an internment camp for about 500 civilian enemy aliens, mostly Americans, between April 1942 and December 1944.
By late March 1945, Baguio was within range of the American and Filipino military artillery. President José P. Laurel of the Second Philippine Republic, a puppet state established on 1943, departed the city on March 22 and reached Taiwan on March 30. The remainder of the Second Republic government, along with Japanese civilians, were ordered to evacuate Baguio on March 30. General Tomoyuki Yamashitaand his staff then relocated to Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
A major offensive to capture Baguio did not occur until mid-April, when United States Army's 37th Infantry Division, minus the 145th Infantry Regiment, was released from garrisoning Manila to launch a two-division assault into Baguio from the west and south. On April 26, 1945, Filipino troops of the 1st, 2nd, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army, 1st Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary and the USAFIP-NL 66th Infantry Regiment and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division of the United States Army entered Baguio and fought against Japanese Imperial Army forces led by General Yamashita, which started the Battle for the Liberation of Baguio.
Baguio is the site of the formal surrender of General Yamashita and Vice Admiral Okochi at Camp John Hay's American Residence in the presence of lieutenant-generals Arthur Percival and Jonathan Wainwright. It is where they gave up the entire Imperial Japanese Armed Forces to American authorities at the High Commissioner's Residence (now the United States Ambassador's Residence) in Camp John Hay on September 3, 1945, marking the end of World War II.
1990 earthquake
The 1990 Luzon earthquake (Ms = 7.8) destroyed much of the city of Baguio on July 16, 1990. A significant number of buildings and infrastructure were damaged, including the Hyatt Terraces Plaza, Nevada Hotel, Baguio Park Hotel, FRB Hotel and Baguio Hilltop Hotel; major highways were temporarily severed; and a number of houses were leveled or severely-shaken with a significant loss of life. Some of the fallen buildings were built on or near fault lines. Baguio was rebuilt with the aid from the national government and various international donors such as Japan, Singapore and other countries. After moving past the earthquake, Baguio then known as City of Pines was also able to attain theThe Summer Capital of the Philippines title.
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