My Baguio Dreams is Out!

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Baguio's centennial memories placed online
By Vincent CabrezaNorthern Luzon Bureau
Posted date: September 29, 2007

BAGUIO CITY -- Everyone's fond memories of the summer capital will be collected for posterity online.
A firm that has been advocating Internet technology-based approaches to education, has opened a website that is dedicated to old Baguio recollections, in honor of two centennial celebrations coming in the next two years.
The only city built by the American colonial government at the start of the 20th century will commemorate its centennial on Sept. 1, 2009, while the Teachers' Camp, another US colonial-era institution, has marked 2008 as its red-letter year because of its 100th anniversary.
The online diary acts as a Baguio "wikipedia" for www.mybaguiodreams.com, which is administered by Elmer Soriano, president of Thinklab.
A wiki is a program that allows anyone to contribute entries to an online encyclopedia.
Soriano said his Baguio community encyclopedia allows every resident to build up a definitive history of Baguio, using anecdotal accounts as foundation for illustrating how Baguio was generations before 2007.
The city was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, and was established in 1909 by a city charter drawn up and reviewed by top American lawyers of the period.
Soriano said he set up the site after realizing that almost every generation has a story or two to tell about visiting Baguio.
It had always been easy to get Baguio's frequent celebrities to share a nugget or two about the city.
President Macapagal-Arroyo, a perennial visitor, often recounts how husband Jose Miguel Arroyo courted her in Baguio.
Mr. Arroyo's family owns a Baguio vacation house, which is a stroll away from the presidential Mansion, where Ms Arroyo spent her vacations with her father, the late former President Diosdado Macapagal.
"There seems to be so much talent in Baguio, but it seems that this talent is not harnessed to help build up the city. We have bar topnotchers, chess whizzes, top bands… so much energy in Panagbenga (the annual Baguio Flower Festival), but for the rest of the year, it is as if that energy goes down," Soriano said.
"I thought it would be wonderful if we were able to harness all that creativity, passion, talent on a weekly or even daily basis," he said. "I think that as we approach our centennial, it would be great if we could re-enchant the next decades by articulating our dreams and by unlocking our collective imaginations, then creating the city that [we] hope for."
Even tragedy breeds lasting Baguio stories, Soriano said.
Former senatorial candidate Sonia Roco, the wife of the late Sen. Raul Roco and who survived the 1990 earthquake here, could not help but return to the city to overcome her trauma.
Mrs. Roco's last public visit to the summer capital was during the campaign period this year, and it led her back to the Nevada Square, the site of the hotel she was staying in when the earthquake struck on July 16, 1990.
This early, the website has been receiving contributions "from strangers," Soriano said.
He said they are drawn to key themes posted by Thinklab.
It marked out categories for the interesting taxicab names, and "the best place to bring a tourist friend."
But it is a profile ladder called "You know you're from Baguio, if…" which has intrigued online contributors.
Like American host and comedian David Letterman's "Top 10 List," this item has been receiving humorous and nostalgic responses, Soriano said.
One entry poked fun at the fact that in the 1970s, the only grocery store known to residents was Sunshine Grocery, and that school supplies could be bought only from CID Educational Supply, which has since broken up into smaller supply stores, all named Cid.
Entries also refer to the city's social history.
Some contributors said a person grew up in Baguio if his or her idea of a walk was strolling up and down Session Road for hours.
The central business district used to be limited to the road spanning the city market and Luneta Hill, where the Pines Hotel once stood. Nowadays, it is the SM City Baguio that looms over the city.
Another entry defines a Baguio old timer by the fact that he or she effortlessly speaks English with "no colegiala" twang and would never wear Baguio-labeled bonnets or shorts in public.
Soriano's site also offers a chance for residents to discuss Baguio's future.
Photographs comparing today's Session Road to European streets have been posted, apparently to ignite discussions about a proposed pedestrianization of downtown Baguio.
Session Road businessmen are opposing the proposal of former city architect Joseph Alabanza to convert Session Road into a pedestrian mall with trees and outdoor cafés.
Soriano also linked up galleries of top Baguio destinations, as well as the music video "Suntok sa Buwan," performed by the band Session Road. The video shows clips of old Baguio.
He said he has no personal advocacy regarding how Baguio could evolve.
"I just believe that if more people get engaged in the discussion, the best ideas will simmer to the top… The [Baguio online] community takes a life of its own," he said.


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