The Saga of the Baguio City Market
October 15, 2008 by lisa
Filed under business & economy, featured
This photo of the Stone Market building is part of the William "Bill" Fabianic collection, sent to me by Joseph Lansang via email. On 10/15 Joe added: "Hotel City Lunch on the left is now part of Sunshine Supermart. Pedestrians in front of the building, jeeps parked along Perfecto St.(Plaza then). The triangular building behind it in my time that housed a few stores then now part of Abanao Square." Joe's family owned Manila Cafe on Abanao Road so he knows the area very well.
In my early trips to Baguio in the late 60’s and early 70s, I was too young to be brought to the Baguio City Market by my mom. The first time I started going was as a teenager in the late 70s and early 80s and, by that time, the Stone Building had been replaced by Imelda Marcos’s Maharlika Livelihood Complex, that featured the city’s first escalators (wow at that time!) and housed retail shops, antique shops, boutiques and service establishments like beauty parlors.
Folks familiar with the city’s landscape will know that the area I am talking about is at the base of Session Road, on Maysaysay Avenue. The public market is that shanty-like collection of stalls that currently houses “38 permanent sections, 1,835 permanent stalls, 1,687 temporary stalls and over 1,000 ambulant vendors” that is located beside Maharlika.
There is an article entitled Hometown Snapshots that talks about the history of the Baguio City Market and mentions the figures quoted above, that (pending approval of my request for syndication) I am posting excerpts thereof herein::
The stone market was formally inaugurated as a modern economic facility in 1908, accompanied by the operations of a water system, electricity, telephone services and a garbage disposal system, Ben Tapang Jr. wrote in his book, “Innovation and social change: The Ibaloy cattle enterprise in Benguet.”
Tapang, a retired University of the Philippines Baguio economics professor, said the American colonial government policy was directed toward creating a viable mining industry and developing a Western hill station in Benguet (which became Baguio).
His book cites the 1906 Commission Report that said only the American-built Baguio Commercial Store and small Chinese and Ibaloi stores contributed to economic activity at the time.
I have written a page on the Baguio City Market at GoBaguio! that I am particularly pleased with, where I extol the virtues of a fully-airconditioned public market that is “cool, clean, cheap and complete” and because writing it made me come to a realization that:
… if there’s anything that captures the essence of Baguio, it is the city market. Like Baguio, it is a ‘melting pot’ of Cordillera and lowland products. Like Baguio, it can be busy but not stressful. Like Baguio, it provides a wide variety of items and services.
So, if you need to have a shoe re-soled or have your dollars changed, if you need to buy zucchini or “sayote,” romaine lettuce or “kangkong,” our market has it all. Rich and poor, everyone goes to the same market. Now that’s really nice, isn’t it?
Redesigning the Baguio City Market
The same report cites the following:
“Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. said people supporting a city conservation program for the centennial had asked him to design a new market that would blend the old stone market with the traditional Ibaloi hut.
(Lisa: Is Peter Rey Bautista an architect, an artist? Who are these “people supporting a city conservation program…?”)
“Shaping a model of an improved Baguio market that we deserve as a community requires the constructive participation of residents, city officials, market associations, suppliers and vendors,” Alcantara said.
“We must, however, learn from mistakes in our history. The city lost one of its most historically important buildings when the stone market was demolished. The buildings inaugurated in 1952, 1955 and 1958 are the only remaining links to the old Baguio market. Yet we hardly even notice them anymore,” she said.
Um, ah, I like the idea of a stone building using those pinkish Benguet stones, but the Ibaloi hut I do not agree with. I would say that is too literal and unimaginative. I would go more for rebuilding the Stone Market exactly as it was, using those clean lines that are actually very elegant and do not clutter up the landscape.
Lisa,
Php10/sq m?! Maybe even us can bid! I have gone many times to Baguio but i havn’t explore and didn’t even care to take a look inside that Maharlika Livelihood Center. Why? Bacause it doesn’t look like Baguio unlike the City Market and the one at Mines View. Besides, products sold at the City Market are much cheaper. Personally, I do not agree with the kind of restructuring they have in mind.It should have the look and taste of Baguio.
Lalaine, we can form a consortium! But this Uniwide deal is a done deal. It just so happens they are 7 BILLION in debt right now.
But one way for them to be able to push through with the project would be to go on joint venture with a “liquid” partner, on the strength of the contract awarded to them by the city, the same way Fil-Estate had Ayala bail them out partially with TriNoMa Mall in Quezon City and Camp John Hay here.
Which is why the present administration should do everything to stop it. (But will these guys just see it as another opportunity to make personal money?) Should Domogan win as mayor again when he finishes his last term as congressman, woe to us!
First of all, loved the make over of the page =) its just like globalization, since there is a need to change then change it is.
I have a suggestion Lisa. If you can make this page behave like the new yahoo mail where if you view your inbox only a part of your window loads. Para hindi nag loload ung buong page.Cguro static ung comment part then ung article part lang ung nagpapalit pag nag nenext or previous tapic kami.
uh…ibaloi hut?? Wow. Talk about creating things w/o putting into consideration who will use it, how it will be used, the mechanics on what will happen if a fire breaks out or an earthquake etc.
It’s not that I dislike or I don’t patronize ibaloi designs. In fact, I’m actually Full Blooded Igorot (w/c is called F.B.I. by most is not all) my self. I’m just saying that creating buildings,systems and even product are not created just because they want to represent something (like ahem ahem the ibaloi culture). It is designed in a manner that it caters to the NEEDS and WANTS of the people because it is the people who will USE these buildings and/or systems, it is the people who will CONSUME these products. They must take the people into consideration first, not the profit. (Making user centered naman po tayo.)
Hi Acid Rayne,
Good point! It is the function that determines the form, and not the personal taste of the powers that be.
I was just at a meeting with some hospitality professionals yesterday in Manila and Glenda Barretto of Via Mare commented that when she visited a certain Visayan province she was surprised to see figures of Snow White and the Dwarves adorning some brown hills, purportedly because “Mrs. Mayor thought it beautiful.” Tourism Sec. Durano had the statues removed because they were incongruous with that famous tourist attraction.
It’s the same thing for Baguio, especially since we are celebrating 100 years of history! We should acknowledge both the “Little America” and “Igorot Village” heritage of the city, but with a lot of aforethought as to functionality, and a lot of good taste in the execution of monuments. Enough of all these concrete monstrosities reflecting the vanity (or is it the lack of imagination) of their designers.
Folks in charge should not think they are Marcos-like or Imelda-like, dictatorial as far as their ideas are concerned. Good leadership means finding the right people for the right jobs, not just relatives or friends either to head Commissions or projects, but folks who are qualified, even if they are not from Baguio. Manila architects can be hired, or even foreign ones.
Whether for the students, or visitors or the residents, Baguio must be made the most beautiful city in the Philippines ONCE AGAIN.
As for the blog design tips, I like that idea. The reason I used pagination is so that you will not have to scroll all the way down. Lemme see how that “inbox thang” goes… would you know of a WordPress plugin?
Thanks
I would like the local executives to take a look how Puerto Princesa was transformed into a very clean & organized city. This can be done in Baguio.
Hi Edgar,
I so agree!
The big question is, are the local executives even wanting to clean or organize the city? Or is it to their advantage to keep it disorganized for their own reasons?
The reason I write about it or start discussions on the topic is because I do not see programs that go towards bringing back the charm of Baguio, just plans to build more flyovers, or failure to collect the garbage.
We do have new thin metal street signs and paving tiles on Session Road… but as to street lighting for the safety of the residents, more policemen, the removal of illegal vendors, the decongestion of Baguio, where are the programs to address those problems?
Even global warming is not being addressed. Thousands of trees are going to be felled!
I’m not sure if there is a plug in for wordpress that can act like a wizard for you to create a “yahoo mail” like blog but I think it is on the code part where you can “program” your blog to behave as such unfortunately I have nill experience when it comes to blog creation, HTML and XML page development so I cant give an exact code on how to do it. Sorry Lisa.
That’s perfectly alright AcidRayne, someone will either come up with one, or we’ll figure it out sooner or later (it’s fun to be an amateur blogger — no pressure)
“I would like the local executives to take a look how Puerto Princesa was transformed into a very clean & organized city. This can be done in Baguio.” -edgar garcia
no matter how good an idea is, baguio city officials won’t adapt it lest we be called copycats so they cook up their own crazy ideas just so to be called ‘orig.’ sorry but that is my impression. look at what they’re doing to burnham park.
The old Market building brings back memories,on the rightside of the building across the street where the sunshine grocery now stood was Baguio lunch where my dad and mom used to bring us for dinner.And at the back of the Old market building where the police outpost now stands,is where most of the BAguio natives together with other natives or Igorots from mountain provinces used to congregate basking on the sun wearing g-strings and a coat(americana)the ground was bloody red at that time because of the nuts they are chewing he he he.(Its so strange that up to now that area is where the natives of the cordilleras still congregate every sundays).Infront of the building is where we used to ride a 6 passenger jeepneys.In the afternoons the whole city was envelop with fogs in contrast of todays smog.Anyway Lisa thanks for posting the picture.
I haven’t seen Baguio for more than 2 decades and I am more worried than curious of the state of the city now. I used to live along Badihoy St. The public market was my daily stop. Can I still bring my family back?
Hi Edgar,
I have all the faith in the Baguio residents that they will become a little more politically and socially sophisticated in the years prior to your return, and turn things around for the city.
You see, many who live here are new settlers who are just getting accustomed to the city (some of them, of even living in a city). You can say, therefore, that this is a new society we have here. And, with good leadership, new standards can be set, or the old standards can be re-taught. Right now, everyone is only trying to “survive” instead of “live.”
But what can you do to prepare your village prior to retirement? Pressure your relatives to bring the old beauty back, invest in your future by building a home that does not stick out with tangerine or electric blue colors, visit and plant some more trees in your old home, support non-traditional politicians in 2010 who will provide you with a platform and general program of action so that there are no surprises like flyovers or tree-cutting.
we would like to invite all baguio drinkers and bar hooppers to go on our embassy goes to baguio tour presented by emperador company on november.
Hi Carlo,
It would be nice if you included some details so that the folks can mark it on their calendars…