There is one historical landmark that is looking good and it is Casa Vallejo.

We went to see it last week and to partake of the meat offering for its new life. The proprietors are a young couple, who would like to be known as Don and Grace, for now. The place began operation last month, hosting Flower Festival seekers.

They showed me around and the lay-out has not changed much except for the entrance. The long corridor and wooden floors are still there and the rooms are well appointed with their own baths. The old charm of the place has been enhanced with new improvements and fixtures. It reminded us of old buildings, structures, and even churches in other countries that have been preserved and converted to other uses, gallery, restaurant, and hotels.

The restaurant will be operated by Mitos Benitez Yniguez, a chef and food expert. Construction is ongoing and in place is a large, open kitchen. The bar is being finished and some work is being done in the large dining room. We noticed the wide-open windows from where one could watch the city. Mitos has named her restaurant “Hill Station.” It will offer comfort food and some Asian hill station features.

Also being hatched in the premises by sisters Padma and Fifi Perez is a bookstore that would carry Filipiniana titles.

* * * * * * * * * *
Burnham plan still applies

An expert on Daniel Burnham was in town last week to get a glimpse of the architect’s work 100 years after the plan was made. Tom Martinson shared his insights on Burnham, a man he had been following for more than 40 years in the context of planning, architecture, and civic achievement. Martinson is an architect and one of the planners in The Fort deve-lopment and he is the author of the “An Almanac: Architecture on America.”

According to Martinson, Burnham’s maxim is “Make no little plans” and it was evident in his work. Burnham started by directing the works at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair by building a city that could accommodate 100,000 visitors daily. This brilliant triumph was followed by replanning Washington D.C. After this, he became sought after and was begged to replan dozens of cities. He wrote only six city plans: Washington D.C., Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Manila, and Baguio.

Martinson wondered why Burnham agreed to a commitment to come to the Philippines when he could have stayed in the United States where his office was deluged with work. It is interesting to note that Burnham did not charge a professional fee for his work in the country. Martinson thinks the answer is much more about Burnham and the Philippines; it is about America and the Philippines.

Martinson contends that the Spanish colonized with soldiers and the British maintained their colonies with civil servants. “When the United States became an imperial power overnight in 1898, this was disorienting to everyone involved, especially to the Americans. Popular views ranged from the jingoism of Manifest Destiny types to those who felt the U.S. had no business in the affairs of other nations.”

“The Americans sent their nobility, their top people to the Philippines. One was Cameron Forbes who came from a wealthy family and had it all in Boston, yet he dropped his extensive family business responsibilities to serve in the Philippines. Burnham himself accepted the colonization as fait accompli, but believed in ‘the Philippines for Filipinos’.”

Martinson believes that Burnham’s plans for both Baguio and Manila shared two essential attributes. One was an organic comprehensiveness, the idea of a unified metropolis where commerce, movement, activity, open spaces and natural features, including tourism, were synthesized into the overall plan. The other attribute noted by Martinson is the acknowledgement that every situation is unique and that any plan must recognize this to be successful. When Burnham submitted his Manila plan on June of 1905 and Baguio in October of the same year, he had officially completed his assignments with distinction.

We asked Martinson whether he thought Burnham would be happy or turning in his grave on seeing Baguio today. His response was that he would be pleased for the plan still held true 100 years later.

* * * * * * * * * *
Artist as eco-warrior

The Art scene is very much alive in Baguio and is a magnet for like-minded people; over and above those who just want to come up to cool off.

Last Saturday, John Frank Sabado opened a very powerful exhibit and performance entitled “Eco warriors” at the Ben Cab Museum. When we arrived, he was coming from the river below and we watched him walk up the terraces. He was garbed with a g-string and headgear and wore a gas mask. And he was covered with mud and a gong hung on his waist. As he walked up the path, he beat the gongs from time to time as if to call the spirits to come. As he approached us, we readied our cameras for a close shot of him and when he passed, he rubbed mud into our wrists. It connected us to the ritual and primed us for his exhibit at the Indigo Gallery.

Sabado’s works depict ecological threat, each piece potent. He uses symbols to show interrelationships between man, spirit and nature and the ancestors’ role in protecting the earth. He goes by the idea that Cordillera warriors are now shifting from tribal wars to wars against the environment.