6. BURNHAM y VILLAVERDE

BURNHAM y VILLAVERDE

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

26 November 2016

My family visited the City of Pines upon the invitation of our mayor to unwind after a week of work. It took me three hours to drive from Cabatuan to Aritao town in Nueva Vizcaya province and another three hours from the junction via Kayapa-Ambuklao, Bokod in Benguet to Baguio City. On the way to our hotel, we passed by the famous Burnham Park, dubbed as the “Mother of All Parks” in the Cordillera.

Tracing our history gives us the old picture that the most prominent feature of Spanish pueblos was the plaza, a central area for town activities such as the fiesta and where government buildings, the church, a market area and other infrastructures were located; residential areas lay around the plaza. During the conquista, the first task of colonization was the reduccion, or relocation of the indigenous population into settlements surrounding the plaza.

Plaza is still a term used today but normally refers to parks and other open spaces for recreation in the poblasyon. Burnham Park is a 32.84 hectare lot located at the heart of Baguio. It was named after Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912) who laid the plans for the city. Burnham was an American architect and urban designer and was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities including Chicago, Manila, and downtown Washington, D.C. He also designed several famous buildings including the triangular shaped Flatiron Building of New York City, Union Station in Washington D.C., the Continental Trust Company Building tower skyscraper in Baltimore (now One South Calvert Building), and a number of notable skyscrapers in Chicago. Aside from the City of Manila, he was also the architect of Baguio City and the Provincial Capitol Buildings of Pangasinan (in Lingayen) and Negros Occidental (in Bacolod).

Another notable builder of Filipino communities and landscape was the Dominican priest Juan Fernandez Villaverde (1841-1897) who was missionary of Northern Luzon during the Spanish period. He was instrumental in the establishment of missions and pueblos in the Caraballo and southern Cordillera which includes: Lagawe and Quiangan (now spelled Kiangan) in Ifugao province and the settlements of Ibung (renamed to Villaverde) and Lumabang (renamed to Solano) in Nueva Vizcaya province. During his religious operations, he went up the mountainous Caraballo to Christianize the native Ikalahan (or Kallahan, Kalanguya, Kadasan, Ikalasan, Kalasan). In modern times, a trail was named after him to immortalize his efforts during the Christianization period of our history.

I usually travel to and from Manila at night time to save time and elude traffic and in one of my seldom day trips, I took notice of a signage in Santa Fe town proper which reads: To Imugan Falls. Searching Google, I found out that Imugan is a barangay situated at the historic Villaverde Trail. The trail cuts through the mountainous terrain of San Nicolas, Pangasinan and Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya. It starts from the easternmost portion of San Nicolas in Barangay Santa Maria, ascends the Caraballo Mountain range, skirts around the bald and pine-clad hills, dips into lush valleys and climbs again to dizzy heights spanning 27 miles to an elevation of over 5,000 feet along ridge lines large enough for only foot traffic or horses. It terminates near Santa Fe at the junction with Highway 5 (Route 5) and the Cagayan Valley.

Researching further on the Villaverde Trail reveals historic accounts culled from corregidor.proboards.com and pacificwrecks.com known as the Battle of Villaverde Trail. During World War II, after the American landed at Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945, Japanese forces of the 'Shobu Group' defended the Villaverde Trail, including 10th Reconnaissance Regiment and survivors of the 7th Tank Regiment from the Battle of San Manuel, Pangasinan. The US Army 32nd Infantry Division's 127th Infantry Regiment advanced along this trail beginning on January 30, 1945. The rough terrain made it impossible for vehicles to support the battle, Igorot laborers were employed to carry supplies and evacuate the wounded. By February 23, they had reached the high ground. The Kongo Fortress, located four miles north of Imugan was reached in early March. The fortress was the site of a three week battle that resulted to a thousand Japanese killed in action. Defenders of the 2nd Tank Division used eight removed turrets from their tanks as fixed pillboxes, fighting at Salacsac Pass until May 24th against American forces, losing 2,300 from the 2nd Tank Division and 3,400 from other units. On April 7th American fighters flew more than 130 sorties in support of ground forces at Solvec Cove also in Villa Verde Trail. The 127th Infantry Regiment was relieved by the 128th Infantry Regiment, which fought on the trail until May 28th. The battle lasted 119 days, while outnumbered 2:1, and resulted estimated 8,900 Japanese killed in action.

In 1968, the national government opened the trail for travel between Pangasinan and Nueva Vizcaya. The opening of the road is expected to hasten the development of the two provinces and the realization of the founding of Marcos City somewhere along the road between the towns of San Nicolas and Sta. Fe. Unfortunately, the first phase encountered some opposition from the indigenous peoples (IP), the Ikalahan tribe, who inhabited the upland portion. A Scottish missionary, Rev. Delbert Arthur Rice, who led the IPs, was against the road construction, saying plants and animals in the area will be disturbed once the project starts. But according to former Pangasinan Vice Governor and 6th District Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Ranjit Shahani, an environmental impact statement on the project showed there was no environmental hazard for the construction. The trail was closed down in the 1980s by the Ministry of Public Works and Highways because it was difficult to maintain and generated a low daily traffic according to the Bureau of Maintenance. Its condition worsened because of the 1990 killer earthquake which caused massive road slips and landslides making most segments not passable to traffic. Early this year, more than three decades after its closure, the road line was given a new lease on life with a 1.2 billion peso rehabilitation program and is expected to be operational in 2018.

Aside from the Villaverde Trail, the missionary of the Order of Preachers was also memorialized with the renaming of the Municipality of Ibung in Nueva Vizcaya province to “Villaverde” by virtue of Republic Act No. 2515 on June 21, 1959.

Burnham and Villaverde played very important roles in the rural and urban development of old Philippines. Their names will forever be remembered not only in their respective countries but in our localities that they shaped and molded.