Dignitaries attend centennial of workers who built Benguet Rd.

A day of remembrance along the scenic and historic mountain highway called Kennon Road that was to become the world famous summer capital of the Philippines-Baguio almost a century ago to the rest of the world was attended yesterday morning by Filipino, Japanese and American dignitaries who offered flowers beside a marker on the view deck of the main gateway to the Cordilleras. This was in commemoration of the centennial of the arrival of some 1,500 workers who helped build what was then known as the Benguet Road.

Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kojiro Takano, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone and Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon, together with Japanese Rep. Taro Nakayama did the honors during the solemn rites at 9:30 a.m. yesterday.

Japanese Honorary consul Carlos Teraoka, chairman of the Filipino-Japanese Association of Northern Luzon, which labored for months for the commemoration, opened the ceremonies by re-unveiling the marker. Visiting and local descendants of some of the Japanese workers, together with surviving former Baguio Japanese residents, started arriving last week for the emotional centennial observance.

Among those reunited during the centennial are twin sisters Mutsuyo and Mutsumi, daughters of Gunzo Shinozaki, the first principal teacher of the Japanese School which opened in 1924 at the Burnham Park. Mutsoyo came in from the United States while Mutsumi arrived from Japan.

An international labor crew representing 36 nationalities built Kennon Road, mostly Filipino and Japanese contract workers, many of whom succumbed to disease or were plunged to their deaths.

Some of the Japanese workers who survived the five-year project never returned to their homeland and stayed behind to continue helping Baguio and the rest of the Cordilleras.