History of the Baguio Chinese

Baguio has always been my second home. Growing up, my family and I took every opportunity to spend long vacations there together and because of this, I will always attribute my love for horses to my memories of Baguio, considering I was riding since I was a year old.

Growing up I thought that our vacation home was just a matter of preference made by my family, just like our other vacation home at the beach and I simply got used to going back and forth from the mountains to the ocean. Little did I know that there was a lot of sentimental value as to why my family spent many days there. For one, on the side of my father, Tomas Morato was captured by the Japanese when World War II began. My Filipino-Chinese grandmother and their children fled to the mountains of Baguio to find refuge. For us on the Roces side, our garden became one of the most beautiful places in the area that people still remember today. Honestly, our summers were really simple and my siblings, my cousins and I spent almost the entire day horseback riding on the trails that made us wild, fearless expert riders in the mountains. When I think about it, I always wonder how our parents were able to relax without ever worrying about us being gone all day.

Having said all this, and because I have some memories of old-time stories, I decided to dig deeper and do some research on the earliest recorded events on Chinese culture in the city. I came across a study by Professor Anavic Bagamaspad of the University of the Philippines Baguio and for whatever it is worth, most especially in such crucial times, I share my learnings in order to pass on some significant insights, most especially to those who have no knowledge of history on the city of Baguio.

If one travels by chance to Baguio and finds the time to go to the Baguio Museum, one will learn that there were very early interactions between our people and the Chinese. These will be seen from the displayed Chinese porcelain jars at the museum. Based on Professor Anavic’s study, relations of the people from the Cordillera region and the Chinese are in fact evident in the predominance of these jars all over the area as trade was conducted among the Chinese, lowlanders and the uplanders in the coasts of Lingayen in Pangasinan and Agoo in La Union. Known Chinese merchandise such as pig iron and copper gongs were traded in exchange for venison, honey and even gold.

In the 1900s, the military government was set up in Benguet by the Americans and Baguio was formed as both an administrative and rest and recuperative station. The Chinese community in those days were known for their masonry work, carpentry skills and culinary expertise and they filled the “human vacuum,” together with Japanese and Filipino lowlanders.

Eventually, when Baguio fully developed into a rest and recuperative station, the Chinese culinary skills were employed in places such as Pines Hotel and Camp John Hay, while Chinese businesses boomed in the form of grocery stores, bazaars, hardware stores and sari-sari stores.

By the 1930’s, during the mining boom, the Fukienese journeyed to Baguio to establish themselves in business. At this time, the Chinese became extremely successful in agribusiness, as they had both capital and connections with the agribusiness industry in Manila. It is also important to note that Filipino-Chinese cooperation was evident during the war years, when some Chinese men such as Joaquin Yu joined the resistance and was later executed in Manila. Yu was a patriot who fought the Japanese heroically and his being Chinese-Filipino was so heavily impressed upon him.

Such events in history eventually transformed the Philippine Chinese orientation, which is characterized by a regard for the Philippines as an adopted country. It is important to note that in those days, news from Baguio was normally sent to Manila for publication and meaningfully, even the Association for Philippines-China Understanding (APCU) helped in transmitting the same message and information, which thoroughly assisted in the integration of Chinese in Baguio in the overall function of cultural adaptation within the community.

Consequently, I happened to have wondered all about this while at Camp John Hay where someone like me ponders a lot about rootedness. As I did my research on the Chinese community in this region, I saw some very significant landmarks such as the Bell Church where, as a little girl, you would only know it to be a scenic spot until you grow up and learn its history. Significantly, the bell of the Bell Church was used in the past to warn locals of calamities.

Today, the Filipino-Chinese community in Baguio is very active. Just last month, on the same street as our childhood inn, a Filipino-Chinese mural was painted on Kisad road to help promote Philippines-China Friendship and understanding by helping artists paint their story in the city of Baguio.