Session Road Blues
Oxymoron is the positioning of two seemingly contradictory words next to each other to create an effect. For example: bitter-sweet. Kidlat Tahimik is not an oxymoron but Kulog Tahimik is.
Other examples are act naturally, Advanced BASIC, clean coal, dangerously safe, deafening silence, exact estimate, genuine imitation, friendly fire, instant classic, light rock, mild mannered reporter, military intelligence, modern history, moral majority, safe sex, sweet tart and war games.
A good poet should have oxymoron as one of his arsenal, flinging it like a baseball pitcher to surprise a batter. I was thinking hard about it but I believe Session Road is an oxymoron.
Session Road was named after the 1st Philippine Constitutional Session which was held here in the first part of the year. When people are in session, they are expected to seat on their benches and huddle and filibuster. Such sessions take months to finish. Then we take “road” which means “travel” and “in motion.”
I love Session Road because of its quirky origin. It is one of the rarest thing in Cordillera: a straight road. When I see Session Road, for once I do not recognize it then slowly it reveals itself to us.
Because I love traveling at night from Manila, I always arrive in Baguio during the so-called small hours of 2 to 5 am. Even at 6 am, Session Road is ghostly. But the street sweepers are already there, cleaning up last night’s party. The fast food centers are fortunately still cleaning their mote so we go to the old reliables: 456
Restaurant, Dainty Café and Luisa’s Café.
You get the strongest coffee and try to open your mind’s Filofax.
Session Road, of course, has changed throughout the years. At the start of Baguio, Harrison Road was even more popular then. In the 1930s, Japanese shops dominate Session Road. Then the war came and Session Road was carpet bombed. There are still reminders of that, the bombed out space between KFC and National Life.
The late performance artist Robert Villanueva was planning before he got real sick to install a huge bomb there made of the bamboo baskets used to pack Chinese cabbage and wrap it with a red-white-and-blue ribbon. I recall my old magazines and I think Fernando Afable (now a Zen abbot)wrote two poems about that bombed out area.
Baguio and Session Road survived the war and then the Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Filipino traders came in. The old Chinese restaurants here with their high ceilings and wide spaces are loved by architects. Remember Bheromulls where you buy your Bantex? Remember Limpins where your father had his pants made and perma-pressed? You must remember Koken’s, too.
Some of these places are forever lost, not only victims of urbanization but the changing fashion. Now we are feeling the malling of Session Road. If it sounds like “mauling”, that is intentional.
There is another phenomenone: the ukay-ukayization of Session Road. Substandard stalls were put up for these ubiquitous ukay ukay. They were supposed to have been demolished years ago but their lawyer is now a councilor and a very young and arrogant one at that.
Session Road is becoming just your ordinary streets with the McDo, ChowKing, Jollibee and KFC. That’s why the Baguio media were passionate about the battle over Lopez Building years ago. Lopez Building is one of the oldest buildings and the fast food centers wanted to rein into it.
I found it funnily endearign what the Tahong Bundok did with the old building in what was then the Bheromulls. They painted funny smiling faces on the windows.
Session Road is similar to Vigan’s Crisologo St. It is our memory lane. Nostalgia is bad for good poetry that is why we are writing this in prose.
Anyway, a few friends are thinking of coming out with a small book called Session Road. It will be filled with photographs and vignettes about Baguio life. We plan to bring it out by 2009. Anyway, contributions are welcome. Give your odes, paeans, ramblings and monologues on that oxymoronic Session Road.
The map of Baguio labeled by a co-blogger
posted by Unknown at 5:38 PM
43 Comments:
omg! you people of baguio all have a duty to save session road. save session road! so kokens is gone. wala na rin ba yung coney island?
Posted this at BWI...hope you don't mind...I thought it might elicit a number of contributions for the book you're planning.
Afterall, this isn't one of those 10 year old internet hoaxes somebody out there might be complaining about, eh?!
KMGC-P
Wala na yung Coney Island matagal na. Uy I have a weird story on Coney Island. Someday isusulat ko. Yes Ms Hyphenated Christine. Para sa Centennial. Magsend ka rin ha?
"They were supposed to have been demolished years ago but their lawyer is now a councilor and a very young and arrogant one at that." Who lawyer???? Give us more clues. May I buy a vowel please?
Which reminds me, what ever happened to that bribery charge hurled at Leandro Yangot by a tiangge businessman in one of the city council sessions? Of course, he's not the young lawyer in your article because he hasn't passed the Bar exam yet. So, to continue the guessing, may I buy another vowel please?!
Who cares about Koken's? Displayed yucky pictures of boys' heads agudgudgud!
"Then the war came and Session Road was carpet bombed. There are still reminders of that, the bombed out space between KFC and National Life."
Really? I thought all along there was a huge, long forgotten fire that ate up that building. So, if it was bombed out...how come it hasn't been rebuilt all these years? Who owns the property? Isn't it an eyesore?
One of the best kept buildings along Session Rd is La Azotea. Makitam met nga isakit nga talaga da De Guia iti Baguio. La Azotea's facade is always in tune with the city's festivals--be it Christmas or Panagbenga. Now, if only the washrooms in the second floor would be better maintained too!
And one of the worst kept facades along Session Rd is the BLM building owned by Benito Lim. It's that structure sandwiched between Prime Hotel and Dona Anita Building at the corner of Session and Calderon. Months have already passed after the owner stripped the tenants' signboards from the building's outer walls....still unpainted until now! Doesn't do much justice to Session Rd! It's like a shanty compared to newly painted Lopez Building. Also, the huge signboards at its penthouse floor were in the center of the city's signboard regulation brouhaha almost two years ago. But the signboards are still there. Kanino malakas si Benito at pinapayagan pa rin ang mga malalaking signboards, which flap so loudly and dangerously during the monsoon season?!
Coney Island was a bit snobbish for us...who couldn't afford the ice cream! It was therefore a real treat to have a cone (my favorite was the choco-mint flavor) courtesy of some rich aunt or uncle. I still think that the present flavors of Selecta beats out Coney Island's. The dirty ice cream in the market wasn't that bad either.
Basta miss ko ang pancit canton ng dainty! Walang kasing-sarap!
"you people of baguio all have a duty to save session road. save session road!"
Resty, unfortunately, it's economics---money,money,money---that rule.
Session Rd, more than a Baguio heritage, is primarily a business district where the interests of businessmen dominate(particularly those owning the prime pieces of real estate in that strip).
Now, if only we were as lucky as the new owners of Lopez Building....who bought the structure from their lottery winnings...
Is economics more important that culture/heritage/history/nationhood? This is political history we're talking about in the first place.
Then again, 'saving' Session road also means lotsa money, you know what i mean??? Who the heck would go to Baguio if it looked like just one of the horrible parts Metro Manila?: Pasay Rotunda, name a typical part of EDSA, Kalookan, Novaliches, etc. etc.
If you or they can't buy the idea of national history and cultural heritage as reasons, I hope basic aesthetics matter? Can you imagine replacing the uniqueness of Baguio architecture of Henry Sy's ugly malls? C'mon! Baguio people, wake up before you lose everything!
sorry for the missing words and improper words. slip of the finger
Unfortunately, that is the reality. Money rules. And it also rules the people sitting in City Hall. Actually there's an ongoing movement in Baguio to preserve as much of the city's cultural and historical heritage. It's the brainchild of former mayor Virginia De Guia. As far as I know, those who are most active in the movement are three Baguio old-timers, women in their '80's! Aside from De Guia, there's Leonora San Agustin and Cecille Afable.As far as what they have accomplished...I have no idea. But there was a news item recently published in the Phil Daily Inquirer that despite their fiesty stand in preserving Baguio, they seem to be losing to...what else, politics (smelling of vested interests in kickbacks) vis-a-vis the controversial construction of the flyover at the Baguio General Hospital-Kennon Rd-Marcos Highway Junction. Also, I think that the struggle to preserve Baguio should not only be the burden of Baguio residents...but of all Filipinos who love Baguio.
"Who the heck would go to Baguio if it looked like just one of the horrible parts Metro Manila?"
That's exactly Tagaytay's selling point....which drew a lot of flak from Baguio city officials when they discovered a website downgrading Baguio in favor of Tagaytay.
And then we also conveniently forget. It's the influx of newcomers (hmmm. migrants. not Baguio oldtimers) who seem to be wrecking havoc. After all, who started desecrating Baguio with those ugly overpasses and flyovers? Those welcome arches? Dug up the city's sewers in the guise of improvement---yet now the city center stinks like one big septic tank? Who is behind the BGH flyover?
See, if we left Baguio to the oldtimers, then we'd probably still have the Carinos and Caranteses and their cattle.
"And it also rules the people sitting in City Hall."
Sorry. Grammatical slip. That should have included both past and present:
"people who sat/ are sitting in City Hall."
Might as well include the future tense.
"Also, I think that the struggle to preserve Baguio should not only be the burden of Baguio residents...but of all Filipinos who love Baguio."
You're right, of course. Baguio, after all, is the country's summer capital. It's just so sad that our leaders, who ought to be at the forefront, are the enemy. But I think They'll be facing a formidable opposition, as people from all over will not allow certain things sitting down, not to the Baguio of their fondest memories (eek, i know, it's cheesy, but that's Baguio to almost all people who've lived there, been there). All Baguio needs to start off a really great momentum/catalyst (?) is one Jai Alai case. Let's see.
Notice to Baguio's politicians:
"Development" and "progress" and economic activity are all welcome, but not at the expense of the common good.
-signing off for the nonce
"Can you imagine replacing the uniqueness of Baguio architecture of Henry Sy's ugly malls? C'mon! Baguio people, wake up before you lose everything!"
We don't have to stretch our imagination anymore. SM is already sitting like a queen on top of Luneta Hill...replacing City Hall as the city's focal point.
FYI, Baguio people did not take the idea (and subsequent construction) of SM sitting down. Ngem inya ngarud. Kwarta, kwarta,kwarta ti nangabak manen ah. Kasta manen ti nangyari jay John Hay,ya. Isu mapan tayo laengen jay Sagada. At least over there, the dog's bark is not louder than it's bite.
>>>>>>"Development" and "progress" and economic activity are all welcome, but not at the expense of the common good.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is a concept that seems to be completely alien not only in Baguio City but the rest of the Philippines.
No, Sagada is entirely a different culture and place.
Just a thought on SM sitting on top of the hill overlooking the whole of Baguio....
That's a case of the pathetic becoming poetic (a poetic symbol of sorts).
It's nice to see good conversation going on here. But, guys, guys, could we pick other identities other than "anonymous" so that we could at least differentiate one "anonymous" from the other? Tatno masurutan mi met a diay conversation. :-)
>>>>>But, guys, guys, could we pick other identities other than "anonymous" so that we could at least differentiate one "anonymous" from the other?
hehehe.shy mango, kasla met haanak amammu! apu nagsabalin iti writing style ko?
and i can only "write creatively" and "discoursely" when anonymous. hehehe.
scientifically...well, that's another matter...because my ego gets inflated when my work is cited.
ngyahahah.
>>>Yes Ms Hyphenated Christine. Para sa Centennial. Magsend ka rin ha?
Hay, FranC. Session Rd is really quite alien to me, very few childhood memories. I could write more about Kayang St! That's where the jeeps plying the Lourdes-Guisad-Quezon Hill routes park.L-G-Q is where I shuttled from our home to relatives and friends'. Also Kayang St is more memorable to me than Session Rd, because my grandma had a flowershop at Marbay, and during weekends I would run errands for her...buy cellophane, manila paper and stapler feed at Good Luck Bazaar for the coronas her clients bought (corona= funeral wreath). During weekdays after school at SLSCF, Kayang Grocery was my "watering hole"---Sarsi lang naman, courtesy of who else but no other than my Lola. And I had a crush (ehem) on that young man, son of the owner of Shanghai Bakery. Not Dave Leprozo, but the younger one! Both of those business establishments long gone. But Harlem Bakery is still alive...great pandesal in the "old" days...don't know now.Kayang St of my childhood is not quite what it is now---I hate lining up for a Quezon Hill jeepney ride these days. The end of the line starts (oxymoron?!) from Harlem all the way up the hill, on bad days. Yes, I have more to write about Kayang St than Session Rd.
KMGC-P
And, to add to the hyphenated-gal's (wink, wink) comment, I remember Session Rd. to be the sosyal's kalsada. We used to go through Gen. Luna instead! Di met?
Now, back to work...
I'm not sosyal but I never thought Session Rd. to have been willfully intended only for the sosyal crowd. I'm afraid you're thinking too poorly of yourself.
"I'm afraid you're thinking too poorly of yourself."
Them are fighting words, but I'm not biting. You don't know me, obviously. Plus, those comments were really intended for the smart hyphenated gal.
Peace, man.
i meant it in a nice way. sorry, no offense
My Resty O, its hard to ask national historical institute to make Session Rd a heritage site pero di ba it gives, or rather, gave Baguio its character.
anyway, i printed out the replies and we will coem out wiht something much later.
shy mango, the rule is (according to gerry of baguiocity.com)
1) if your girl is not so beautiful, you pass by gen luna
2) if your girl is average, you pass by harrison
3) if your girl is beautiful, session road
"That's a case of the pathetic becoming poetic (a poetic symbol of sorts). "
Agin-agin ka met. Slip is showing, re: literary literacy.
wat's "agin agin"?
Shy Mango,
Yes, Session Rd WAS quite classy.(Emphasis on the past tense.)
I therefore always described it with pride to my Japanese friends as "The Ginza of Baguio, " and to my American friends as "The Greenwich Avenue of Greenwich, Connecticut."
(Note that "describe" is also in the past tense.)
KMGC-P
Shy Mango,
Yes, Session Rd WAS quite classy.(Emphasis on the past tense.)
I therefore always described it with pride to my Japanese friends as "The Ginza of Baguio, " and to my American friends as "The Greenwich Avenue of Greenwich, Connecticut."
(Note that "describe" is also in the past tense.)
KMGC-P
Shy Mango,
My pervasive memory of Gen. Luna Rd is that of the Silver Tone Inn area and the stench of drunkard's urine and vomit. I had to pinch my nose and walk more briskly in the morning on my way to school.
Gen. Luna was a more practical route because the L-G-Q jeepneys would conveniently dump their passengers beside Marbay and we just had to cross to Old Tiong San.
I am not sure, but it seems the trek up Session Rd to Assumption Rd was/is much longer.
And of course there was Panghoi and adjacent educational supply stores that were open early in the morning along the General Luna route, convenient to buy those 1/4 and 1/2 sheets of pad paper (tingi pa).
I am rambling at 12:42 am, PST, wondering if we have stumbled upon a sociological phenomenon otherwise not yet (?) acknowledged; re: socio-economic/psychological divide among Baguio residents based on the streets/roads traversed by choice or by force in their daily lives...similar to the East-West divide in Vancouver...
KMGC-P
Hey, what's "agin-agin"? I'm Panggalatok, not Ilocano.
"the rule is (according to gerry of baguiocity.com)
1) if your girl is not so beautiful, you pass by gen luna
2) if your girl is average, you pass by harrison
3) if your girl is beautiful, session road "
NOW, NOW. THAT'S THE POETIC BECOMING PATHETIC! (hehehe)
he he he. But you know what we will be doing in conjunction with the bbok, we will ahve a sampayan where people can clip their poems and photos (dapat exact site nung pinagkunan)for a month.
agin-agin means kunwari or kuno in ilokano.
I have always wanted to buy ice cream sa coney Island sa session. But when I already had the money, wala na. Every Sunday after church sa cathedral, madadaanan namin un, my parents were thrifty back then so I just stared at the kids licking their Ice cream while their parents held on to the Large Cotton candy bought from the same store.
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