Baguio
Baguio (UK: /ˈbæɡioʊ/ BAG-ee-oh, US: /ˈbɑːɡiˈoʊ/ BAH-ghee-oh, -OH, Tagalog: [ˈbagjɔ]), officially the City of Baguio (Ibaloi: Siudad ne Bagiw; Ilocano: Siudad ti Baguio; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", owing to its cool climate since the city is located approximately 4,810 feet (1,470 meters) above mean sea level, often cited as 1,540 meters (5,050 feet) in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion, which also makes it conducive for the growth of mossy plants, orchids and pine trees, to which it attributes its other moniker as the "City of Pines".[8]
Not to be confused with Bagyo or Bakio.
Baguio
Benguet (geographically only)
1900
September 1, 1909 (city)
December 22, 1979
129 (see Barangays)
Faustino A. Olowan (PDP–Laban)
168,218 voters (2022)
57.51 km2 (22.20 sq mi)
1,094.79 km2 (422.70 sq mi)
1,450 m (4,760 ft)
1,667 m (5,469 ft)
910 m (2,990 ft)
366,358
6,400/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
644,589
3,100/km2 (8,000/sq mi)
100,220
1st city income class
₱ 2,162 million (2020)
₱ 11,278 million (2020)
₱ 1,420 million (2020)
₱ 4,811 million (2020)
Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO)
Baguio Water District (BWD)
+63 (0)74
Kankanaey
Ibaloi
Ilocano
Tagalog
Baguio was established as a hill station by the United States in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. It was the United States' only hill station in Asia.[9]
Baguio is classified as a highly urbanized city (HUC). It is geographically located within Benguet, serving as the provincial capital from 1901 to 1916,[10] but has since been administered independently from the province following its conversion into a chartered city. The city is the center of business, commerce, and education in northern Luzon, as well as the seat of government of the Cordillera Administrative Region.[11] According to the 2020 census, Baguio has a population of 366,358.[4]
Etymology
Baguio was called Kafagway by indigenous peoples. The name Baguio originated in the American period and is derived from the Ibaloi word bagiw (moss), which was then Hispanicized as Baguio.[12] A demonym for natives of the city, Ibagiw, is also derived from it. It is also the name for the city's annual arts festival.[13][14]
History
Ibaloi town of Kafagway
Baguio used to be a vast mountain zone with lush highland forests, teeming with various wildlife such as the indigenous deer, cloud rats, Philippine eagles, Philippine warty pigs, and numerous species of flora. The area was a hunting ground of the indigenous peoples, notably the Ibalois and other Igorot ethnic groups. When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines, the area was never fully subjugated by Spain due to the intensive defense tactics of the indigenous Igorots of the Cordilleras.[15]
Igorot oral history states the Benguet upper class, baknang, was founded between 1565 and the early 1600s, by the marriage of a gold trader, Amkidit, and a Kankanay maiden gold panning in Acupan. Their son, Baruy, discovered a gold deposit in the area, which he developed with hired workers and slaves.[15]
In 1755, the Augustinian Fray Pedro de Vivar established a mission in Tonglo (Tongdo) outside Baguio. Before he was driven out the following year, this rancheria included 220 people, including several baknang families. The Spanish tried to regain the mission in 1759, but were ambushed. This prompted the Governor General Pedro Manuel de Arandía Santisteban to send Don Manuel Arza de Urrutia on a punitive expedition, which resulted in the mission being burned to the ground.[15]: 477–478
Spanish rule
During Spanish rule in 1846, the Spaniards established a command post or a comandancia in the nearby town of La Trinidad, and organized Benguet into 31 rancherías, one of which was Kafagway, a wide grassy area where the present Burnham Park is situated. Kafagway was then a minor rancheria consisting of only about 20 houses; most of the lands in Kafagway were owned by a prominent Ibaloi, Mateo Cariño, who served as its chieftain.[16] The Spanish presidencia, which was located at Bag-iw at the vicinity of Guisad Valley was later moved to Cariño's house where the current city hall stands. Bag-iw was the Ibaloi toponym of the town, an Ibaloi term for "moss" which was historically abundant in the area. This name was spelled by the Spaniards as Baguio.[10][17]
First Philippine Republic
During the Philippine Revolution in July 1899, Filipino revolutionary forces under Pedro Paterno liberated La Trinidad from the Spaniards and took over the government, proclaiming Benguet as a province of the new Philippine Republic. Baguio was converted into a "town", with Mateo Cariño being the presidente (mayor).[10][17]