Too Commercialized?

Pictures were taken on September 2, 2006 at Camp John Hay, Baguio City, Philippines.
My opinion is not directed to the person who left the comment, but to those reading this entry. Thank you Watson, for allowing my neurons to get stimulated again :)

In one of the post's comments, Watson (I hope you don't mind if I don't attach Kuya :) ), a Baguio resident, asked me what I thought of CJH being 'commercialized'.

Ever since my highschool days (not that it has been decades), my school fought for what they said, robbing Baguio of a heritage, i.e, Camp John Hay. I was one of the students who rallied in front of CJH when it was proposed that it will be left in the hands of a private entity. I remember we even had a signature campaign in school.

Obviously, the rally was not successful.

When I was in SLU Laboratory Elementary School, I remember being in the Girl Scout. We had field trips, camping, picnics and family days arranged by our school in John Hay. I do not remember my parents paying for the picnic tables, the trips to the Historical Core... What I do remember them paying for were those delicious hotdogs, the mini-golf course, the skating rink (although I never tried skating because of fear after seeing a little girl bump her head - only learned rollerblading when I was in my teens).

Nowadays however, to get into popular destinations inside Camp John Hay, you'd have to bring money. If you have lots of it, then bring it especially when you go there in big groups.

In the Butterfly Sanctuary, the rate is 40 pesos per head. Unless you go as a big group, you'll get a discount. In the Historical Core (The Bell Ampitheater, Cemetary of Negativism and the Bellhouse), it costs 30 pesos per head. The picnic tables costs more than 100pesos if you are in a group of 10. If you exceed that number, there's an additional fee.

What do I think of all these? I say, if the current management of Camp John Hay is really doing their job to maintain and improve the place, it is fine with me. I can only imagine what CJH will look like if it fell into the hands of the... government. I'm sorry if I don't have faith on the government. It's just that, trivial things preoccupy them, they don't really address the problems, the needs, the people and the situation. What more to preserve a historical site? I'm not going to discuss further but I'm sure you know what I mean.

I am not discouraging visitors to go to Camp John Hay, by all means, you should. It's a beatiful place and it's a great place for photographers. Much of Baguio's past is connected to Camp John Hay.

If the current management's goal is to preserve CJH as a historical site through the fees they impose on the visitors, that's fine with me. Just my opinion.

If they increase prices though, that's a different story. Thanks Watson for the comment. Made me think. Made my neurons active for awhile :)

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