One of my men who served under me when I was assigned at the Philippine Military Academy after the 1986 People’s Power Revolution died last 02 May 2008 due to heart attack, at the age of 53 years old, in Baguio City. This was the reason why I had to go to Baguio City on the eve of his burial. William, the name of my soldier, had been with me in PMA and when I was assigned at Fort Bonifacio during the early 90s. He was reassigned back to PMA to join his family until he retired from the service in 2001 at the age of 46. His wife, is a civilian employee of the PMA and her family relatives are presently serving the AFP. William was one of the original members of my “1,000K Club” which I established when I was assigned in PMA and he was a consistent & hard-working intelligence operative and a competitive runner. He was a “marathon” finisher.

I arrived at PMA at 9:00 PM and went directly to the remains of William to pay respect to a good, loyal, and reliable soldier. I stayed with the rest of his family, relatives, batchmates, and friends up to midnight and gave financial support to the family. I gave them the impression that I will just drop by for the early mass the following day before his burial and told his wife that I will be going back to Manila the following day.

After the mass on the following day, I went back to the hotel and changed to my athletic attire for a brief run before going back to Manila. My running kit consists of my Capri Nike Shorts, Adidas muscle shirt, and ASICS Gel-Kinsei 2. I started my run from the South Drive Baguio Manor Hotel up to Camp John Hay Rotunda and back along South Drive and reached up to the Baguio Country Club. Instead of entering the Gate of Camp John Hay, I decided to inspect the color-coded trails along the edges of Camp John Hay.

I took the cemented road on the left side before one enters the Gate of CJH where Horse-Back Riding starts. I was surprised to see that the trail road before is already a two-way paved road with houses of illegal settlers on the left side of the road. Such place in the mid-80s were full of pine trees and a small trail was the only distinct feature one could see. From the paved road, I re-traced the old running color-coded trail and the trail is still there (without those colored paints on the trunks of pine trees) but with illegal settlers on some portions along the side of the trail. I think I was able to run 2 kilometers along this trail which had been neglected but still being used by the illegal settlers in going to their houses. A “chicken wire” fence was established to separate the property of CJH from the rest of the side of the mountain and I was surprised to see that the color-coded trail was already outside the camp. I wanted to reach up to the Voice of America but the vegetation was becoming thicker which is an indication that this trail is not being used frequently. I took another trail until I was inside the property of CJH and went out just infront of the gate that goes to US Ambassador’s Cottage! The security guards were surprised to see me from nowhere! From there, I ran towards the Gate out of the camp towards BCC and reached Mansion House and later ran at least two rounds at Wright Park and back to South Drive and ending my run at the Oval Track inside Teacher’s Camp. I just walked briskly back to my hotel. I finished a distance of 15 kilometers.

It was a slow run but there are so many things that made Baguio City changed for the past twenty years. I could not smell anymore the scent of the pine trees in the city, instead, the smell changed into smoke/carbon monoxide emitted from the jeepneys, trucks, buses & cars. I could not see anymore those thick forests consisting of century-old pine trees but instead, I could see houses of illegal settlers. Even if Typhoon Cosme just left the place for almost 3 days already, streets are still dirty with debris brought about by the typhoon which is a very long response time from the City Govenment’s Engineering Office. The vacant spaces at Wright Park had been a place where families could have their weekend picnics but now, commercial semi-permanent stalls abound the place selling Baguio City souvenirs mixed with those horses for hire! I even saw horse manure littered along the sidewalk where I was running! Even the quiet South Drive Road is not spared from pollution and traffic. Before, South Drive was a quiet and free from vehicular traffic place to run but running on this street now is completely different where runners should be extra careful with the vehicles plying along this road.

I was too tired aready to run along the Oval Track inside Teacher’s Camp. I just observed one of the athletes, a shotput thrower, doing his training and a senior citizen jogging slowly along the track. I am glad this facility had been maintained by the Philippine Sports Commission.

Later in the afternoon, I had to leave Baguio Ciy for Manila. 

Paying respect to a dead comrade and running on the paved and trails of Baguio City are part of “enjoying life” after retirement.