08/11/2026
CharivariEd. 11.8.26
Session Road in our mind!
As a kid and young adult, I spent the most time in two places - home in Trancoville and Session Road, of the old.
Going to my fathers workplace at Pines theatre (Baguio’s best and finest cinema) and its closest competitior Session Theatre owned by the Nasser family, studying at Slu Boys High School as naughty kids l or plain walking up or down as naughtier as we a re at Session was the passion of the past.
As boy scouts we would hang out at the old Baden-Powell Hall which hosted the office of the Boy Scouts of the Philjppines. It was actually the Pantranco area where Uncle Peping Romero, the Casugas-Atty. Rudy, Estong, Baby and the younger ones stayes. The Baden Powell was the site where the Philippine Commission or the Taff Commission held its first summer session from April 22 to June 11, 1904.
in 1909 (September 1): Baguio City officially became a chartered city under Act No. 1963, drafted by Justice George Malcolm. and in 2022, the 1909 colonial charter was eventually replaced by Republic Act No. 11689 with so many constitutional infirmities, but that is another story. The commission officially established Baguio as the Philippine Summer Capital.
In tribute to then trail to BP Hall, the road was named Session. Slowly it evolved from a simple trail into a bustling commercial center featuring Chinese, Indian stores and bazaars. The City Bakery of my ninang Lam Far, Dainty restaurant of Ng Ah Chin, Staf Cafe of Joey Rufino, Gold Star, Trading D & S Supermart, Superret of the Wong Family, Luisas Cafe of Chung Loys parents and many more Chinamen mushroomed there. The indians too made their presence felt-Bheromuls Department Sfore of Tulsiram Sharma, Assandas Department Store. The spaniards or their heirs had skyview bar of the Blancos, where cokdbeer was served even to us minors then.
Session Road is 1.7 kilometers connecting Shanum Street/Magsaysay Avenue and Governor Pack Road down/up toward Loakan Road, South Drive, and Military Cut-Off. Today the upper section leads near SM City Baguio and Camp John Hay. Also the road now has restaurants, coffeehouses, hotels, banks, and second-hand (ukay-ukay) stores
at Skyworld which used to be a condominium crushed in the 1990 earhquake.
Slowly governnent is trying to shut down a heritage road. First they attempted to chargr a fee for its use and had it not for the withdrawal of the MVP Group. we would have been burdered by the so called “congesrion fee. Now a redevlopment with a large allocation from Tiezza, the same agency where the Burnham Park rehabilitation came from. which many of our people described as substandard. Putting the cart before the horse, they did not even have the courtesy of asking our people for or against. Apo met!
No lessons learned from the flood control scandal and continuous attack without proof or naming namea on Congressmen and their pork barrel allocations. Sabi nga ni Rico J. “bago mo linisin ang dungis ng inyong kapwa, hugasan muna ang putik sa mukha!”. Righy on the dot “Mahiya naman kayo!” To our oldtimers of Baguio and the generatoon x, don’t forget their names when the time comes! Sigh.
