Camp John Hay: Then & Now
Camp John Hay (CJH) is Baguio's most popular destination. A beautiful resort in the mountains it features a golf course, hotels, shopping & a convention center, among other attractions.
This former rest and recreation facility of the U.S. Armed Forces is older than the city itself. For almost the whole of the 20th century it is what made Baguio City in the Philippines "Little America."
In 1903 Camp John Hay was designed as the rest & recreational facility for the US Military and Department of Defense in the Far East.
The facility, which was named after U.S.
President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary
of State, was used by the Japanese as a
concentration camp for American and
British soldiers during WWII.
It was also used as their military head-
quarters when General Yamashita
moved up north from Manila towards the
end of the Japanese Occupation of the
Philippines.
This 690-hectare property was finally
turned over to the Philippines 1991 upon
the expiration of the R.P.-U.S. Bases
Agreement. From 1991 to 1997, Filipinos
ran the former U.S. Air Force recreational
facility for the first time as a resort, ope-
rating all the popular and familiar spots as
close to the originals as possible: 19th Tee,
Halfway House, Mile-Hi, Lone Star, Main Club.
Since 1997 it has been in the hands of a private developer on a long term lease. It boasts of private vacation houses, hotels and lodging facilities, including the most popular Baguio hotel, Camp John Hay Manor, a shopping center called Mile-Hi Center with numerous restaurants and stores, and a newly-built convention center. Jack Niclaus redesigned what is literally the coolest golf course in the Philippines into a competition golf course that continues to host the annual Fil-Am Golf Tournament.
The Philippine government has retained a portion of the property and maintains the Historical Core featuring a museum at the Commander's Cottage, Bell Ampitheater, a Butterfly Sanctuary. And the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) runs Igorot Lodge.
Recreational activities include an EcoTrail, Picnic Grounds, Mini Golf, Pony Rentals, Paintball & Wall Climbing.
R e l a t e d A r t i c l e s
A d v e r t s & L i n k s
Camp John Hay in the
20th Century Remembered
My first visit to Camp John Hay was in the early 1970s as a guest of Joe Montemayor, a Filipino immigrant to the United States.
We had formal dinner at the Main Club where my brother and I were told to be on our best behavior as 'children should be seen, not heard.'
FOR U.S. CITIZENS ONLY
No Filipino used to be allowed inside except as a guest of a U.S. citizen, until CJH opened its doors in the early 1980s. This was so because the U.S. subsidized the goods and services inside with their taxpayers' money. Bowling was at a dime a game, candy bars cost a quarter.
But my favorite cousins had moved up to Baguio City in 1975, and they were U.S. citizens. So when we were were old enough to be allowed to explore on our own, we just used to walk to the Main Gate from their house on Wagner Road, and when 'rich,' rode a base taxi around, and if 'poor,' which was most of the time, we explored a lot on foot.
THE BEST HANG OUTS
(BEFORE THE TURNOVER)
Teenagers used to flock to MILE HI, where there was indoor recreation: bowling, billiards, foosbal, pinballs machine and cheap burgers, soda and pizza.
Parents went to 19TH TEE for golf, fast foods and Tee Bar for unwinding after a game late in the afternoon.
Those who wanted to party would enjoy live bands at HALFWAY HOUSE (which served everything from breakfast, to lunch, snacks, dinner and cocktails.
Formal dinners and conferences were always held at the MAIN CLUB.
Sundays were spent at Scout Hill for Catholic Mass at the CJH Chapel and lunch at LONE STAR, and paying catch at the field outside.
Then there was indoor skating with a gym below near Mile Hi, the base theater where we could watch the latest movies, buy chocolate bars from vendo machines and buckets - they had buckets! - of popcorn.
A TASTE OF AMERICA
For Filipinos, bombarded for a whole century with American propaganda, Camp John Hay for a brief moment was a taste of clean American living. Base workers were paid in U.S. dollars, a much higher rate than the local wages in the Philippines. For visitors, it was all about pinball machines, and Hershey's bars, burgers and apple pie.
For me, it was a magical place, being transported to another time and place 'when life was slow and oh so mellow.'
It was a cold December night and we were all bundled up, with our finest clothes underneath, for that most magical of nights in a 'foreign' setting that was simply the most beautiful place I had ever seen in all my life (of course I was only six years old).
That was my first memory of Camp John Hay (CJH), and it was right at the beginning of my love affair with Baguio City.
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