LANDMARK The “lion’s head” on Kennon Road is a popular landmark that has become a favorite stop for travelers on their way to Baguio City. The 117-year-old zigzag road, the shortest and most scenic route to the summer capital from Metro Manila and the Ilocos region, is undergoing rehabilitation. —NEIL CLARK ONGCHANGCO
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Kennon Road will be opened for visitors attending the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumni homecoming from Feb. 15 to 20 as the city prepares for an influx of tourists and political candidates now that the national campaign period has started.
President Rodrigo Duterte is the scheduled homecoming speaker on Feb. 19, based on a Jan. 29 letter of Army Capt. Maria Gianina Bionat, the PMA adjutant to the COVID-19 Regional Inter-Agency Task Force (RIATF) in the Cordillera.
About 800 PMA graduates, including family members and private and government security personnel, will be allowed inside the military school at Fort del Pilar here.
Albert Mogol, the RIATF chair, said the PMA was allowed to conduct “hybrid” activities that would culminate on Feb. 19 as in-person gatherings might be held on open grounds, like the Borromeo Field.
Tests
Because the homecoming is scheduled while Baguio is still under alert level 3, parades and class picnics are disallowed during the homecoming.
Members of the PMA Alumni Association are also prohibited from interacting with the cadets.
Every participant will be required to present negative COVID-19 test results before they are allowed inside Fort del Pilar.
As of Tuesday, the rate of Baguio infections had slowly dropped, with 927 active COVID-19 cases out of 40,819 recorded since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
Allowing homecoming participants to use the 32-kilometer Kennon Road, the most scenic route to Baguio from Metro Manila, during the homecoming would help regulate the flow of people entering the city.
A bypass road branching off Kennon Road leads straight to the PMA through Loakan village, where the city’s idle airport is located.
The PMA will release vehicle stickers so policemen guarding the checkpoints could identify alumni driving up to Baguio.
Most vehicles have not been allowed to access Kennon Road, except on rare occasions, because of the ongoing rehabilitation along the zigzag route.Driving through Kennon is also considered risky because of threats of erosion and rockslides during or after strong rains.
Only residents in communities traversed by Kennon have been using the road, which was completed in 1905 before Baguio was declared a chartered city in 1909 by the American colonial government.
Hundreds of guests would usually attend the annual PMA alumni homecoming and Panagbenga (Baguio Flower Festival) before the pandemic.
Except for small community activities, the festival’s crowd-drawing street dancing and floral float parades will again be canceled for the third year because of the pandemic.
—VINCENT CABREZA
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