Baguio connections 7
THIS week, we begin with the question, “Who is the architect of the Baguio Convention Center?” Answer: Nobody knows. Hahaha. Yes, nobody knows, not even the esteemed architects I sought out to pose the question to. However, a lot of Google searching brings to light a paper by one Justin Cabrera titled “DESIGN 4 PR: BAGUIO CONVENTION CENTER,” where, thankfully, there is data about the architectural provenance of the BCC. A reading of said paper reveals that it is an “AR 231 Design 4” course, and we presume that the subject code AR stands for Architecture.
According to Cabrera, the architect of the BCC is Jorge Ramos, 77 as of the paper’s writing, posted in 2014. Cabrera writes that Ramos is “the man behind such iconic structures as the GSIS Building, the Heart Center and the Office of the Senate. One of his early significant projects was the Manila Bank Building where the interiors were elegantly wrapped in Philippine mahogany and glamorized with chandeliers. The counters were brought down to the level of a table.”
Manila Bank Building? In college, I was often at that very bank on Ayala -- on the many occasions that my parents and Manilabank owner Vicente Puyat met up for this or that matter. I’m thinking, and must admit that I hardly ever noticed the aforementioned details of Philippine mahogany and chandeliers.
What I do recall is this beautiful hand carved giant chess set in the office of the president, Vicente Puyat, Uncle Teng to me, “Brod” to my Upsilonian father and my Sigma Deltan mother. I also recall that Uncle Teng’s secretary’s name was Merly.
I distinctly remember one afternoon listening to his story of a bank run on Manilabank initiated by another Upsilonian ( -- you know who or you don’t, okay? --) and how Uncle Teng weathered that bank run. His words were to the effect that he issued instructions that all teller counters in all branches be piled high with mountains of cold, hard, cash, that all withdrawals be honored with a smile, that the run be, essentially, ignored. Manilabank did weather that awful run, and with a clear “up yours” up the face of the other Upsilonian. This has just got to be one of my favorite