Back Trails Shall Continue…

* an intimate shot – for one, this shows a view of one of the rooms inside the materials physics laboratory in UPLB with some radioactive materials tucked rather openly on the lower right; two, myself of course (laughs); and three, that dear old, yet resilient 7610 cellphone of my mother, handed down to my sister and which is now in the hands of some mindless bastard who snatched it from her

Indeed it shall continue, despite the present setback. And as I think of it now, whatever setback may come in the future.

My sister’s cellphone was recently snatched, no thanks to our congested city streets, and lax security provided by our local law enforcers. The setback I am alluding to relates directly to Back Trails as it is (or should I say, was) the one I used to take pictures of my tours and adventures. I am well aware of its not-so-good quality, but nevertheless it still managed to take pictures of whatever things I want to keep a remembrance of.

Now that it is gone, it presents a rather difficult future. As I am in the midst of a self-imposed work (and which I hope should succeed in order to, at least, silence the critics within my ‘family’ circle), that cellphone should have come handy and useful. I have no plans of acquiring those ‘classy’ and costly cameras that are now flaunted here and there. Perhaps, to document my little finds in my little travels, a simple camera would suffice. It follows now that I have to create the means so that I shall arrive to that moment.

Anyway, life goes on. That cellphone was promptly replaced anyway which served my sister. And Back Trails shall continue!

Faces of U.P. Los Baños 6: Facing the Freedom Park

* a view of the Freedom Park, showing prominently the acacia tree on the left and the Carillion Tower slightly off the center towards the right

* the Student Union Building

* the controversial Dao Tree which was once threatened by complete demolition, and has been visited by a senator; cool tree indeed

Arguably, the most historic of all places in the campus is the grounds of the Freedom Park. I still feel this awe even in looking at the photos I have taken of the present place, as the atmosphere of the past seems to pervade the place. I could not help but see in those silent skies the warplanes that once darkened them and the noises of screams and the heat of fires that once pierced these now peaceful surroundings.

Student Union Building

It would be not be good to neglect the Student Union (SU) Building, as it stands loud and pride adjacent to Freedom Park. It houses many sub-offices, particularly on the third floor, of the Office of Student Affairs as well the University Student Council and UPLB Perspective offices (where I once tried my luck in being a news writer but to no avail).

On the ground floor is big picture mural(?) of the UPLB history. This is a more informative one than the CAS wall presentation for in here we can find many structures and people that would have been otherwise unknown to a lay UPLB student if he or she would not be keen enough to learn about them. So if you have a free afternoon, you could lounge on the picnic tables below it, and look up and go back into the long and glorious past of UPLB. Adjacent to it is the SU canteen, offering varied foods, both good and bad. I once subjected my (once) little stomach to great sufferings when I has to endure those green pasta they called Pesto. One great eye sore there, but ironically of great convenience to many students, is the presence of a 7-11 branch there, right within the SU premises.

On the basement is the bowling center, still equipped with human pin arrangers (since I don’t know what they are really called). Old school, man! Then there is the billboard hall where I spent many occasions of solitude, or sometimes got caught in little plays of billiards of frat men, and of girls trying their abilities to playing the ball game. Beyond it is the area for table tennis, and just around are empty rooms for rent, probably for high fees as I have seen that not so many have occupied them during my time in the university.

* it seemed to me that it is a pillbox of some sort, but upon referring to a war prisoner’s sketch there, it seems that it was once a water tank, but I cannot really be sure of that

* the mighty Baker Hall; as to the car, well, it belongs to the man there

* the interior of Baker Hall showing that it has been turned into a multi-functional court; one cannot help but wonder what it looked like when it was still an internment camp

* the significance of this one has been confirmed on online notes by people who traveled here; this is actually a marker for a mass grave there for many have died during their internment

Baker Hall and the DMST

One of the long standing structures of the university is the Baker Memorial Hall, more commonly called by the students as Baker Hall or simply Baker. It was built before the war (the year of which I was not able to take note of). Its resilience is proved by withstanding the onset of the war and of the famous Los Baños Raid.

By 1943, it has become the internment camp of more than 2,000 American and Filipino prisoners, probably both civilians and militaries, whom the Japanese have either arrested or captured, including the area facing it, the present day Freedom Park. One well known prisoner there that I know was Father Reuter (a Jesuit?), who one have probably seen in Channel 4 or 5 because he had once a TV program. The rescue on February 23, 1945 was done by the combined forces of the US Army and the guerillas in the area and surrounding places.

* the DMST office, built in 1930

* the sketch of Leo Stancliff of the Los Baños Camp; found this on a Bravehost website

The present office of the Department of Military Science and Tactics also survived the war, having been the former infirmary of the college. Its presence, as well as that of Baker Hall, was documented through a sketch of one of the prisoners there by the name of Leo Stancliff. One can actually refer to it in finding structures that still remained after the war.

(My little discoveries from this sketch as well as from other photos during the raid shall be shared on my next entry.)

Faces of U.P. Los Baños 5: Maria Maquiling

“Si Mariang Makiling
Layang layang chug chug chug
Layang layang chug chug chug”

These are the lines to be sung for a game of thumbs where one has to catch the opponent’s thumb using his or her own. But beyond such a game, Maria Makiling – or Maquiling as I would like to put it – encompasses the towns of Bay (or Ba’i), Los Baños, and Calamba in Laguna. With a mountain of such scale, the name Maquiling and Maria Maquiling indeed have become sources of wonder and mystery for the inhabitants and the visitors as well.

There are numerous variations of the myth of Maria Maquiling, but one aspect does remain: that she inhabits the mountain and acts as its protector. I would admit that up to now, I still cannot picture out Maria Maquiling’s outline from the slopes of this mountain. And it is only this time when I dug in for information about her that I realized that it is not very clear if the mountain was named after, or if she got her name from the name of the mountain.

In any case, Maria Maquiling is certainly a part of UPLB, as portions of the mountain is within the jurisdiction of the university. A statue of her can be found as one goes up to the College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR), a seeming welcoming image of the diwata for those who dare climb up the mountain. I learned that it was originally placed in front of the university library, but later on replaced by the imposing figure of Pegaraw. Anyway her current place is more suitable as I see it.

Faces of U.P. Los Baños 4

* an army of branches – an afternoon view of the dirt road leading to Math Building

* the corridor of many experiences – the physics division

* view of the Humanities Building, now CAS Building, from the physics division

* steps of the D.L. Umali Auditorium

* take two – another look at the Thai Temple just across D.L. Umali


* the road leading up to Forestry

* Trailer Pransis standing in awe of a statue of Maria Maquiling and her ward of forest animals

* the never-ending bridge


* a lone structure that could have been a part of a larger building, on top is the inscription: To Dean H.L. Russell Wisconsin, 1926

* dedication marker for this SEARCA Building to UPLB, which was then used as the university library (trivia: the UPLB library was then located at the present Humanities/CAS Building)

Faces of U.P. Los Baños 3

* Up front – the entrance to UPLB

* The Upsilon Sigma Phi UPLB Campus Map; once suffered vandalism when their seal on this map was burned

* The UPLB Alumni Plaza, more commonly called the Carabao Park, the infamous ‘Kwek Kwek’ Tower can be seen beyond the park

*The carabao heads; for those who have just been in the university for a few weeks or months, it can be noticed that there is in fact a replica of the man (most likely a farmer) and his beast-of-burden on top of one of the carabao heads; you just have to be keen in looking for it; as for me, I only learned this just weeks before graduation

* facade of the Agricultural Economics building

*Remaining façade of the Agricultural Education building

*One of the almost rundown yet still standing big houses in UPLB, found within Catalan compound which contains numerous room and houses for rent

* A newly constructed stage for theatrical presentations; they have ingenuously made use of the ruins of the burned old Chemistry building as part of the stage set-up

* A wall presentation found on the corridor inside the College of Arts and Science Annex II showing the story of the college from its beginnings

Of all the structures that have taken my attention, those old buildings constructed before the war are the most interesting. I shall try to dig in to the structures themselves and perhaps their constructors. Definitely they were American influenced so at least there is a place to start from.