Under Filipinos, Camp John Hay booms, blooms

BAGUIO CITY – Twenty years of Philippine management of former American bases have yielded mixed results.

But for Camp John Hay, Filipino management of the former base has resulted in a series of business process outsourcing villages, a new adventure theme park, and more hotels that may help make the former John Hay Air Station the dominant tourism complex in northern Luzon.

Headlining new developments in this corner of Luzon is the first motorized zip line theme park operated by Tree Top Adventure.

The Subic-based company opened its third facility here in February. It offers Baguio tourists various zip line rides that glide over Camp John Hay’s pine tree cover.

Visitors can enjoy features like the Superman ride, Silver Surfer, Canopy Ride, Tree Drop as well as the opportunity to hike around the 4,000-square-meter Tree Top area. Ride packages range from P250 to P850.

Longtime visitors would recognize other changes to the landscape. A new hotel, for example, is rising inside John Hay.

Perhaps the biggest development thus far in Camp John Hay is the P3-billion TechnoHub, which will host the 3,000-seat BPO facility of Convergys Philippines.

Ulysses Gaerlan, acting operations manager of John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), said the Ayala TechnoHub is expected to generate 10,000 jobs for the city. JHMC is the estate management firm of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Ayala is perhaps the biggest investor yet to be drawn to Camp John Hay, after its 25-year lease was won in 1996 by Fil Estate-led Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco).

CJHDevco brought in close to P2.5 billion in projects, which include the John Hay Manor and the John Hay Suites.

But it has always been a love-hate relationship between Baguio residents and the business interests that are helping shape John Hay into a tourism estate.

Baguio homeowners joined protest rallies organized by local civic groups when the government originally planned to lease the facility to a foreign company, shortly after the Department of Tourism first took custody of all base lands in the early 1990s. The government soon created the BCDA to oversee all former American base lands.

Owing to a special set of conditions, the residents finally agreed to Camp John Hay’s development in 1994.

But a series of legal entanglements soon caused delays in the implementation of projects. A Supreme Court ruling which addressed a Camp John Hay case led to the nullification of the tax incentives granted to its developer, CJHDevco.

The same case affected all other special economic zones administered by BCDA, except for Subic Bay Freeport. Former mayors confronted CJHDevco over its unpaid rent, which grew because of the court ruling.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan shepherded a measure that restored the incentives of these BCDA zones, including Baguio, during his term as Baguio congressman.

Domogan, who ran the city at the time Camp John Hay was being prepared for development, said: “I am very happy about the gains made by Camp John Hay in spite of all the frustrations [its developers encountered]. With a report from Elmer Kristian Dauigoy, Inquirer Northern Luzon