Camp John Hay
Camp John Hay is a mixed-used development which serves as a tourist destination and forest watershed reservation in Baguio, Philippines which was formerly a military base of the United States Armed Forces.
History
Under United States management
The United States 48th Infantry Unit under Captain Robert Rudd established Hill Station in the current site of Camp John Hay in 1900 during the Philippine-American war. The site is referred to the locals, the Ibalois, as "Kafagway" and is owned by Ibaloi leader Mateo Cariño. of the land was then designated as "Camp John Hay", a military reservation for American soldiers, in October 1903 when US President Theodore Roosevelt signed a presidential order. American military personnel were given a place to refuge from the relative hotter temperature of the lowlands.The 15th Infantry Regiment had a small detachment at Camp John Hay in the 1910s prior to the Great War. The field staff and the bulk of the regiment were near Tientsin, China during this time.
World War II
In December 1941, Japanese warplanes dropped 72 bombs over the main gate of the camp during the onset of World War II in the Philippines. Camp John Hay served as an internment camp of the Imperial Japanese forces as well as the headquarters of General Tomoyuki Yamashita during the Japanese occupation period. When the Japanese forces in the archipelago capitulated, Yamashita surrendered to the Allied forces at Camp John Hay, specifically at the High Commissioner's residence which was later renamed as the Ambassador's Residence.Post war and independence
After the war, Camp John Hay was converted into John Hay Air Base in 1955 and remained under the control of the Americans.On December 13, 1966 a fourth of Camp John Hay was given to the Philippine government and was made a forest reserve and watershed. The nominal air base has no airstrip and has a golf course. It served as a recreational venue for both Americans and Filipino politicians and businessmen.
Under the Philippine government and redevelopment
It was officially turned over the Philippine government in July 1, 1991 with Tourism Secretary Rafael Alunan III in attendance. The plan was to convert Camp John Hay into a resort. In 1995, the Baguio City Council endorsed a potential commercialization of Camp John Hay setting conditions for its support of a master plan for the former American installation.In 1996, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority entered into a deal with Camp John Hay Development Corp. of Robert Sobrepeña to convert the Camp John Hay into a commercial development. Among the first additions was the 187-unit, four-storey Manor Hotel which had a soft opening on December 1, 2001.
In 2015, the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center nullified the 1996 lease between BCDA and CJHDevCo due to mutual breaches and ordered the latter to return control of the complex and its facilities to the BCDA. Following protracted appeals, the decision was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2024, with the BCDA reassuming the property in January 2025.