Baguio City, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – It is known as the summer capital of the Philippines because if its cool weather.  During the hot summer months, Filipinos trek to this mountain resort city by the hundreds of thousands to escape the sweltering temperatures in the lowland areas.  This is Baguio City, developed by the Americans in the early 1900’s, who found it to be an ideal site for a future city and summer retreat, especially for officers and employees of the Insular Government. It was designed for a population of 30,000 people, but today Baguio is home to 300,000, including over 20,000 South Koreans (and counting).

Many Koreans have found Baguio a suitable place to study English at local universities because of the relatively low cost of enrollment with no entrance exams required.  But more importantly, Baguio weather is comparable to the spring and autumn weather in their homeland. The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration says that South Koreans come to Baguio on tourist visas and extensions thereof, student visas, and lately, to establish local businesses.

In recognition of the contribution of South Koreans to the city’s economy, tourism and overpopulation, the Baguio City Council has recently passed a resolution that would change the name of Baguio to Korea City.  Council members argued that Baguio has lost its allure anyway because of the local government’s failure to solve many of the city’s social, economic and environmental problems.  They believe that by adopting a new name, the city can bounce back and be the great city it once was. “This will attract even more Koreans to settle in the city, resulting in a unique cultural mix and creating a viable and progressive business climate,” said one council member.  He added that ‘Korea’ rhymes perfectly well with the name of the region Baguio belongs to — Cordillera.

Start practicing to say “Korea in the Cordillera.”