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| Luzon Baptist Camp from the air. Courtesy of Google Maps |
Every December 26, hundreds of youth from all across Luzon come together for the annual
iDISCIPLE Youth Camp at the Luzon Baptist Camp in Barrio Lucanin in Mariveles, Bataan province. It is a four-day affair that highlights the Good News of Jesus Christ and its centrality in the lives of those professing to be His followers.
I have been privileged to be part of this annual rite for the last seven years in various capacities, from a doe-eyed camper to a staffer burning with the desire to teach others. If not for a seven-year hiatus from 1999 to 2006, I would have been part of the Youth Camp since 1991, when I was a young boy raring to take on the world.
Having said thus, it should come as no surprise to you, dear reader, that I have seen significant changes to our beloved camp venue throughout the years. This year, especially, I have decided on taking the task of chronicling what's left of the Luzon Baptist Camp, as it has fallen into a sorry state of disrepair that is further highlighted by the threat of changing times.
The Camp is located on Km.146 along the Roman Superhighway, the main road towards Mariveles in Bataan Province. One can reach it in three to four hours via bus, or an hour if one takes the
intermittent ferry service from across Manila Bay. It is a well-known fixture among bus drivers and conductors, you can practically sleep the whole trip from Manila and wake up at the gates of the Camp. It is also recognized as a tourist landmark by a
local tourism website.
The first sign of trouble I saw coming to the Camp this year was the majestic sight of
gas flaring off the primary stack of the
Petron Bataan Refinery (PBR), about five kilometers north of the Camp. I was quite enthralled I forgot to take a picture. When one passes the PBR every year, one immediately gets ready because the Luzon Baptist Camp is less than 10 minutes away, and it's time to get off in no time at all. In all my trips to Camp, however, this was the first time I actually saw the Refinery flare gas--and only later on would I be able to decode its significance.
As this year's iDISCIPLE camp ran its schedule, it was only a matter of time till we noticed the shortage of benches at the Camp's main worship hall. This shortage was especially pronounced on the first worship night, when around a quarter of the 400-plus participants were left without seats. Given the rate of termite activity, wear-and-tear, and the wrath of typhoon "Glenda" upon the Camp a few months ago, losing a few more of these benches was quite a small concern to the hardworking staff compared to the challenge of getting everyone proper accommodations.
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| This photo was taken a year ago, and the shortage of the iconic wooden Camp benches has become more pronounced this year, with more being lost to rotting, wear and tear, the passage of typhoons, and termites. Photo by Mark Betalero |
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| With more campers coming every year, accommodations are always a challenge, and a good number of campers being relegated to tents in the open field fronting Central Dorm. Photo by Mark Betalero. |
On the morning of December 27, however, just as the morning services were about to start, a loud racket of hammering, welding, and pile-driving came from the once-vacant land south of the Camp. To my surprise, I saw holding tanks similar to the ones at the PBR already in place, with several more being erected. It was only then that I realized the gravity of the Supreme Court
decision ordering the immediate decommissioning of the Pandacan Oil Depot in Manila.
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| A holding tank being erected south of the Camp. Image by and property of the author. |
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| Other holding tanks are already in place, and it won't be long when events at the nearby Worship Hall will be filled with the smell of petroleum products being transferred into or out of these tanks. Image by and property of author. |
It can be remembered that starting 2001, after the US terror attacks, the Supreme Court had ordered the
transfer of the Pandacan terminal in the interest of
public safety. It was only last April 2014 when the City of Manila enforced the order, with the Supreme Court deciding in November on the order's legality with finality.
The noise and the sight of the nearby depot were not the only reminders of impending change. During afternoons, one can detect the faint odor of gasoline in the air, as the Camp is downwind of the PBR and "Refinery Row," the adjacent holding facilities of the major oil companies in the country. In the evenings, one can see an ominous red glow in the sky towards the north, which I first took for the glow of city lights, but then I realized--this hit me in the heart and mind quite hard--it was caused by the gas flaring at the Refinery.
This discovery burdened me, but not so much as the realization that Luzon Baptist Camp might be gone soon.
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| Luzon Baptist Camp and its changing environs. Image from Google Maps; graphic by author. |
While the Camp has deteriorated steadily in the last few years due to an apparent lack of funding (and with the Luzon Convention, which manages the Camp, transferring its annual November conference from the Bataan Camp to the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary [PBTS] in Baguio), the impending closure of the Pandacan Oil Depot and the appearance of petroleum-processing facilities closer to the Camp appear to have somehow accelerated its decay.
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| Shower rooms in disrepair. Photo by and property of the author. |
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| Shower stall near the swimming pool. Photo by and property of the author. |
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| Footwash near swimming pool sprouting weeds. Photo by and property of the author. |
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| The iconic "Stairway to Heaven" leading to the beach is a silent witness to generations of campers who found God as well as love and heartbreak during Youth Camp. It is now broken in several sections due to erosion and wear, and is considered by the camp staff as a high safety risk. Campers are no longer allowed to pass here. Photo by Mark Betalero. |
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| A fence now cordons the beachfront. There used to be a time when one can commune with God and nature right at the shoreline, preferably during sunrise. Image by and property of the author. |
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| Team-building activities (such as the ever-popular tug-of-war) were held right in the sand and surf--but that was back then. Image by and property of the author. |
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| At low tide, campers could take a stroll during their free time all the way to the rocks at the point to the left. Image by and property of the author. |
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| This seaport services the oil depot south of the Camp, and has rapidly expanded in the last year. Image by and property of the author. |
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| A map of the Luzon Baptist Camp and its facilities. The Sawali Dorm, huts made of wood and dried nipa leaves, have been long gone due to ravaging termites. The view deck to the southeast has been overrun with growth and is used as a de facto dumping site for trash. The lazy swing adjacent to the mess hall and the stairway to the beach have both decayed significantly as well. Image from Google Maps, graphic by the author. |
The Luzon Convention has yet to come up with a decision regarding the situation the Camp is in. It can hold on to the property and co-exist with the petroleum-handling facilities in the area, at risk to its residents. Or it can let go of the Camp and lose a significant heritage in spiritual, ecological, or tourism terms.
The one thing that the Convention should consider, however, is the potential for transformation that Youth Camp has contributed in the lives of countless generations of young men and women who have entered and left its premises. Should the Convention decide to let this property go, it should at least find a suitable alternative to the Luzon Baptist Camp. This should allow iDISCIPLE to continue its ministry of leading people to God and training Gospel-centered disciples who are being equipped to change the communities they are in.
