The Heritage Conservation Society

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 08/27/2005

The news has been a bore lately with nothing but stories on the current political mess in the country. Hello!

So what’s new? Well, the more engaging news has been the string
of reportage on all the articles about the commemoration of the 60th
anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific. Several of these
stories focused on the atrocities of the Japanese and the destruction
of Manila – with some graphic images thrown in for the benefit of a
generation with little knowledge of the tumultuous events of the
mid-20th. Then there was also the release of the war epic, The Great Raid.

We went to see the movie over the weekend (in premier
bottomless-popcorn comfort at the Shangri-La Plaza cinemas). Yes, Cesar
Montano, as guerilla captain Pajota, did a good job…especially since
all the Hollywood actors phoned in their respective portrayals. That
Franco guy should stick to playing Spidey’s nemesis (as the new Green
Goblin in the next web-slinger movie) and Benjamin Bratt, who looks
Filipino, just kept on posing and trying to look West Pointy with his
pipe.

What interested me most was the production design. I wanted to
see how well they could recreate the Philippines and wartime Manila.
Well, this production passed with a grade of 2 (1 being perfect), which
is not bad considering that most Hollywood films take little trouble
portraying locations here authentically. The texture of Manila was
wonderfully recreated…in a back lot in Shanghai. Why Shanghai, when
Binondo still has corners of heritage buildings easily fixed-up for
1940s scenes? Apparently the producers thought that filming in the
post-9/11 months in the Philippines was high-risk (the production was
delayed in its release and was shot mostly three years ago).

The establishing shot of the Pasig River was good enough to recreate the muelles
of Manila, though obviously (at least to urban historians) the river
shown was too wide and the silhouette of the buildings had too many art
deco structures compared to the mostly neo-classic buildings of the
Pasig’s north bank. Pwede na.

What were wonderfully represented were the street scenes – probably of the Binondo/Sta. Cruz area, complete with Meralco tranvias.
Shanghai was similar to Manila in having tram and narrow streets in the
downtown area. I wanted to see whether vehicular traffic was on the
left side as it was before the war but the scenes were mostly devoid of
cars as was the reality of the time.

The scenes at Fort Santiago were a bit off. The entrance to
the fort was from within Intramuros and not from the riverside as
depicted. Also, I could not guess where that pylon, with a winged
victory, in front of the entrance came from. Manila has only one such
statue and it is on top of the Bonifacio monument in Caloocan. The
fort’s interiors also show a smaller facility than is the reality. Pwede pa rin.

The hospital courtyard scene was a little off too. The
PGH’s courtyards were arcaded and high walls were not the fashion till
after the war for most compounds. That Connie Neilsen is sure tall! And
the Filipina traitor should have been wearing a bayong with eye
holes over her head. Finally, Manila was cool in January of 1945 but
not cold enough for Neilsen to wear an overcoat when she was captured
by the Japanese (but Shanghai weather, on the other hand, is rather
nippy).

On to the other settings in the film – Lingayen where the
Americans landed and Cabanatuan along with the POW camp itself. When
the mission starts on day one we see Col. Mucci’s (Bratt) forces moving
out at daybreak. Here’s where the filmmakers make the same mistake as
their colleagues did with the ending scene of John Wayne’s Green Berets
movie. The sun is seen rising on the horizon. Lingayen is facing west
and the morning sun, of course, should be on the land side! (In Green Berets,
Wayne walks into the sun setting over the ocean – the wrong side for
Vietnam but correct for California where the film was shot.) The Great Raid was shot in Australia’s Gold Coast, which is on the eastern coast of Australia.

As the raiding force treks to the POW camp they pass through
strange vegetation. The trees seem to be mostly of a single eucalyptus
or paper bark (Melaleuca) species, which are not endemic to the
Philippines (although we have a Eucalyptus deglupta from Mindanao). The
sugar cane fields are correct since that was one of the cash crops in
Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. The Gold Coast is home to Australia’s sugar
plantations (10 times more efficient in production because of
mechanization and government support). By the way, the coconut trees in
the landing sequence were added by computer so the movie notes report.
Why again did they not just shoot in Lingayen? Some say that all the
funny business Coppola had to suffer when shooting Apocalypse now, and Stone with Platoon, has given the Philippines a bad reputation as a film location.

The movie dragged a bit. It is long – over two hours, for the
subject covered. The actual newsreel footage shown at the end of the
movie of the rescued POWs and the film’s main American characters were
quite interesting (and showed how much more character the real heroes
had than the actors portraying them …again except Montano of course).
It was an entertaining film nevertheless and my critique of it is not
intended to diminish the accomplishments of those portrayed.

A week after the raid, the Americans entered Manila and the
destruction of the city, with much loss of civilian life, ensued till
March. I’ve featured that story before but nevertheless include images
here of the destruction as a reminder of how military strategies can go
as wrong as they can go right. The city could have been retaken with
less collateral damage (some historians say that the Americans did not
trust the Filipino guerilla scouts as much as Mucci and Prince did
Pajota and proceeded somewhat blindly). The city was destroyed because
of both American artillery as well as Japanese demolition.

We can never get pre-war Manila back yet the irony of it all
is that we continue destroying heritage architecture from that era
mindlessly today. Maybe we can convince some Hollywood production to
shoot a period piece here. With a budget of $200,000 million (the
average cost of a US film), that’s over a billion pesos that can go
partly to rebuilding whole sections of historical Manila. Now that’s a
great idea!

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/LIFESTYLE200508203304.htm

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 08/20/2005

Cleaning
my ever-jumbled files one Sunday afternoon, I happened to find a
long-misplaced pre-war tourist guide to Manila printed by the Manila
Hotel Company. It is one of my favorites, in a collection of
Manila-related ephemera, because it graph-ically paints a picture of
the city still steeped in heritage, colored by cosmopolitan tastes, and
relatively unsullied by politics.

Unimpeachably fascinating, the metropolis was marketed as
"The Riviera of the Orient." The guide’s text starts with a declaration
that Manila is a "City of Romance and Adventure." The introductory
blurb adds that (Manila) is "An ancient city, sleeping in the memories
of the past …grim bastions, redoubts, sentry boxed, surrounding massive
battlements, smothered in tropic foliage here, bleached by the suns of
three centuries there… iron-grilled casements, plazas, patios, and
over-hanging balconies are reminiscent of medieval Spain."

The text continues that Manila was a "Babel of bells pealing
from church towers (over two dozen in and around the Intramuros),
magnificent cathed-rals… convents, monasteries, chap-els, surrounding
pleasant gardens …" The city grew from original structures built at the
mouth of the great Pasig River, including "gray Fort Santiago, the
first stronghold on the riverside, defense against Chinese and Moro
pirates since 1590…"

A description of the rest of the city as it was in the late
1930s (the date of the guide’s printing) follows: "Sunken gardens of
emerald, flowing greens and golden tees of the Municipal Golf Course…
circling these towering walls, a 20th-century substitute for the
evil-smelling moat of earlier days… wide, tree-bordered streets,
imposing modern buildings designed for the tropics… the two-mile parked
and flower-embowered esplanade rimming the glorious bay… fire trees
flaming like torches amid the darker green of houses and shrubbery… the
wide expanse of the grassy Luneta fronting the water …dominated by the
imposing monuments of Rizal, Urdaneta and Legaspi… flanked by the
Manila Hotel, the Army and Navy, and the Elks Clubs."

Tourist guides of the era always focused on the history and
character of old Manila, mainly because there was much of the city
still left from the Spanish-colonial era. The walls of Intramuros and
the 17 churches, chapels, and monasteries were still magnificently
standing and functioning. The golf course that replaced the moat was
already a few decades old and a popular amenity that was only
challenged by "newer" courses in Caloocan and Mandaluyong (Wack Wack).
The Luneta was enhanced by the then newly-completed Dewey Boulevard
with its esplanade – recently resurrected in this century by Mayor Lito
Atienza. Finally, all tourist literature of that era cites the Manila
Hotel as the premier hospitality establishment of the city and, indeed,
of the region.

The guide’s second spread highlights the luxurious
appointments of the storied hotel; by then already a quarter-century
old. Since 1912, the hotel had undergone numerous improvements and
expansions. The original design by American architect William E.
Parsons was an H-shaped plan that focused on well-ventilated rooms on
two wings, providing grand vistas of the harbor, the Luneta, and
Intramuros. The top floor was, in fact, a large viewing deck that was
used for various functions, including watching the "Great White Fleet"
of the American navy steam into the harbor. Since the opening, the
hotel’s Spartan interiors in simplified Mission style gave way to more
lavish furnishings and, for some sections, major renovations by
Paris-trained-Filipino architect Andres Luna de San Pedro (son of Juan
Luna).

The text outlines the environmentally-sensitive,
landscape-enhanced design of the hotel stating, "The first impression
of the Manila Hotel is one of lavish floral beauty, towering palms, a
heavy drapery of green vines over the entrance… a building impressive
in its mass, its design and in its superb setting of tropic verdure…
entering the lobby, the feeling of size and coolness is increased by
the spaciousness of the room, the height of its ceiling, the airy green
and white of its decoration… the size, simplicity, and arrangement of
the guest rooms complete the picture of a hotel built for the tropics.

At the seaside, the hotel boasted a large covered dancing
pavilion: "Imagine a dance floor of immense size and smoothness
surrounded by a wide terrace filled with dining tables… it has neither
doors nor windows… only the high-domed roof supported by giant columns.
As you dine, you look out over the fascinating harbor."

The brochure’s center foldout is the gem of this piece of
memorabilia. The brochure opens out two ways to reveal a colorful
graphic rendition, albeit extremely politically incorrect, of the
Philippine Islands and its location in Asia. Half-naked native women,
looking strangely dark-skinned with chinky eyes, wear bones in their
hair a la African aborigines. A tree house marks one side of the
islands with a fisherman and a pair of fighting cocks on the other.

The last spread of this thin but jampacked brochure and guide
is headlined "No visit to the Orient is complete unless it includes the
Philippine Islands." The text explains that "To visit the Orient
without seeing the Philippines is like going to France without touching
Paris." The brochure entices American travelers to work Manila into
their itinerary for the Far East since "the trans-Pacific steamer fares
are the same to Manila as they are to Hong Kong (and) practically all
liners serve the Philippines…"

Well, that was over half a century ago. Manila has far less
historic fabric left due to the devastation of the war and the neglect
of its architectural legacy since. Intramuros is a shell of its former
self despite cyclical efforts to revive it. The Manila Hotel itself
underwent a major renovation in the ’70s and the grand dame shone like
new for a few years. It is a pale reflection of its former self as the
design quality of extensions and its upkeep have left much to be
desired. The hotel and the walled city, along with the Luneta, form a
tourism district that is in bad need of clear direction and a serious
master plan. Such a district plan would ideally include the
redevelopment of the south harbor (into a cruise center), the port area
(into mixed-use developments), the Intramuros and Luneta (as an
integrated heritage and tourism destination), and both Roxas Boulevard
and the Pasig River (as an integrated waterfront development like
Sydney Harbor, San Francisco’s port district or Boston’s port area
redevelopment).

If this fantasy really could come true, then it should also
include a redeveloped Post Office (possibly as another hotel like the
Fullerton in Singapore), the Metropolitan Theater Garden, the Arroceros
area, and Mehan Gardens.

If we did all this then maybe, just maybe, Manila could
recover its old glory back. But that’s wishful thinking. Yes, we do
have to plan all this… but if we do not fix our politics, our economy,
and discern a larger vision for the country, then all this will be for
naught.

By the way, if the issues brought out in this column fire you
up and levels of frustration and indignation reach intensity- five
levels, then here’s a way to channel those pent-up energies. Enroll now
in John Silva’s Advocacy Writing Workshop. The course has helped
individuals and staff members of NGOs, foundations, universities,
corporate communications, and government agencies write about their
concerns with more focus, impact, and persuasion, reaping better
results. John L. Silva has been a contributing writer to Philippine Starweek, curator
for the National Museum, and one of the driving forces behind the
Heritage Conservation Society. In addition, he will teach you how to
get your article published and get your points across in the media.
Seats are limited so reserve now.  The fee is P3,500 and a workbook, a
delicious lunch, and a tour of the National Museum are included.
Call/text John now at 0926-729-9029, 527-5082 (work), 831-7065 (home),
or reserve online at jsilva79@hotmail.com. Workshop date and venue:
Saturday, September 10, Museum of the Filipino People, National Museum
Complex, Agrifina Circle, Rizal Park, Manila.

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.

http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com
By Ivan Anthony S. Henares

This could well be the phrase students in the City of Manila are uttering with the example being set by their teachers at the Manila Division of City Schools, a willing accessory to Mayor Lito Atienza’s cutting of centuries-old trees in the Arroceros Forest Park.  “Old Manila’s last lung,” as Sylvia L. Mayuga puts it in her Philippine Daily Inquirer article dated April 17, 2005, Arroceros is the one of the last patches of green in a city made filthy both environmentally and politically. 

And Mayuga could not have put it any better, “Where the reign of corruption is perfectly matched by traffic and pollution in all forms, sheep-like malling and commercial hype everywhere one turns, there’s rare pleasure to be had among old trees that have somehow survived successive building booms burying nature under more steel and cement everyday.”

News last Friday of Manila City Hall’s rampage thus dealt a painful blow to efforts for sustainable urban development in a city which received the lowest ratings for quality of life among twelve metro cities nationwide in the most recent AIM Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project in 2003.

A stone’s throw away from SM City Manila, another of Atienza’s urban disasters, Arroceros is located at the foot of MacArthur Bridge. Untouched for many years and “discovered” by then Mayor Alfredo Lim and environmental advocates from the Winner Foundation in the early 1990s, the park was a 2.1 hectare inner-city oasis filled with century-old narra, molave, balete, rubber and acacia trees. By 1994, the foundation was able to plant an additional 3,500 saplings from 55 different species. To make the long story short, the area became a self-sustaining forest ecosystem, giving high hopes "that the area can regenerate itself into a mature forest ecosystem," according to a 2003 survey of the park.

Then comes Atienza and his so-called Buhayin ang MayniLA program. For several years, Atienza had been successful in desecrating and eradicating important cultural landmarks in Manila such as the Sky Room –  the four-story art deco Jai Alai building designed by noted architect Welton Becket, Mehan Gardens, the YMCA where SM City Manila now stands, and the San Lazaro Hippodrome, which gave way to another of Henry Sy’s prefab malls.

If not for heritage advocates, even the stately Army and Navy Club could already be another shopping mall. John Silva recalls that in year 2000, “[Atienza] tried to destroy the Army Navy building, now the Museo ng Maynila, and to gobble up the adjoining Museong Pambata by attempting to put up a boutique and shopping mall.”

The Arroceros Forest Park was next on his list.

“Don’t tell me about the ecosystem; Manila has enough parks,” Atienza was reported to have said. “Why, I even ordered discounts on Manila Zoo entrance fees for Manila residents!” After effectively building a Park and Ride facility on Mehan Gardens, the lord mayor of MayniLA now wanted to construct a teachers’ dormitory in Arroceros. For any rational mind, it is difficult to fathom the explanation that the Arroceros Forest Park is the lone available site for teachers’ quarters in Manila.

What disappoints reason is the fact that it was the Manila Division of City Schools which applied for a DENR permit to cut trees in the park. Can these public school teachers continue to face their students and teach them time-honored values such as caring for the environment?

Workers from Manila City Hall started balling and cutting trees last Thursday following orders from “higher ups.” By the time the Winner Foundation and the media had arrived, two trees had already been felled.  They were however able to save a century-old narra tree which was next in line.

With this blatant disregard for the quality of life of his constituents, Lito Atienza should rename his program “Patayin ang MayniLA.”

Imagine that things like these are allegedly happening as well in the UP system. The Office of the Environment Ombudsman recommended last month the filing of criminal and administrative charges against UPLB Chancellor Dr. Wilfredo David for the alleged illegal cutting of two hardwood trees inside the LB campus last year, said to be worth P210,000. But that is another story.

Related Articles
Conservationists battle to save Manila’s forest park
Winner spirit blazes on for forest park
City Hall begins cutting trees at Arroceros Park
Old Manila’s ‘last lung’
Illegal logging case vs UPLB head endorsed

Write the DepEd Superintendent
MA. LUISA S. QUIÑONES
Superintendent
Division of City Schools
City Hall, Manila
manila@deped.gov.ph
527-5218 / 302-6736 / 527-5184 / 527-9910 / 302-6735

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=3&story_id=46152

   
Aug 07, 2005

By Augusto Villalon

LETTER
writer Richard Boncewski sent his feedback: "Before commenting on your
article, ‘Remember the Jai Alai,’ may I introduce myself. I am a
prospective graduate student in historical preservation at Eastern
Michigan University.

"The last four months, I have been visiting
my wife here in Alcala (Spain)… A part of [the four months] has been
taken up by the renovation of our house, and the formulation of a
strategy to resurrect metaphorical ghosts in historical structures, or
the evocation of the past as tangibly as possible, without resort to
conjecture, to replicate the flavor of a particular period.

"Last
year, during my first visit to the Philippines, the vocabulary of the
locally constructed bahay-na-bato caught my eye… a trip to Vigan
introduced me to colonial ancestral houses, especially Syquia Mansion,
where seemingly the spirits of the house and its former inhabitants
spoke through the caretaker.

"While your remarks ring true in
sentiment and are correct in content, they remind me too much of
textbook preservation and the new critical writings about the
pie-in-the-sky potentialities of historical preservation toward any
number of ends other than reservation.

"Every good building lost,
either humble or remarkable, is a senseless loss. Every occasion when a
Jai Alai or a Penn Station [demolished and replaced by Madison Square
Garden, a celebrated 1970s conservation issue in New York City] is
demolished, a grand theater is converted into yet another shopping
complex (redo, eh?), a traditional house redolent with memories and
cultural residue is dismembered for the lumber… or even the
desecration of a door by thoughtless workmen, as was the case in the
course of renovation… we should be outraged.

"However, the
outrage at the wanton destruction of historical structures or
natural/sacred sites should not stem from a personal sense of
nostalgia. Instead, let’s rage at the desensitization of people to any
Place or any Thing possessing the quality of the extraordinary, or that
which transcends Newness."

I agree with Mr. Boncewski. Public sensitivity is the crux of the issue.

Since
the dawn of the conservation movement 20 years ago, the level of
sensitivity has increased but sadly not rising to the enlightened level
where opposing sectors are able to arrive at a common understanding of
what to conserve and how to do it.

Nor is there a public or
private forum that has evolved to help parties arrive at a consensus.
Conservation remains a volatile, adversarial issue in the Philippines
today, as the Jai Alai, Mehan Garden and Arroceros Forest Park issues
prove.

Boncewski continues: "Let me tell you a story with some
relevance to the Jai Alai. Last year, the Asian Art Museum of San
Francisco and the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park were demolished to
make way for a new, larger postmodern deYoung in the park.

"Within
the walls of the latter, the spirit of 1965 avant garde was represented
in the human scale, the open yet intimate galleries, and the airy,
light-filled public spaces.

"The argument for making the
collection fit into a turn-of-the-century beaux artes [sic] library was
the increased space to exhibit more of the collection. Administration,
conservation and education departments enjoy more room, and the higher
ceilings allow for the larger contemporary installations. Over all,
though, the majority of the collection is lost in the vastness and the
endless warren that now serve as galleries.

"The deYoung was
constructed for the 1939 World’s Fair… when San Francisco resonated
within the precincts of this Spanish Colonial revival structure. For
me, the California spirit itself resided there. The famous bell tower,
along with the galleries, is being replaced by a building which makes
‘references’ to the old deYoung. The reasoning is the same as with the
Asian: more space.

Looking forward
"Sounds
familiar? What’s done is done, but let’s look forward. Educate people
and business to the manifold benefits of preservation. Governments can
encourage preservation by enforcement of laws and the development of
tax incentives. Foremost, private organizations can control properties
through revolving funds and foundations. Thereby preservationists need
not grovel at the feet of developers, or, for that matter, the
Department of Education."

Familiar? Yes, indeed. The
recommendations, generalized solutions to conservation, have been tried
in the local situation with limited success.

How are people and
business educated about the benefits of conservation? The conception is
still that, conservation is opposed to business. Education is a slow
process that in the Philippine situation, requires concrete examples
rather than academic rhetoric.

Among the little-known concrete
examples of conservation are the DepEd Heritage Schoolhouse Restoration
Program of the Heritage Conservation Society ; the international
award-winning restorations of the Gota de Leche and Nielson Towers
buildings in Manila and Makati (both recipients of the Unesco Asia
Pacific Cultural Heritage Awards); the outstanding restoration of the
Far Eastern University campus; and the community-based Cebu Heritage
Frontier Project of the Ram¢n Aboitiz Foundation.

The
international and national notice the projects have received has not
been enough to influence decision-makers on the value of conservation.

"In
spite of the inherent ethical and legal dangers of involving oneself in
real-estate management, in my unqualified opinion that and adaptive
reuse are the future of historical preservation in countries with a
less developed preservation ethos," writes Boncewski.

"As for the
Arrocero Forest," he continues, "I commend the National Museum for not
giving any more ground. To secure one’s interests, one does not go
along to get along. How absurd it is to propose that a one-room museum
is compensation enough to the National Museum and Manileños for the
trashing of the forest and the archeological site.

"If
construction happens, the door is opened to further compromises.
Anyway, the idea of a small museum to commemorate the desecration of an
archeological site is a laughable exercise.

"Let the DepEd build elsewhere," he admonishes.

Maybe
the DepEd should, indeed, build elsewhere. That is something that I
would love to believe would happen. But, let’s face it, will it ever?

Since
Mayor Lito Atienza and the Winner Foundation have painted themselves
into opposing corners, it looks as if it is too late in the day to
arrive at an acceptable solution for the Forest Park.

Just think
of how crafting a win-win solution to the Arroceros Forest Park impasse
would impact on the local conservation movement. It would prove that
conservation is dynamic, that to be successful it must happen within
the local context, and that for conservation to happen in a "less
developed preservation ethos," as Mr Boncewski says, everyone has to
win a little and lose a little.

Feedback is welcome at afvillalon@hotmail.com.

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 08/06/2005                   

There
has been one constant national address in the last century and a half
of Philippine history – Malacañang Palace. No other physical
representation or solid symbol of our government has lasted as long or
survived through so many political and social changes. The power of the
chief executive of the land, whether they were Spanish or American
governors-general, commonwealth, post-independence or post-people power
presidents, has emanated from this complex by the Pasig River.

The image of Malacañang Palace itself has become iconic. It
is reproduced countless times on P20 bills and has become a logo, in
front of which official pronouncements are made. The palace has become
synonymous with the power of the personage in residence and one of the
keys to understanding both is to look at the evolution and current
state of the palace today.

This has been difficult to do until recently. Most everyone
who laid claim to the place had limited knowledge of its entire history
or an incomplete picture of its physical territory. A recently launched
book has changed all that and will serve to enlighten both official
residents and other interested parties on how our No. 1 elected
official lives and the settings from where he/she exercises political
duties.

Malacañan Palace: The Official Illustrated History
(published by Studio 5 Publishing Inc. and available at major
bookstores) is a hefty guide to close to 200 years of the palace’s
history. The coffee-table book is meant to be a companion to a previous
volume penned by the late, great Nick Joaquin. While this earlier work
focused on the personalities and their stories – that used the palace
as a dramatic setting – this new publication highlights the landscape,
architecture, and interiors of the palace.

The morphing of a former summer residence to the official
palace and seat of power is lavishly delineated in this book, a
compelling visual and textual feast that will satisfy not only
architecture and history buffs but the general reader as well. The
hundreds of archival pictures and contemporary images (by celebrated
photographer Wyg Tysmans) provide graphic support to the book’s six
main chapters written by Manuel L. Quezon III – popular op-ed
columnist, Palanca award winner and curator for history at the Ayala
Museum; Jeremy Barns – AIM economist and researcher, Spanish
colonial-era scholar and man-about-town; and yours truly.

Okay, so I’m a little biased, but the book is truly a
substantial contribution to political and architectural history. Over
five years of hard work went into sourcing all the materials, writing,
and photography (driven by the erstwhile Studio 5 team led by Joe and
Marily Orosa). Long-buried archives from Spain and the Bureau of Public
Works were unearthed to yield original architectural drawings by a long
list of eminent Spanish, American, and Filipino architects: Cespedes,
Parsons, Doanne, Arellano, Mapua, Toledo, Luna de San Pedro, Araneta,
and Ramos, among others. Additional drawings and special illustrations
were commissioned especially for this book – three aerial renderings of
the palace (by architect Christian Jucco).

The book design (by BG Hernandez, edited by Jose Orosa and JV
Rufino with assistance from Jay Bautista and Sheila Ducay) is elegant
and accessible to readers. The historical text chapters and archival
photos alternate with sections of contemporary pictures by Tysmans
covering the main palace, the state entrance and state rooms, the
private quarters, Kalayaan Hall, Bonifacio Hall, the new Executive
Building, Mabini Hall and, finally, Malacañang Park.

The book answers historical questions like the origin of the
place’s name Malacañan. There are four main theories: the original
owners of the place – Luis Rocha (then Colonel Miguel Formento until
1825), the use of the river landings – for transport from Intramuros,
and chronologies of the buildings themselves – for example, the
executive building (Kalayaan Hall) which, contrary to popular belief,
is from the American and not the Spanish era.

Malacañang Palace is one of the oldest palaces in Asia – older
than the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the Istanas in Malaysia and
Singapore. Only the Royal Palace in Bangkok is older. The earthquakes
of the mid-1800s forced the Spanish governors-general to move to the
summer residence and the growing rumblings forever stopped plans to
reconstruct the original Intramuros Palacio del Governador. This
history of fleeing and temporary residences and moving centers of power
was a pattern that repeated itself in various aspects of the
construction of Manila’s government centers (from Intramuros, to
Burnham’s Luneta site, to Quezon City).

Today, government is still fractured – the congress is in the
Batasang Pambansa, the Senate is in Pasay, and Malacañang is still by
the river (though five alternative sites had been chosen in the last
hundred years). As author Quezon says, Malacañang is "a capital for a
nation without a capital…" The Palace will survive for another hundred
years. Its history goes on just as our social history pushes the
incomplete evolution of democracy (or whatever animal we wish to call
our governance). We need constants such as Malacañang, landmarks
important to our heritage. We just hope that our future leadership
benefit from historical insight and that the settings we build lead to
a clearer vision discerned.

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com. Malacañan Palace: The Official Illustrated History,
328 pages, published by Studio 5 Publishing Inc., is available at
leading bookstores or from Studio 5, with tel. nos. 895-3971 and
895-4040 or visit www.studio5publishing.com.

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=25948

Jan 30, 2005
By Augusto Villalon

THE COUNTRY needs more watchers to keep our heritage from vanishing at the rate that it does nowadays.

If you want to do your part in preserving our culture, here are some suggestions on what to do to contribute your bit for the Philippines.

To value your heritage, you must learn about it. Join a walking tour of one of Manila’s heritage areas.

Go to museums and take a good look at what they’ve got. The Central Bank Gold Collection at the Metropolitan Museum (Roxas Boulevard, Manila) is stunning.

The Museum of the Filipino People at the National Museum in Manila presents Philippine culture in an engaging, interactive learning atmosphere which is a lot of fun.

Get a feel of how it was to be an ilustrado in the Spanish colonial era. Check out colonial lifestyle museums like Casa Manila in Intramuros, Bahay Nakpil in Quiapo, Museo De la Salle in Dasmariñas (Cavite), Casa Gorordo in Cebu City, Balay Negrense in Silay (Negros Occidental).

The idea behind taking a close look at the fabulous collections in each of these house museums is to realize the excellence of Filipino craftsmen and to see that we are heirs to a rich tradition, not to continue the fallacy that anything Spanish in the Philippines is evil, as the "Museum of Horrors" in Intramuros mistakenly perpetuates.

Feel Philippine greatness. Travel to a Philippine World Heritage site to experience being in one of the great places of the planet.

World Heritage sites must pass exacting Unesco standards, which attest to their global uniqueness and universal value, making these truly outstanding places which make one proud to be Filipino.

Five of the over 800 World Heritage Sites are in the Philippines : 1) Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, 2) the Baroque churches of the Philippines, which include San Agustin in Intramuros, the churches of Paoay in Ilocos Norte, Santa Mar¡a in Ilocos Sur, Miag-ao in Iloilo, 3) Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera, 4) the Historic City of Vigan and 5) Puerto Princesa Subterranean National Park in Palawan.

Monitor
Take a look at how our World Heritage sites are being maintained. Under Unesco agreement, the Philippine government is responsible for the maintenance of its World Heritage sites.

How to see if they are being maintained properly?

Remember that as much as possible these sites should remain in their original condition. That means no alteration or remodeling for buildings. Natural sites should remain in their pristine condition. Inside protected sites, no setting up of fast-food and souvenir stands is allowed.

Any repairs to protected buildings should be done following the same old-fashioned methods that constructed them, unlike many churches that now replace timber trusses with steel and the roof with galvanized iron. Its effects on the old structural system are as disastrous and inappropriate as plugging a hole in a leather shoe with plastic.

Looking around is the best way to develop an appreciation for heritage.

Aside from looking, you should develop an appreciation through all of your senses-taste, touch sound, and smell. That is because heritage is not confined just to architecture and urban planning, but includes all of the expressions of Filipino creativity like poetry and literature, music, dance, the visual arts, and even everyday stuff like fashion, folk art, and cuisine. Nor does something of heritage value have to be old.

Heritage towns and their architecture simply are the packages where heritage is developed, as a bahay-na-bato with all of its contents are heritage of the Spanish colonial lifestyle.

The many developments sprouting in suburban Manila, with exotic names like Citt… Italia, are bound to become 21st century heritage when our grandchildren reach their time.

Now comes the vigilance part. If you see a historical place that seems to have been overlooked, damaged or poorly maintained, blow the whistle!!

Are the changes appropriate? Do the new designs complement or damage the heritage architecture?

Document it with pictures, sketch maps, and write descriptions of whatever you think is not right in the place. Submit the information to the Committee on Monuments and Sites of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (fax 02 527 2191, email info@ncca.gov.ph). They know what to do and whom to contact.

Be vigilant about development around a heritage site. Rouse public interest or alarm over a heritage site that is under threat. Heritage, after all, belongs to everyone, so each Filipino has a right to how it is preserved.

Not all heritage vigilante stories are success stories. The destruction of the Jai Alai building in Manila is an example. While a huge public outcry was going on, the building was demolished right under the protestors’ noses.

Carcar, Tayabas examples
Things have gotten better since the Jai Alai days. For instance, take recent developments in the heritage town of Carcar in Cebu.

After a long, patient and vigilant campaign by the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society (CHCS) to mainstream conservation activities with local government policies, Mayor Barcenas of Carcar issued in December 2004 an Executive Order which formed the Carcar Municipal Tourism and Heritage Council.

Council members are a mix of ex-officio officials, conservationists and local property owners, a good cross-section of Carcaranon stakeholders, with the support of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Rep. Eddie Gullas.

The council is the first step in bridging the gap between government officials and conservationists in preserving the heritage character of Carcar.

Malagonlong Bridge in Tayabas, Quezon, recently made it to the Inquirer’s front page. Respecting the heritage value of the 1840-bridge, town officials ordered the re-routing of a highway to bypass the bridge.

Officials now plan to construct a fine-dining restaurant on top of the bridge. Purists ask, Is a restaurant appropriate? What about its history of being one link in the road network developed by the Spanish to transport goods to Southern Luzon? What about its significance as a feat of engineering?

Maybe the restaurant could have an exhibit that makes people aware of the historic and heritage impact of the bridge while serving Tayabas cuisine. Filipinos are not a heritage-conscious people, so if food will draw people to the bridge to experience heritage, then so be it.

However, here is a word to the heritage vigilante about the bridge. Restaurants were built on top of the Intramuros walls, and their foundations dug into the stones and waste pipes imbedded into the centuries-old walls. That is totally inappropriate. It permanently damages the heritage structure.

An appropriate restaurant would set tables under umbrellas on top of the bridge. As they do in similar restaurants atop similar heritage structures in Latin America, no cooking is done.

If the heritage watcher sees inappropriate construction happening in Malagonlong Bridge (or in any other heritage structure for that matter), then be a good vigilante and blow the whistle.

E-mail your feedback to afvillalon@hotmail.com

By John L. Silva
July 2005

My story has a distressing beginning but a happy ending and lessons for us advocates of heritage preservation.

Visitors to the town of Pila, Laguna are amazed at its well preserved state.  Dating back to 900 AD and founded by the Spaniards over 400 years ago, Pila retains its plaza with age-old trees, a gracious church and convent, an American period town hall building, and large stone houses around the square.  Pila is cited and studied by historians from around the world as one of the few intact examples of Spanish colonial town planning.

There’s a museum with artifacts from a nearby archaeological site and one section of the plaza still has a free-flowing fountain. Tomas Pinpin printed the first Tagalog dictionary in Pila in 1613.   

The Pila Historical Society Foundation with its current President Monina Rivera and its treasurer Cora Relova have over the years, been tireless in showing off this picturesque town to many local and foreign tourists.   Five years ago, Cora secured National Historical Landmark status for the town from the National Historical Institute giving it a well-deserved distinction as well as safeguarding its pristine state.  With that status, Cora was able to further improve the town and stop a yearly fair from camping on the plaza and transforming the place into a garbage and fecal dump.

In late July, Cora called, quite upset and angry.  Globe had posted over forty banners of their ad materials on every lamp post on the plaza, and more banners on the main road leading to it, and on the national highway nearing the town.  It was an advertising blitz from hell.

I drove over to Pila and in the pouring rain, saw the ad carnage that Globe had so insensitively done to the town.  The pretty plaza was ruined aesthetically, the gracious old houses marred, and with rain making the banners sag, the once delightful town was transformed into a disgusting hovel.

Cora and I strategized how to have the posters immediately removed.  First, we reviewed all the write-ups about the town so as to make a case that this was a heritage and tourist site.  Second, we searched for allies in our address books who can get to the decision makers in Globe.

A stalwart Pila supporter and former Ayala Museum Director Sonia Ner, gave us a name in the marketing department.  We called, the person was abroad and could help out after the weekend. 

Cora and I couldn’t wait for a weekend.  The offending banners were up, the town had become a tourist pariah, and Globe was destroying the town’s image.

I resorted to Plan B, an all out media broadside against Globe when Cora remembered another Pila supporter.  Bea Zobel Jr. had written about the town in the Inquirer Lifestyle section and applauded its beauty.  With a few text messages, Cora got to Bea and Bea immediately came to the rescue.  An hour later, Archie Monzon of Globe’s corporate marketing department called and the offending posters were removed the next morning, six days after they were put up.

When I shared the happy news to friends, Maribel Ongpin, another heritage stalwart asked “What if there was no Bea?” She added “Don’t you think Globe would be intelligent enough not to mar a heritage site?”

And so, here are the lessons I am sharing for us as well as for Globe in the continuous battle to keep our country beautiful:
1. Heritage sites play an important role in remembering our past as well as generate much needed tourism revenue.  They must be off limits to commercial advertising that ruin their charm and drive away tourists.
2. Action, and well planned at that, is better than whining.  Cora picked up the phone, did her texting, e-mailed, threatened, cajoled, and found “The Tipping Point” in Bea Zobel. Cora fought not to get sympathy, but results.
3. Globe needs a course on heritage conservation.  Why should the onus always be on the Heritage Conservation Society to point out the damage done by rapacious advertising?  They must have at least one enlightened heritage advocate in their midst.  If not, the Society is ready to teach Globe. 

Last year, I successfully got Globe and Smart not to post their banners on trees ever again.  They have, despite a few indiscretions, complied with that agreement.  And the country looks a little cleaner and more charming. 

I have also noted that after a year of no more advertising posted on trees, that both cell phone companies continued reaping profits.  It would be reasonable to deduce that both companies can stop all advertising banners and posters on lamp posts and electric posts and, perhaps, even billboards with no profit loss.  If Globe instead had sponsored a tourism project of Pila Historical Society instead of littering the town with cancer-causing tarpaulins, would there be more tourists, more jobs, more Globe subscribers?  It’s a no-brainer.

Heritage sites are primary tourism destinations in Thailand (11 million tourists a year), Singapore (7 million), and Malaysia’s (10 million).  You do not see advertising banners marring their temples, churches, towns and old houses.  I am convinced if we do the same, the measly two million tourist arrivals we get each year will increase substantially as visitors will finally see and revel in our heritage sites like that of quaint and gorgeous Pila, Laguna.

John L. Silva (jsilva79@hotmail.com) is a member of the Heritage Conservation Society.