The Heritage Conservation Society

http://news.inq7.net/metro/index.php?index=1&story_id=76567

By Amadis Ma. Guerrero
Inquirer

And danger, like an ague, subtly taints/Even then when we sit idly by in the sun. –Shakespeare

FEBRUARY 1945. ERMITA DISTRICT, Manila. The war had caught families by surprise, although there had been warnings that the Americans would be returning, and that hostilities would resume.

The Holocaust descended upon south Manila, and the districts of Intramuros, Ermita and Malate went up in flames. In an evacuation center, as I was told by my mother several years later, a giddy American GI was confused as to the gender of the baby – namely myself — in front of him. And so Maria, my indignant yaya, uncovered my swaddling clothes to satisfy his curiosity.

Japanese soldiers tried to abduct the pretty youngest sister of my father. Years later, I listened as an aunt-in-law recounted the story to my grandmother and to the aunt in question: “No te sacaron los Japoneses porque derepente cambio tu cara. Te quedaste muy fea. Era un milagro (The Japanese did not get to you because your face suddenly changed. You became very ugly. It was a miracle).”

There was a kind Japanese soldier whom, for some reason, we called Toalla Verde (Green Towel). He was the only kind Japanese soldier we encountered.

An uncle-in-law involved in the underground was beaten to death by the Japanese near the Masonic Temple and his body thrown into a common grave along with thousands of others. My father, a doctor, was missing forever. There was not even a grave to remember him by, only photos from the 1930s.

After 61 years, we still cannot forget the images of war and destruction, although I suppose we should forgive.

Leaving home

Their ancestral homes destroyed, their pianos and paintings reduced to embers, the families, one by one, left Ermita — the home of the clan since the early 19th century — and went to other districts and nearby San Juan and Mandaluyong, in what was then the province of Rizal.

In the years and decades that followed, snooty Ermita changed, propelled by migration from the provinces. What had been “the most charming borough” of the “gentle, gracious city” of Manila, as an aunt put it in an essay, became a red-light district with sleazy bars said to be owned by the Australian Mafia.

It took a feisty mayor of Manila, Alfredo Lim (now a senator) to clean up the district. The other day, to rediscover my roots, so to speak, I went on a promenade to Ermita, which stretches from the Luneta (Rizal Park) to Calle Herran (Pedro Gil).

The old Gaiety Theater, where we used to watch movies as children, stood forlorn and dilapidated. There’s Calle Cinco, where the late National Artist Nick Joaquin used to hang around with his police pals. A medium-size hotel had closed down, its pavement providing shelter for a mother and her sleeping kids. One of the few surviving landmarks is the original high-rise building (what we used to call “skyscrapers”), green and white with awnings; it is now a condominium named after a taipan.

The old parish church, dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Guia, was destroyed during the war and rebuilt in 1947, as a plaque in Spanish informs the pilgrim. A second plaque in Filipino (by the National Historical Commission) notes that the church was first constructed in 1606. Finally, a third plaque in English declares that the parish had been elevated to an “Archdiocese Shrine” in December 2005 by the Archbishop of Manila, Gaudencio B. (now Cardinal) Rosales, D.D.

In front of the church is the Plaza de Nuestra Señora de Guia. There are men playing chess or sleeping, women chatting and children frolicking in the playground. The US Embassy looms ominously in the background.

Historical landmarks

The plaza has landmarks to three of my forebears: my grandfather Fernando Ma. Guerrero (1873-1929), lyric poet and revolutionary journalist, “El Maestro”; his brother Dr. Manuel S. Guerrero (1877-1919), who discovered the cause of beri-beri among infants; and my uncle, (the second) Leon Ma. Guerrero (1915-1982), diplomat, author, lawyer and journalist.

Around the church and plaza swirl the two teeming thoroughfares A. Mabini and M. H. del Pilar, with their resto-bars, cafés, eateries, money changers, savings banks, videoke bars, billiards halls, shops and inns. Along Roxas (Dewey) Boulevard stand the standard and deluxe tourist hotels.

Ermita remains congested and highly commercialized. It has long ceased to be what it was during the time of my parents and grandparents. Nevertheless, to paraphrase the English poet, we who were born and raised (if not razed) in the old district, remain faithful to you, Ermita, in our fashion.

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=76539

By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer

ON MOTHER’S DAY LAST week, it was very appropriate—and a wonderful surprise—to discover the “Filipina” exhibition at Rockwell’s Power Plant Mall. Originally launched in February 2006 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the exhibit is back in public for a limited time.

The photo exhibition is the perfect tribute to Filipinas and their contribution to nation-building.

Two women are responsible for the exhibition: Deanna Ongpin-Recto as curator and Isa Lorenzo as photographer.

The stunning tribute to the Filipino woman is a collection of large-sized portraits of 30 outstanding Filipinas. The powerful images portray the exceptional qualities of each subject that qualify her as an important role model for other Filipinas.

Among the achievers are Corazon Aquino, Estefania Aldaba Lim, Daisy Hontiveros Avellana, Virginia Oteyza de Guia, Nena del Rosario Villanueva, Lourdes Reyes Montinola, Maria Isabel Ongpin, Sr. Fidela Maamo, Fe and Honorata Muyot, Gloria Romero, Armida Ponce-Enrile Siguion-Reyna and Haydee Yora—women who represent the arts, education, social work, civil society, politics.

Photographed in the 1940-1950s classic studio-photography style, figures appear in black and white against a uniform white backdrop. Individual personalities are revealed as faces starkly stand out, minus elaborate costumes or props. The portraits bring out humanity and warmth usually not seen in the subjects’ public personas.

“All my life, I have been fascinated by the Filipina, how she holds power within our societal system, how they manage this power by quietly taking pivotal roles, and how they use this power to eventually come into their own,” says Lorenzo.

She continues, “The result of their individual journeys is what I am interested in: strong, timeless Filipinas with a humanity that transcends history and legacy.”

Pintahan at Musikahan sa Reposo

On May 26-28, Grupo Reposo members once again fete their Makati street which has gained the reputation for being the location of Manila’s best furniture and craft shops, art galleries and restaurants anchored around the LRI Building and the Alliance Française.

The annual festival kicks off on May 26 with 30 visual artists leading groups to paint murals on the walls along the street.

On May 27, the festival is in full swing. On the closed street (from Jupiter to Kalayaan Avenue) will be an outdoor street fair, an arts-and-crafts bazaar, where mimes will roam the street, and where a carousel will be set up.

Go to the activity tent where artists will be available to sketch portraits for a fee and demonstrations in theater and dance will be held.

At the LRI Building Pavilion will be a lecture series on the environment, arts and heritage given by experts. In the evenings of May 27-28 will be concerts of classical, ethnic, modern Filipino jazz, a capella choirs and local bands.

This is one of the few street festivals in Manila that celebrate neighborhood pride, a fitting way to end the summer for city residents looking to renew their bond to the city.

Heritage watch

Driving through Villasis, Pangasinan, last week, we noticed that the heritage Villasis municipio had been torn down. A new construction was underway to replace it. Would there have been a way to either save the old building or incorporate it into the new structure somehow? With the replacement of the old municipio, a major part of Villasis history has vanished.

E-mail the author at pride.place@gmail.com

by Annalyn S. Jusay

http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=2&story_id=75586

By Pau M. Fontanos
Inquirer

ON April 29, the Casa Rocha-Suarez Heritage Center, now a lifestyle museum on A.M. Torralba Street in Sitio Ubos, Tagbilaran City, celebrated its first anniversary, and the occasion marked yet another rite of passage for the house that has been home to at least six generations of Rochas.

For Ubos, it has been a resurrection from near obscurity.

The Casa Rocha-Suarez was built between 1837 and 1839, and its appearance might have changed a little through the years, except for the alteration in the roof line, from a stately pitched nipa thatch to a low-slung nondescript tin—probably a renovation casualty in the 1970s.

Up the narrow staircase of the edifice, one enters a commodious living room and sees the details of a lovingly crafted house: the posts of whole trees carved in a vaguely oriental design, the generous ceiling that gives the rooms a certain grace, and the big sliding windows, opening to welcome the sea breeze of night or closing to ward off the glare of day through the nacreous filter of capiz shells.

Family treasures

In one of the bigger bedrooms, a rare antique, an Ah Tay bed (named after the Chinese furniture maker of Old Manila whose trademark is the unmistakable squash design on the posts and base) holds sway.

And here and there, in the galleries, one finds mementos of the house that had made it special, like the art deco signage announcing the business of Hermanas Rocha, or the appurtenances of baking, including the fancy cookie molds; and the faded photographs that recall a bygone age.

At Christmastime, if one were lucky enough to visit, an elaborate Nativity tableau or Belen is on display. Many of the pieces are made of ivory and said to be of 18th-century style. The tableau is reminiscent of the many old Belens of Cebu, of which the entire Bohol was a dependency until 1864 (a fact confirmed by historian Jes Tirol).

The Rocha “Belen,” for example, can well rival Cebu’s very best, that of the family of the Cebu Diocese’s first Filipino bishop, Juan Gorordo y Garces.

The house of Rocha gave Tagbilaran many of its illustrious sons. It had at least one gobernadorcillo (mayor) in Don Felipe Rocha, one two-term provincial governor in his son, Don Fernando Rocha, and yet another modern-day mayor of direct descent from the gentlemen.

Don Fernando had the benefit of higher learning in Manila, and before his foray to big-time politics, he ran a private school. Only his sisters may have equaled his fame as an ilustrado, a well-educated one, among the Tagbilaran principales or elite.

Filomena operated a general store on the ground floor of Casa Rocha-Suarez, later memorialized by one Tagbilaran mayor, Honorio Grupo, as “a bazaar, drugstore, hardware store, and sari-sari store put together.”

Two other siblings, Gregoria and Concepcion, kept themselves busy with a bakery operation most famous for its hojaldres de Hermanas Rocha. This prize-winning pastry has impeccable antecedents in Cebu.

The French traveler, Jean Mallat, writing in 1846, observed that “their (Cebu bakeries’) puff cakes called ojaldres are of a delicacy that would do honor to the best pastry cooks of Paris …” Clearly, the Rocha ladies had carried on a grand tradition and made it their own.

A period of eclipse

World War II put an end to Hermanas Rocha. The family itself began to settle in Manila in the 1950s, leaving the house shuttered and dusty for decades.

Yet, another descendent was to bring honor to the family with the appointment of Pablo Rocha Suarez as ambassador plenipotentiary to Malaysia, China and the US. The late ambassador, who also served as undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs before his death in 1993, is the Suarez in the Casa Rocha-Suarez name.

The plight of Casa Rocha-Suarez has been similar to that of other old houses in Sitio Ubos, itself a truly historic site. Strung along the length of A.M. Torralba Street are 19th-century residences in various states of disrepair or ill-use. One of them has been completely obliterated by a Manila antiques dealer.

The remaining homes are those of (current occupants only) a Swiss citizen, the Beldia family, and the Yap family. A mysterious old building, halfway between a shed and a barn, occupies the lot between the Yap and the Swiss’s homes.

The Swiss’s house itself used to belong to the Rocha family. Evidence also shows that at least one more house in Ubos once belonged to them.

Pariancito

Journalist John Jasper Cortes wrote that “around 1830, the merchants of Tagbilaran descended to the lower part of the city, at the back of the St. Joseph Cathedral, when the moro (sic) raids along the coastal areas of Bohol were quelled.”

They built substantial houses of cal y canto, an upper-class house of strong materials, which Mallat wrote, “generally belong to mestizos.” (Mestizo in Mallat’s time referred only to those of Chinese ancestry and the racial mix was reckoned patrilineally through generations. “Mestizo” to refer to the Spanish half-caste was a later development).

An 1885 document at the Philippine National Archives states that two Butalid sisters and their Rocha sister-in-law (as can be inferred) sold one such house of cal y canto—“situada en el sitio de Ubos”—and a small boat to a gentleman of the Tagbilaran principales surnamed Calceta.

The house was located on land surrounded on two sides by sea. (Was this the one bought by the antiques dealer?)

And, incidentally, the same document classified “Doñas” Butalid and Rocha, and the Calceta “don” as “mestizo sangley” or Chinese mestizo.

Ubos was apparently a Pariancito, a little Parian. The Parian was a Chinese and mestizo ghetto and, like those of Cebu and Manila, markets for, among other things, quilts from cotton and cotton gauze.

Again, Mallat had this to say: “… with the cotton they (Boholanos) harvest they manufacture cloths of great solidity: they also weave some cloths of silk of which we have seen beautiful examples.”

Interestingly, the profession of the aforesaid Rocha woman was that of the “ilandera” or spinner of yarn for cloth production.

The Rocha ancestors’ choice of Ubos clearly demonstrated their mestizo backgrounds or their vocation as merchants. Don Felipe Rocha was one such “comerciante” in 1872.

Ubos was sandwiched between the commerce of the old public market (now defunct and long supplanted by new ones) beside the cathedral and the trade at its shoreline fronting the Bohol Strait, thus profiting from business of both upland and waterway.

Government must help

The work began at Casa Rocha-Suarez will hopefully provide a catalyst for the rehabilitation of Ubos, from a slum to a magnet of tourism.

The genteel Swiss citizen and Ubos resident suggests that the government must help further this cause not only by providing funds, expertise or muscle to help maintain the old houses (and encourage homeowners to do so), but by exerting political will as well in quelling the fresh tides of informal settlers and in relocating the old ones.

This would also mean their strict enforcement of building codes.

They would like to see the day when the now obstructed view to the beach is cleared, and the sea breeze once again flows back freely into the old houses.

In the end, it is not only tourism that will benefit, but also the Boholano soul.

–
Ivan About Town http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com
ICOMOS Philippines http://icomosphilippines.blogspot.com
The Gabaldon Legacy http://gabaldon.blogspot.com
Old Manila Walks http://oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB108930781983558693.html
China is starting to realize that preserving archaeological sites may be a better idea than building shopping malls. KAREN MAZURKEWICH reports.

THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 9, 2004

LUOYANG, China — Developers hit an unexpected snag when they began planning a new civic square and mall in this booming metropolis two years ago: They stumbled on the remains of an ancient burial site.

The developers cursed, seeing only delays ahead as work was put on hold for archaeologists to examine the sprawling site. Gradually it revealed its treasures: almost 400 sacrificial pits, the largest containing a six-horse chariot, which, according to ancient texts, could only have been used by an emperor, confirming that this was a royal tomb.

But after four months of excavation, the developers became impatient waiting for the go-ahead to resume their work. In January last year, under cover of darkness, they brought in heavy earthmoving equipment. The next morning, three large machines tore into the soil before cultural officials could intervene.

"We were shocked," says Ye Peng, head of the local cultural relics team, which immediately swung into action to protect the site. After three weeks of intensive lobbying and a stern letter of intervention from delegates to the National People’s Congress, the developers were forced to abandon their work. In October last year, the small Che Ma Keng Museum opened above the burial pits.

Three years after Unesco’s World Heritage Center released a scathing report on the country’s poor management of its cultural sites, boom-time China is starting to realize that preserving archaeological finds can be more lucrative than developing shopping malls. In this environment, the story of Luoyang’s Che Ma Keng chariot site offers a rare insight into the increasingly frequent and complex conflicts between typically state-backed developers, and archaeologists, conservationists and officials from myriad other state bodies.

"More and more people now realize that cultural relics are very valuable because they can attract more people to the city and bring in more money," says Wei Na, the new curator of the Che Ma Keng Museum, which has had 32,500 visitors, each paying $2.40, since October. "The government understands this now."

And China’s new maturity in the field of antiquities protection has had another impact in the form of a wave of submissions to the World Heritage Center. Twenty-nine Chinese sites have received World Heritage designations from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization since 1985, and dozens more have been added to the waiting list. Last week at a World Heritage Committee meeting in Suzhou, yet another China proposal was approved — the royal tombs of the Koguryo ethnic group in the northern province of Jilin.

"For a long time the attention was on economic and industrial development, and the conservation of sites focused on the big ones such as the Imperial Palace in Beijing and the (terracotta warriors) in Xian," says Francesco Bandarin, director of the World Heritage Center in Paris who has had Chinese delegations from as far afield as Guangzhou and Chengdu traipse through his office. "Now…many provinces are discovering that conservation isn’t only a moral duty but an economic asset because of tourism."

Indeed, Luoyang, in the northern province of Henan, already has seen the financial dividends of archaeological preservation. The city is also home to the Longmen Grottoes (316-906 A.D.), which hold exceptional Buddhist stone sculptures. Since the grottoes were named a World Heritage site in 2000, the city has had a massive increase in tourists — to 12 million in 2002 from six million in 1999. Meantime, tourism revenue nearly tripled to $750 million from $280 million.

Sacrificial Tombs
The Che Ma Keng find is likely to further help the city’s coffers. Archaeologists called in to do exploratory drilling on the 42,000-square-meter site initially thought they had stumbled across a local equivalent of Xian’s famous entombed terracotta soldiers. "At first they found only a few small tombs," says Guo Yinqiang, one of the archaeologists who worked on the site. "But they kept finding more and more and bigger and bigger pits." Ultimately, nearly 400 sacrificial tombs, holding 18 chariots, as well as horse, dog and human skeletons from the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 B.C.), were unearthed.

In December 2002, a team of 12 Henan scholars, headed by Ye Peng, a Chinese academic, called for the building of an on-site museum to protect and display the ruins. Pan Hanping, the chairman of Luoyang People’s Political Consultative Committee, announced in local newspapers that the emperor’s chariot should be considered a symbol of ancient Luoyang.

Meanwhile, the state developers of the project — the Luoyang Land, Resources and Urban Planning Bureau and the Luoyang People’s Air Raid Office, a relic from the 1960s — were getting increasingly frustrated with the delay. They already had poured $480,000 into the $12 million project on the expectation of walking away with a handsome profit once the civic square, shopping mall and parking lot was completed. They suggested the tombs be excavated and relocated so construction could start, but the idea was rejected. Late one night in January last year, Zhang Qingsen, the project’s construction chief from the city’s urban planning department, organized for the earthmoving equipment to be transported to the site.

As digging proceeded, the conflicting government bodies tussled. The Luoyang Cultural Relics Bureau was informed that the Luoyang Party Committee and the municipal government had ordered the complex be completed and had initiated construction. Infuriated, the Luoyang Cultural Relics Bureau head, Ye Wangsong, fired back a response. According to China’s Cultural Relics Protection Law, he said, construction needed the approval of the State Cultural Relics Bureau and the Henan provincial government. The Luoyang scholars appealed to the state bureau and two articles criticizing the construction appeared in the "China Cultural Relics News." Finally, intervention came from the top: 40 delegates of the National People’s Congress wrote a stern letter requesting state leaders to intervene. In late January last year, national and provincial Cultural Relics Bureau officials held an on-site meeting. A week later, construction ceased. The municipal government developers were persuaded against proceeding with the shopping mall and instead allocated $2 million for an open-display museum over the site alongside a civic square and vastly reduced 8,000-square-meter parking lot.

"It was a victory for us," says Mr. Guo, the archaeologist. "There’s full protection of the chariots and all the (development) plans are scrapped."

Zhang Qingsen, the construction chief, defends his position on the matter. "What we found was unqualified to build up a large-scale museum, as experts suggested. Only 17 of the 397 tombs had horses, and only eight of those had chariots, which means the other 380 tombs were basically empty…and weren’t worth displaying."

The stand off between the developers and the conservationists took almost a year to resolve, and not before some damage was done. Before the developers finished work on the museum and civic square, they backfilled with earth some of the exposed tombs that weren’t earmarked for display in the open museum — a process that some believe might eventually destroy them. "I think backfilling is destruction," says Ye Wansong, the Luoyang Cultural Relics Bureau chief. "What they used to backfill was earth and sand. Earth will mix with the chariots, making (them) even (more) difficult to recover; sand will bring up underground water, which means a disaster to these relics."

Today, the largest pit containing the six-horse chariot and the skeletons of six horses is on display next to the museum’s exposition hall, which contains terracotta and bronzeware from the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Even though the city’s Cultural Relics Bureau won’t pursue a World Heritage nomination for the site, it is hoping to get a second listing for its Han Wei ruins, which date back to the Han dynasty (202B.C.-220A.D.).

China has documented 87 sites it wants considered for World Heritage status — the longest list of any country on the planet. It is currently lobbying to change a Unesco recommendation that a country can submit only one nomination a year. Under the rule, it could take almost a century before China’s stack of applications in the pipeline are inscribed as heritage sites.

High Pollution
Ironically, many of the cities submitting applications are more famous for their high pollution indexes and heavy industry than their cultural riches. The metropolis of Anyang for example, also in Henan province, is the home of the province’s largest iron ore smelting plant and the city’s skyline is marked by rows of smokestacks. But it’s also the historical site of one of China’s ancient capitals — the capital of the Bronze Age Shang dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.). Anyang’s vice mayor, Xiao Jiye, believes the municipality’s salvation lies not in the 60-year-old steel plant, but in its Shang tombs. He has spearheaded private fund-raising efforts to upgrade the city so it can have a chance of achieving World Heritage status. This includes a desperately needed greening initiative and the relocation of 400 people living within the old ruins. "We want to enhance the influence of Anyang overseas," Mr. Xiao says.

As more municipalities try to leverage their ancient riches, archaeologists are flexing more muscle. In 2002, when workers digging drainage ditches for a new highway in Chengdu stumbled across a pit filled with jade, gold amulets and elephant tusks from the little-known Sanxingdui culture (2,500 B.C.-1,200 B.C.), the local cultural relics bureau stepped in. The road was diverted, and a museum is being built over what is now called the Jinsha Field Station. "In the past, even if they discovered a lot of cultural relics, they’d be removed, and once removed, the construction would continue," says site director Zhu Zhangyi.

Still, China has a long way to go to safeguard its cultural heritage. Just three years ago, a Unesco report criticized the infrastructure and management of Chengde’s Qing dynasty summer palace, which was named a World Heritage site in the 1980s. Unesco representatives were appalled by the "ill-designed modern structures ruining the townscape," carvings inside temples "covered in dust" and too many souvenir hawkers. In the past, Unesco also has criticized China for its tourism management along the Great Wall and in the ancient Yunnan town of Lijiang.

But Luoyang’s new museum, with its gleaming professional exhibitions and well-lit open display, may become a symbol of the country’s new pride and professionalism — and of the increasing sway of China’s cultural titans.

"I’ve read about the horse and chariots and now that the real things have been unearthed I’d like to see them," says Ku Suen Fai, a Hong Kong food distributor, who is visiting the exhibit for the second time with his wife. "I’m so proud of the cultural history of China."

Echoing his sentiments is Tao Min, who took a six-hour train ride from Jiangsu province to vacation in Luoyang with his 18-year-old daughter. "Because I’m Chinese I’m very proud of our Chinese culture," Mr. Tao says. "Whenever I travel I like to see historical relics. I’m happy to see more and more attention being paid for their protection."

Write to Karen Mazurkewich at karen.mazurkewich@wsj.com

Ivan About Town http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com
ICOMOS Philippines http://icomosphilippines.blogspot.com
The Gabaldon Legacy http://gabaldon.blogspot.com
Old Manila Walks http://oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=75018

First posted 00:53am (Mla time) May 08, 2006
By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer

READERS have written to make suggestions about walking around Manila. The two letters below react to a letter from José Cruz (“Pride of Place,” 4/10) that had painted a grim picture of Manila.

Ivan Mandy (www.oldmanilawalks.com), who conducts walking tours of Manila, writes: “Yes, Metro Manila is, indeed, a very frustrating place, and I’m saying this out of 28 years of living in this sprawling megalopolis.

“Having had the fortunate chance to walk around some of the world’s greatest cities, Shanghai, HK, Singapore, Barcelona, New York, Montreal, Washington, I can only sigh at how these urban spaces have maximized all their assets, creating urban masterpieces worthy of the long plane ride from Manila.

“…I haven’t been to Bangkok yet but have heard that it sprawls as Metro Manila does [and has] similar problems … But what gets seven million tourists to Bangkok? All the good marketing elements, plus the fact that the Thais promote their culture big-time.

“I’ve been to Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco and they are similar to Manila… yet people still flock to their crowded souks and medinas. Again, it’s the culture factor that gives it an edge. They trumpet their French Moroccan Art Deco buildings even if many are in varying degrees of dilapidation.

“… This is the reason I’m doing Manila Walks. I want to bring out Manila’s unique cultural traits long buried under mismanagement, corruption, pollution, tacky architecture and a culturally apathetic populace that can’t seem to find good things to say about this metropolis of ours.

“Seeing Manila is totally different from the historical and cultural aspect. There’s nothing like climbing the Intramuros walls and seeing the American colonial buildings across the former moat to tell you how Manila was affected by the tide of American colonialism at the turn of the century.

“Or walking on the streets of Binondo to experience the resolute Chinese imprint in our city. Even historic burial places like the Chinese Cemetery and La Loma show architectural evolution in our city during the past 120 years.

“Really, it’s not so much of trumpeting beauty in Manila as that is, indeed, difficult to see, but more of proclaiming and having Manileños… changing their perceptions and cultivating a certain cultural pride, not so much in line with ‘Hey, we’ve got the biggest mall in Asia,’ but more with realizing that we have a unique brand of culture at par with Hanoi, Bangkok or Georgetown in Malaysia.”

Avid supporter

Alden Lauzon, a teacher in the Art Studies department of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, also shares his views:

“In response to Mr. Cruz’s article… I say that I do not share his rather harsh conclusions. Yes, Manila is dirty, but it does not deserve total condemnation… I am an avid supporter of Manila.

“I disagree with Mr. Cruz because I judge a place not by its totality to the point that it overwhelms you, and thus for me it doesn’t have any more surprises to show. I like a place that slowly reveals itself, where you find gems like an Art Deco building hidden amidst the Carriedo squalor or, cafés and art galleries housed in Intramuros or Malate structures.

“… I wrote this letter to alert Mr. Cruz and others that, despite the negative image Manila has, this is somehow negated by ‘streetwalking discoveries.’

“As an Art Studies professor in UP Diliman, I have been doing a Manila Tour with my students. It starts in San Sebastian Church to let them see first-hand a Gothic church. Then it proceeds to Quiapo for them to observe folk Catholicism, followed by a walk to Carriedo and all the way to Ongpin to experience Chinatown culture.

“Then I direct them to Escolta to look for the pre-war Capitol Theater and also Calvo Building, where old Escolta pictures hang. From there they ride a jeep to the National Museum, and afterward walk to Intramuros to explore San Agustin Church, Casa Manila, Manila Cathedral and Fort Santiago.

“The fruit of this tour is a reflection paper that shows the student’s genuine appreciation of the city.

“One of the more heartening comments came from a Korean student who promised to accompany his visiting parents to Intramuros. Another one wrote that she never knew Manila could be an exciting place to explore, contrary to the negative images it has acquired through the years.

“Another comment that struck me, which is akin to what you wrote about ‘developing pride of place,’ is that she can proudly say to foreigners especially after seeing San Agustin Church, Intramuros, ‘Bakit may Manila ba kayo?’ (Do you also have a Manila?)

“Of course, these reactions are coupled with expressions of regret since most structures they saw have been neglected. Thus, the imperativeness of heritage conservation in the redevelopment of our cities.

“We Filipinos should start exploring our own places, whether in Manila or the provinces. I believe that tourism fosters nationalism or, if that’s a strong word, love for country. This will be an antidote to those who see nothing but ugliness in our country.”

Touring around Manila and the rest of the Philippines is the best way for me to reaffirm my belief that our country is among the most beautiful in the world, and that in its rural areas, towns and cities are found the people and heritage that prove the greatness of our nation.

Make this summer the time to discover our country and its greatness.

Feedback is welcome at afvillalon@hotmail.com

–
Ivan About Town http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com
ICOMOS Philippines http://icomosphilippines.blogspot.com
The Gabaldon Legacy http://gabaldon.blogspot.com
Old Manila Walks http://oldmanilawalks.blogspot.com