The Heritage Conservation Society

By Augusto Villalon
             

Published on page C2 of the July 24, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

THE
PHILIPPINES CAN LEARN from the efforts of other cities and countries in
the world to save their heritage by coming up with relevant and
effective conservation charters.

The Washington Charter on the Conservation of Historic Towns and
Urban Areas (1987) concerns historic urban areas of any size located in
cities, towns or historic centers that illustrate traditional culture
through its surviving architecture. The scope includes the sites
surrounding natural and manmade environments also under severe threat.

The charter defines the principles, objectives and methods for
conserving historic towns and urban areas. It promotes harmony of
private and community life and encourages preservation of cultural
properties, however modest in scale, that constitute the memory of
mankind. It presents steps for conserving such towns and areas,
suggesting that development harmoniously adapt the old with
contemporary life.

The Washington Charter suggests that conservation should form part
of economic and social development policies to ensure that the historic
character of the town is preserved.

Methods to ensure preservation include retaining the street pattern
and maintaining the original relationship between buildings and open
spaces.

Existing heritage buildings should be preserved. Keeping the same
proportions, construction type and materials, colors and decoration is
essential.

Most important, the charter calls for the participation of the local
community to ensure the success of the conservation program, since the
conservation of historic towns and urban areas primarily concerns its
residents.

The charter lists the steps to be taken in preparing and
implementing a conservation plan, a multidisciplinary effort since
conservation plans address all relevant factors including archaeology,
history, architecture, construction techniques, sociology, economics,
legal and administrative.

Particularly significant to the Philippine penchant for
pseudo-heritage architecture and for blending new with old in historic
districts situation is the statement “Introduction of contemporary
elements in harmony with the surroundings should not be discouraged
since such features can contribute to the enrichment of an
area”—provided that old and new respect each other and are good
architectural neighbors.

Archeological charter
The Charter for the Protection and Management of the Archaeological
Heritage of 1990 defines archeological heritage as the basic record of
past human activities.

Some archeological heritage are components of architectural
structures and, therefore, must be protected in accordance with the
criteria in the 1966 Venice Charter.

Other elements of archeological heritage are part of the living
traditions of indigenous peoples. Participation of local cultural
groups is essential for their protection and preservation.

The charter lays down principles regarding different aspects of
archeological-heritage management including responsibilities of public
authorities and legislators, principles relating to the professional
performance of the processes of inventorization, survey, excavation,
documentation, research, maintenance, conservation, preservation,
reconstruction, information, presentation, public access and use of the
heritage, and the qualification of professionals involved in the
protection of the archeological heritage.

Next week, the series on the International Council of Monuments and
Sites (Icomos) continues. Icomos information is at www.icomos.org.
Icomos charters, resolutions, and declarations are at
www.international.icomos.org/centre_documentation/chartes_eng.htm.

Contact Icomos Philippines at http://icomosphilippines.blogspot.com

By Paulo Alcazaren
The Philippine STAR 07/15/2006

The
rainy season always brings back memories of elementary school, flooding
and the not-too-consistent policies of the Department of Education on
calling off classes due to the not-too-accurate weather predictions of
the time. So what has changed?

Much too much has been said anyway on the subject of our
deteriorating educational system, the sorry lack of classrooms (unless
of course you fit 250 students in five shifts into one classroom), the
exodus of teachers for domestic worker jobs abroad, etc. etc.

When you mention the term Philippine education, I used to
think of another institution altogether, albeit one that has
disappeared – the Philippine Education Company. PECO, as the firm was
more popularly known, was the place to go for school supplies, books,
magazines and even toys up to the early 1960s. National Book Store was
just a fledgling operation then, and specialty bookstores, like Fully
Booked and Ink & Stone, were still a few decades in the future.

PECO was also one of the last establishments to operate out of
the old Escolta district – actually on Farnecio St. off Arlegui. I
remember my father taking us there as kids. We hopped into his trusty
old 180D Mercedes Benz with the sun roof (we were not rich but we rode
in style) and motored all the way from Project 4 to downtown Manila to
get to the store.

The place looked rather like a warehouse by today’s retail
design standards. In fact, the old ’60s buildings actually were three
warehouses on a hectare of land. The original PECO shop at 101 Escolta
Ave. was long gone by the time I visited. The high ceilings and musty
smell of old stocks of stationery, books and merchandize paint a vivid
background memory of those jaunts. My dad bought us model airplanes and
school supplies there, and I remember being fascinated by the miles and
miles of merchandise on the industrial-looking racks. No promo banners,
sales displays or fancy POS collaterals here, just plain old products
under glass or on the shelves. But there were fewer shoppers in the
’60s compared to the heyday of PECO.

Time was when PECO was the only place to go for foreign books
and magazines. In the pre- and post-war period, they had the monopoly
on these goods, school supplies, teaching aids, architectural
paraphernalia and toys. At its peak, PECO sold 640,000 copies of 1,000
foreign magazine titles a month!

PECO was founded by Verne Miller, a Thomasite schoolteacher,
who landed in the Philippines in 1901. A graduate of Rutgers College,
Miller spent six years in the Philippine education system as a
classroom teacher before going up in the ranks as high school principal
and eventually division superintendent. He resigned his post in 1907 to
edit The Philippine Teacher, which was then located at 90
Escolta St. right above a barbershop. Soon he made a success of the
magazine and bought majority of business. He changed the publication’s
name to The Philippine Education Magazine and started a book distribution company peddling dictionaries.

The business boomed. The company was reincorporated as the
Philippine Education Company and expanded into a large property at 101
Escolta St. as a retail store with a Spanish-type warehouse on
Castillejos St. nearby.

Miller started selling imported books, magazines, teaching
aids and then widened his offerings to Frank & Co rubber stamps,
stationery, general supplies and – did I mention – toys. PECO was
already an established name in the 1920s when Miller expanded yet even
more into more publishing with Manila Publishing Company which offered
book sets on installment, the Rosenstock (Manila) City Directory, which
compiled business data, and the McCollough Printing Company, PECO’s
most profitable business in the late ’30s and after the war.

By the ’30s, Miller was so busy he had to hand over his
original magazine to David G Gunnell, also a former teacher. A graduate
of the University of Colorado, Gunnell edited the Philippine Education Magazine and
made it the recommended magazine for teachers until 1940. He joined
PECO main operations that year and became its vice president and
treasurer. PECO was a household name by the 1930s and, by the onset of
the Second World War, its fleet of trucks with the triangular PECO logo
was ubiquitous throughout the islands.

The war broke out in 1941, and the Japanese Army took the
trucks and fuel. Gunnell was incarcerated at the UST with most of the
other American civilians. I can’t seem to find out what happened to
Miller, but Gunnell survived the war. PECO’s buildings were also
miraculously saved from destruction during the Liberation, and Gunnell
, along with a cadre of pre-war PECO men, put the company back on its
feet.

The business environment improved and profits returned for
PECO until the mid-’50s when dollar shortages and import controls
reduced the company’s ability to deliver goods to the market. Their
magazine sales dropped to only 40,000 a month with only 58 titles
available or permitted. The contents of the magazines were also an
issue to post-war conservative Manilans. The celebrated case was that
of an issue of the American magazine Pageant. Word circulated
that a controversial article, "The Sexual Behavior of the American
Female," was coming out in the magazine, which was a best seller at
PECO. The Holy Name Society got the Bureau of Customs to rule the
magazine as obscene and therefore subject to burning. The magazines
were impounded at the ports and rotted as the case dragged in the
courts.

Gunnel ran the company until the 1960s when he was in his 80s.
This was the period that I had first patronized the store with my
father. In the late ’60s, the old Manila complex was gone and PECO
moved to the Makati Commercial Center. (It was at the one-storey Post
Office building that they relocated to. I frequented the store there.
My dad got me my first magazine subscription through that store – to Popular Mechanics).
It was smaller but the magazine offerings improved in the late Sixties
and Seventies. A nearby bookstore, Erehwon, was another favorite.

Eventually, other bookstores bloomed. National, Goodwill and
other shops and department stores relegated PECO’s one-shop operation
to the margins of the retail world. It disappeared completely in the
late ’70s. I do not know whether it’s still around, but Philippine
education will never be the same again without PECO.

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

By Augusto Villalon 

Published on page C1 of the July 10, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.    
            

THE
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL of Monuments and Sites (Icomos), the global
organization of heritage practitioners based in Paris, is the body that
officially advises the Unesco World Heritage Committee on cultural
heritage issues.

Usually the World Heritage Center calls on Icomos members to give
expert opinions in heritage issues raised by members of the World
Heritage Committee. Icomos is assigned to assess sites that are
nominated to the World Heritage List. It is asked to evaluate the
maintenance of inscribed World Heritage sites and to prescribe methods
for improvement.

However, the more important aspect of Icomos is that the
organization sets international standards to guide the conservation
profession. These are written out in a series of charters, resolutions
and declarations that cover practically all aspects of the conservation
practice.

The 1964 International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration
of Monuments and Sites, popularly known as the Venice Charter, sets the
standard. It establishes the basic principles and guidelines that are
followed by conservation practitioners all over the world today.

The Venice Charter maintains that the historic monuments of past
generations are living witnesses of their age-old traditions. People
are now more conscious of the unity of shared human values and regard
ancient monuments as common heritage. Therefore the responsibility to
safeguard them for future generations is recognized. It is the people’s
duty to safeguard them for future generations and to hand the monuments
to the next generations in the full richness of their authenticity.

“It is essential that the principles guiding the preservation and
restoration of ancient buildings should be agreed and be laid down on
an international basis, with each country being responsible for
applying the plan within the framework of its own culture and
traditions,” the charter says.

The charter adds, “The concept of a historic monument embraces not
only the single architectural work but also its urban or rural setting.”

No alteration

Monuments are best when they are still in use. However, the original
layout and decoration of the building should be maintained. To preserve
the traditional setting of the monument, new construction, demolition
or modification of surroundings should not alter the original
relationship of the building with its neighbors.

A monument is inseparable from its history and setting. Moving all
or part of a monument cannot be allowed except when its safeguarding
demands it, or when justified by national or international interest
regarding it is of paramount importance.

On the restoration issue, the charter states, “The process of
restoration is a highly specialized operation. Its aim is to preserve
and reveal the aesthetic and historic value of the monument, and is
based on respect for original material and authentic documents. It must
stop at the point where conjecture begins, and, in this case moreover,
any extra work which is indispensable must be distinct from the
architectural composition and must bear a contemporary stamp. The
restoration in any case must be preceded and followed by an
archeological and historical study of the monument.

“The valid contributions of all periods to the building of a
monument must be respected, since unity of style is not the aim of a
restoration. When a building includes the superimposed work of
different periods, the revealing of the underlying state can only be
justified in exceptional circumstances and when what is removed is of
little interest and the material which is brought to light is of great
historical, archeological or aesthetic value, and its state of
preservation good enough to justify the action. Evaluation of the
importance of the elements involved and the decision as to what may be
destroyed cannot rest solely on the individual in charge of the work.

“Replacements of missing parts must integrate harmoniously with the
whole, but at the same time must be distinguishable from the original
so that restoration does not falsify the artistic or historic evidence.”

The 1981 Florence Charter on Historic Gardens defines a historic
garden as a monument, an “architectural and horticultural composition
of interest to the public from the historical or artistic point of
view,” and, as a monument, it “must be preserved in accordance with the
spirit of the Venice Charter.”

The term “historic garden” is equally applicable to small gardens
and to large landscaped parks. Whatever their size, designed gardens
express the affinity between man and nature.

Gardens are alive. Therefore continuous maintenance with a specified
cycle of planting and replanting is required to keep the garden and its
decorative features in the unchanged condition required by the Venice
Charter.

The Florence Charter specifies procedures to be followed for
restoration and reconstruction of historic gardens, further
recommending that gardens must be open for public use but must not be
taxed by overuse, and continues to suggest that qualified professionals
be engaged to maintain historic gardens.

Philippine society in general is unaware of the landscape
architecture profession and of the historic significance of the
designed landscape. The Mehan Garden and Arroceros Forest Park debacles
are proof of national disrespect for the designed landscape. Recent
constructions that intrude on the open space of Rizal Park, a national
monument protected by the National Historical Institute, further
illustrate disregard for the designed landscape.

Comments are welcome at pride.place@gmail.com

by Gemma Cruz-Araneta

BEFORE
the 1996 Rizal centennial, the house where the national hero grew up,
in Calamba, Laguna, exhuded an air of dignity and old-world elegance.
Through the years, shrines and landmarks dedicated to his memory were
meticulously supervised and tended by the National Historical
Commission (now Institute), despite a meager budget. Special care was
lavished on the reconstructed Rizal house and the bucolic garden where
the Mercado children played in their "bahay kubo" and romped among
narra trees, mabolos and ilang-ilang. The Dapitan shrine, "Mi Retiro,"
was kept just as Rizal had left it. His cell at Fort Santiago evoked
awe and respect. Ironically enough, the multifarious ad hoc committees
created by the Rizal Centennial made officiously tasteless changes that
robbed these sacred shrines and landmarks of dignity and grace.

Built in the 19th century by Francisco Mercado, the
national hero’s father, the house was the first stone and hardwood
residence constructed in Calamba, ideally located at one corner of the
town plaza, across the street from the church. Due to political
misfortunes, the Rizals were banished from Calamba; Jose was executed
at Bagumbayan at age 33, but the elusive General Paciano, lived long
enough to defend the First Philippine Republic against the American
imperialist invaders.

Left to rot and decay, the fabled Rizal house was
finally reconstructed after WW II, by President Elpidio Quirino. Arch.
Juan Nakpil who had been commissioned to restore the Quiapo Church and
other heritage landmarks took on the Rizal ancestral home. However, the
1996 Centennial Commission could not leave well enough alone. Someone
attached ridiculously gigantic butterflies and beetles on the fruit
trees and superimposed a massive wooden trellis on the balustrade of
the azotea. The worst of all monstrosities is the L-shaped concrete
arcade that vulgarly encroaches on the garden. There are two function
rooms on the short leg of the L. The windowless one has a wobbly
over-sized door, a dusty television monitor in front of park benches
arranged in crooked rows. Hot and dark as hell, the second room has a
single window facing the garden and an odd collection of artifacts
displayed in glass cases lined with cheap red velour. There is an
air-conditioned office where staff members took turns going in and out,
as if to cool themselves on that muggy day. On a table near the door,
Laguna goodies were on sale along with barong Tagalogs, in-laid canes.

Sadly, the Rizal house is grand no more. Those
school children who contributed their allowance to the post-war
reconstruction of Jose Rizal’s house must be senior citizens by now. I
am sure they are horrified at the desecration of their patriotic
project. (gemma601@yahoo.com)

Tune in "Krus na daan", DZRJ, 810 khz,
Monday-Friday, 5-6 p.m. Watch "Only Gemma!" RJTV, Mondays, 8 p.m. Sky
19 (Mla. and Baguio), Sky 44 (Dagupan) Destiny 6 (Cebu) and 79 (Mla.),
Palompon 23 (Leyte), Colorview 40 (Zambales), Caceres 6, Comsatel 44,
Quezon 29, Mananap 18, Mariveles Space 27, La Union 38, Albay 6,
Isabela 18.

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/06/15/OPED2006061566840.html

http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=2&story_id=78078

By Augusto Villalon
Inquirer

BY THIS TIME THE wrecker’s ball will be pretty close to having turned the venerable Avenue Theater into rubble.

One
of central Manila’s unappreciated architectural heritage landmarks, the
structure on Avenida Rizal, which once was among the city’s grandest
avenues, has fallen on hard times.

Reports say the Avenue Theater property will be converted into a parking lot.

National
Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil designed the building in the 1930s,
renovating it in the 1950s. Nakpil, son of composer and Katipunero
Julio Nakpil and Gregoria de Jesus, widow of the Katipunan Supremo
Andres Bonifacio, studied architecture at University of Kansas,
followed by courses at Fontainebleu School of Arts in France, and
finally at Harvard Graduate School for Architecture.

Nakpil is
acknowledged as among the pioneers and early innovators in Philippine
architecture. Among his surviving works today are the SSS Building,
Quezon Institute and the University of the Philippines Administration
and Library buildings in Quezon City.

A prolific architect, he
designed most of the mansions that gave Vito Cruz Street its air of
elegance, all demolished except for the surviving residence of the
descendants of Gen. Vicente Lim.

Avenue Theater was designed in
the Art Deco style that swept through the world during the ’30s. This
was the time when the invention of machines brought industrialization
and prosperity to many world economies including the Philippines,
establishing an epoch of growth and stability called Peace Time by an
older generation that today has practically died out.

Conservationists
are making noises about “Saving the Avenue Theater,” but outside of
that circle, few are aware that it should be saved, much less why.

Hardly
anyone knows of the Avenue’s significance as an example of outstanding
1930s architecture, that the theater has played a strong role in many
generations of Manila’s movie-going life, or that if the structure had
been reused for another commercial purpose (maybe for a combination of
offices, boutiques, shops, or even as a building containing rehearsal
or painting studios for artists), it could have been the innovative
out-of-the-box thinking to spark much-needed heritage revitalization on
today’s Avenida Rizal.

No legal protection
Avenue’s
pedigree or that of other notable heritage buildings’ has not been
officially established. Therefore government authorities, general
public and owners of heritage buildings find difficulty in
understanding why such buildings must not be demolished and why their
existence contributes to the quality of contemporary Philippine life.

Structures
with historical associations, such as heroes’ birthplaces and homes,
battlefields and memorial grounds, are protected against demolition by
national legislation and are regulated by the National Historical
institute. It makes sense to conserve places associated with history,
but what about other types of heritage places?

At present,
nothing on paper lawfully protects heritage buildings and neighborhoods
of artistic, architectural or social significance, such as the Avenue
Theater or the heritage neighborhoods in towns like Carcar, Cebu.

These
places may not be historical or monumental, but they are examples of
Philippine architectural excellence. They are the envelopes where
generations of Filipinos have lived out their private histories. Many
of these are everyday places whose worth goes unappreciated.

Since
there exists no legal basis in the Philippines explicitly setting the
rationale and method for keeping such structures alive,
“conservationists can only grit their teeth and clench their fists at
the ongoing demolition of the once-famous Avenue Theater, a work of
National Artist Juan Nakpil,” wrote reporter Jerome Aning in a recent
Inquirer story.

Conservationists have been clenching their fists
a lot in the past years. Hotly contested issues—Jai Alai, Mehan Garden,
Arroceros Forest Park—pushed conservationists and government
authorities into opposing corners that left no space for dialogue.

Be heritage-constructive
It
is now time to be constructive about heritage, for establishing
dialogue, for arriving at innovative solutions to show that heritage
and progress go hand in hand.

The shift is happening. The
Heritage Schoolhouse Program of the Department of Education restores
decayed or abandoned heritage schoolhouses to provide much-needed
additional classrooms.

Realizing that heritage structures are
underutilized resources, the mayors of Silay and Escalante in Negros
Occidental commissioned conservation planners to plan reuse schemes for
old buildings and heritage plazas in their cities.

More than a
few public and private owners of heritage buildings are now realizing
that old buildings are not white elephants, that they remain to be
productive for today’s lifestyle requirements, that they do not need to
be fitted out as museums but can serve the community by being
schoolhouses, offices or shops.

The question is no longer whether
heritage buildings stand in the way of progress and development. The
question has become “What can be done with a heritage building?”

With
the reality of poor awareness of heritage value, and considering the
absence of legislation that clearly and sensitively protects groups of
structures within designated heritage districts, our unprotected
heritage structures vanish one by one with very little that can be done
to protect them.

Since no consolidated list of declared
Philippine structures and sites is available on the Internet and no
attempt to make one available exists, Ivan Henares who sits on the
Board of the Heritage Conservation Society, is starting such a list.
Visit
http://ivanhenares.blogspot.com/2005/04/index-of-declared-structures-and-sites.html,
click on “Post a Comment” at the bottom of the page, add buildings and
places that you think should be preserved, or make corrections on what
is existing on the list. This might be the start of a basis for
defining what are heritage structures and places in the Philippines.

Heritage watch
A
picture taken two weeks ago in Bagac, Bataan, shows total disrespect
that may be caused by the ignorance of this generation for our
heritage, historical markers and their significance. The marker keeps
the memory alive of those who bravely endured hardship or even death
during World War II because they believed in Philippine freedom.

The
Filipino-American Memorial Endowment Inc. (FAME) works hard to preserve
the tangible reminders of World War II. It generates funds to maintain
the physical appearance of World War II monuments as an avenue for
developing a better understanding among the youths who have had no
experience or knowledge that a shared Filipino-American heritage exists.

FAME
works hard to get support for these memorials, spending additional
hard-earned funds yearly for repainting and refurbishment after
monuments are defaced with rude graffiti, campaign posters, and having
messages of dedication scratched off by vandals.

If you wish to
help to increase awareness of the significance of the markers and to
prevent them from being vandalized, contact the FAME Secretariat at the
American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines at 8187911, fax
8113981, e-mail leslie@amchamphilippines.com

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

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