BIRTH OF A NATION The Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated on July 4, 1946
The World Bank doesn’t have a formal definition for nation-building. It has one for state-building but none for nation-building. Why? Perhaps the question lies in the concept of “nation.” It is, after all, a concept, an intangible—like ideas of freedom, knowledge, and emotions like love, anger, desire, to name a few. All these intangibles are invisible and take material form, like the Relief Map of the Philippines, in, say, art. With recent events in the heritage sector, I am reminded of what I wrote last year as I posed the questions, “Why is heritage important?” “Why should we value our heritage?” “What purpose does it serve?” Sifting through some of the speeches of my uncle, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, in the mid-’60s and the late ’60s, I was able to find some answers. In essence, my uncle believed learning about one’s heritage and culture had a purpose. Our culture and heritage tell us about our values or “ethics” (as my uncle called it) as a community, as a people, and as a nation. His cultural programs headed by my aunt instituted commemorations of historical events and acts of remembrance (among others), as well as the building of structures aimed at fostering social memory and reinforcing cultural traits. Our culture tells us about the story of our forefathers, whether through dance, song, cultural materials, or the technology it took to create them, such as in textile, pottery, sculpture, metal work, etc. These things, in turn, tell us what our forefathers deemed important and why. On July 4, 1946, the Philippines gained its independence from America. We might have gained our independence from America, but they made sure they reaped the spoils long after they were gone. People have forgotten how long the shackles of American economic oppression lasted since the start of the Third Republic till the Marcos administration, during which Parity Rights was finally taken out of our constitution (well, it expired in 1974). We were economically blackmailed to revise our constitution to favor American goods and businesses and to stifle our own (especially those in direct competition with theirs). No doubt US aid in the form of loans helped but it came at a hefty price. We don’t have enough books and subjects in school to teach us of what our forefathers had to endure as they fought to build this nation. Every single administration, from Manuel Roxas to Marcos, had to face their respective terms with  a nearly empty, if not bankrupt, treasury. By the late 1950s, there was an ever-growing demand to put the “Filipino First” in all aspects of society that had been saturated by American goods, ideals, and values. The history book Tadhana says of the 1960s, “This period saw the re-emergence of nationalism against pervasiveness of colonial influence in all aspects of Filipino life.” It was a time when Filipinos started to question the continued dependence (and subservience) of the country to America. If you recall, this period saw the Philippines dragged into conflict borne out of American interest—the Korean War (1950-53) and the Vietnam War (1955-75). Granted the region could not do without American military might against the communist threat and despite a Mutual Defense Treaty, sans an automatic retaliation clause (the Americans did not automatically have to defend the Philippines’ interests when faced with threats outside of American interests), US military bases remained on our shores. STRONG NATIONS The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created to foster peace, prosperity, and cooperation in the region
A side note, the 1960s became a decade of self-determination not only for the country but for its neighbors as well. To lessen our dependence on America, the Philippines started to look closer to home “to tackle peace, prosperity, and cooperation in the region” and finally on Aug. 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, the Association of Asian Nations (ASEAN) was born, with the Philippines as one of its founding fathers. GLORY DAYS The newly renamed Rizal Park, c. 1967, just before the Relief Map construction (Photo: National Parks PH)
The creation of the National Parks and Development Committee (NPDC) in 1963 was a reflection of the times. There was a need to nurture the re-emerging sense of nationalism and appreciation of culture and heritage, as well as the enrichment of national identity. This became the NPDC’s mission. It developed every aspect of the Luneta Park (It was renamed Rizal Park in 1967) in adherence to this mission. The Relief Map of the Philippines was a highlight of this mission. It was one of few built structures in the country that Architect Gerard Lico says were “crafted to create a sense of nationalism in a post-colonial context.” During President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ first term in office (1965-1969), he was concerned that the allure of the West would eventually lead Filipinos to lose their Filipino identity and lose the past in our collective memory, especially among the young. He also wanted to rally the Filipinos because he knew that discipline and dedication in building a nation were paramount for success. The dismal state of the economy had to be addressed first because he believed, “no state could remain stable without economic security.” In the mid-1960s, three out of four Filipinos were poor and he knew there would be even more hardships ahead before any positive trickle-down effects were felt from the economy. The re-emergence of the peoples’ sense of nationalism was a perfect catalyst to bring about projects that could provide what people were asking for. Tangible representations of the nation were created to serve as symbols of the struggles and triumph of the nation. The Relief Map of the Philippines was one such representation of our “nationhood.” In the late 1960’s, legendary print and broadcast journalist Teodoro “Ka Doroy” Valencia was NPDC head, who commissioned the Relief Map of the Philippines. It was sculpted by Jun M. Mendoza. It would have just been nice to continue to have a fully organic representation of the nation, borne from the minds of Filipinos and crafted by a Filipino, created during a time in our country’s independent history when a resurgence of nationalism came about from decades of “pervasive colonial influence” and in such a grand scale, at the park. Even the Rizal Monument (commissioned by the American colonial government in 1901 and sculpted in Switzerland by Richard Kissling), a few hundred feet across from where the Relief Map of the Philippines was located, cannot boast the same. So, I can imagine the destruction of the Relief Map of the Philippines to give way to the revival of American architect Daniel Burnham’s City of Manila plan of 1905 may not sit too well with those familiar with the spirit on which the Relief Map was built. In any case, I’m sure the planned Burnham revival, as mandated by RA 11333, when built, will be very pretty, aesthetically “in tune” with the other neo classical buildings (the Fine Arts, Anthropology, and Natural History Museums) already within the National Museum Complex. A LOOK BACK The Relief Map as it was in 2019 (Photo: Hal Abilas)
And yet the fact remains, the National Museum of the Philippines Violated RA 10066 by demolishing the Relief Map of the Philippines, classified as an Important Cultural Property, without due process (violation of NCCA’s Implementing Rules and Regulation of RA10066 Sec 11). Ignoring Sec 11, the National Museum has taken away the right of the public to be informed of the demolition of the Relief Map and the right to submit its opposition to the demolition. As a result, the voice of the people was silenced and denied even symbolically to belt out a swan song for a culturally important representation of an independent nation, in pursuit of “security, liberty, prosperity, and enlightenment.”