A SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURE OF THE PAST Built structures, even in dismal states, are an important source for traces of memories of our past

I looked back at our guide Heritage Collective founder Stephen Pamorada
defying winds of monsoon-like proportions as he led his Tondo Walking Tour participants through a drenched Recto Avenue. This experience, which included myself struggling to keep my umbrella from succumbing to the elements, certainly leveled up my walking tour game. The phrase “Rain or Shine” has entered a whole different level for me.

The tour began in front of Andres Bonifacio’s monument at the Tutuban Mall in Tondo, Manila, where Bonifacio, the Father of the Philippine Revolution, was born and raised. The birthplace of the Katipunan was just a stone’s throw away in neighboring San Nicolas. An interesting thing about the Philippine Revolution, which isn’t often talked about, is how the revolutionaries not only fought for political and economic independence but also for religious independence. It makes complete sense! After all, wasn’t the main reason for the call for reform by Jose Rizal and his compatriots the continued abuses by the Catholic Church in the Philippines?

FATHER OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION The Andres Bonifacio Monument is located at the Tutuban Mall in Tondo, Manila

Apolinario Mabini, the “brains of the Philippine Revolution,” even supported
the idea of an independent, “Filipinized” church, where a
Filipino would head the Church and Filipino priests would be free to
“manage their own religious” affairs within the occupied
territories of the Philippine Revolutionary Government (1898-1899)
under its President Emilio Aguinaldo.

Backed by Mabini, Fr. Gregorio Aglipay was appointed by Aguinaldo as Vicario General Castrence de la Republicao Clero Filipino on Oct. 20, 1898. The following day, Aglipay released a manifesto declaring the Filipino clergy’s independence (although still Catholic) from the authority of the Pope. The movement experienced some setbacks along the way, but on Aug. 3, 1902, the Independent Philippine Church (IPC) or Aglipayan Church was established, rejecting “friar rule” and Vatican authority.

My only brush with the Aglipayan Church would be during Pandacan “BulingBuling” fiestas in Manila held in January. There one sees the two Santo Niños—the Santo Niño of the Catholic and Aglipayan Churches—in two separate parades meet. It was during one of those fiestas that I was able to enter the Aglipayan Church with my aunt, the family matriarch, as she paid a courtesy visit to the elders when she was Hermana Mayor.

Entering the Aglipayan Church in Pandacan brought me back to positive hedonic perceptions experienced during exposure to luxury in the past. The church wasn’t studded in luxury. In fact, it was very austere, but the feeling and, to be more specific, the sound of it are muted, almost quiet. The sound was similar to what one would hear when one entered Malacañan Palace and the Senate (vs Congress) or when one ate at fine dining restaurants, where one could almost hear the absence of any utensils hitting china, silver, or teeth. I remember wondering, how do these people eat? Discretely watching my fellow diners at their tables, I found out: They ate slowly.

Doing things at a slower pace is another hedonic factor in the equation of luxury or perception of it. I remember being fortunate enough to vacation in a number of high-end resorts when my children were growing up. Compared to the frenetic beach scenes in Boracay, the movements at these resorts could only be described as slow motion.

RELIC OF THE PAST A barandilla from an old bahay na bato in San Nicolas (Angelo Estudillo)

There is a stillness as if every frame or tableaux were a string of moments captured in capsules of time. I would often catch myself saying, “Tatanda ba ako dito?” No wonder people who frequent these luxury resorts look so good!

Looking good or looking well put together is another attribute that adds to the air of luxury. When I was society editor at Lifestyle Asia, the late publisher and editor-in-chief Sari-Yap and I tried to figure out how to look expensive. Quality clothing helps but we agreed too that it boils down to being well put together, from head to toe. It pays to pay attention to the details. There must be hair-spray to keep the hair in place, clean or polished shoes, starched blouses or shirts, and grooming (manicure and pedicure), not to mention well-made clothes, which don’t necessarily mean expensive.

ROTTING AWAY Old structures, as they fall victim to time, slowly waste away, giving a small glimpse of the beauty they once were (Angelo Estudillo)

I walked in the rain that Sunday morning, along the sinewy sidestreets of Manila’s underbelly, with heritage buildings on either side that are in a “dismal” state. Yet, these buildings are the bearer of the memories of the people who lived, in most cases, seemingly ordinary lives in the past, but we now find exceptional because nostalgia makes novelties of old things. These buildings are also the keeper of the stories of everyday people just struggling to survive in the ever-changing winds of time.

READY FOR A TOUR? Heritage Collective's Stephen Pamorada leading tours, along with Renacimiento Manila's Diego Torres

I couldn’t help remembering an article I read by Marie Cornu, “Safeguarding Heritage: From Legal Rights over Objects to Legal Rights for Individuals and Communities,” where she delved into the legalities that surrounded the concept of cultural heritage and society’s duty to “preserve and pass (it) on.” According to her, in the early history of Heritage Legislation, historic monuments (vs heritage, which was a concept developed only in the 1970s) were objects of concern because of their artistic and historic interest.

While the first national legislation was passed in the 19th century, the first international law on cultural heritage was developed much later, sometime between the late 19th and mid-20th century. In the early 1900s, wrote Cornu in her article, structures were protected based on their artistic and historic value as illustrated by the list of historic monuments identified as “artistic masterpieces.” In the Philippines, we are only at that stage, protecting cultural property based only on the criteria of it being created by a national artist or bearing a black historical plaque signifying its historic significance. In other words, only buildings and other structures deemed aesthetically exceptional merit protection. I thought to myself, my goodness, if we had to go by those definitions, most of the heritage structures in Manila and the rest of the country would soon be demolished.

TASTE OF THE PAST Liberty Bakeshop has heritage pastries put on display

It’s a good thing the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has sole authority to clear structures 50 years old and older for any modification or demolition after due process. That’s on paper, but in reality…well, there was the demolition of the Relief Map of the Philippines at Rizal Park.

STILL STANDING STRONG The Rizal bust in La Liga Plaza, located in the heart of Tondo, stands as a testament to the community's historical consciousness of what this plaza stands for

Fortunately, the parameters of the definition of heritage and cultural property have evolved and, despite their “malleable” nature, as Cornu says, at their very core, heritage laws, as formulated today, protect the “physical items, whether those items have an intrinsic value arising from their exceptionality or rareness, or whether they function as traces of memories.”