IN SHAMBLES The Relief Map of The Philippines should have been spared at the very least by Republic Act 10066, which protects built structures 50 years and older from modification or demolition until the NCCA lifts the presumption of significance

When abroad you walk thousands of steps to bask in the architecture of a city that has managed to leave some architectural landmarks of various periods in its history. You ride the bus for hours to gaze at monuments or the ruins of a castle or even mere stones. If you are like me, you’ll find reward in the stories that spark the imagination and become part of your wonderful memories.

At home, here in the metropolis, you have to deal with the sun, heat, and soot if you want to walk and not enough architectural landmarks or heritage structures to reward you. What neoclassical vestiges of our American colonial past or remnants of Spanish glory you see are few and far between, mixed in with tenuous structures of disrepair ever threatened by commercial developers promising something bigger, better, and brighter.

Because of this, when I visit a place and see its grandeur, the metropolis all laid out in a grand master plan, I can’t help thinking about the cost not just of building it or the price the people whose vision it was to get it built had to pay, but also about the dark side, I think about the people who got in the way.

Last night, I came to the realization that I might be on the verge of getting in the way of someone’s vision.

I learned about the spatial relationships between and among islands in the Philippines from my dad as he flew us around the country. These trips and the accidental knowledge gained were reinforced by Sunday sunset picnics by the Relief Map of the Philippines on the east end of Rizal Park along Taft Avenue, as I traced flight paths along the map’s coastlines and island markers.

A WORK OF ART The Relief Map of the Philippines was sculpted by Jun M. Mendoza, an apprentice to National Artist Napoleon Abueva. The sculpture took nine months to complete

I loved those memories marred only by the loss of my favorite watermelon slippers, which my dad helped me search for in futility as the sun set into the night. That is my personal connection to the Relief Map of the Philippines.

Fast forward… By chance, I ran into National Museum director Jeremy Barnes right after the inauguration of PBBM. I have known Jeremy for years. I remember walking along the halls of the museum to get some fresh air, after a few hours in the storage room where the fumes coming from trucks headed to the piers blew in through the broken glass windows. Some days I would catch a glimpse of Jeremy in his white long sleeve shirt and tie with hair all slicked back and scurry away for fear he would see me in my state. He is today still the tall, charismatic, well-spoken, educated, and well-versed in his field Jeremy, the poster boy of the sanitized version of Filipinos here and abroad for our museums. He has been National Museum director since his appointment by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2007, but his confirmation is still pending under PBBM.

In 2019, Republic Act 11333 gave the sole jurisdiction over the east end (where the Relief Map of the Philippines is located) of Rizal Park along Taft Avenue from the National Parks Development Committee, an agency of the Department of Tourism, to the National Museum of the Philippines.
When I had a chance meeting with Barnes at the National Museum last year, he told me about his plans to build a museum on top of the Relief Map of the Philippines. It would cost us ₱1 billion or more. The plan for the museum was to do without the map altogether. I didn’t really think much of it since I assumed it would take time to raise the budget for all this and surely existing heritage laws would protect the relief map for now. I was wrong.

Within months, unbeknownst to me and a lot of other people in the heritage community, things escalated. A few days ago, I found before me the remains of what was once the Relief Map of the Philippines.

A LOOK BACK The First Family marvels over the newly built Relief Map of the Philippines. From left: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Irene R. Marcos-Araneta, Senator Imee R. Marcos, former President Ferdinand Marcos, and former First Lady Imelda Marcos

Ano nangyari (What happened)?

It was surreal since the feelings matched those felt for a lost heritage site perpetrated by a commercial/residential developer or treasure hunter(s), but not by a government cultural agency, which should know better. I let it sink in. The National Museum was responsible for this and why couldn’t Republic Act 10066 ensure its safety even against an agency that exists to help protect it? RA 10066 protects structures 50 years and older and deems them significant. Unless the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) lifts the “presumption of significance” for a site, no one can “destroy or modify a structure dating at least 50 years old” and older. No such request to lift the presumption of significance was made by the National Museum to the NCCA. Also, RA 11333 may have given the National Museum sole jurisdiction over the museum complex but did not give it the authority to decide on the property’s disposition. It cannot destroy a cultural property within the complex without due process.
GOODBYE PHILIPPINES A petition was never filed by the National Museum and no lifting of presumption of significance was made by the NCCA

The Relief Map of the Philippines was made by sculptor Jose M. Mendoza. It was completed during the first term of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1967). Mendoza studied Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas. The son of a toy maker, he grew up carving wooden toys. After graduating, he wanted to take up sculpting but ended up being mentored by sculptor and National Artist Napoleon Abueva. Mendoza’s sculptures are familiar fixtures in Makati—Gabriela Silang (Makati Avenue), Pio del Pilar (Paseo de Roxas), Sultan Kudarat (Makati Avenue), and the Bataan Monument (Ayala Triangle). In Davao, you can see his work “Centennial Monument of Peace and Unity” and in Leyte, “The Risen Christ” at Magallanes Church in Maasin.

He was also the sculptor of the “Tamaraw” and “Carabao” statues in Rizal Park. I was just there a few days ago and was already in the middle of an article lauding the efforts of the National Museum for its wonderful exhibit and the rise in the number of visitors.

Finding a quiet seat in front of a mural, I reviewed the photos and videos taken of the site. There I oscillated between “should I make a fuss?” or “just turn a blind eye?” The popular view would be to just let it go. Then I remember the late controversial Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, who advised me during an interview walking the streets of Manila, “What is popular is not necessarily the right thing to do. Do not be afraid to be the ‘lone voice in the wilderness.’ It will be lonely. Be prepared.”

ICONIC WORKS Among Mendoza's other works are his scupltures of Gabriela Silang, Sultan Kudarat, Gen Pio del Pilar at the Ayala Triangle in Makati. (In photo) At the Rizal Park his remaining and still standing scuptures are the "carabao" and "tamaraw"

I have never aspired to be popular. In fact, I never felt I completely fit anywhere. I just blurt things out because I am curious, some would say naïve, and I tell it the way it is. My strangeness is something even the now PBBM has commented on. At dinner one time, PBBM declared out loud, while looking at me as if he had finally figured me out, “You really are wired different!” Well, I suppose I am.

So, here’s what I think. The Relief Map of the Philippines was protected by RA10066, which is very specific with its Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) when it comes to any modification or destruction of structures deemed significant. Modification and destruction can only be done when “presumption of significance” is lifted. In Sec. 11 of the NCCA IRR for Act. No. 10066, only the NCCA can lift the presumption of significance. A petition is filed, for instance by, say, the National Museum to do work on the Relief Map of the Philippines. When such petition is received by the NCCA, this petition will be made public. As stated in the IRR, “The public has the right to be informed” of the petition to lift presumption and must be invited to submit an opposition. Notices would have appeared on the various social media platforms of the NCCA but as of press time, no petitions for lifting of presumption for the Relief Map of the Philippines at Rizal Park has been filed.  And yet the Relief Map of the Philippines has been destroyed.

Why the haste and why all the skulduggery?

If the Relief Map was in such a dismal state that the National Museum had to make hard decisions to do away with it altogether, the NCCA should have been supplied with a report. And this should have been shared with the public. A lot of heritage advocates may have a different take on “dismal state” since this is often how endangered heritage structures are found. Most are still salvageable.

At the end of the day, RA 10066 should have given the stakeholders time to deliberate on the future of the Rizal Park Relief Map of the Philippines. The RA10066 should have been enough to buy time for the structure to be saved. If a government agency is found to have disregarded a Republic Act and gets away with it, the RA on matters of state is rendered as light as the paper it was written on. Now that sets a very dangerous precedence.