What to do on a Sunday morning

It’s true that sometimes it is the visitor who sees the beauty and wonders of your home. How many times have we heard tourists tell us, have you gone to Corregidor? to Sagada? to Bohol? And all I can answer is no, maybe tomorrow or next week. I can see it anytime I want to anyway. That is what’s wrong. You get so used to home you take many things for granted and think that going abroad or away is the only way to refresh your imagination and insights.

So I was truly grateful when a stranger, well not really a stranger, but a Filipino who lived in Paris for more than 30 years asked me to come along with a group of young historians to visit Fort Santiago last Sunday morning. Having lived and worked in Paris for many years, Choy Arnaldo has a visitor’s perspective of Manila. If you are looking for things to do on a Sunday, he recommends two things  “go to Chinatown by Ferry” and visit “Intramuros by tramvia.”

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Being Sunday morning that meant waking up at an ungodly hour to travel from Alabang to Fort Santiago to be on time to see the Rizal drama.

I did not actually take the ferry because I used a car to get into Intramuros. I missed something because to see Intramuros across the river towards the delta is a great experience, he said. History comes alive and you imagine what life was like when “most inhabitants of Chinatown, or Binondo, crossed by boat or by one of the several bridges.”

Being a Parisian, he does not mind walking. “You could continue on the ferry to the other side and get off near the Post Office, then walk to the Aduana, and thence to Fort Santiago. But once in Intramuros, take the tramvia!” (Well, I didn’t walk, maybe next time!)

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You take the tramvia from the Baluarte San Diego, he said excitedly. Since it has been a long time that I had been in Intramuros, I wondered what tramvia he was talking about.

“Yes, it was a tramvia, but converted to a noisy, gear-shifted diesel engine! It bore the bright blue and white colors of the old days, and one could imagine the poor flagged horse drawing this wagon of up to 20 people over the clip-clop cobble streets of the old city. It was raining that day and that made the cobblestones shine like stones in the river. The cobbles rang out with a hollow sound, as the kalesa bell gonged at every corner,” he wrote for Munting Nayon, a magazine for Filipinos abroad.

“Going around Intramuros by tramvia gives you an idea of the strategic situation of this old city, an insight into understanding how its walls withstood the attacks of centuries, succumbing only to the bombs of the Japanese and Americans.

“For almost three whole sides face the waterways, Manila Bay on the west, Pasig River on the north and most of the east. Only the south and a small area on the east face land where most attacks were anticipated. As a matter of fact, west of Intramuros at that time was the old port of Manila. And hence, being ‘part’ of the sea, many of the civilian companies and buildings in Intramuros are shipping companies and a newspaper, at that time very popular because it posted all the schedules of the cargo and passenger boats, the Manila Bulletin.”

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Once in Fort Santiago, I realized just how long ago I had been in this part of Manila even if Philippine STAR was just nearby. The last time I came here was to get my visa for Poland in the consulate at the UPL building some years ago.

Since then it has been transformed into A Heroes Square as corporate social responsibility by the owners of UPL.

 Our guide for the day was history professor Michael Charleston Chua, who kept reminding us that Intramuros was the seat of power of the Spanish in Asia and the Far East.

“And hence, logically, Intramuros was designed as an administrative city, the Governor General’s Palace dominating the main plaza and the Manila Cathedral vying for its place in the sun right next to it! What should also be underscored is the number of religious residences and schools within the walls. The major religious orders (they were ironically and perhaps justifiably, called corporaciones at the time) each had a residence or convent, church and a major school support the church and schools within the walls.”

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After this short tour, the tramvia then moves to Fort Santiago to watch and experience the Rizal drama.

Do a Teodora Alonso (played by Pamela Hundana), the mother of José greets us in anguish, for she has learned that her son is to be executed. That is how the Rizal drama begins.

“At the top of the stairs, Josephine Bracken (Jean Judith Javier) also greets us, and another plaintiff song for her beloved. They lead us into a small library, where Fr Francisco de Paula Sanchez (Onyl Torres), the favorite Jesuit teacher of Rizal tells us of his student, brilliant, master of many languages and philosophies, himself not quite sure why José is imprisoned or at least not convinced of the reasons.

In the main room, José is writing his last words, with the moth attracted by the light of intelligence and understanding, of freedom and the unyoking of centuries of bondage, only to be annihilated as he approaches fulfillment. He wrote in very small letters on a piece of paper. He folded it many times before slipping it into his lantern. It was to his sister, Narcisa that he whispered before he gave her the lamp “there is something in it.”

The actors and actresses are as committed to the innovative approach. The audience can interact with the actors and actresses. Erick de Paz who plays Jose Rizal says it is a wonder that unlawfully convicted with hours to die, he could still write poetry with such clarity and vision.

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The Heroes Square Heritage Corporation organized the Intramuros visit and Rizal drama. Jonathan Balsamo, a history professor in two universities is in charge of this unique presentation directed by Anton Juan. So if you are looking for something to do on a Sunday think of Heroes Square and see our history come to life.