The Philippine Star
March 6, 2004

LIFESTYLE FEATURE - Modern Living

CITY SENSE By Paulo Alcazaren

Context and controversy

Lapu-Lapu will not leave me alone. I'm still getting e-mails and text messages about that statue and its setting in the Luneta. Apparently, a metal version of the huge statue is being cast to replace the plastic one. Be that as it may, metal or plastic, the point is that the statue and its setting are not appropriate for that site. A good number of Cebuanos believe that the great warrior should stay in Mactan (and that his monument there be improved and better maintained) while many here prefer that Jose Rizal be kept the doctor-in-residence of his eponymous park.

It's all a matter of context. The right personage for the right place should be the rule in constructing our monuments to great men (notice how few there are to women? Maybe it's because it's the men who do the choosing). Context is also a matter of physical design, which should be the job of a landscape architect or urban designer and not some clerk or draftsman with no experience with designing settings for sculpture.

Context works for new sculptures and monuments in parks as well as for any additions to heritage sites or historic complexes such as Catholic churches. Remember the brouhaha the other year over a fast-food restaurant built inside church grounds? Another case is brewing on the Taal Basilica grounds. But before we get to that, let¹s look at how such aspects of context and site design can be properly implemented.

De La Costa On CampusAnew monument to the great Jesuit scholar Horacio V. de la Costa has just been inaugurated at the Ateneo de Manila campus in Diliman (I wonder why it was never renamed Ateneo de Diliman). The statue is the creation of Imao, the very same sculptor who did the Lapu-Lapu monument. Unlike the Rizal Park incongruity, the setting for this statue is perfectly in sync with the site both in terms of its physical scale and design as well as historical context.

The statue and its simple and elegant marker in black granite are located beside a small open space in front of a building named after Fr. de la Costa and across from the Rizal Library. The statue is life-sized and stands (literally) on a simple pad at ground level ­ representing how the scholar-priest made himself and his body of work immeasurably accessible to generations of students and fellow scholars.

The setting is worked into the pedestrian entrance to the building in a transitional space that helps tie this entry with the green space beside it. This "commons" is popular with faculty and students alike because it provides pleasant views, shade and many seating nooks, which are smoke-free (the campus allows smoking only in designated "smoking corners," much to the consternation of a few, like fellow-Star columnist Krip Yuson, whom I bumped into while taking pictures of the statue).

The memorial was the project of Batch '52 of the Ateneo High School led by Totit Olivares. The memorial was inaugurated last Feb. 17 and comes a year after Harvard-trained historian Bobby Paterno's wonderful four-volume Horacio de la Costa book set was released. Not a month after the statue made its appearance, Fr. de la Costa is already at home with students, faculty and surroundings.

From a memorial to a "Gentle Giant" of a man who made sure we got our history in context to a new chapel that is out of physical context in a historic site, we go to Taal.

Controversy Erupts In Taal. Taal is a peaceful town blessed with heritage that rivals Vigan in terms of architecture and culture. All is not well in Taal because of a brewing controversy. A new "adoration/vigil" chapel is being built on the grounds of Taal's famous Basilica. Despite options for locating the said chapel elsewhere, parish authorities have proceeded with the construction of the structure in an area that compromises the historical integrity of the centuries-old church structure and setting.

Heritage structures are not only made up of an old building and its foundations. More often than not, the heritage lies in the complete package of building, its interiors, its site, any gardens of plazas and, sometimes, adjoining heritage buildings and the whole district itself. It is these spaces that are needed to set and retain the structures' context. As a gem is made less valuable without a proper setting, the same goes for architecture.

Philippine colonial churches represent a layer of our complex culture and history. These churches, paraphrasing the historian Horacio de la Costa, "stood for the single most important influence on people's lives ­ their faith." This representation of that past zeitgeist of our communal lives lay in both structure and site of historic churches. Notice how much is lost when urbanization and incongruous (to use the word again) architecture erode the integrity and bearing of many a solemn baroque facade.

The local bishop was reminded by the National Historical Institute, headed by Ambeth Ocampo, that any addition would have to be vetted by the NHI to ensure that there would be minimal impact on the site and building's heritage value. A similar letter was sent by concerned citizens, led by Taal-born sculptor Ramon Orlina, pointing to requirements outlined in P.D. 1505 regarding such planned additions while acknowledging the fact that modern needs should be met.

Neither call was heeded. The NHI and the citizens even proposed several options, any of which would accommodate the new functions required. These options suggested adaptive-reuse of existing space (the first possibility that should be considered with any historic site or building) and other locations ­ not the courtyard of the Basilica, which is an integral setting and open space that defines its character and value.

The building of the new structure continues as we speak. Taal's plight, to a lesser or greater degree, is repeated in hundreds of towns and cities and their church grounds, parks, plazas, heritage structures, monuments and landmarks. The law seems to bend to the rule of whoever is in power locally, making a mockery of our democratic system and holding heritage hostage to the caprices of misdirected mayors, profit-blinded millionaires and unchristian monsignors alike (not that the Taal authorities are any of these).

Only God knows what will happen to our historic sites and structures, along with our faith in religious and political leaders, if this trend continues. One day, we may have to call on the ghost of Lapu-Lapu to defend us and our heritage against our own fellow Filipinos. It should be easy to awaken him. He¹s already turning in his grave.

* * *Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephilstar @hotmail.com.