July 22,2005

Woohoo! Another 5 seconds of fame!

Metro
Something about San Miguel
By: Julian Uycana

Published on Citiguide Metro Manila

(July-August 2005 issue)

It’s not too often that somebody becomes a traveler in ones own place. And in a place like Manila, a city not exactly known for her Parisian beauty or Bangkok-type exoticism, it takes a curious eye peel off the gritty crust and discover the delights within.

This is the personal mandate of ‘urban story teller’ and street walker Ivan ManDy. Through his walking tours, he takes the curious and adventurous visitors for a fun, two-hour, weekend exploration of three of Old Manila’s historic gems: Binondo (Chinatown), the Chinese Cemetery and San Miguel district.

The tour names hing at new things to discover. Aptly called ‘Palace, Power and a Shot of Beer’, the San Miguel walk is a stroll through one Manila’s most architecturally rich and oft unappreciated districts.

Donning a bright yellow Manila shirt and a traditional tabungao (an Ilokano upo-hat), it’s hard to miss your guide at the San Sebastian Church steps- truly a commanding way to start the walk. Far from taking the usual rote and academic way of presenting historic facts, Ivan flips out a colorfully laid out visual showing a period photo of the church when it was being built in 1891. “ Our country’s first all-steel, neo-gothic, Lego-type-of –a church,” he quips, “ cast, assembled, dissembled, packed in Belgium and shipped all the way to Manila- all 1,574 tons of it.”

The structure is indeed a magnificent architectural edifice with, as he points out, German-made stained glass windows (costing about P4,000.00 during the time it was shipped in), brushworks by Filipino painter Lorenzo Rocha and, because of the very nature of its structure, ‘a maintenance bill that’s enough to put a hole in the father’s vestments.’

Another visual lecture begins when we reach Mendiola street. Our guide calls it Manila’s version of ‘ 10 Downing street, Pennsylvania Avenue and Tian An Men square all rolled into one.” It is the site of several of our country’s most politicized events including the 1987 shooting of picketing farmers and the 2001 Labor Day riots, Mendiola today is a leafy, tree-lined street with barbed-fences always in anticipation for the next big protest rally.

Shielded away from the political action is the jewel-box San Beda church; who, with its neo-gothic details, handsome canvasses and quaint double-sided gardens undoubtedly makes this one of the city’s most stunning and rarely seen church interiors.

We then make our way towards San Miguel’s mansion row –Arlegui and San Rafael streets to admire the districts well-preserved antebellum mansions including ‘Corazon Aquino’s home-away-from home’. The 1930’s Arlegui Guest House where, as the story goes, she hid under her bed during one of the coup attempts in her administration.

Then it was off to San Miguel’s main attraction, the Malacañang Palace. Though entrance these days is generally off-limits (unless you have a written permit), a glimpse through her stately buildings and manicured lawns made for a perfect setting for a spiel on the Philippines’ most famous couple: Fedie the Strongman and Imelda the Iron Butterfly. This was where the group really started to participate with each giving an insight or two about the duo and their effects on our country. An added treat was an interactive game of identifying a host of famous personages who have stepped inside the Palace’s hollowed halls.

Finally, we were lead through yet another of San Miguel’s mansions- Solano Street- where we learned about San Miguel beer’s historic beginnings: ‘A Filipino icon more famous than out current president,” declares Ivan, the compelling tragedy that was the Battle of Manila (“100,000 civilians turned shish-kebab”), and admired more of the district’s aristocratic residences including Madame Imelda’s pleasure palaces: the Teus and Goldenberg Mansions.

Over two hundred years of history covered in two hours. Indeed, reliving our country’s past couldn’t be more entertaining than in such a regal setting. It’s amazing how much you can learn by simply going out for a walk.