QUIAPO'S GIFT

What is now the Basilica Minor de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno was first established by 1574 as the Franciscan ecclesiastical mission of Quiapo. Its first makeshift church of light materials was later burned by Limahong’s raiders. In 1586, Governor-General Santiago de Vera established Quiapo as a district of Manila and by 1588, Fr. Antonio de Nombella (OFM) probably had another church built. This was razed by fire in 1603, probably rebuilt, and burned down again in 1639. A new church was again built in 1686 that British invaders unsuccessfully tried to raze in 1762. This same building was seriously damaged during the earthquake of 1863. Fr. Eusebio de Leon (OFM) then later Fr. Manuel Roxas Manio (OFM) reconstructed the church from 1879 until 1889. This was again razed by fire in 1929 and was reconstructed in 1933 under the supervision of Fr. Magdaleno Castillo with the assistance of Arch. Juan F. Nakpil. The church was enlarged and improved in 1984. The image of the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno or the Black Nazarene is enshrined in the church and venerated by thousands of devotees.

During the G20 conference in Islamabad, Pakistan on September 8-12 last year, I was one of those sent by the Rice Watch and Action Network to attend a parallel forum of civil society organizations in its behalf. We have 8 days to prepare our travel documents and while doing so, we found out that we need around 15 days to secure an entry visa from the Pakistani embassy. This will cover the issuance of an NBI clearance that is a prerequisite for the issuance of a document from Malacanang’s authentication office that is required for the issuance of another DFA-authenticated document that must be submitted for the issuance of a Pakistani visa that requires 8 working days to process from application to release. I was ready to give up. On the way back to our Manila office, I asked Elias to drop by the Quiapo church to shoot some photos. A mass is being celebrated and people clogged the entrance so I decided to while my time at Plaza Miranda right in the church’s front yard. There, vendors are lined up offering blessings from heaven by buying and lighting their candles. I saw a bunch that said it is for travel requests. I am an agnostic at best but I thought I’ll give it a shot so I brought one, lighted it up, and silently asked God to help me go to Pakistan.

The next day, I was able to get an NBI clearance in an hour (which usually takes half a day) through the intercession of a friend. At the Malacanang authentication office, I went to the information booth and showed a nice lady my invitation to the G20 conference. She realized the urgency and promptly issued me the document I need (which would have taken 3 days). The next day, I went to the DFA and waited for almost a day just to submit my request. I did but was told that it will require 3 days of processing. “This is it,” I said to myself and prepared to go home. “Hoy, ano ginagawa mo dito!” It turned out that the young lady who received my application is the sister of a former colleague from San Jose City. I told her my problem and she promptly called her boss. I went to the Pakistani embassy that day with the document tucked safely in my bag and a growing optimism that perhaps I can really make it. But this was dashed by a masungit Filipino embassy staff who bluntly told us that they don’t accept applications on Fridays and that we were too late since visa issuance require around 8 working days and we are supposed to leave next week. Just the same we convinced him to at least accept our passports and applications. After that, Hazel made a phone call to a former government official who made a phone call to the embassy. That is how we got to got to Islamabad.

Islamabad is 2 hours away by plane from Karachi. It is a new city having been established in the 1960s in the hinterlands of Punjab province’s Pothohar Plateau near the Margalla Hills. The new capital site was selected to “reflect the cultures, traditions, hopes, aspirations and dreams of all diverse ethnic, linguistic and regional groups that constitute the Pakistani nation… isolate it from the onslaught of business and commercial interests… and located close to Muslim areas of Central Asia and in proximity with the fraternal people of Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey”. It is a well-planned and modern city as envisioned by the Greek firm Doxiadis Associates who was contracted to draw up the master plan.

The venue of our conference is actually 1 hour away by car from Islamabad at the foothills of the mighty Himalayas in a mountain resort called Muhree Hills. I think it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. After the conference, we spent 2 days and a night in Islamabad. It was a weekend and there were very few people around except in the shopping districts where tourists go. I convinced Hazel to go on a quick half day tour and hired a taxi. One of the places we’ve visited is the Shah Faisal Mosque near the Islamic University. It was constructed with the assistance of Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal and took 12 years to build --- from 1976 until 1988 --- based on the design of a leading Turkish architect. It is one, if not the biggest, mosque in the world and can accommodate 24,000 worshippers plus another 40,000 in its courtyard. Its 4 minarets are 88 meters high each.


Back in the Philippines, I made another visit to the Quiapo church to give my thanks. I lighted another bunch of candles this time for the health and wellbeing of my family. I came as a doubter. Now perhaps, I am a believer.

MEMORIES OF A VERY HAPPY PIZZA

While attending the East Asia Working Group Conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 21-26 November 2004, a former colleague who now works for an international aid organization took us for a taste of the city’s famed happy pizza. We selected cheese and he instructed the waiter to make it very happy for us. The pizza is good, and it left a tangy aftertaste that reminded me of Almaguer and many happy memories. The wafting smoke that filled the pizzeria confirmed what I thought it has and after a sundot of Angkor beer, that familiar funny blissful feeling shoot me back to some 20 years ago in an age when Abet and the Samahang Dilim roamed Almaguer.

Abet had his heroes and villains in Almaguer, and belonged to a very special group that will forever be close to his heart. They called themselves Samahang Dilim because like vampires, they prowl at nights usually meeting in a wooden bridge straddling the banauang in front of Junie’s house. They were pasala regulars, and each boast of scars earned in juvenile wars. They earned the barrio monicker of NPAs (read: Nu Pato Alisto) by preying on the neighborhood ducks that were most often cooked into their favorite pinikpikan (read: “killing me softly” in English). Sometimes, there is nothing to do and they just kill the night bantering in front of Junie’s house, passing around a smoke that tasted like Phnom Penh’s happy pizza, seated in that coconut trunk that served as the podium of their glory days.

The city of Phnom Penh was built upon a Buddhist sanctuary. A long time ago, a rich lady called Penh found 4 bronze and 1 stone statues of the Buddha in a hollow koki tree floating in the river. She then built a hill that was called Phnom where the images were stalled in a sanctuary. Buddhist monks were later invited to settle at the foot of the hill. The sanctuary was later restored by King Ponhea Yat when the Cambodian capital was moved to Phnom Daun Penh from Bassac City in 1434. To this day, Wat Phnom still exists.


I was also able to drop by another Cambodian Buddhist temple during a field visit to Kandal Province’s Trapeang Raing Village in the Makali Commune, Ang Shoul District. Along the way, the gleaming lakes of Phnom Penh passed by and from time to time, our Cambodian guide would point to a place that used to be a killing field. And there was the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum--- a former school building where more than 13,000 souls perished during the infamous rule of Big Brother Number 1 (AKA Pol Pot). I think it is more appropriate to call it a shrine in memory of those who died in its torture chambers.

PHOTOS (from top to bottom):

1) Entrance to Wat Phnom.
2) The wat along the road from Kandal Province.
3) The ghosts of Toul Sleng.

WAT-ching THAILAND 2

On August 10-16 of 2003, Oyet informed me of an ongoing workshop series on integrating culture in community development planning organized by the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archeology and Fine Arts or SPAFA. I applied to join with a request for a scholarship and was accepted. During the workshop, we were billeted at the Royal Princess Hotel in the old Bangkok district near some significant Thai historical and cultural sites. This gave me the opportunity for another Thai visita iglesia.

A short walk from our hotel is Wat Sraket that is now popularly known for its Golden Mount. The temple was actually an ancient monastery built during the Ayudhya period and later renovated by King Rama I. Its Golden Mount (it looks like a mountain) was later built during the reigns of King Rama III and King Rama V. In 1877 and 1899, Buddha relics were interred in the temple. Also around the Wat Sraket area are the City Parapet Phrakan Fortress, the Democracy Monument, and Luha Prasat.





One morning, I rented the hotel limousine service to take me to the workshop venue at the SPAFA office. I asked the driver to pass by Wat Bejamabophit --- more popularly known as the Marble Temple --- where he took my picture. I was wearing a white Thai shirt which blended eerily with the early morning sun’s reflection on the temple’s marble slabs. That’s how “The Ghost of the Marble Temple” photo came to be.

And on one afternoon after the daily workshop grind, I asked an amiable Lao tuktuk driver to take me to Wat Arun --- arguably Thailand’s most beautiful Buddhist temple. He took me to a river crossing station but instead of riding the ferry, I decided to idle around a small restaurant and gazed at Wat Arun from a distance while nursing a bottle of cold Singha beer. I think this is the best way to enjoy the beauty of the temple and I stayed until the restaurant closed for the night.

I was in Bangkok again 3 months later to attend Social Watch’s Asia conference on December 3-6. I shared a room with a Bangladeshi participant who liked taking early morning walks. Our hotel is near the Erawan Shrine --- dedicated to the Hindu God Phra Phrom that was built along a busy intersection. I joined my roommate in one of his walking tours one morning and when we passed by the Erawan Shrine, I asked him to join me in doing a wai. He took my photo afterwards.

Oyet dropped by during the conference. He will be one of my youngest son Balong’s ninongs in his binyag later in the month. But he can’t make it so he took me to a mall where he bought his pakimkim. We had a dinner of grilled dalag after that as our impromptu binyag feast.