Arts & Leisure
Posted on April 12, 2016 10:05:00 PM
LiteraTOUR: appreciating the mundane
What do we know about Pandacan? For most people, not much, really.
HISTORIAN Sixto Carlos, Jr. explains the significance of Pandacan in the life of Jacinto Zamora while standing in front of the martyred priest’s statue. -- NICKKY FAUSTINE P. DE GUZMAN
The tour itself was conducted by the Samahang Sining at Kultura ng Pilipinas (SSKPi), headed by historian and former professor Sixto Carlos, Jr. The SSKPi has been offering free walking tours in Pandacan called Lakbay Kamalaysayan since 2010. (Anyone interested in a Pandacan tour can contact the SSKPi viasskpilipinas@gmail.com or through 564-9031.)
Thanks to the partnership between PUP and NCCA -- they signed a memorandum of agreement for a cultural exchange -- the NCCA can tap PUP students for cultural activities in performance or visual arts, while school can open its facilities for accommodations. PUP, which has satellite campuses all over the metro and Laguna, has around 78,000 enrolled students. The main campus in Sta. Mesa alone has over 40,000 students according to PUP university center for culture and the arts director Bely R. Ygot.
So what makes Pandacan important?
First, it was the birthplace of Jacinto Zamora, one of the three martyr priests best known as Gomburza (the other two being Mariano Gómez and José Burgos), whose execution in 1872 on charges of subversion related to the Cavite Mutiny in 1872. Their death served as an inspiration for many of the late 19th-century Filipino reformists and revolutionaries. José Rizal, for one, dedicated his novel El Filibusterismo to Gomburza.
A larger-than-life statue on Fr. Zamora stands tall in the heart of the district -- unfortunately the riders of the jeepneys which often pass the statue are often unaware of its significance.
SSKPi’s Mr. Carlos also explained how Pandacan played a major role in Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar’s literary career. Often called “the Shakespeare of the Philippines,” the poet wrote the classic work Florante at Laura. In 1830, Balagtas left his hometown in Bulacan and moved to Pandacan. There, he fell in love with Maria Asuncion Rivera. But he had a rival for her hand, a rich man named Mariano Capule. “He made tricks to send Balagtas in prison for two years,” said Mr. Carlos. Eventually Rivera and Capule ended up together while Balagtas, who remained in prison, wrote Florante at Laura.
Pandacan also prides itself for having a public library -- one that actually works and has air-conditioners. Unfortunately, while it is mandated that every barangay have a public library, few cities follow the law. The Kapitan Mendoza public library, which includes textbooks mostly for grade school and high school students, was named after Dra. Paz Mendoza Guazon, the first Filipina medical doctor. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1905.
The tour itinerary included stops at Plaza Zamora, Bahay na Tisa, the Ladislao Bonus Marker, the Romualdez Mansion, the Sto. Niño de Pandacan Catholic Church, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Church and Casa Carlos.
The event was meant to push the growth of the Lakbay Kamalaysayan walking tours in the hopes that participants will find themselves appreciating the seemingly ordinary places we barely know anything about, often pass by and take for granted.
The next Literatour will be held in Bacolor, Pampanga on April 18. -- Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
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