Tourist-ing at the Manila North Cemetery before Undas

Undas is the Pinoy term for All Saints’ Day, 1^st of November, a national holiday, when families visit their dearly departed in public cemeteries, private memorial parks, and, of late, columbaries where they say prayers, light candles, adorn graves and tombs with flowers, and have a picnic, this one a matter of convenience or a borrowed Chinese custom. 

In Manila and other cities, people who hate traffic jams around burial grounds make their visits on the eve of undas or Halloween, when pranksters spook every one with ghoulish costumes to remind of ghosts and supernatural elements that prowl in the night, or on the day after, the All Souls’ Day, the religiously correct undas because in the Roman Catholic liturgy, this is the “Commemoration of All Faithful Departed.”  In Latin American countries, All Souls’ is their Day for the Dead, a national holiday.

Flower & candle stalls before the entrance to the Manila North Cemetery

October 28, elections day was traffic-light, so we decided to visit the Manila North Cemetery, one of the oldest and biggest cemeteries in Manila. In comparison, undas traffic here is super-heavy, and we’re speaking of hordes of visitors to a burial ground of 54 hectares.  It was an afternoon visit, so it was quite hurried, there was not much time to tarry, and the light was getting insufficient for the camera.

We returned on the 29th and 30th, but early enough in the afternoon and we had time to read inscriptions and take photographs of interesting places, people and things.  Motor vehicles were still allowed to get, tricycles were ferrying visitors who do not like to walk under the shady trees.

This was our first time visit to Manila North as tourist; we've come here before for the funeral of a friend.  We relied on residents here for directions and locations of gravesites of interest. They know the place like the face of their palms. They are caretakers of mausoleums, homes to their families throughout the year except on undas, when they store their household goods (some have washing machines too) in a temporary shelter and take leave for the visiting owners. 

We went visiting tombs of historical, political and popular figures.
 

The memorial to the 24 Boy Scouts.

 The memorial monument to the 24 boy scouts who died in a plane crash in 1963 on their way to Marathon, Greece for the 11th World Jamboree is found at the entrance, before the gate.  We met a priest who said he was to have been part of the delegation but he got sick.  He pointed out who among them were his classmates and friends after offering prayers and blessing the site. 

Presidents Sergio Osmena, Manuel Roxas, Ramon Magsaysay and Diosdado Macapagal are buried here, but we missed Macapagal's gravesite.  

Magsaysay's tomb has a Philippine flag representation and a wall inscribed with one of his quotable statements. “The president should set the example of a big heart, an honest mind, sound instincts, the virtue of healthy impatience and an abiding love for the common man,” he continues to implore from his grave.   Visitors today may want to check if the incumbent executive comes up to these measures.

In memoriam: Ramon Magsaysay.

Statesman Claro M. Recto's tomb also has a background wall containing his words, which are more philosophical:  ‘I am like the old man who plants a tree in his yard knowing that he may not sit in its shade.  I shall be content if future generations shall repeat with Tasio the philospher in the Noli Me Tangere: “No todos dormian en la noche de nuestros abuelos”[Not everybody slept in the  night of our forefathers].’ 

In memoriam:  Claro M. Recto.

The tomb of Gatpuno Antonio Villegas has also a background wall that contains his prayer.  The nearby tombs of two other mayors, and that of Arsenic or Arsenio Lacson, which is in another site, do not have statement walls.
 

Prayer of Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas.

Heroes are entombed in the Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolution (Mausoleum of the Veterans of the Revolution), which we found very colorful amidst several Philippine flags draped from poles on both sides. This was designed by Arcadio Arellano, and built by the Manila city government and Asociacion de los Veteranos de la Revolucion in 1915. The remains of several veterans of the 1896 revolution and of the Philippine-American war are entombed here like those of Comandante Tomas Arguelles, Gen.  Pio del Pilar and Gen. Mariano Noriel.

Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolution

One would not miss the Bautista-Nakpil gravesite with an beautifully sculptured obelisk.  This is where the remains of Gregoria de Jesus (d. 1943) and her husband Julio Nakpil (d. 1960), heroes of the revolution, were buried. She was the widow of Gat Andres Bonifacio, and he was a Katipunan military commander and well-known musician-composer. 

This is where Gregoria de Jesus and her husband Julio Nakpil were buried.

 Heroes too were the first American teachers in the Philippines, collectively called Thomasites, who were at the forefront of the public school system that the Americans introduced upon the departure of the Spanish colonial masters.

In memoriam:  the first American teachers in the Philippines.

The American Teachers’ Memorial was erected in 1918 in “memory of the American school teachers whose mortal remains lie beneath this hallowed ground known as the American little teachers plot and those others who rest in unknown and unmarked graves in various parts of the country, as a token of the Filipino people’s esteem of their dedications and self-sacrifices.  The first group of American teachers numbering about 48 arrived in the Philippines on board the SS Sheridan in July 1901. The succeeding 540 educators arrived on August 21, 1901 on SS Thomas leaving behind their homes and family and worked tirelessly for the education of the Filipino people and the improvement of the educational system in the country.”

In memoriam: Francis Burton Harrison

Harrison Street and Harrison Plaza may just be place names to many Filipinos today.  They do not know that these are memorials to Francis Burton Harrison, the American Governor General of the Philippines from March 1913 to September 1921.  He was known to be pro-Filipino, an advocate of Philippine independence.

He willed to be buried in the Philippines. Hence, when he died in 1957, his remains were brought back to the Philippines; he was buried at Manila North Cemetery.

In memoriam: Pancho Villa

The name Francisco V. Guilledo does not ring a bell to Filipinos, but Pancho Villa certainly sounds like a knock-out bell.

His grave lies along Main Street of Manila North.  It cannot be missed because it features his bust, ‘Pancho Villa’ clearly etched below it, and behind is an angel figure holding a belt proclaiming he is the world flyweight champion.  He was the first Filipino boxer to gain that title. 

The historical marker tells us that he was 24 when he died on 14 July 1925.  He started as a handyman in the stable of Francisco Villa, and he first won in a boxing match in 1918 at the age of 17. He gained world fame in December 1921, and was champion from 1922 to 1925. Ring Magazine added his name to the Hall of Fame in 1961.

The Poe mausoleum may be far from the cemetery gate, at the last loop from Main Street, but one can walk for the exercise rather than take a tricycle ride. 

In Memoriam: Fernando Poe, Jr.

This is where popular movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr, better known as FPJ and Da King, is entombed.

In the Pinoy’s recent memory of Philippine politics, he was cheated in the presidential elections of 2004.   If it was an appeasement, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo granted him posthumously the National Artist of the Philippines for Film award in May 2006.  It was confirmed by Pres. Benigno Aquino III and the family received it in July 2012.

To Filipinos who will visit his resting place on undas, Ronald Allan Kelley Poe or FPJ will always be the King of Filipino Movies.  To them, as inscribed on his tomb, he will always be alive in their hearts and memories (lagi ka sa aming puso at alaala).

That’s the same spirit that makes the Filipino spend a day with their faithful departed: a loving memory.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

Going to Kalibo and Capiz schools in the early 1900s

The 'Thomasites' will forever be in the history of Philippine education, they who arrived in our country on August 12, 1901 to implement the new public school sytem with English as the medium of instruction, and to train the Filipino teachers handle the new curriculum.

Ralph Kent Buckland was not a Thomasite.  He called their batch of American teachers the "Dorics" because they came here on board the USS Doric in December 1903.  This is the same ship that, on one of its return journeys to the United States, carried the first 15 "sakadas" to work in one of the plantations in Hawaii in December 1906 (Kreifels 1998).

There could have been other ships that arrived here with American teachers on board. But just like Buckland and the other Dorics, they do not figure as prominently in Philippine history as the Thomasites.
After reading his book, one gets the impression that he was not happy during the whole time he stayed "In the land of the Filipino" (1912).  As soon as he stepped out of the ship, he started complaining--food, hygiene, accommodations, etcetera.  His destination was Calivo (Kalibo today), and he was dismayed that their lodging had not been arranged--he was dismayed that American teachers who've been there for some time were hesitant to take them in temporarily.

He was not happy with the state of education of the Calivo people; he was dismayed that parents would rather have their pupils work rather than go to school; he complained about students memorizing lessons in English without understanding the meaning of words and terms. This was how his first day in the Calivo school was --

"As soon as we had breakfasted, B. [his supervisor] and I went over to the schoolhouse. The native teacher caught a glimpse of us while we were still far down the street. He rang his bell, and the hundred or so of children, all ages and sizes, crowded through the, door of the schoolhouse without any attempt at forming a line or of maintaining any order whatever. They all screamed, "El maestro, El maestro," as they piled in through the door to their seats. Perhaps the teacher did make an effort to enforce discipline. I can't say for sure; for I was too far down the street to make out more than the hustle and tussle of the run to get seats in the very front row.

"However, all was still as a mouse as we neared the schoolhouse door. There was not a whisper nor any nervous shuffling of the feet as with most children. Evidently, the pupils were all seated, awaiting breathlessly our appearance before them. They were in their seats and they all popped up like jacks-in-the-box and welcomed us with a thundering "Good morning, t'cher!" —accent heavy on the last syllable-as soon as they caught sight of us in the doorway. I had not expected such an ovation. An embarrassed flush rushed to my cheeks. B., by way of general introduction, said: "This is your new teacher," glancing toward me. Again, the whole school, as though moved by one spring, jumped up. A perfectly deafening "Good morning, t'cher!" rang out. After B. had told me where the lessons were, he left me in charge of the most advanced class. This class had been under two American teachers the year previous, each for a month or two at a time, and had been under B. for the last two months; so that the members of the class could hardly be expected to be very far along in their work. Almost all the arithmetic within their grasp had been learned in the Spanish language under the old regime; their English as a medium through which to express their ideas amounted almost to nothing at all. In arithmetic, they were in long division; but they were miserably grounded. They could scarcely do anything even with short division. They were not at all sure or quick in their product tables, and they could not carry very well in addition nor borrow very well in subtraction. In the solving of problems, they were completely at sea, partly because of the English, partly because of a natural slowness to see into things clearly, that is along the line of problems. … And their English! They could read fairly well in the second reader, Baldwin's; but, although they pronounced the words, passably at least, they had not even the faintest idea of what they were reading about."

That could very well be how it was when the first American teacher appeared in any public school throughout the Philippine archipelago.

We would like to think though that Buckland was writing only of his initial impressions. He was there when the normal schools in Capiz and Calivo were set up.  He was disappointed that only two of their first teacher graduates passed qualifying tests but there could have been improvements, only that he never wrote about such happy events "in the land of the Filipinos."

The photographs in the book though are very interesting--class pictures and photographs taken during a graduation ceremony in the 1900s.  These could very well say that, after the initial drawbacks, public education in Calivo and Capiz turned out to be as beautiful as the people in the photographs. 

---------------------------------------------------

Buckland, Ralph Kent. (c1912). In the Land of the Filipino. New York: Every where publishing company. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/abj8567.0001.001 of the University of Michigan collection "The United States and its Territories,1870-1925: The Age of Imperialism".

Kreifels, Susan. (1998, June 10). Filipinos celebrate how far they've come. Honolulu Star-Bulletin Article. Retrieved from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1117832531.html.