Museum of the Filipino Poeple

Although we were allowed to take pictures, I think it is improper to the National Museum if I post the ones I took.

I have been to the National Museum three times before this wonderful tour. The first was on a High School field trip when the Senate was still on the premises. the old musty and cobweb laden displays of stuffed animals were all I can remember plus of course the Spolarium. The second was with a date whom I was trying to impress during college. There I failed miserably. The third was with friends, but it was more for fun looking at the displays and trying to figure out things on our own and debating on facts we have no real knowledge on.

Since I have made a rule that it will not just be shopping that will fill my schedules during my trips to Manila and abroad, I decided that everytime I travel, I will make time for either a play, concert or a museum tour. Luckily, there was a National Museum tour on the dates of my visit to Manila. So it was a big thing on the list of things to do. The meetings and the shoping seemed secondary as I looked forward for that Sunday morning tour.

True enough, the tour was a wonderful and eye opening experience. It made me feel proud to be a Filipino.

Before going into the tour, Rajo Laurel was speaking on the television on why the Filipinos were the first global citizens. It turns out the archipelago 40,000 years ago were parts of Asia and Australia. Elephant remains were excavated in the islands as proof. Early inhabitants of the islands were shellfish eaters. That explained the collumns of clam shells in the exhibit area. There were galleries for archeology site and deep water excavations.

The tour of the national treasure the manungul jar was the highlight of one gallery which included excavated jar covers shaped into human faces. The tribal costumes were excellent, with the Bagobo garbs colors showing shades reminiscent of the colors of Armani and Gucci clothes.

It was amazing that ordinary utensils used by Maranaos were made colorful with ukkil carvings. Even the plows used in rice fileds and fishnets were adorned with these designs.

I like most the story of how a T'boli weaver of ikat cloth gets her designs through self induced fever and dreams. I thought that stuff are only for the movies.

The San Diego galleries were beautiful but I guess it did not interest me much personally. Here John Silva's comments practically made the stop bearable. Seeing an original 16th century astrolab if that is the highlight of the gallery as it is the only one displayed in a museum is worth the stop.

We crossed the street to the old legislative building and passing through the lobby with the whimsical Impy Pilapil chandeliers, we were lead into the hall of two great Filipino Masters. Juan Luna's "Spolarium" and Hidalgo's "The Assasination of Governor Bustamante by the Friars" stood across each other on the great hall. It was Luna's painting though that gives the room energy. On the farthest end of the room, two wounded and lifeless gladiators were being dragged into the darkness while on one side a distraught woman turned on her back was in a pose of grief as onlookers packed and peered on the opposite end. The painting won the first price of a prestigious Spanish competition with Hidalgo's placing second.

All these years, its significance for me was limited to that idea. The "Spolarium" was great because it won a prize. However, as the great John Silva narrated the circumstances and events that followed after its celebrated victory- Jose Rizal's speech, the branding of Rizal as subersive and his eventual writing of the Noli and Fili, changed my perspective. It was not just the beauty of the work and the metaphor behind, but the fuelling of a revolution that made it great. I stood in awe. There were tears bordering on my eyelids. It made me proud.

There were other works on display by national artists and other painters. The contrast between the romanticized version of Francisco's First Mass and Manansala's Planting of the Cross were a striking and impressive way to view art and history and the Filipino society. It helped me realize how flawed our education system is and how it should be salvaged.

If you have time during the dates on the poster, I highly recommend joining the tour. I use to think when I go on tour of museums in other countries that their collections were more impressive than ours. This tour have made it all wrong. We have a wealth of history and art that is waiting for us to discover and eventually make us appreciate and proud of who we are.