Siargao

It's the surfing capital of the Philippines. It maybe difficult to get there but braving the two hour ferry ride is well worth it.

Carlos Celdran Tours Review

I was in Carlos Celdran's "If these walls could talk" tour of Intramuros last Sunday. It was actually not a tour but a theatrical act, history lesson and social commentary rolled into an apology. Maybe it was wrong for me to expect otherwise. I was expecting a tour like John Silva's of the National Museum. I was expecting a fresh take on the common and often neglected Manila.

Instead, it was a monologue of apologies which I would appreciate also ( and I would gladly pay also) if I watch it inside a theater with the airconditioning rather than tramping over ruins under the heat of the sun at 3 in the afternoon.

The tour starts with the National Anthem. Followed by a quick lesson in origins of Filipino words. Words pertaining to the body are malay in origin like tao or langit. Those pertaining to things of trade are spanish in origin like lampara or lapis. While the recent inventions are american like kodak.

Then came the first apology. An explanation why we don't have an Angkor Wat or a Borubodur. Under the shade of the Manila Cathedral as he turned off the recorder playing tinikling, he showed pictures of old buildings damaged by past earthquakes. The lowly adobe or volcanic ash cannot be used for making monuments on these islands that sits on crisscrossing tectonic plates.

Then came apology number two. the King of Spain wanted to dispose of the islands. There was no gold here. Instead Carlos said the ones who actually benefitted are the friars. theocracy. Old news. So Rizal. What I would have wanted was an explanation fo why they hold on to these islands. Why on earth did they stay here for three hundred years?

We walked on to the ruins of the Ateneo. A quick explanation of the Philippine revolution and Rizal. Under the heat, we trudged to San Agustin had chocnut for a break.

Carlos then proceeded with his spiel on the American period between two american flags hanging on the walls of the San Agustin. He explained the Treaty of Paris. It was actually a buy 1 take 5 islands. How the americans converted Manila into their image. In thirty years, Manila became a cosmopolitan city with many of Asia's first.

Then inside the crypts of the San Agustin, he did his World War II spiel. Between two lighted candles, he explained the folly of Douglas McArthur. How MacArthur actually thought that the Japs won't try to attack Manila and didn't heed the warnings of Pearl Harbor. How he should have headed to Japan to make them surrender but returned to the Philippines instead for showbiz reasons (that of fulfilling the promise to return) and had to pose for the Leyte landing pictures three times. Endangering the citizens of Manila. The Japs went on a rampage killing everyone in sight. This prompted the Americans to bomb the City. And nobody seemed to care that the second worst city destroyed in WWII was actually bombed by the Americans. Here, Celdran was at his finest. I must admit I was on verge of tears.

We proceed to the courtyard and he explained why the San Agustin survived. It was a red cross station and was thus spared from bombing. He explained the architecture of the San Agustin as distinctively Filipino. Not Spanish baroque with chinese gargoyles in the front door. The columns do not hold anything. The inside motifs were not stone carvings but drawings made by a milan opera scene painter. We lighted candles inside the church.

In the courtyard of the Casa Manila, Carlos echoed his sentiments on Filipino architecture. That it is hodge-podge of decorations that do not have any purpose place inside a box. On top of the staicase with a very nice view of the Manila Cathedral'S dome, Carlos explained that everything inside the museum are original courtesy of the then First Lady Imelda Marcos who got them as "donations" from the rich. Like the jeepney and the halo-halo, the culture of the Filipinos is actually a mixture of all the influences tailored to the availablility and taste of the people.

Over halo-halo, Carlos then made his take on the current tsinoycracy of the Philippine society- the dominance of the Filipino Chinese elite. He apologized for the lack of a true Filipino cuisine. He said we lacked it because we do not have royalty. Asking the Australians, what their cuisine was, they too could actually not answer. Is it not kangaroo steak?

Maybe I was not satisfied because I was expecting something else. But overall the ambiance added authenticity to what Carlos was saying. I was glad that these ideas (ideas I was actually taught at the beloved University of the Philippines Diliman) have found their way out of the classrooms and the finally to the streets of Intramuros. So if you're up for a tour you may want to consider Carlos'.