PASIG'S PLEASANT PLACES

I have been remiss with my blogging yet again... It was partly because I have been hogging the social media platform too much and also because I'm getting a bad addiction to YouTube. I know, mea culpa! Fortunately, the Advocates for Heritage Preservation announced the first tour for the year 2020. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to not post anything.

The Department of Tourism got in touch with me to guide for Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat to promote the Pasig River Ferry. Originally, the tour was supposed to be a high-profile tour with three mayors, industry bigwigs and media personalities in attendance. After the initial contact, the tour was postponed for a later date and resumed, thankfully, sans mayors, media and the fanfare that goes along with it. 

We started the river tour  from the San Joaquin station of Pasig and went downstream towards Escolta station after which, we proceeded by way of E-trikes to Intramuros after dusk for Instagramable photos of the walled city, Jones Bridge and some beautiful river-scapes  along the cruise route. This was how I met Jesse de Lara and Quin Cruz, both young and passionate advocates and silent members of AHP.  I initiated exploratory talks with AHP and Quin and Jesse so we can conduct a heritage tour of the City of Pasig with other members. 

I have been going to Pasig as a child and all through my adult years. My relatives had a parcel of land in Santolan where they planted fruit trees and lush gardens tended by my aunt. We would spend important holidays in Pasig where we would play softball in the rice fields, fly kites and swim in the tumana . We would spend Holy Week and Christmas in Sto. Tomas de Villanueva subdivision and go to Montalban or Antipolo to cool off for summer. The house and lot were sold when my cousins migrated to the US. Plenty of memories there... and so it was another  chance to open up my vault of remembrances on a heritage tour but this time in the city proper. Kapasigan they called it!

Situated at least 12km from the city of Manila, the once sleepy town has emerged as a commercial district replete with pockets of recreational facilities, high end establishments and glitzy malls. It is a far cry from the pre-colonial markets established by the Chinese traders who sailed upstream and landed in an wide embankment during pre colonial times. The name Pasig is suggested to have come from the Sanskrit word "Pasegas" which was a sandy embankment where Chinese traders landed and where they brought their products further inland to a market area. Pasegas also means whirlpool or eddy where one body of water flows into another.

Immaculate Conception Cathedral

We arrived in Pasig City at six in the morning. Too early for our 9:00a.m. call time. We went to the church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and initially parked in the patio. Built in 1575, the present structure was built in 1639 and believed to have been completed before the British invasion of 1762. It was said to have been converted  stables and then re-purposed again at the end of the interlude in 1764. The stone convent was built by Fr. Felix Trillo from 1722 to 1747. The church was restored in 1897 and the roof replaced with galvanized iron by Fr. Simon Barroso. The church facade is done in the neo-classical  and colonial style with triglyphs separating three levels. The first  and second levels have arched doors and windows with small rosette windows on the second level. The third level is a triangular pediment with a central niche and supported by Doric columns and topped by a Renaissance-influenced mini-balustrade lacing the raking cornice. A massive five level belfry is on the left side of the church.* The church is currently under restoration. Major areas of the church have succumbed to "improvements". the grounds have been cemented over in grassy areas.

church patio

Another area that has changed is the Rizal Plaza. Typical of the standard prescribed lay-out of Spanish towns, the elite's homes, the Church and the government buildings revolve around the town square. Given that Pasig is one of the oldest areas established by the Spaniards, the plaza still plays an active role in the Pasigueno's life. This monument honors the memory of our National Hero, Jose P. Rizal and it harks back to the time when Rizal had an  the entire province named after him.  One of the streets  fronting the Concepcion mansion has been elevated and now serves as a multi-purpose area for Zumba sessions.

There was a time when I and a friend worked on a calendar for the San Miguel Corporation. Our Art Director for the project was no less than National Artist for Production Design Salvador Bernal. One of the photos used for the calendar was taken at the colonnaded veranda of the Concepcion Mansion with aspiring actress Vicky Suva as our model. So I had very vivid recollections of the mansion prior to it becoming a functioning museum. Built in 1937 by Don Fortunato Concepcion who also served as town mayor, the mansion was also commandeered by the Japanese and upon liberation on 19 February, 1945 an American Flag was hoisted on the mirador of the famed home. By the 1980's the home was purchased by the local government to be used as a library and museum. Renovated in the year 2000, it was fully devoted as a museum. Fully renovated in 2008, it was renovated and re-opened to much fanfare.

Pasig Museum a.k.a. Concepcion Mansion

The tour group them proceeded to the Collegio del Buen Consejo museum directly across the museum. Built in 1909 under the initiative of Mother Superior Consuelo Barcelo, O.S.A.,  and placed under the supervision of Sr. Theresa de Jesus Andrada. The convent dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel and was used as a refuge of those evading the Japanese atrocities of WWII, the convent received considerable damage during the liberation in 1945 and restored in 1948. The school and convent now has a small museum that features memorabilia of the order.

Colegio del Buen Consejo Museum

We then proceeded back to the church across the street that has its own museum on the history and the progress of Christianity in Pasig City.  The long hallway was completely covered in a mural on one side that had an audio commentary of the vignettes included in the mural. Across it were glass panels that included a timeline of the history of Pasig and the church. 

Immaculate Conception Museum

We then proceeded to Bahay na Tisa which is a much lived in Bahay-na-Bato a few block off the church and plaza. How it miraculously survived cataclysms and war is a wonder! The home is 174 years old and done in the style of Spanish Antillean style very evident of colonial homes. Built by Don Cecilio Tech y Cabrera in the 1850s this gem of a home has served many purposes at certain points in time. It was called Freedom House as well since opposite factions were able to use the house as a venue for meetings during Martial Law. Other than an official barangay headquarters, it was also used as art exhibit space and location shoot for period movies. Recently, it was honored by the Pasig City local government and the National Historical Commission with a historical marker citing the house as a cultural treasure. Descendants of  Don Cecilio still take residence in this gem of a home and they actually do small restorations on the  banggera, capiz windows and the persianas.

Kuya Mel

Bahay na Tisa

Tito and Aye

Vica en la azotea

By this time, we had worked up an appetite and we proceeded to Tapsihan ni Vivian  for lunch. This unpretentious restaurant serves up good food for very affordable prices. They have a great variety of Filipino food presented Carinderia style. I was really impressed! Torta congrejo meal with a fried egg, a can of soda and... get this, lato (sea grapes or green caviar) salad was a little less than 250.00 and I didn't even get to use my senior card!  The restaurant has a bright dining area with glass panels and a mezzanine for added tables. It can easily fit a huge number of diners except in the evening when it gets really full, I heard.

Rizal High School museum

By half past one p.m. we all loaded up on the vans and drove to Rizal High School touted as the largest secondary school in the world. The huge campus has its own oval for sports development and a mini museum to honor its roster of distinguished alumni. Current teachers estimate a total of 14,000 students currently enrolled in the school. The Rizal High School now also has the distinction of having the longest mural in one of the buildings depicting the development of Pasig city from pre-colonial times to the present. Unfortunately, the way to the oldest surviving building in the school was locked on this Saturday visit, but one could not miss the numerous additional buildings and halls carrying the names of past mayors and civil servants who obviously want a part of their legacy to be remembered. 

the blue team

The tour would not have been complete without a visit to Dimas-alang Bakery in Pasig. Now owned by Mr. Manolo Lozada, a brother of the famous violinist Carmencita Lozada. The bakery is over a hundred years old. It was established in 1919 and still much patronized by the locals in Pasig. Their baked products have  a distinct old-world reputation. Among the products I personally enjoyed are their brazo de mercedes, di ko akalain, pandesal, ensaymada and bonete. Incidentally, Mr Lozada is a prolific painter and antique collector.  Its location contributed much to its longevity. I remember going to my friend's  (Cata Cruz) house right beside the bakery. Sadly, my friend has passed on and their house is now an ukay-ukay.  AHP members had to stop by the bakery and experience their wares. It was an eyeful to see our tour members carrying brown bags full of steaming hot pan de sal and monay coming out of that bakery. It was one of the tours that ended the earliest since we didn't actually have to travel that far... but it was so well organized and the compact group was easy to manage despite new members and kids tagging along. Thank you to Jesse de Lara and Quin Cruz both heritage warriors of Pasig and Tito Encarnacion, Johnson Bernardo and Lito Ligon for doing the ground work in making the tour a success.

the red team