Monuments of PHL heroes around the metro falling into disarray

Everything concerning a monument is carefully chosen and well-thought out, from its posture to its location. Each little detail is symbolic an/or aesthetically appealing.

For example, no monument of Jose Rizal's is depicted in a combat position, as the man believed in peace and fighting oppression with words, not swords. Meanwhile, Andres Bonifacio's monuments are always dynamic, often cross-shaped, symbolizing his eagerness for battle and willingness to die for his country.

Such is the realm of iconography, which Senior Historic Sites Development Officer Bryan Paraiso defined as “A basic way of expressing indirectly what you'd like to [say] about a person or about an artwork na you cannot really say directly...so dinadaan nila through symbols,” in a News to Go report Thursday.



Paraiso works for the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, through which all the monuments and their particulars—down to the artist—must be evaluated. They have gone so far as to rule that no views displeasing to the eye should surround any of these historical markers.

And yet, they cannot be expected to police everything. Plenty of monuments and historic landmarks around the city have been near abandoned, or else their surroundings have been dirtied.

One of Melchora “Tandang Sora” Aquino's markers has been vandalized, its background clotted with electrical wires and shanty houses. There has also been no effort to rebuild or clean up the area around her ancestral house, which burned to the ground in April this year; it is now heaped with trash and charred wood and surrounded by squatters.

The NHCP has built a shrine for her, but they acknowledge that this step is still insufficient.

Meanwhile, Rizal's monument in Luneta and Bonifacio's in Caloocan are surrounded by (or will be surrounded by) condominiums, malls, and other commercial buildings—surefire ways to ruin a good picture.

“Yun yung mga kailangan nating bantayan,” said heritage conservationist Ivan Henares. “[These are] more than metal objects, these are symbolisms of people who have done a lot of good for our country...our heroes, those who have contributed to the Philippines.”

As of posting time, it was not mentioned what the representatives of the companies who own the said buildings think of the situation. — Vida Cruz/BM, GMA News