Intramuros festival on Sunday to commemorate Battle of Manila

This February 26 marks the eighth year that Intramuros plays host to the Manila Transitio Festival—an event staged in remembrance of the Battle of Manila.

The event is hosted by the Intramuros Administration, heritage group Viva Manila, and Carlos Celdran. “I started the festival as a reaction to my own ignorance,” Celdran says. “Through all the years that I've been living in this city, I never knew about the Battle of Manila in 1945.”

Scenes from last year's Manila Transitio. Photos: Ivan Sarenas

Manila’s forgotten battle

In February 1945, a clash between American, Japanese, and Philippine forces devastated the Philippine capital. In just a month, most of the city, from Caloocan to Malate, lay in ruins, with over 100,000 civilian lives lost. But Manila was liberated from the Japanese.

“When I started doing tours of Intramuros back in 2001, I was going around the walled city pointing at churches that didn't exist; I was pointing out literal voids in Manila's history,” Celdran says. “When I researched Intramuros' history in order to find out what happened to all these churches, the Battle of Manila popped out and hit me in the gut. I learned that back in 1945, our city and its residents experienced a horror so abominable that even until today, it remains unspoken.”

Instead of rebuilding Manila in the image of its former grandeur, the city shaped itself into the mix that we have today. The battle itself has been largely forgotten. “The Battle of Manila wasn't taught in schools; there's no holiday; there's no national monument. But the more I learned about this moment in our history, the more Manila made sense to me as well,” Celdran says. “1945 was the moment Manila lost its sense of community; its urbanity; and its direction. It was when Manila transitioned from being the Pearl of the Orient to what it is today.”

"Sueño de Manila" by Carlos Celdran

It’s this sense of community that the Manila Transitio Festival aims to rekindle, and hopefully, revive. “This yearly commemoration is defined by a public picnic, an art exhibition, a community ritual, and an open air concert held inside one of the many gardens of Intramuros. This event hopes to remind Manila’s residents that they once lived in a proud, beautiful city and that the memory of the 100,000 civilians who died in the battle should be honored,” Celdran says.

Everyone is invited

The 8th Manila Transitio Festival will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at Baluarte San Diego, Sta. Lucia cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Entrance fee is pay what you can. “One peso is appreciated just as much as one thousand pesos,” the press kit notes.

This year’s theme is “Folk Art. Folk Traditions. Folk Music.” It will feature artwork by Russ Ligtas, Mitch Garcia, Ian Madrigal, Martin Lorenzo De Mesa, Mars Bugaoan, Jodee Aguillon, Leeroy New, Derek Tumala, Rosa Mirasol Esguerra Melencio, and Tad Ermitaño and performances by “Tres Marias”, a trio consisting of Bayang Barrios, Cookie Chua, and Lolita Carbon and DJ sets by Paolo Garcia (Parallel Uno).

Guests can bring their own blankets, picnic baskets, dogs, friends and family. Food and drink (and booze!) will be available from vendors on-site. Quiapo candle ladies will also be on site to grant wishes.

“Ultimately, Manila Transitio is really all about recognizing the city’s changes,” Celdran says. “Manila’s transitions from what it was, to what is, and to what it can possibly become in the future.” — BM, GMA News

For more information about the Manila Transitio Festival, visit the Facebook event page.