Historic Cemeteries in the Philippines

Here's one for history buffs and tourists.  Cemeteries not only hold the dear departed's remains in peaceful protective slumber, some cemeteries actually hold parts of Philippine history!

If you take a stroll through some of the cemeteries listed below, you will gain important lessons in the nation's interesting history.

1.  Paco Park Cemetery

Now a well-tended recreational area, Paco Park was once called Cementerio General de Dilao or Cementerio General de Paco.  During the time when the Philippines was still a colony of Spain, Paco Park Cemetery was Manila's municipal grave site.  Built in the late 18th century, many of Manila's wealthy residents were buried here, until 1822 when it was used as a mass burial site for cholera epidemic victims.

After his execution at Bagumbayan, National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal was buried at Paco Park, until his remains were later moved to its current location at the Rizal Monument.

Paco Park is also the burial site of  the three Filipino priests Jose Burgos, Mario Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, who were accused of mutiny and rebellion in Cavite in 1872, and were eventually executed by the Spanish colonial government.

In 1912, Paco Park ceased becoming a burial ground, and eventually turned into a beautiful garden and recreational area for Manila residents.

Dr. Jose P Rizal was initially interred at Paco Park cemetery after his execution.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2.  La Loma Cemetery

Cementerio General de La Loma began receiving interments in 1884.  It is the oldest cemetery in the city.  It earned a spot in Philippine history because during Spanish colonial times, Filipinos who rebelled against the Spanish authorities were banned from being buried in La Loma.  Being denied burial in holy grounds such as cemeteries was considered a grievous misfortune in the Spain-catholicized country back then.

La Loma cemetery survived destruction in 1945 during World War II.  The historic Battle of Manila laid most of the city's structures in ruin, but the cemetery remained intact, preserving its historical and architectural value.

St. Pancratius Chapel in La Loma Cemetery
(Photo credit: Spot.ph)

3.  Manila North Cemetery

The Manila North Cemetery is one of the biggest and oldest grave sites in the city.  It was known as the Cementerio del Norte during the 19th century under Spanish colonial rule. 

The cemetery was and still is the burial grounds of many prominent figures in the nation's historical landscape.  María Agoncillo-Aguinaldo, the wife of the first Philippine President Emilio Aguionaldo, was originally interred here. The mother of the Katipunan, Melchora Aquino or Tandang Sora, used to rest here.  Emilio Jacinto, Marcelo del Pilar, and many Filipino heroes were once buried at the same cemetery.  Several Philippine Presidents, senators, artists, and the most famous showbiz personality in Philippine cinema -- Fernando Poe Jr. -- are in this cemetery.

Mausoleo de los Veteranos de la Revolución, Manila North Cemetery
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4.  Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery

The underground cemetery in the town of Nagcarlan at the province of Laguna is the only underground cemetery in the country.  It served as the secret meeting place of Filipino Katipuneros after it was built in 1851.  Because of this part in history, the cemetery has been deemed a National Historical Landmark. 

Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The cemetery is a favorite tourist stopover nowadays, because of the detailed architecture of the burial grounds, the church and the crypts underneath.

Underground crypts at the Nagcarlan Cemetery

5.  Camiguin Sunken Cemetery

The Sunken Cemetery in Catarman, Camiguin is so-called because there was once a large burial site in this community.  When the island volcano, Mount Vulcan, erupted in 1871, the cemetery together with portions of the town sank 20 feet below sea level.  What was left of the cemetery was marked by a large cross that can be seen in the water from the shores of nearby Barrio Bonbon.

Cross marker at the Camiguin Sunken Cemetery
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6.  Sagada Hanging Coffins

Journey back to the Philippines' pre-colonial period with the hanging coffins at Sagada in the Mountain Province.  This place is not the traditional cemetery that can be found everywhere else in the country.  The hanging coffins are literally coffins hanging on the cliffs of Echo Valley.

It was the burial custom of pre-colonial Igorots, the ethnic dwellers of Sagada,  to carve their coffins from hollowed pine trees, and place these coffins on ledges in the cliffs.  They placed their dead on cliffs because they believed that the higher the coffins were located here on earth, the closer the dead were to heaven. 

Some of the hanging coffins in Sagada
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many of the islands of the Philippines hold their own interesting culture and traditions.  Burial rituals and therefore cemeteries are part of this rich heritage.  Wherever you happen to be in the Philippines, try visiting the community cemetery and discover more of the country through the way they Filipinos  their dead.

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Houses You Would Want to Live In... or Not!

"I guess when you turn off the main road, you have to be prepared to see some funny houses."

                                                                                                                     - Stephen King


I recently went on a research rampage, curious about houses that people build in all parts of the world.   I guess a part of me was just tired of looking at my own house, my neighbors' houses, the houses I pass by everyday in my town, and houses in this part of the world in general.

Made of the same materials, of nearly the same design, and within the same environment, houses in the same general area tend to look similar to each other.   I was looking for houses that are really unique, and those that would tickle my imagination.

What I found were exciting houses.  Their builders must be crazy to even think of constructing these houses.  And the owners who live here, well, they must be some kind of cool!


Earth-Sheltered Hobbit Houses

The good Earth is used as walls  to keep the indoor air temperature stable. These houses look cozy.  And all that green!  I wonder if you have to trim the lawn in your roof occasionally?

 A real hobbit house in Wales. This house looks like it stepped out of the pages of the popular books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.  With round doors, round windows, round roofs, and barely any straight lines anywhere, living in this house would really make you feel that you are in the Shire.



Shoe Houses

Scholars are still at a loss how to explain the meaning of the English nursery rhyme that starts with:

"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe..."

The world today is also at a loss why anyone would want to live in shoe-shaped houses.


Mountaintop Houses

Houses built on top of mountains must make the homeowners feel like they are on top of the world, looking down on creation, and the only explanation they can find... is the love that... oops, got carried away!

The view from mountaintop houses is spectacular, the mountain air is fresh.  Living there must be the closest to heaven on earth.  But the climb down to buy groceries and up again must be hell.



Island Houses

If you are looking for isolation, this house is perfect for you.  It brings the feeling of being "shipwrecked" or stranded in an island to the highest level.  You can just jump from your window when you want to take a dip at the waiting sea.

Water, water everywhere!  I wonder if it's fish for breakfast, fish for lunch and fish for dinner at this location.  But the view is breathtaking!

A post-card perfect house!  But what happens if it rains, and the water levels rises higher? Scary!


Gravity-defying Houses

This farm house in Ukraine looks oddly like it is floating, because a single cantilever anchors it to the ground.  There is no method to the madness here, except maybe the theory that alien architects designed this place.

Living in one of the apartments here in Habitat 67 in Montreal is like living in a Lego block.   You are stacked with your neighbors, but at least each apartment has its own patio, if that's any consolation.

Tree Houses

This tree house in Indonesia takes the concept to the highest level.  It's not built in the tree, but on top of it.  The view of the forest canopy is awesome, but it must be a long climb to the top.

This tree house can accommodate the whole town!  If I were to imagine the Elves' dwelling place in Lothlorien, one of the places in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy, it would be something like this.

This tree house did not harm a single tree in its construction.


Underground/Cave Houses

This well-designed underground house is barely visible to casual observers, blending so skillfully with the surroundings.  The house offers very little disruption to the surrounding wildlife and landscape.

The submerged structures all make up a Swiss estate.  The clever design of the house is weather-proof and provides good insulation.

When you have money to burn and love the environment, you do what British football star Gary Neville did:  try to build a low-impact underground house that will consume very little energy.  That's the reason for the petal-shaped openings in the house: allow sunlight to come in for lesser energy spending. 


Hanging Houses

 

I suppose there is a certain charm to living precariously.

Or living life on edge.



Upside-Down Houses

Upside-down houses really escapes the laws of logic.  But the study in architectural balance is greatly appreciated here.  The house above one looks actually pretty, in a strange upside-down sort of way.

Upside down houses are, at the very least, great conversation  pieces.  The ohs and ahs must be numerous when you throw a party here.  If you don't mind getting weird looks from your neighbors first.

Upside down houses MUST exist for some reason.  This one, believe it or not, is as a form of socio-political protest during Poland's Communist Era. 


That was quite a fun ride, jumping from house to house, each house with its own unique kind of style and a distinct kind of crazy.  After searching those houses for days, I'm quite exhausted, as if I actually went and inspected each one of them.  And I have come to a singular conclusion after house-hunting online:  the best house ever, no matter the size, the location, the design, is where one's heart truly is.  With family and people you love.  Without them, you may as well be living in the dumpster.

(Photo credit: Google images)

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Traveling with Kids

In my younger days, I was pretty much a wanderlust.  I guess that came from having a vivid imagination and a love for books.  Books open your mind to different places that you won't otherwise get to visit.  From fairy tale books with castles and forests, to various book genres.  I think all books I ever read painted such beautiful settings that made me look forward to traveling, with the high hopes that at every place I will ever go to it will surely offer the same beautiful scenery and enjoyable experience.


The thought of encountering a breathtaking meadow just around the bend, or a gurgling brook when I turn a corner, or a serene seascape -- those thoughts propel my love for traveling.  And travel I did, here and there and everywhere.  By land, sea, air.  Taking a bus, walking, running. hiking, climbing -- travel!

Travel plans definitely change with the onset of parenthood -- they disappear altogether.  When you go through the phases of your children's childhood, the only travel you ever undertake is as far as your pediatrician, if you can help it.  And later that extended to as far as the children's schools and the nearby parks and playgrounds.

We are one of those parents that avoid traveling to any destinations, with kids in tow, as far as possible.  I guess this is because of the following reasons:

• Safety.  When we travel with children, their safety is foremost in our mind.  Babies are such fragile beings at this stage.  Toddlers are a handful and can be rambunctious during trips.  While pre-teens and teens, though better-behaved, have a mind of their own and need to be looked after, too, for their safety.  Any type of travel involves a certain degree of physical activities that may potentially cause injuries to children.  One has to be careful with even the food they eat in a trip.  In case of untoward accidents... I shudder to think of travel accidents and children at the same time!

• Ease.  Having a child in your arms, or holding on to your hand, or fussing about something, or needing something, or crying, while walking up and down airplanes, cars or trains -- with luggage and all -- is not an easy feat.  All the elements of travel, from transportation, to accommodations, and travel activities, become more complicated with children in tow.

• Details.  Traveling with children is a major production because of the many details that one need to consider long before we even make the trip.  We pack for all the kids, for example, and their travel packs won't include mere clothes, but there are milks, diapers, snacks, emergency items, toys, books, and the like that we also need to bring.

• Money.  There are more financial considerations when traveling with children.  The cost of transportation (for bus, train, plane or sea travel) alone increases with each child.  The cost of food and accommodation  also increase.

• Time.  We need to make the trip as comfortable as possible for children.  We may need to travel in easy stages, and make more stopovers, which will involve more time spent in traveling.

If you are like us as parents, all these reasons will probably sound overwhelming to you, too.  But while they seem tantamount to launching a military operation when traveling, there comes a time that we just have to overcome them.  Travel opportunities will inevitably arise for the entire family.  And when travel is unavoidable, how do we make traveling with kids a safe and even wonderful experience?  By keeping in mind the following tips:

1.  Plan carefully and well ahead of time.  

• Determine the safest routes to travel and the mode of transportation.  Will the children be comfortable in a train or with riding a plane to the destination?  
• If the destination is optional and you just want to take them on a holiday or vacation, research online or pore through maps for the best child-friendly destinations.  
• If the schedule is flexible, opt for the time when the weather is nice to travel.

2.  Pack carefully.  

• Bring everything necessary, anticipating the needs of each child before and during traveling to the destination, staying at the destination, and getting back home.  
• Pack wisely, however, so as not to burden yourselves during the trip.
• Don't forget your travel documents, cash or credit cards.
• Bring a small first aid or emergency kit.

3.  If traveling by car, keep it in fine shape before the trip.  

4.  Stay alert during the actual travel

• Always keep an eye on the children, especially in crowded areas, around stairways and elevators, where things maybe difficult to navigate for them.
• Keep the children as comfortable as possible.  Any signs of tiredness, hunger, medical issues, anxiety or just plain restlessness have to be addressed as soon as possible to make for a pleasant trip.
• In getting to the destination and back home, maintain the same vigilance for the children's safety and protection.

5. Plan for emergencies. 

 And finally, the best thing to do when you cannot avoid traveling with kids is to enjoy yourself.  Treat the trip as an adventure that you are sharing with your children. A time for family bonding and quality togetherness.  Of making memories.  It's their first little steps toward exploring the world, and you are privileged to take those steps with them.  Do your best to make each trip together a memorable and wonderful experience for them.

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Hello, Environment!

Kids will be kids, and they often ask questions that leave adults stumped. While watching a rerun of Wall-E not so recently, they expectedly stayed glued to the screen all throughout the movie, laughed at the funny antics of the characters, and jumped up and down  in delight at every good part. They enjoyed it immensely and at the end of it, asked this question: "Why did the Earth become like that, you know, like, all covered in garbage?"

I was nonplussed, needless to say. Wall-E was just another animated movie for children. It's an offering from Pixar about a robot that inhabited the Earth after it was covered in tons of garbage and man no longer lives in it.  The location in the movie is a future Earth that is not a good environment for children.  The movie had all the goods -- good graphics animation, great characters, fascinating dialogues, and a very interesting plot -- but it had something more: a message to kids about the perils of not taking care of the planet.  And more than that, it also carried a warning to parents that, if we don't take care of it ourselves today, there won't be much of an environment for children in the future.

I did quick parent duty and answered the question as best as I could, but at the back of my mind something nagged. Fact: children nowadays are TV-bound but are still clearly analytical. Fact: the world they live in now is a far cry from the world we parents knew when we were still children. Fact: We parents should really do something about it.

So when two other movies made it through our rerun agenda -- Madagascar and The Wild -- and both of them about the environment too, it's time to hit the trails and have a little meet-and-greet with nature.

With a promise to show them a little bit of the "wilds" that Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe encountered in the island of Madagascar, we took off to nearby Mount Makiling. 

Wearing jogging pants and sturdy rubber shoes, we drove past the entrance to the National Arts Center and took the road going towards the Pook ni Mariang Makiling site. We left our vehicle at the entrance to the Jamboree site camp grounds and began walking.  Beyond is the waiting environment for children to explore.

The lush rainforest enclosed us immediately. The silence was deafening but pleasant, broken only by the wind rustling through tree leaves and the excited chatter of our children. Ohs, and ahs, and wows!  As if in welcome, the trees stood proudly, gigantic and conveying their antiquity -- regal beings in this environment for children to marvel upon.  And the children were indeed appropriately awed. They haven't seen the likes of such vast works of nature until then.

It seemed Mother Nature had prepared an extravagant show of the environment for children to enjoy.  We saw a lot of unique plants, strange rocks, and interesting structures as we continued our unhurried walk. There were tiny streams of water running through cracks on the earth. The children saw large spider webs and started at the sound of birds and crickets chirping nearby. They were disappointed not to meet a single lion, however, despite explaining to them that no lion lives in this mountain. 

It was a pleasant sojourn. Everything was new to them, but they took to it like ducks to water. We did not preach about the environment (they were too young for it), but instead just allowed them to soak it in, to be in communion with nature by themselves, and allow them to process the experiences they had that afternoon on their own.  

We picked that site for its relative safety particularly to children. It was still part of the Makiling Forest Reserve and very close to "civilization". Yet it has all the elements for a quick study of the environment -- a perfect environment for children.

As long as we feel a wave of pity for children who may no longer have the privilege to experience many of nature's gifts -- walk on rainforests, fish on pristine rivers, inhale fresh air and the like -- let us not stop bringing them closer to the environment.  For it may be gone before we know it.

But as long as we parents work on protecting our natural resources today, we are assured that there will certainly be an environment for children in the future.

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