misterios

"No object is mysterious. The mystery is in your eye."

happy birthday pepe!

Dr. Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal y Alonzo Realonda

June 19, 1861 - December 30, 1896

Remembering the national hero's birthday today. (Photo taken inside the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago)

happy 111th independence day

happy 111th independence day my dear country - Philippines!

The Philippine Declaration of Independence occurred on June 12, 1898 in the Philippines, where Filipino revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo (later to become the Philippines' first Republican President) proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain after the latter was defeated at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.  (source: wikipedia)

Note: Photo taken inside the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago, saw the guard goofing around with his colleague and asked him to do the same pose again, after a few request, the guard willign obliged and posed again hence the "shoot out: stance :)

each day

"Under what clime or what skies, has tyranny claimed a nobler victim?"

~ Congressman Henry Cooper of Wisconsin, at the House of Representatives on a debate whether to grant autonomy to the Philippines, and right after reciting Rizal's valedictory poem, "Mi ultimo adios" in English: before members of U.S. Congress (1902)

mi ultimo adios

Rizal Shrine's second floor... it has three rooms: 1) souvenir shop; 2) glass cases showing Jose Rizal's suits/clothes and other stuff; and 3) a room with just writings on the floors and the walls (didn't read those stuff so please dont ask me what are they, this room also shows the lampara (alcohol lamp) and the kusinilya (small stove) in this photo. (If you take a closer look, you'll see my reflection in the glass).

Background why this stove is very important and such is the title of this post.
Rizal's attack on the Spanish occupation is non-violent but his writings/novels irked the Spanish government and friars which led to his arrest and execution. The day before his execution, his mother and sisters visited him in the cell and as they were about to leave, Rizal told them that there is something in the stove. Jose Rizal wrote the poem Mi Ultimo Adios (Huling Paalam in Tagalog), which expresses his love for his native land and hid it in this tiny stove. From this stove his family recovered a folded paper with this poem of 14 five-line stanzas, unsigned and untitled. This poem was circulated to his friends and was known to be his last testament and it was Marciano Ponce who gave the title to the poem.

This is the first stanza of the poem as translated in English: My Last Farewell. To read the whole poem click here.

Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun,
Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our vanquished Eden!
To you I gladly surrender this melancholy life;
And were it brighter, fresher, gaudier,
Even then I’d give it to you, to you alone would then I give.

staircase

Staircase going up to the 2nd level of the Rizal Shrine museum in Fort Santiago. Nothing out of the ordinary here and very simple compared to the Pambansang Museo staircase but i just always see photos of stairs in magazines and decided to give it a shot. The painting you see below is Jose Rizal's portrait. But if you'd notice, this staircase is very typical of those old houses, when i was a kid i used to think most of the houses, specially the old ones, looked the same. I did love playing slide in shiny balustrades... what about you?

PS. photo still grainy since i'm not using flash so as not to attract the guard's attention.

rizal shrine

"The Rizal Shrine is a modern museum built in 1953 and house the memorabilia of Jose Rizal. Our national hero's cell was in the former Cuarto de Repuesto or storage area and pantry. A model of the cell during his imprisonment is one of the main attractions of the shrine. In 1996, the shrine was renovated as part of the centennial celebration of Rizal's martyrdom and the Philippine Revolution."

Here's what the museum looks inside, this is the ground floor exhibiting Jose Rizal's photos, letters, and other memorabilia. The thin sheets of metal that looks like columns supporting the ceiling actually list down his writings. Sorry for the grainy picture and no photo of the main attraction because the place was so dark and besides i was only sneaking to take photos. After this shot, the guard noticed and approached me and reminded me that i should not take photos to which i responded ok but with no intention of doing so. I dunno why museums forbid picture taking inside. Would you know why?