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LGUs
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
BONIFACIO MONUMENT: A HISTORICAL TREASURE By Honor Blanco Cabie
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N THE 1950s to the early part of the 1960s, many northerners traveling to Manila, on a business trip or educational stopover, became all too familiar with the welcoming monument of Andres Bonifacio in Caloocan City, part of the province of Rizal until 1975. The area had in fact been known to many as Monumento, a euphemism for the 45-foot pylon and figures cast in bronze at the intersections of Samson Road, MacArthur Highway, Rizal Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), heretofore known as Highway 54. The stone monument is slowly being given a facelift, in the run up to Bonifacio’s 153rd birthday anniversary on Nov. 30. Road travelers then from the Ilocos, Baguio, Cagayan Valley, the Central Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Zambales, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Pangasinan—the last now a part of the Ilocos Region—always hit the MacArthur Highway which snakes through the country’s far northwest and were always welcomed by the Monumento. In 21st century Metro Manila, the place has become also the start of the line for the Light Railway Transit (LRT) that begins at the Monumento Station on the north end of Edsa and leads all the way up to the Baclaran Station in Pasay City on the southside. With the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) now a major highway for travelers from the north since the 1960s, not as many as decades back have been given the opportunity to wake up from their speeding buses to see the silhouette of the monument of Bonifacio, the Filipino nationalist and revolutionary. Bonifacio (Nov. 30, 1863-May 10, 1897) is often called “the great plebeian,” “father of the Philippine Revolution,” and “father of the Katipunan.” He was a founder and later “supreme leader” of the Katipunan movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution. Some historians consider him a de facto national hero of the Philippines, colonized by Spain for nearly 400 years while others describe him as the first President, although he is not officially recognized as such. The expressway begins in Quezon City, formerly the country’s capital, at a cloverleaf interchange with EDSA: a continuation of the Andres Bonifacio Avenue. It then passes through Quezon City, Caloocan, and Valenzuela in Metro Manila. Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Malolos, Plaridel, and Pulilan in Bulacan, San Simon, San Fernando, Mexico and Angeles in Pampanga. The expressway currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of rice-rich Central and Northern Luzon facing Luzon Bay. Some critics find it ironic the monument of Bonifacio in Caloocan is better known than the one in Tondo, his birthplace— in front of Tutuban Center mall on C.M. Recto Avenue or the old Azcarraga in the waterfront district of Manila. Bonifacio is depicted in the usual—but false—bolo and trousers outfit, with historical critics suggesting Bonifacio was not stupid enough to wear red trousers and be an easy target of his Spanish enemies. Students of history have learned for decades the Caloocan City “Monumento”—now a major landmark of the city—was designed and completed in 1933 by the country’s National Artist for the Visual Arts (Sculpture) in 1973, Guillermo Estrella Tolentino. Turn to D2
PARAMOUNT LEADER.
Historical critics say the three steps leading to the monument of Katipunan’s supreme leader Andres Bonifacio represent the three centuries of Spanish rule (333 years). The monument is getting a facelift in preparation for his 153rd birth anniversary on Nov. 30. Manny Palmero
FREE SKILLS TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR DRUG SURRENDERERS BAGUIO CITY—The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) announced its readiness to provide free skills training of their choice to fully rehabilitated drug surrenderers for them to be able to have a sustainable source of income and for them to be brought back to the mainstream society. Tesda Director-General Guiling Mamondiong said coordination had been done with the health department and the social welfare offices on how to implement the system that would guarantee the provision of skills training to the interested surrenderers. These surrenderers are expected to want to equip themselves to help uplift the living condition of their families. He said: “We are ready to provide
the desired skills training to our drug surrenderers but they must be fully rehabilitated so that it will be easier for them to be brought back to mainstream society. “We have the available slots for interested drug surrenderers because it is part of our functions to help bring back the vibrance of the surrenderers by being productive in their chosen fields of profession in the future.” The TESDA official claimed the agency will also be providing the surenderers the appropriate career coaching. This is intended to guide them in the election of the skills training they want to be enrolled in to allow them to pursue a certain field that will serve as their source of income for their respective families and for them to be able to em-
brace a sudden reversal in their lives. According to him, barangay officials must strictly monitor the compliance of the surrenderers to their commitments to already abandon their involvement in the illegal drug trade and support them in their desire to acquire the needed skills. The skills are expected to help them advance the source of their livelihood and guarantee sustainable income for their families. He added one of the primary conditions imposed by the agency before providing the drug surrenderers with their desired skills training was for them to be able to present a certification from the accredited health official that they had been fully rehabilitated. Another condition was that they were fit to undergo the training as
they wanted to have a paradigm shift in their lives. After having completed their chosen skills training, the trained drug surrenderers will then be required to undergo the required assessment for them to be issued a national certification for their acquired competency. He explained provincial and regional Tesda offices were authorized to facilitate the conduct of free skills trainings to interested and fully rehabilitated drug surrenderers. He claimed the Duterte administration was aggressive in the implementation of its anti-drug campaign but it also wanted those involved in the illegal drug trade to reform and become productive citizens of their communities. Dexter A. See
Local Gov’t Units
CAPITOL’S ‘DESECRATION’ DENOUNCED MALOLOS CITY—Bulakenyo architects and artists here are up in arms against what they call as ‘desecration’ of the facade of the Bulacan Capitol building, a legacy and obra designed in 1930 by the renowned Filipino National Architect Juan M. Arellano (April 25, 1888–Dec. 5, 1960). Members of the Bulacan Heritage Conservation Society and five local chapters of the United Architect of the Philippines chapters in Bulacan are also calling for an immediate inquiry on why Gov. Willy Sy-Alvarado allowed the construction of an additional pediment on top of the main facade. Leaders of visual artists in the province are set to meet next month with concerned officers of the UAP-Bulacan chapter, Barasoain chapter, Bulacan-Del Pilar chapter, the Sta. Maria chapter and Malolos Republika chapter to plan their joint move on how to air their protest on the issue. Arellano was best known for his neo-classical works such as the Metropolitan Theater in Manila (1935); the Legislative Building (1926 now the National Museum); Manila Central Post Office building (1926); the Central Student Church (now known as the Central United Methodist Church, 1932); the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol (1936); the Cebu Provincial Capitol (1937); the Bank of the Philippine Islands Cebu Main Branch (1940); Misamis Occidental Provincial Capitol Building (1935) and the Jones Bridge among others. Arellano graduated from Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1908 and was into painting early in his life. However, he pursued architecture and was sent to the US as one of the first pensionados in architecture, after Carlos Barreto, who was sent to the Drexel Institute in 1908; Antonio Toledo, who went to Ohio State University and Tomas Mapua, who went to Cornell. He then studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1911 and later transferred to Drexel Institute to finish his degree in Architecture. He also trained in the Beaux Arts in New York City. Orlan Mauricio
SEAMAN HELD FOR DRUG PUSH
KAWIT, CAVITE—Police in this town, shifting to high gear in their operation against illegal drugs in their area, have arrested a seamen for alleged drug pushing. PO1 Joneth Atienza Onrubia identified the suspect as Frederick Octavo, 44 years old, a married seaman and resident of Barangay Tabon 3 here. Police said they received a phone call from an informant that rampant drug selling was going on the house of one merely identified as Japlin. Police led by SPO1 Jaspher Paul Aspiras dashed to the area, resulting in the arrest of Octavo, from whose possession police said five unsealed transparent plastic sachets. The sachets contained white crystalline residue suspected to be shabu and an improvised glass tube tooter containing suspected shabu residue. Benjamin Chavez