The ruins of Guadalupe (Interesting places)

Media

Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People

Title: The ruins of Guadalupe (Interesting places)
Creator: Carballo, Francisco
Language: English
Year: 1936
Subject: Makati --Philippines -- Description and travel; Guadalupe ruins; Makati --Philippines -- History
Rights
Abstract: [During the Spanish regime, the convent served different purposes at different times. It was at once a monastery, a printing shop, an ecclesiastical library, then a college, and an orphanage, and at various times, a summer home for the members of the order.
Fulltext: March, l!J.16 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 55 INTERESTING PLACES THE RUINS OF GUADALUPE By Francisco Carballo* With Illustrations by the Author (Cviiclude<l _from .'he ft'e/J>'l'ltl'.!J n11mber) DURING the Spanish regime, the convent served different purposes at different times. It was at once a monastery, a printing shop, an ecclesiastical library, then a college, and an orphanage, and at various times, a summer home for the members of the order. During the revolution of 1896, the Spanish cazadores, hard pressed by the Katipuneros, barricaded the church and convent and defied the forces of General Pio de! Pilar. The local revolutionists headed by Captain. Urbano Carballo laid siege to the detachment and after some desultory fighting with a few of the besiegers wounded, the Spanish commander surrendered the garrison to the Filipinos, together with one hundred fifty' guns and a few rounds of ammunition and some provisions. The Spanish commander also presented his sabre with a gilt handle to Captain Carballo. After entering the convent, the revolutionary captain came upon a gruesome sight. Scores of Spanish soldiers wounded at different battle engagements and sent to the Guadalupe convent for treatment were suffering due to lack of adequate medical attention. Some of them were in a dying condition and were huddled on the cold bare tile floors in the convent ground rooms. Some of the sisters of chal"ity who had fled from Mandaluyon with thefr girl wards and had taken refuge in the monastery were doing their best for the wounded soldiers but they were handicapped due to lack of proper medical supplies. The wounded soldiers, •Formerly Principal, Intramuro~ Intermediate School. the sisters, and their wards were taken in cascos to Manila for treatment and safety. The cazadores as prisoners of war were civilly treated and assigned for detention at the different revolutionary garrisons encamped outside-the city. During the Filipino-American war, Guadalupe became the center of military operations. The church and convent were taken and retaken by Filipino and American forces. The Americans under.General King made a final effort to ret_ake the village where the Filipino garrison was quartered in the convent, and with the aid of reinforcements from Santa Ana and elsewhere, the Filipino forces led by General Paciano Rizal with soldiers mostly from Laguna, and aided by some of General Del Pilar's men, made a stiff defense of Guadalupe. Due to the superiority of arms of the invaders, the rev( Please f111"1t to page 7.l) .\/11n:h, /!l.J{; THE YOUNG CITIZEN A Faithful Dog Words and Musich!} Grade VI-A Pupils Nasugbu l:.lemenlary :>chool, Batangas A feilh-ful do~ an olJ m•n H'e. war .RJ .raO he could no~ had. c.-a~. r ;J I~ But one. eold dar\t. day Iha. old mon die.d, And Bur -ter w .. r ac. on - ly could w.alch fi,. ,...,..,_ ~er" qrave, Un~il- ~;\ .al d. - \one. 'co 1rieve he. d ;..,J of ~ro.{. THE RUINS OF GUADALUPE (Continue,/ from page 55) olutionic;t> were repulsed. On February !9, 1899. General King ordered the church and convent set on fire together w.ith all the houses in the village. Some Americans justified the burning as a military necessity and to pun"ish the barrio for irs obstinate resistance. Many thinking people, however, Americans and Filipinos alike. believe that at least the beautiful church as a place of Christian worship, should hav~ been spared. In. the fire. the magnificent altar, priceless images. among which was that of the Virgin of Guadalupe. valuable paraphernalia. and silver utensils for church service were totally destroyed. Only the hardwood image of San Nicolas was salvaged by one of General Paclano"s PEN AND PENCIL (Cc'ltfinue.d from page 67) ground is surrounded by a gum a· mela hedge which supply. us. with plenty of red flo.wers everyday. Out side the fence are oprn fields and green trees. Next tirrle .. I will .try to send you a picture of our school. Sincerely yours, Julia San Jose Grade IV-A Yo:i hau'.} des-:ribed your school w W'.!ll that a p:.cture 'is almost u11nf!ccssary. I belieu2 other children in othf!r schoo~s will have a. uery clear idea of th'! hind of school 6uilding yo:.i studr,; in. Not all o:· them are as lucky as _you are. From your ·description. l gathered that t;ou love your school and will do much to keep it beautif.u/. l will men who were reconnoitering th;: appnx'.ate any picture you may send place after the Americans had n.•- vs. treated to Makati. The image was Aunr Almt.1 in the stone-vaulted mortuary chamber behind the sacristy and it was not touched by the fire, That same image is now housed in the small chapel of the town. Luck; Saint Nicholas! cecded in taking to the City some of Guadah~pe's sonorous bells where they must have been melted for thei.r valuable copper. Of the several church bells only two have THE ADVENTURES OF (Conttm1ed fr.,m ptUlt? b3 J Anyway we shall not be abJe to sleep tonight. with the wandering souls chanting their way through the town." "I can get for you my grandfather's fighting cock ... anOther Offered. "It is tied in a corner of the kitchen behind a low table." "Oh. No, No." Tonio· cut in: "I have so1m" savings. My Lola said I could spend it for anything. It will be en6ugh for a big hen and some loaves of bread." w·ith the help of their Ka Jose's father, the boys succeeded in pre· paring a decent midnight lunch. Meanwhife the other boys lurhd in the deep shadows- of the trees and glided stealthily from :backyard to backyard in the hope of finding chickens in their ordinary roosts. In spite of the precautiOns i:he owners had taken in-lo::king up their chickens. there were.some wavward ones that rewarded the vigilance of the night prowlers. (To be continued) Chinese junkman carting two bells to Manila. and recognizing the bells as those froni the ruins. he ·ordered After the fire,. marauders and been sav;:d and are in active use- the -Celestial· to return the stolen souvenir hunters had a free hand. one at the Makati church, and the belle;. Th:! junkman refused, ·and Chinese junkmen from Manila got other. at th:? Guadalupe chapel. As to scare him away, the man dt'ew ' every iron scrap they could lay their the village was pr.:ictically desert..!d his bolo. The rascal. fearin~ for hands on. They pried up from the at that time. the j.unkmen and oth- his life, lost .00 time ·in n•nning to chlirch floors glazed and marble er marauders did their plundering the city without even looking bacJ. ... tiles. and from the stairway, hug(' husine.:;s unrr!olested. A villager. leaving bdls and all. Chinese g_ranite slabs. They sue- however. returning to town me~ a (P.'e~r 1· run• h p ·ge •-1) i4 THE RUINS OF GUADALUPE (Continiud from page 73) After peace was declared, the few survivors of the once populous town returned and built temporary huts of bamboo and cogon grass. Weeds, vines. and parasitic plants practically covered the ruins and their premises and nobody dared to enter the place for fear of snakes. At night the somber appearance of the ruins made superstitious people believe they saw headless friars haunting th~ ruins. staying guard over their hidden treasures. Others thought they saw the ghosts of warriors who were hurriedly buried in the adjoining grounds where they fell during past battles. Later, the ruins and .their prem: iscs were ordered cleaned, and then people from far and near came as curious visitors and etched their names on the hoary walls, perhaps unmindful that they were adding notoriety to their vandalic fame. Picnickers came and went, some careless ones leaving the garbage of their lunches to greet other visitors who really had appreciation for beauty. . Then one day something happened. A few Spaniards came and held a whole day outing at the ruins. They indulged in merrymaking and stayed till dark. Some villagers who happened to be passing that way saw men leaving the ruins and carrying a heavy iron ch::!st which they took to the launch which was waiting at the river landing. The villagers believed that the chest must have contained thousands of pesos in silver and gold coins. Some of the picknickers. they said, must have been friars for the)p had tonsures, but wore. civilian clothes to avoid the suspicion of the townsmen. The two villagers told their neighbors what they had seen and the next day scores of villagers went to the ruins and to their astonishment they saw under the convent stairway a section of the wall newly opened from which the chest must have been extracted the day before. In the past, nobody even THE YOUNG CITIZEN suspected that such a clear-surfaced wall contained any valuable treasure behind it. "There must be some more hidden treasures buried here," they said, and the mad search was on. Villagers, old and young, .people from far and near, came with bars, picks, and shovels and dug everywhere-the floors, the walls, the arches, and nooks where they suspected hollow sound. Even some American soldiers from Fort McKinley joined the hunt, and believing that some treasures were buried with the old padres, they dug the vaults of these also, but found only moldy bones. One of the soldiers found a metal collar button among the bones and he considered it as a great find. Later, other diggers found two new openings in the convent--one near the middle stair landing. and the other, in the floor of an adjoining room. They presumed that these openings were dug by those who had secured the first chest. The disc.every of the new excavations further increased the enthusiasm of the treasure hunters. One dark night the villagers heard an explosion in the ruins and with lanterns and clubs they rushed up the hill to find o'ut what caused the explosion. To their surprise they came upon two American soldiers who. in the dim glow of thi.!ir flashlight, looked scared-nay more scared th.Jn the frantic villagers. To save energy, the soldiers said, they had used a stick of dynamite to blast the middle floor of the mortuary chamber, but they found nothing. Warned by the tenientft def barrio that they would be reported to the proper authorities. their digging ventures came to an end. Others resumed the digging and only 3fter years of vain excavating that the search finally stopped. But the church and convent presented a sorry sight with big holes and mounds of debris scattered around the walls were pick-marked at se.veral places. An effort was made by the Augustinian order to restore the church and convent, but due to the high cost Qf restoration. the idea was giv."rlarch, 1936 -en up. Former Presidenc Benton of the University of the Philippine:; once visited the ruins to size up the suitability of the place as a possible site for the University when the authorities were then considering the transfer of that institution outside of Manila. Not long ago the ruins have been leased to· Mr. F. Umbreit, a prcn;inent business ·man of the City. With some repairs and adjustments this gentleman has c0;nverted a part of the convent into a comfort:i.hle country home. A lov~r of the antique and of ·nature he has done much to preserve the beaucy of the ruins by affecting needed repairs. filling and levelling holes left by treasure and souvenir hunters. Every room on the ground floor of the convent is a garden plot, and various kinds of decorative plants h~ve been brought from the city at grnt expense and are now growing on well-kept lawns on the three side of the church and convent. Every visitor who has seen the clean and well-cared for gardens of the ruins has expressed admiration for th~ beautiful improvements made under Mr. Umbreit's supervision evidently at great expense and effort. The ruins are fenced to discourage un·· authorized individuals from entering the premises and thus prevent the further mutilation of the venerable pile. At present the ruined sanctuary in its majestic silence stands as a reminder of the past and recalls to the visitor many events in eccksiastical. political, and revolutionary history-piety, peace, intrigue, war, and even romance. Its walls, bullet- and shell-scarred testify to th~ frenzy of war, and as the visitor gazes in wonder, he is awed by the age and beauty of the pile and the artistry of its builders. Its massive walls, flat arChes. exquisite stone carvings, the mortuary crypt, its rain-water tanks. its cloister-lik.? arrangement-all are characterized by beauty and strength which the destructive hand of man so far ha's failed to utterly destroy. During moonlit nights when the moon(Plea.se l11n1 lo page 76) 7G THE YOUNG CITIZEN Maka le, Ethiopia's "Salt Seller" By J. C. p To you, salt may appear of ve- guard it on the east, northeast, and iy little value. But the moment southeast. Because of its salt trade. you run out of"salt and have to go it can well suppor~ a population of v:ithout it, you will realize how 15,000 people. It is one of the important it is. Makale is an im- largest, busiest, and most prosperous portant city of Ethiopia. chiefly, settlements in the Ethiopian provt•ecause it is the center for distribut- ince of Tigre. ing salt. In this country, salt is The round native houses are scat used as an article of food and as tcred over hillsides. There. are a currency. You can buy anything in Ethiopia with salt just as you do here with money. Once a month thousands of merchants and their camels: leave Mako.le for the salt lakes of Danakil. Here layers of dried salt and sand, broken into blocks weighing 3 Vi pounds each, are offered for sale. A salt block costing ·less than a cent;,vo in Danakil is sold for seven centavos in Makale. At a place about a hundred miles south of Makale, the same block may be sold for a peso. Forty-one years ago, Makale' was in the hands of Italian troops. Af· ter about a year the city was taken back by the Ethiopians. Now it is again occupied by the Italians. ThC city of Makale stands on a number of hills. High mountaim T 0 T 0 y ,. WATCH TOTOY CLOSELY. SEE WHAT HE WILL DO NEXT MONTH. few churches, a large markec, and a large stone palace. Several na· tive huts are frequently surrounded Vy a rough waJI inclosing a family's dwellings, live stock and garden. Little irrigation ditches supply waCl!r for gardens of flowers, ferns, and fruic trees such as orange, lime and lemon. There are birds of bright feathers. among which are the green and yellow pigeons. The people of 1\.fakaie are very proud of their palace. It was built by an Italian architect for King Johannes, during whose times Makale was used as the capital of Ethiopia. The palace which was strongly constructed of limestone blocks, also served as J. fort. The grounds are indmed by two outer walls~ · Note.--The information was March, 1986 -WH i;N nu;y WERE YOUNG True Anecdotes A poor Young man from the lloi:os was on a boat bound for Ma· nila. Ir was his ambition to finish a course in the big city. On the boat, there were other young men who were also on their way to Manila. ~rhey were rich .. Their clothes and manners showed that they had plenty of money. They would gather on the deck to talk noisily Jbout what they did with their money. As they Calked. they smoked expensive cigars. The poor boy also wanted to smoke but he could not afford even cheap cigars. So he stayed on the deck with the rich young men .and inhaled thr. smoke blown toward him. In Ma'lila, the poor student worked and studied so hard that he got ahead of the rich students. He became a successful lawyer and later served in the highest court of the land. He was also one tim\.' president of the University of th12 ' Philippine.~. The roor boy was Hon. Ignacio Villamor. THE RUINS OF GUADALUPE (Conlimrd from page 74) beams fall on its gray walls which cast their shadows on the plateau. the pile presencs a glorious pictu're which has an appeal to all lovers of the beautiful. In the peace of some night when soft breezes waft upon its walls, the imaginative passerby seems to hear the sou·nd of ZI solemn mass and sacred hymn'i sung by an invisible choir for the rerose of souls long departed. The ruined pile is but a shadow of its former s;?lory. and if its ancient wall~ had the power of sprech. they could tell to the legions of admiring visitors many interesting events which took place during more than three centuries of their existence. In their dignified silence the ruins of G11ada]up~ stand as .. n important landmark i'l Philippin'' history. taken from the Geographic New<; Bulletin
pages: 55, 73-74, 76