The "Castle" of Manila: Revisiting the Ocampo Pagoda Mansion

- Sept. 6, 2017, Wednesday.

- Manila is a chaotic city, but it's my kind of chaos. It's not the perfect city, and God knows what's happening - not only in Manila - but the whole country these days, but Manila's "charm" is its treasures that stand right in front of you but are easily ignored due to people being preoccupied with the city's chaos. One such treasure in plain sight is the Ocampo Pagoda Mansion in Quiapo, Manila.

Look at this orientalist beauty.

- I have visited this Manilan quirk quite a few times, with my last visit being in 2012. I decided to visit it again because I just wanted to see how it was doing and if I'd be lucky enough to see more treasures related to this pagoda/mansion. This mansion, by the way, is my favorite architectural wonder in Manila, despite how it looks like today. It is located along Bilibid Viejo Street just outside San Sebastian Church. I walked there from Hidalgo street since I passed by Muslim Town.

The remnants of the pagoda. Decided to wear something Chinese instead of Japanese since wearing something Japanese catches more attention than my Chinese polo. At least, somehow, it fits the theme?

- The Ocampo Pagoda was the house of Don Jose Mariano Ocampo, a lawyer and realtor who lived in the early 1900s. After being a Spanish cemetery, Don Jose built his one-hectare mansion from 1936 to 1941, and was built to resemble both eastern and western castles. The dominant influence, however, is Japanese architecture. Sources say that this was done as an admiration for Japan as one of the earliest Asian countries to be able to catch up with western trends; Japan began learning much from Europe and being open to numerous European influences since the Meiji Era of the mid-1800s. During the Second World War, it served as a bomb shelter of the people of that area because of the study materials used to build the mansion. However, the top part of the tower and other parts of the mansion were destroyed not from the war, but from a great earthquake in 1962.

I got this photo from Google. This is a colorized photo of the mansion taken by James Kirkpatrick in 1945. This photo is currently under the car of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..

- Today, the land of the mansion was passed on the Don Jose's descendants. Some of these areas are the alleys and streets surrounding the actual pagoda; stores and dormitories , or people's houses are built along these streets and alleys. The pagoda itself has been used for quite some time as a dormitory for seamen, and so no one is allowed to enter the pagoda. Outside the pagoda is a basketball court for the people that live near/around the pagoda.

- The pagoda and the symbolisms found in the actual mansion aren't the only things that catch the attention of those who have heard and want to visit this pagoda. Going around the pagoda (from Bilibid Viejo Street, just keep walking and after crossing the bridge, turn left at Gonzalo Puyat Street,) one can find some slightly-sketchy-but-totally-safe (I promise) house-lined alleys. The walls of some of these alleys have life-sized religious statues welcoming curious eyes; these statues from the pagoda were commissioned by Don Jose since he was religious. I also saw the frequently-photographed shachihoko or shachi, which might imply that that area used to be an entrance or a gate to one of the areas of the mansion. The shachihoko or shachi, by the way, is a Japanese mythological creature that has the head of a tiger and the body of a fish. These were usually placed on roofs to protect the structure, but once in a while these can be seen on gates or as stand-alone statues.

Religious statues. These were around 4-5 feet tall.

I supposed these are the Ten Commandments?

Shachihoko "caught" in a plastic rope.

Not sure who/what this is.

- Numerous blogs, photos, and even feature articles will show other statues that scatter the area. The statues that I photographed are the same ones I saw before, but I wish to find more statues like the ones I saw in the other blogs and articles. The most important statue however, the 30-foot statue of the Lady of Mt. Carmel, which used to be seen between a 2-foot wide alley (hence the nickname, "Babae sa Eskinita" or "Lady of the Alley,") also known as "Mundo" (as she stands on a giant globe,") has been transferred to New Manila in Quezon City in 2016, behind the Mt. Carmel Shrine along Broadway Avenue (now known as Dona Juana Rodriguez Avenue.) Too bad I did not know this sooner, since I visited the Mt. Carmel Shrine just a few weeks ago. The statue of the Lady of Mount Carmel is said to be miraculous and grants people's wishes.

- With a mild sunburn and a sweat-lined face I battled the crowd of Quiapo on the way home. I never liked the feeling of being sweaty and dirty after a whole afternoon of being out, but it's always worth it when visiting Quiapo. Quiapo is a like a giant antique store - it looks scary and sketchy, but you're always bound to find something that will fancy you. And to the Ocampo Pagoda, I'll see you again and I'll find more time to explore your treasures that you have scattered around the alleys and streets around you. Until today, I am still hoping that they turned you into a museum of some sort, or at the very least, restored/preserved you better.

Celebrating "Buwan ng Wika": Let's Learn about Baybayin!!

- August 24, 2013, Saturday.

- I decided the last minute to attend a four-part workshop organized by Sanghabi, a newly-formed organization that aims to promote the Philippine indigenous cultures. The four-part workshop was entitled "Baybayin: Karunungan ng Bayan" ("Baybayin: Knowledge of the Community,") and was held in one of Quiapo's heritage sites, the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, located at A. Bautista Street, near Hidalgo Street.

- I have never been inside the Bahay Nakpil before, although I've seen the facade many times before. The facade of the house was already something to marvel at; a typical Spanish-Filipino wooden house, with some restorations made. Inside, the Spanish-influenced three-story house had some memorabilia of Gregoria de Jesus, who was married to Andres Bonifacio before being married to Julio Nakpil.

- The event started at around 2pm, and was well-attended mostly by students and young adult culture enthusiasts. I met my graduate school schoolmates Wayne, Ann, and Sha. The event began with a song composed by Julio Nakpil, and then the national anthem with a banduria accompaniment.

- The first part of the workshop was led by Mr. Leo Emmanuel Castro, a scholar/researcher on Filipino culture. He talked about the history of the world's scripts, and theories about the origins of the baybayin, also known as the alibata, the traditional Philippine written script. (I still am a firm believer that the baybayin was developed through a Southeast Asian migration of the Indian culture, stemming from the ancient South Indian Chola or Pallava Dynasties.)

My favorite historical item: the Laguna copper plate.

- The second part of the workshop was facilitated by Dr. Tess Obusan, who took her PhD in Philippine Studies in the UP Asian Center (where my friends and I are right now for our MAs.) She discussed the relationship of the baybayin and femininity through the character that represented the "ba" syllable. The syllable "ba" is represented by an inverted heart, which has roots and similarities to other symbols for femininity (i.e. the genitalia,) like the Indian subcontinent's yoni symbol. Other words like "bahay" (house,) "bayan" (town/community,) "baybayin" (the alibata) are all related to "babae" (woman.)

The yoni with the erect lingam.

The inverted heart as the "ba" syllable.

- The next part of the workshop was done by Mr. Reimon Cosare, a specialist on Philippine psychology, and a baybayin expert. He taught all of us how to spell using the baybayin, and the modern developments of baybayin awareness, such as manga/anime comics being written using the baybayin script. We all had fun spelling our names in baybayin. It was quite confusing especially for those not familiar with the baybayin. Even for people like me, who're more or less familiar with it, spelling words using the alibata/baybayin can be confusing, also depending on whether we'd like to spell words using the pre-colonial way (without stand-alone consonant sounds,) or the Spanish-devised/colonial way (with stand-alone consonants, via the cross diacritical mark invented by the Spanish.)

Wayne enjoying himself with alibata.

Alibata manga?!?! Wow. Haha.

An important syllable in the Philippine languages.

- The last, and honestly was my most-awaited segment, the pangalay workshop led by Mr. Orlando de Guzman Jr., an enthusiast on pangalay, taichi, and qigong. The "pangalay" is a dance from the Tausug ethnic group from Mindanao, and has Indian roots; the name itself is of Sanskrit origin. The movements resembled the wavy lines of the alibata, which is why it was still relevant to the baybayin workshop. The rhythm of the pangalay depended on the dancer's breathing, and the dance goes slower as the music goes faster. The footworks resembled other dances from Southeast Asia, and the hands, although did not have different mudras (hand gestures/forms,) the wrist movements seemed to be influenced by other Southeast Asian, even South Asian dances. Dancers of pangalay usually stood on bamboo poles, so footworks are quite restricted. Forward, backward, and sidewards are the directions mostly done by pangalay dancers, although sidewards movements that ultimately form a ring/circle were also developed. I was very happy to have experienced this, because one of my life's goals is to learn a Philippine dance, even if it would just be a one-time thing like this.

Playing traditional instruments.

Footwork practice.

Hand movements.

Wayne: "Yo dawg."

Hip positions.

The pangalay is also called the fingernail dance, as dancers usually placed golden claws while dancing.

- After the workshop, we had some snacks, and did some networking with the organization, since Sanglahi's goals and activities were very relevant to the UP Asian Center. We also took the opportunity to take some "period-themed" and "culture-themed" photos around Bahay Nakpil.

Behind the scenes. Haha.

My masterpiece.

Visit to the Globo de Oro (Golden Mosque.)

- Wayne, Ann, and I went ahead, and had a brief side trip to the Golden Mosque, which was a short five-minute walk from Bahay Nakpil. We decided to go home just as the rain got heavier and heavier; I wasn't dressed for the rain since the sun was happily shining throughout the day. Even so, I had no regrets signing up for the baybayin workshop, and I learned a lot more than I expected. The best thing? The workshop was free.

The Big Break (??) : Quiapo With Teresa Sickert

- April 15, 2012, Sunday.

- My German friend and former classmate Teresa Sickert sent me a message via Facebook a week ago, while I was in Vietnam, if I would be available one of these days to give her a tour in Quiapo. I told Teresa that I'd be available today, and arranged for us to meet at 11am at the Carriedo LRT Station.

- We met today at the back exit of the LRT Station, and promptly started our Quiapo tour. I found out soon enough that Teresa would feature me in a German radio travel show, since she works for a German radio station in Berlin. Teresa asked me to speak in Filipino and translate the stuff I said to English right after the Filipino version. (Teresa would also feature other Filipino friends from the other places she had gone to, and will go to in the Philippines.)

- My recording-while-walking session was briefly interrupted after Teresa met her German best friend, who was accompanied by her German boyfriend, in the middle of Quiapo. Teresa didn't know that her friend would be in the Philippines, so the brief encounter was priceless.

- I toured her around just as how I would tour the other people I have toured in Quiapo, just this time with a tape recorder following me. Teresa wanted to find out the kinds of people who went to Quiapo, some introduction about the place in general and the marketplace, and what a person could get for 500php and 50php.

- After the short interview, and successfully braving the moderate crowd, we found ourselves in Muslim Town, and ate some halal food at Mofara's. We also went around Muslim town and the souvenir stalls under the bridge ("Ilalim ng Tulay,") and visited the heritage houses at A. Bautista Street (Bahay Nakpil and Boix House.)

- Since Teresa treated me to lunch, I took her to the San Sebastian Church, a 5 to 10 minute walk from "mainland" Quiapo, and the even farther Ocampo Pagoda.

- We went back to Carriedo and window-shopped, before strolling through Sta. Cruz, Escolta, and finally, Chinatown. Because the sun "had too much to give," I asked Teresa if it would be OK to stop by The Tea Life to rest, have some air-conditioning, and some ice-cold green tea milk tea.

- Teresa and I had a nice cultural conversation at The Tea Life. Teresa's stories in Germany made me want to visit Europe more, and experience something non-Asian for a change. Teresa also assured me that this would not be her last time in Asia, since there is still more to discover in Asia.

- We both walked to Recto, where I dropped Teresa off at the jeepney terminal, where she rode a jeep to the Recto LRT. It was nice seeing Teresa again since early 2010, when she was still an exchange student to Ateneo. Hopefully, I'll be able to encounter her again next time, and I really really do pray that that next time will be in Germany. HAHA. (It's always free to wish.)