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NOT a
few people lamented the demolition of the Jai Alai
building, an art deco structure built in the late 1930s
along Taft Avenue—once considered a mini-Champs Elysee
before the World War II reduced much of it into a
rubble. Amid protests, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza went
ahead and destroyed the building, one of the few
survivors of the war, to make way for a new courthouse
in June 2000.
Conservationists considered the demolition of the
building, designed by renowned architect Welton Becket,
as another example of how some Filipinos care little
about the country’s heritage. Good thing that the
historic houses and landmarks dotting the cobble-stoned
streets of Vigan, a great reminder of Spanish
occupation, have been preserved, others restored and
were inscribed in Unesco’s World Heritage List in 1999.
Otherwise.
MITA RUFINO with fashion
designer Pitoy Moreno.
“What is
Filipino heritage? It is our tradition, which brings us
back to our roots and past. It reminds us of who we are
and what happened to us in the past. It is our identity
as Filipino people,” said Mita Rufino, president of the
Filipino Heritage Festival, in an interview recently.
“So that when we are asked who we are, we can proudly
say ‘I’m a Filipino’ and not ‘I’m an Ilocano’ or ‘I’m a
Samareno.’
Rufino
presided the launching of this year’s celebration of the
National Heritage Month in May. The month-long event
will revolve around the theme The Traditions of the
Bamboo, a tribute to the pliant but strong plant found
in most Filipino homes’ backyard and a staple for
building houses, making furniture and home decorations.
Bamboo
has also figured prominently in Filipino folklore.
Remember “Si Malakas at Si Maganda”? Never mind that it
had been appropriated by the once-powerful couple in
Malacañang to create their own myth.
The
festival will feature an art exhibit honoring Davao’s
legendary bamboo sculptor, Jose Patinio; a concert of
the St. Joseph Parish’s famed bamboo organ in Las Piñas;
another concert that will have bamboo music accompany
dance and songs; another exhibit of bamboo-inspired
paintings by Jose Blanco, Rodolfo Roa and R.P. Pecson.
Fashion
shows by noted designers Jose “Pitoy” Moreno and Ben
Farrales will also be part of the festivities. Pitoy
will showcase his Asean Collection, shown during the
Asean
Summit held in
Cebu
City earlier this year. The traditional terno and barong
were reinterpreted to incorporate materials found in
other countries in the region such as Thailand, Malaysia
and Vietnam to add their flavor to the clothes, Pitoy
said during an interview at the same event.
“It’s a
little tough doing the collection because it will be
using not just materials from the Philippines but it
will also have influences from other Asean countries,”
said Pitoy, famous for creating the clothes for some of
local society’s richest and most powerful men and women.
Floral
artist and designer Rachy Cuna, who recently launched a
coffee table book featuring his works, will hold an
exhibit of bamboo installations.
To
spread awareness of the festival throughout the country,
various events will be held outside of Metro Manila. For
instance, the opening will be staged in Tacloban City
that would include exhibits of Letye’s old religious
icons, heritage structures, tuba making and abaca
installations. Fermenting tuba, a local wine made from
the flower of coconut tree bearing the same name, is a
major source of livelihood in the province.
There
will also be activities in the cities of Silay, Iloilo,
Laoag, Bacolod, Cebu and Bulacan. The closing ceremonies
will be held in
Cagayan Valley
that will feature a reenactment of the arrival of the
Spaniards in the province, trade fares, culinary feasts,
tours and brick-making demonstration, the material used
in building centuries-old churches of Cagayan.
But why bamboo as an inspiration?
“We want
to raise more awareness for the bamboo, which has not
been highlighted before,” Rufino said. “Before, bamboos
were used for the houses of low-income people. But now,
they adorn the flashy houses of the elite. While there
are already buyers of bamboo-made furniture and
decorations, there are not enough of them yet. We want
to help them [exporters].”
And
heritage? Is there an economics behind the preservation
of national heritage? Can the organizers and sponsors
recoup the estimated P13 million that will be spent for
the festival? Can it help feed the millions of starving
Filipinos or help send children of the poor through at
least primary school?
“We feel
that the country is so divided—by politics, by a lot of
issues. We want to look for something that we have in
common, something that will unify us. If we have unity,
we will have peace. And if more people are aware of
their heritage, then more tourists will come in,“ Rufino
explained.
“Once we
are aware of our tradition, that’s the time we can say
we are cultured,” she added.
Still,
with most events held at cosmopolitan cities, flashy
hotels and shopping malls, how can the poor be made
aware of his heritage, culture and history?
No
wonder then that many of them didn’t care when the Jai
Alai building was demolished, and many don’t care that
Taft Avenue—dirty, crowded, with an unsightly MRT track
in the middle of it like a giant anaconda—is now a big
eyesore. |
