00:00Can the old houses and houses that are part of our history and culture
00:09be given more importance?
00:14The debate today is about the noise of the market
00:17due to the destruction of the well-known Iloilo Central Market in Iloilo City,
00:23which was built in the 1930s and was one of the main choices in the whole province.
00:31I also visited this place in 2017.
00:43But for now, because the house was not saved,
00:47the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council
00:51and the city government, instead of renovating it,
00:54they will continue to demolish it for a safer and more modern market.
01:00It's better to demolish what was once in ruins.
01:04We were surprised why everything was destroyed.
01:08Even in the heart of Manila,
01:10it is now time to discuss the condition of other old but historic structures
01:17that have not only aged over time, but have also been forgotten by the current generations.
01:23We should revive our historical sites.
01:28They forget that they are just passing by like nothing happened.
01:31But this is what gave us freedom.
01:35In our tour of the streets of Manila,
01:38what other secrets of history can we discover?
01:44The historic structures in Manila
01:47are a mission to introduce to the current generations
01:51through the Heritage Walk of Renasimiento Manila,
01:55a group organized by history advocate Diego Torres.
02:00The Heritage Walks are here to bring the residents in contact and face-to-face with their history.
02:08If our first destination can only be spoken of,
02:13it has a lot to tell.
02:16On this street in Santa Cruz, Manila,
02:19there are many stories that we Filipinos loved.
02:24Here, you can find the ancestral house of the famous writer Severino Reyes.
02:31He will never forget his contribution to our culture and history.
02:36In fact, this entire street in Manila was named after him.
02:40Severino Reyes, also known as Don Binoy,
02:45is the author of famous stories like Walang Sugat,
02:50as well as the stories of Lola Bashang in the comics.
02:55But if his authors will not be forgotten,
02:59it is as if the place of his birth has been forgotten and neglected.
03:07It is as if it has been left behind for a long time.
03:11The painting is gone.
03:13The glass in the window is broken.
03:16The fence is broken.
03:17The plant is eaten.
03:19It's a big deal if your house or your place has a marker like this.
03:24If it's not here,
03:25you wouldn't think that in our history,
03:28there is an important personality who lived here.
03:33In these paintings, you can see the inside of the ancestral house.
03:38It's like a warehouse.
03:39This house has been here for more than 100 years.
03:43It's like it has been abandoned.
03:45But the frame is still intact.
03:47The steel of the house was quite durable that day.
03:51It wasn't restored at all.
03:53It's very important to me because this is where I became a person.
03:56In the early 1960s, we were quite happy there
03:59because Severino's son, his descendant, Narciso,
04:03and his family were there.
04:04Narciso Reyes Sr. is of the same age.
04:07So they moved to another house.
04:09All of his collections were secured,
04:11but it was burned down in the early 90s.
04:15Severino Reyes was named the father of Sarzuela in Tagalog.
04:20Sarzuela or Dula,
04:22which has a song and dance with a new name.
04:26One of his most famous works,
04:28is the Walang Sugat,
04:30which is still performed in theaters until now.
04:35He was brave,
04:36but his style was elegant.
04:38Elegant.
04:39That's why it's addictive.
04:40Yes.
04:41He has ways to make the message not so antagonistic.
04:44But if you're a Filipino audience, you'll get it.
04:46Severino Reyes was also one of the founders of Liwayway Magazine.
04:50In 1922,
04:52he named Liwayway as one of his most famous works,
04:57the Kuwais.
04:59In 1923,
05:01he named Liwayway as one of his most famous works,
05:05the Kuwento ni Lola Basiang.
05:08I want to hear the Kuwento ni Lola Basiang.
05:11He even made a movie and a TV version of it.
05:16Not many people know,
05:18even me,
05:19I only recently found out that Lola Basiang is not a real grandmother,
05:26but Severino Reyes himself.
05:29Lolo is a man,
05:31Lola Basiang, right?
05:33Yes, that's his pen name.
05:35Alias.
05:36But did you know that the pen name of Severino Reyes, Lola Basiang,
05:41is related to one of their neighbors on this street?
05:45The matriarch of the Zamora family in Quiapo, Manila,
05:50Hervasha Guzman de Zamora.
05:53Do you know Lola Basiang?
05:55Yes.
05:56Really?
05:58You know that you have a neighbor,
06:00a famous person in our history.
06:03Yes, and what I'm talking about is also related to them.
06:06The challenge in maintaining these houses is maintenance.
06:09If the properties are abandoned or leased out to other people,
06:14it's not like they don't care about the house.
06:17Is there really nothing I can do to preserve this better
06:20and to honor his memory and his contribution?
06:24How many measures can be done?
06:26The first challenge is with the private property.
06:28That's why it depends on the availability of funds.
06:40Let's walk on Recto Avenue.
06:42It's just in the corner of Elcano Street.
06:45You can go back to the exact place where Gat Andres Bonifacio established KKK.
06:53KKK is a high-ranking organization of the children of the country.
06:58In 1896, KKK began the Declaration of Independence,
07:05which was one of the milestones in the independence of the Filipinos during the Castilian era.
07:11It was served by Punong Patnugot, or Editor,
07:15who was also the head of KKK, Emilio Jacinto.
07:21230 Lavesares Street Corner, Sevilla.
07:25Here in Manila, in the middle of commerce,
07:28just near Binondo,
07:30there is a huge pile of paper in the courtyard of the Katipuneros
07:35under Gat Andres Bonifacio.
07:42So this is the marker where the independence was printed.
07:46Original house was destroyed in 1945
07:51in the Battle of Liberation of Manila in the Second World War.
07:55Nothing was retained from its historical significance.
07:59In the same place where the 2000 copies of the Declaration of Independence were held,
08:06I met the grandson of Emilio Jacinto's fifth generation, Melissa Dona.
08:13What are his stories about what he did for freedom?
08:18First, the Jacintos were really hiding.
08:21That's why we changed our last name.
08:24They used it in the gathering of the Katipuneros that day.
08:28Usually, the Katipuneros are cousins.
08:32Because they are cousins.
08:33When they grew up, they needed to go to class.
08:36They wrote the Declaration of Independence
08:39so that the hearts and minds of the Filipinos would know
08:43so that they could go to class in Spanish.
08:47But because the Declaration of Independence was printed there,
08:52so that the Spaniards would know,
08:54it was written by Marcelo H. del Pilar, who was then in Spain.
09:01For example, they published the Declaration printed in Yokohama, Japan,
09:08and not in this place in Manila.
09:12Was this a printing press before?
09:14Actually, it was the home of Pio Valenzuela.
09:20When Pio Valenzuela became the fiscal of the Katipunan,
09:24one of the things he fought for was to make a printing press.
09:28Because at that time, the printing press was very important in spreading the news.
09:33The printing or printing of the Declaration of Independence was a huge sacrifice, especially for Patago.
09:41Maybe there was no typewriter back then, right?
09:43Yes.
09:44So he was the one who was physically typesetting all of his pieces.
09:48The letters were not enough for the typesetting.
09:52That's why they bought from Carriedo, Santa Cruz, Casacapo,
09:57and other members were needed to get typesets from Javio de Manila,
10:02which is in Intramuros, so that they could complete it.
10:06That's why the publication of the newspaper was slow.
10:08We should revive our historical sites.
10:13They forget that they are just passing by, like they don't care.
10:17But this is what gave us freedom.
10:20Our last stop is a winding path in Quiapo,
10:25where the so-called home of the Katipuneros is still standing today,
10:31the house of Pil Bautista.
10:33It served as the residence of several important people in our history.
10:38Like the well-known Lakambini of the Katipunan, Gregorio de Jesus Uriang,
10:44the widow of Supremo Andres Bonifacio,
10:47who was later married to the musician and composer Julio Nakpil.
10:52The people who lived here were directly active participants in the history of the Katipunan.
10:59It was built in 1914.
11:02Today, it is a museum.
11:05For a basic tour, it's P80.
11:08It's expensive to maintain.
11:09We have to ask people to pay a certain amount.
11:14The ticket of the visitors who will enter here is a replica of the cedula
11:19that the Katipuneros built when they were still alive.
11:23Long live the Katipuneros!
11:25Long live!
11:27Above, there are four large windows that are freshened by the windows made of saffron.
11:34It's worth noting that not only the house was preserved here,
11:38but also the old equipment.
11:41Here are some of Uriang's items.
11:45There is also a small bookcase.
11:48The responsibility goes to both sides,
11:51to the owner and at the same time to our national government
11:55through the National Heritage Agencies like the NHCP.
11:58There is a penalty for example,
12:00if you don't fix it according to the building code.
12:04At the same time, in our heritage law,
12:07it is said that if an owner cannot repair or fix his structure,
12:15the government can take over
12:18to help with a compulsory repair order to take care of that structure.
12:23Not only the government should take care of it,
12:27all the residents should be included.
12:30It's really hard to preserve the heritage
12:33because it's really expensive, it has a cost,
12:36and not all of it is preserved.
12:38But we choose what has a history to us.
12:42One thing becomes a history
12:44if we know its story, its history,
12:47and it becomes relevant to our lives and our hearts.
12:52These old structures
12:54prove that our heroes and well-known personalities back then
12:59were not only people who were worshipped or written in books,
13:04but were also alive and standing as Filipinos.
13:13But what importance do we give to them
13:18if in our current situation,
13:22what they left behind is just a memory?
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