02.26.08
More of Manila
I found another moment to play around with our vacation pictures. So, continuing on, I’ll share a few pictures from a little of Manila, mainly of Ft Santiago in the Intramuros area. Before we got there, we drove through the college and university area. Here’s a pic of us in front of UST (University of Santo Tomas). In the Philippines, this university is like one of the Ivy League colleges here in the U.S. A few of my cousins went there. During WWII, this college was used for prisoners of war.
While neither of my parents went to UST to study, the UST hospital is where my sisters and I were born. This is what the front of the hospital looks like today.
After we drove around taking pictures of all the schools, including my dad’s high school, Mapa High, and my mom’s college, University of the East, we headed over to the Intramuros area. The Intramuros is a walled off area, which was built by the Spanish when they occupied the Philippines. Within that walled off area remains Spanish-style buildings which are still in use today. Not only is Ft. Santiago within those walls, but so is the college where my father taught electrical engineering before he left the Philippines for the United States. Here’s a picture where he taught before I was born. It’s called Mapua Institute of Technology.
There was a small fee to enter Ft. Santiago. Gee, I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it was little. Something like 200P or 500P for all five of us. The fort is located at the tip of the delta where the Pasig River meets the Manila Bay. Fort Santiago is named in honor of Spain’s patron saint James, Slayer of Moors (Santiago Matamoros).
Fort Santiago served as the military headquarters of the Spanish, British, American and Japanese regimes. During WWII, hundreds of men and women were jailed, tortured and executed by the Japanese military police, the Kempeitai.
I hope this plaque is readable for most browsers. It comes out fine on Firefox, anyway. . .
Before entering Ft. Santiago, there are other structures such as the Baluarte De San Francisco Javier. They’ve actually converted part of the area into a golf course. I should have taken a picture of parts of the course, but I didn’t. . . But I did get a shot on the roof of the Reducto De San Francisco Javier where one can look down and see parts of the golf course. Here’s my mom and me.
Down below is the courtyard leading to the entrance of Ft. Santiago. This is what it looks like just in front of the moat. The arch in the background is the entrance.
Inside the Fort remains of the old walls still stand. I found it interesting to see the contrast of the old walls and the newer buildings towering in the background.
Just to the right of this picture is a continuation of the courtyard walls and cells. The cell pictured below is located near the end of the structure and was the cell where Dr. Jose Rizal spent his last night on earth. The footprints mounted on the floor show the path where he left his prison cell to exit the Fort where he was taken to be executed. Rizal was one of Philippine’s national heroes as he was a key figure who incited the Filipinos to rise up against the Spanish occupation. The statue behind the bars represents Rizal.
Proceeding westerly from Rizal’s cell, is the Memorial Cross. This Memorial Cross marks the common grave of approximately 600 bodies of guerillas and civilians found inside the powder magazine of Baluarte De Santa Barbara after WWII.
Hmm. Looks like my photography skills took a dive. Don’t know why I chopped off the top of the cross, but I think I got distracted with the markings on the floor.
Anyway, moving right along, I’m skipping quite a few of the dungeon pics here, but got a bit distracted by the slums that could be seen right from the end of the Fort. I doubt that’s what the view was 50 years ago, but that’s what’s there now. I tried to zoom up, but I think it’s still hard to see in this pic. We saw lots of slums in the Philippines. This is a small example of what some of them looked like.
Here’s a pic of me off to the side of the end of the Fort with the city buildings in the background just off to the right of the slums. Off to the right my oldest son, Andrew, is taking a little video footage of the area.
And finally, this is the view leaving the Fort standing just before the moat.
One of the horse-drawn carriages can be seen off in the distance. That one is actually a bit large. Most of them pull a small carriage that usually only seats two behind the driver. In the Philippines they’re called calesas.
Welp, I think that’s about it with show and tell tonight. Will continue later.
Marlakins 
