With All Saints-All Souls Day already passed, it was a perfect occasion for the Urban Roamer to visit a cemetery anew. This time, we are headed south to visit what is probably the most prominent and the largest burial area in the southern metropolis: the Manila Memorial Park.
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Santuario del Santo Cristo: San Juan’s Original Church
The city of San Juan has a rich history in itself, dating back to the days of the Spanish colonial period when it was known before as San Juan del Monte or the town of St. John (the Baptist) of the mountain, owing to San Juan’s hilly elevation. Its storied past is something we will be getting to in the future from time to time but for starters, the Urban Roamer shall take you to the place where the city was born. Contrary to the belief of some, the church of San Juan we are referring to here is not the one located near Pinaglabanan, the one officially named St.…
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Revival Pains: The Case of the Paco Market and Estero de Paco Rehabilitation
In 2010, the government and partner agencies and organizations launched a massive drive to rehabilitate Estero de Paco as part of the greater and still-continuing campaign to rehabilitate Pasig River and its tributaries. As part of this drive, Paco Market, one of Paco’s iconic structures which is located alongside the Estero de Paco, was “redeveloped” as well as a showcase of the new Estero de Paco and, in a way, a new Paco as well. More or less a decade has passed since the Estero de Paco project was initiated and by and large, it seems most of the major rehabilitation work has been completed. It’s an opportunity to look…
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Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City
After World War II, the Santo Domingo Church laid in ruins, as with many of the structures in Intramuros. With the difficulties of reconstruction, not only physically but also emotionally, the caretakers of the now destroyed structures were faced with a dilemma: should they rebuild in the Walled City or start anew elsewhere? Some, like the Archdiocese of Manila, opted to rebuild the Manila Cathedral from the ground up. The Dominicans, however, may have thought the pain of the loss they felt not only with Santo Domingo but also with the old University of Santo Tomas (UST) campus nearby was too much. Thus, they decided to leave the old Santo…
