Guest Post: Surviving Soul-Crushing Holy Week Traffic

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by Carlo Miguel Castañeda

Note: Yup, the Urban Roamer accepts guest posts now. If you have anything to share about interesting events and places in the metropolis or some tips in urban living that may fit this site’s content, do email me at karl@theurbanroamer.com. Remember that it will be my discretion as to whether I will post your content here and not every submission is guaranteed to be published. Thank you!

The forecast is always similar every long holiday: be prepared for traffic along the various expressways that lead out of the metro and into the provinces. This is something you tend to expect, and often prepare for, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the tendency is that you are going to get stuck in soul-crushing Holy Week Traffic.

Traffic at the North Luzon Expressway (photo courtesy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

So between the buses and all the other cars that you may encounter out there on your way to wherever you plan on spending the long weekend, here are a few ways you can keep your cool while you move at a snail’s pace.

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Pasig Cathedral: The Historic Catholic Bastion of East Metro Manila

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As has been established here in the Urban Roamer, Pasig is one of the few cities in Metro Manila whose old town center is still quite intact as far as the layout and the presence of heritage in the area.

As far as heritage is concerned, perhaps the most prominent heritage landmark of the old Pasig town center is its church, officially known as the Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Pasig, but more popularly known as the Pasig Cathedral, the oldest structure in Pasig.

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Parañaque Cathedral: The Catholic Bastion of South Metro Manila

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Whenever one talks about the Catholic heritage of Metropolitan Manila, the focus is always on the Catholic Churches of the City of Manila. That should not come as a surprise as the city itself has been the center of activity for centuries while those outside Manila were then just considered as rural outbacks. In that context, while it is nice to see these towns progress to the cities they are now, it is unfortunate that in the process, some of that old town flavor got lost in the midst of urbanization and, sadly mostly unchecked, planning.

Nevertheless, some vestiges of heritage remain throughout the metropolis beyond the City of Manila itself, especially when it comes to churches. Some are well-known already like the St. Joseph Church in Las Piñas which is home to the famous Bamboo Organ. Then there is this church which we will talk about today, the St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Barangay La Huerta in Parañaque.

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The Two Houses of Jose P. Laurel

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Jose P. Laurel has a somewhat mixed legacy for having served as President of the Japanese-sponsored Second Republic from 1943 to 1945. Whatever achievements his administration had were overshadowed by the specter of Japanese control over the country, especially with their “support” for an independent but pro-Japan Philippines, and the horrors of World War II at large, especially towards the end when fighting between the Japanese and the US-led forces brought about much death and destruction to the country. Despite this, he is regarded as a good president who had nothing but the Filipino interests at heart and did what he could in the situation prevailing that time in the face of Japanese control.

President Jose P. Laurel (photo courtesy of Filipiknow)

Interestingly, Laurel is also one of the few personages in history who has a preserved legacy as far as the structures associated with him are concerned, with two houses he has lived in still remain standing in the midst of the rapid urbanization in the metropolis that has brought about a rapid loss of its built heritage.

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