It feels like it was yesterday when I wrote about 2 years ago about the old Magnoila Ice Cream House at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Doña Hemady Street that was being demolished at that time to make way for a residential-commercial development.
Fast-forward to today as residential-commercial property developer Robinsons Land Corp. unveiled the first phase of its planned development for the old Magnolia property, a 4-level, 108,000 sq. meter shopping mall dubbed as Robinsons Magnolia.
If there is one real-life proof that can be shown to the adage that “one can never be too old for anything,” our history provides such in the life of Melchora Aquino, (1812-1919) the “Grand Old Lady of the Revolution” popularly known to many as “Tandang Sora.”
In her 80’s, as the Philippine Revolution was beginning to unfold and would eventually break out, she helped provide a venue for secret meetings for the revolutionaries, giving them comfort, shelter, and even medical aid to those wounded in battle. While she never fought in battle, revolutionaries and the Spanish authorities recognize her invaluable contributions to the revolution. In fact, the Spaniards deemed as dangerous enough that she was arrested and sent to exile in Guam. She would eventually return as the Americans took over the administration of the country and would live on until her death at the very age of 107.
In the annals of Philippine history, no event has been depicted with such color as the “Cry of Pugad Lawin,” an event in which the formerly secret Katipunan movement of Andres Bonifacio decided to wage a revolt against the Spanish colonial government to gain independence. It was a bold decision symbolized by that bold act by the Katipuneros led by the movement’s Supremo (leader) Andres Bonifacio of tearing up their cedulas or residence certificates which were seen as a symbol of their subservience to Spain in a place called Pugad Lawin (Hawk’s Nest) on August 3, 1896. The rest, they say, is history, the Philippine Revolution in this particular case.
At the same time, no event has also brought so much controversy as this particular event. Even today, questions are still being raised about the veracity of the venue and date ever since these details were raised by Philippine historian Teodoro Agoncillo as the “definitive” information regarding ”the Cry.” (then known as the Cry of Balintawak, but then again, Pugad Lawin was considered before as part of the greater area of Balintawak which adds more confusion to an already-confusing issue) But we will let the historians carry on with the debate in this issue as the rest us will at least take the present facts presented to us as the “definitive” history.
Hello to all the readers of my blog. I apologize if I’m posting an entry that veers away a bit from this blog’s focus, but I need your support guys. You see, I have joined the OnAssignment contest sponsored by KLM for the prize of a trip to Toulouse, France. Being the wanderlust that I am, I just found it so hard to resist.
But what really got my attention to join this contest is that writer contestants are being asked to write a topic about “Rediscovering Manila.” Yup, right up my alley there.