The Urban Roamer

born in blood: the birthplace of the Katipunan

August 3, 2014July 11, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

It was July 7, 1892. The news of the day that time was the exile of Dr. Jose Rizal to Dapitan for all the headaches he has caused the Spanish colonial government and the Catholic Church in the country with his writings. It was said that Rizal was expecting that he would be executed that time, only that he would be getting an additional 4 years to his life.

Three days earlier, he founded a civic organization called La Liga Filipina which aimed at what can be called as “people empowerment.” Now with its founder and leader gone, it would be expected that the flame he started would be extinguished. But as fate would have it, the flame did not die as was expected, but it took a rather radical shift in its trajectory.

the Manila Financial Center…at the reclaimed Manila Bay?

July 5, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

A few months ago, I wrote about the plan of the Manila City Government to convert the Manila South Port area into a business district and aired my opinion about it. Then recently, I came across this news item in the Manila Bulletin, which talked about some changes in the plan for the “Manila Financial … Read more

Manila’s Pontifical and Royal campus (Part 8: inside the Main Building)

August 3, 2014July 2, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

These days, the University of Santo Tomas’s Main Building stands tall and proud in front of the wide Plaza Mayor which sits in between the building and the Benavides Monument. A former street and parking place, it was converted into an open space that is being used from time to time during campus events. With the Main Building as the background, any event there undoubtedly gives one a true Thomasian vibe to it.

But apart from serving as backdrop as the administrative seat of the University, the Main Building also serves as the academic home of the university’s Faculty of Civil Law, College of Science, and the Faculty of Pharmacy.

Manila’s Pontifical and Royal campus (Part 7: the Main Building)

August 3, 2014June 25, 2011 by The Urban Roamer

Among all the landmarks that one can see today in the campus of University of Santo Tomas, none perhaps would be as more well-known and beloved as the structure known as the Main Building, the first and the oldest structure that was built in UST’s current campus in Sampaloc.

Plans for its construction began in 1920, but its actual construction began 4 years later as its architect, a Dominican priest-engineer named Roque Ruaño was fine tuning its details so it would be able to withstand any powerful earthquake that may occur, as inspired by events, earthquakes in particular, in Japan during that period. Thus it became also known as the country’s first earthquake-proof structure when it opened its doors to the students in 1927.

the architect of the Main Building: Fr. Roque Ruaño

Then came the Second World War, as Japanese forces took over the country by 1942. The Japanese then rounded up the non-Filipinos, Americans and other nationalities allied with the US in particular and were brought to UST, thus becoming known as the Santo Tomas Interment Camp. Most of these prisoners were taken to the Main Building; the rest were spread out to other buildings existing in the campus during that time.