Meanwhile,
the enterprising photographers at the park have boosted their income with a new
“raket”: instant photos of yourselves and the monument but no Torre de Manila
anywhere! Incredible? Not with Photoshop, the park photogs
quip.
Ongoing
hearings reveal that no law has been violated, so why the fuss? Surely we will not change the law to
please a noisy few? If protesters
blast the Torre because they are running out of relevant causes to fight, why
don’t we all calm down and “use our coconut” in the name of damage control?
To begin
with we can urge the Noynoy administration to proclaim—finally—Dr. Jose Rizal
as the National Hero of the Philippines.
We have been taught from grade school that Gat. Jose P. Rizal is our
national hero. The presence in
many Philippine towns and cities of a street, plaza, school, hospital, factory,
karinderia, and even a funeraria reflects a nationwide
acceptance of him as a national hero indeed. But would you believe that there is no official record of
Rizal’s proclamation as the Philippines’ national hero? We have an officially proclaimed
national tree (narra), national
flower (sampaguita), national bird
(Philippine eagle), national gem (south sea pearl), and national sport (arnis)—but no national hero. In fact, the National Heroes Committee
recommended in 1995 Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Marcelo del
Pilar, Juan Luna, Apolinario Mabini, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Melchora Aquino
and Gabriela Silang for recognition as national heroes, but nothing has come of
that move to this day. Why?
We
may not have a properly proclaimed national hero, but we do have a national
habit of not questioning things, and so all these years we have accepted what
we have been told—that we do have a national dance (tinikling), national animal (carabao),
national fish (bangus), national leaf
(anahaw), national fruit (mango),
national costume (barong Tagalog and baro’t saya), national footwear (bakya), national game (sipa) national house (nipa hut), and even a national
dish, the deadly lechon. (Doesn’t
that last one make you wonder why it’s not the more affordable daing na galunggong, or the more
sought-after sinigang, crispy pata, kare-kare, or the tourist’s favorite, adobo? We might as
well have a national snack, too—kwek-kwek.
Hmmm). No matter how much we identify with
those icons, the truth is, they have no official “national” status. So, our beloved heroes in effect are in
the same category as our bakya, kalabaw
and sipa. And while we’re at it, we might as well ask, too, Why is
Lapu Lapu not enlisted as a hero—after all he killed someone who “trampled our
sacred shores”, thus his magnificent monument in Mactan, Cebu. Or is it enough that he is honored in
the Pinoy’s menu as Prito, Escabeche, or Steamed with Soy Sauce?)
So
let’s go back to our beloved Rizal.
If this protracted investigation of the Torre de Manila case proves that
there indeed has been corruption in the construction’s approval, then by all
means, punish the guilty.
Tongue-in-cheek we can recommend some “penalties”. Compel DMCI to:
--rebuild/restore
the many Rizal monuments in the provinces that have been neglected by the local
governments. They are usually made
of concrete, surrounded by scraggly shrubs in chipped concrete plant pots, and
some of them have become moldy.
They look pathetic in the daytime, and without a single lamp post,
forlorn at night.
--improve
the lighting of the Rizal Park and focus the limelight, so to speak, on the
monument itself, so that the contentious structure would be so brilliant as to
overshadow anything burning below 1,000 watts. Meralco bill to be shared by the guilty parties.
--give
Torre de Manila the competition it deserves: allow the construction of two
dozen other 49-storey condos on the same road.
--chop
down the Torre to a reasonable height (which means “acceptable” to the noisy
protesters), refund the buyers, and split the loss between DMCI and the corrupt
officials.
--partner
with the government in building mass-housing projects and developing satellite
towns for the homeless “informal settlers” of Metromanila. Everybody deserves decent dwelling—not
just the condo buyers. Who knows,
this might work so well that finally we will have no more need to cover up the
shanties whenever kings or ambassadors or popes come to visit.
(To be concluded)
