Written [Photo Hunt]

@ mirandablue

A declaration of love for Ruth carved written in tree trunk. 

Love for country inspired a martyr to write a poem on the eve of his execution.  Now etched on marble at the Rizal Park, "Mi Ultimo Adios" (or My Last Farewell in English) is a patriotic swan song written by Dr. Jose Rizal on the night before his execution on December 30, 1896.

@ mirandablue

Posted for Photo Hunt hosted by TN Chick

Stone bridge [Sunday Bridges]

@ mirandablue

A stone bridge over a small lagoon that leads to the marble wall etched with Jose Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios" and a diorama of his execution.  Located in Rizal Park, Manila.

Posted for Sunday Bridges hosted by Louis

Rizal Park by day [My World-Tuesday]

Last month, I showed you  Luneta by Night.  I went back to see Luneta (or Rizal Park) at daylight on August 21st, two days before the ill-fated hostage crisis just across the Rizal monument on August 23rd.  I wanted to post these photos right after the tragic event but it was too painful and humiliating.  

The dismissed police officer who hijacked the tourist bus full of Hong Kong tourists probably thought of the symbolism of this park to our history when he asked the bus driver to stop at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park.  Or he was just crazy and desperate and the open grounds of the park was convenient for his evil plan.

This place was once called Bagumbayan, a marshy land facing the beach which is now Roxas Boulevard.  Bagumbayan Park gracefully hosted flirtations among the Manila elite as well as witnessed the deaths of its disloyal citizenry with indifference. For 74 years, the Spanish used this park as an execution ground for "rebels and mutineers". Between 1823 and 1897,  158 patriots and martyrs were felled on the square by Spanish infantrymen, including the 3 priests, Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora.  Jose Rizal was executed here by firing squad on 1896, and it is said that the blood they shed served as a "spiritual fertilizer which invigorated the Filipino people's yearning for liberty". (Source:  National Parks Development Committee)

It was the Americans who set the motions of building a memorial to honor Dr. Rizal.  The bronze figure is the work of Swiss sculptor Richard Kissling.  It was completed in 1913 and thereafter, Rizal's bones from the Paco Cemetery, where he was secretly buried right after his execution, were transferred to this monument.  Inscribed on Rizal monument:   

"I want to show to those who deprive people the right to love of country, that when we know how to sacrifice ourselves for our duties and convictions, death does not matter if one dies for those one loves – for his country and for others dear to him." 

The Rizal Diorama (or the Light & Sound Tableau on the Life and Martyrdom of Dr. Jose Rizal) was one of the highlights of my last visit to the park.  More about the diorama here.

There is a motorized train for those who are not fond of walking.  It's a 48-hectare park, if you're determined to walk, wear comfortable shoes.

There are a lot to see and experience here.  This the entrance to the Chinese Garden.  There is also a Japanese Garden, the National Historical Institute, National Library, Planetarium, Central Lagoon, Orchidarium (it was under renovation), Butterfly Pavilion, National Museum, a chess plaza, and a lot more.  There are concerts and performances at the open-air auditorium.

Ordinary folks with their families on a picnic, couples (young and old), students, vendors, tourists, photographers, joggers, Tai-Chi practitioners are the people one usually sees at Luneta.   It's an oasis in the middle of an urban jungle.

Sleep in the shadows of nothingness

Redeemer of an enslaved land---

Don't weep in the mystery of the tomb

Nor grieve the momentary triumph of the Spaniard;

For if the bullet ravaged your skull

Your idea vanquished an empire!

~ Cecilio Apostol, Filipino poet,

on Rizal's 2nd death anniversary, 1898

Rizal Park, Kilometer 0

Manila,  Philippines

This post is linked to My World-Tuesday

The Rizal Diorama [My World-Tuesday]

As promised in my last week's Luneta post, I returned to the park on Saturday afternoon to see the Rizal Diorama.  The Rizal Diorama is the actual location of his execution on December 30, 1896.  It is located on the north side of the Rizal monument, in a small enclosed section of the park. 

The area is protected by a  stone wall, a moat with a stone bridge.  The small bridge leads to a black marble wall where Rizal's poem "Mi Ultimo Adios" is engraved.
 

The poem, "Mi Ultimo Adios" (My Last Farewell), was written by Rizal on the eve of his execution as many believed.   The poem was actually untitled, undated and unsigned when Rizal's sisters found the folded paper hidden in a small alcohol stove.  On the afternoon of December 29, 1896, a day before his execution, Rizal was visited by his mother, sisters and two nephews.  When the family was about to leave, Rizal told his sister Trinidad, in English (the Spanish guards didn't understand English), that there was something in the small alcohol stove.   The Rizals reproduced copies of the 14 five-line stanzas and sent them to friends in the country and abroad.  The poem was published in the first issue of La Independencia in 1898 entitled "Ultimo Adios", thus Rizal's poem became popularly known as "Ultimo Adios" or "Mi Ultimo Adios".

Before and after Rizal, many innocent Filipinos have been executed in this area of Bagumbayan (the old name of Luneta) by the Spanish colonizers.  Falsely accused of masterminding the Cavite rebellion, the 3 priests, Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were garroted here in 1872.  In 1897, 13 Filipinos were also executed in Bagumbayan---casualties of Spanish pressure against the revolutionary Katipunan, an anti-Spanish revolutionary society.  Many unsung heroes died in Bagumbayan--patriots from Bicol, Capiz and other parts of the country were brought to Manila and executed in Bagumbayan.  The Spanish version of the "Killing Fields".

Larger-than-life dioramas show Rizal's final days in captivity and his death at the hands of his countrymen.  The Spanish authorities used Filipino, not Spanish, soldiers for his firing squad.  I was awed by the size of these bronze statues--they're about 8-10 feet tall.  It costs about 22 cents to see this diorama; about a dollar to see the light-and-sound  presentation at 7 pm.  I wanted to see the light-and-sound presentation but the gate-keeper said that there were only 6 of us who wanted to see it, they needed at least 15 people.:(

I have read some articles that Rizal's last act of defiance was to face away from his Filipino firing squad.  That is a bit incorrect because his statue here is supposed to represent him spinning away from the firing squad in a last effort to die looking up to the sky, instead of breathing his last facing down.

Some historians wrote that Rizal's last request was to be shot facing his executioners, but the Spaniards refused, citing a Spanish law that seditionists are to be shot in the back.  Legend has it that as bullets hit his back, with superhuman effort, Rizal spun himself so he could die facing the sky.

I sat on the concrete stool and contemplated  at the horrible scene...I almost cried.  I  regret that I never paid much attention to my Rizal classes in school.  His books "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" are obligatory for high school students in the Philippines, and truth be told, I only read those books because I needed to.  I think it's about time I reacquaint myself with the works of Rizal.

The Rizal monument viewed from the stone bridge.

P.S.  Across the Rizal monument, at the Quirino grandstand grounds,  a hostage crisis involving a dismissed police officer and a bus with more than 20 tourists from Hong Kong happened today.  The hostage crisis ended after a 10-hour negotiations, the police assaulted the bus, and the hostage-taker killed by a sniper's bullet earlier this evening.  At least 7 wounded hostages were brought to the hospital.  Aside from the 9 hostages released earlier today, there are no news on others survivors.  A sad day, indeed.

Posted for My World-Tuesday